Sustainability Planning and Monitoring

A NEW TOOL FOR PLANNERS AND MANAGERS OF LARGE CDD PROGRAMSdevolution of central government authority, to thereduction of gender and poverty inequalities, theprotection of the environment, and the integratedmanagement of water used for different and oftencompeting purposes. In consequence, separategender and social equity investigations are rarelycarried out.The two previous methodologies for analyzing andimproving community water supplies andsanitation (the Minimum Evaluation Proceduresand the Participatory Evaluation Tools) did notsystematically include the analysis of gender andsocial equity aspects. Projects that wished toanalyze such aspects had to therefore use aseparate study by a social researcher withspecialization in gender studies. In practice, thiscame to mean that equity assessments often didnot happen.Equity assessment is more likely to happen whenit can be investigated along with other issues ofmajor interest to the program. Having a combinedset of tools to analyze sustainability and genderand social equity aspects makes it easier forcommunity women and men, project staff andmanagers to analyze and improve these aspectsconcurrently.2.3.3 Addressinggender andsocial equityin a sectorspecificwayThe gender analysis in the MPA builds uponframeworks that were developed by Overholt andothers in 1984 and Moser in 1993. Theseframeworks were a breakthrough in the analysisof gender in development, but they also havesome limitations:● They are not sector specific;● Analysis is usually through case studies byexternal specialists; and● The focus is on gender inequalities withoutaddressing social equity issues.The gender and social analysis frameworksincluded in the MPA are specific for the drinkingwater and sanitation sector, as shown in Boxes 7and 8. They use participatory methods andaddress differences in gender and social welfaredivisions and benefits.The main equity issues that community groupsand program staff and managers may jointlydiscover and use to act upon relate to:MPA training sessions on gender and social equity(see Chapter 4) help future facilitators to identifyand practice measures that make implementationmore equitable for women and the poor. Bringingout gender and poverty aspects in contents andanalysis and bringing together negatively affectedgroups, are first steps in a process of change.Assessing these aspects further serves as a baselinefor action planning and monitoring and providesbenchmarks for measuring progress in programs,as illustrated in the case studies in the secondsection of this book.●whether women and poor people have thesame access to water and participation as menand the wealthier households;15