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GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN UNDP'S COUNTRY PROGRAMMES: Global Experiences and Lessons (April 1998) Alicia Mondesire January 22, 1997 The global context: social, political and economic factors affecting gender mainstreaming Institutional arrangements in the countries Mainstreaming at UNDP headquarters Summary of opportunities and constraints Appendices A. Definition of gender mainstreaming B. Matrix of mainstreaming approaches from country reports C. Synthesis of recommendations in country reports Figures 1. Mainstreaming: knowledge base 2. Mainstreaming: planning tools 3. Mainstreaming: planning processes Tables 1. Approaches to gender mainstreaming 2. Administrative arrangements for gender mainstreaming in country offices 3. Summary of opportunities and constraints This document has been enriched by the critique and insights delivered by Waafas Ofusu-Amaah and the staff of the Gender In Development Programme Unit: Rosina Wiltshire, Benjamin Gurman and Sarah Murison. Country reports used to prepare this synthesis contained an inspiring assortment of ideas and experiences, and thanks are due to all the authors, whose names are listed below. Authors of country reports: Ingrid Buxell, Bolivia Jacqueline Ki-Zerbo and Marema Toure, Senegal Marnia Lazreg, Lebanon Alicia Mondesire, Vietnam Yvonne Nje Njock, Cameroon Waafas Ofosu-Amaah, Uganda and Tanzania Dorienne Rowan Campbell, Moldova Roxana Volio Monge, Central America Shahrbanou Tadjbakhsh, Central Asian Republics (five reports) Johanna Schalkwyk, Cambodia ARR Assistant Resident Representative BPPS Bureau of Policy and Programming Support CAR Central Asia Republic CIS Commonwealth of Independent States DRR Deputy Resident Representative FPAC Field Project Approval Committee FSU Former Soviet Union GAC Gender advisory committee GAD Gender and development GFP Gender Focal Point GID Gender in development GIDP Gender in Development Program HDR Human Development Report LAC Latin America and the Caribbean LRC Learning Resource Centre MTR Mid-Term Review NGO Non governmental organization OHR Office of Human Resources OPS Office of Project Services PDRM Program development resource mobilization working group PIP Public Investment Program PPG Program and policy group PRODERE Program for Refugees Displaced Repatriated Persons RR Resident Representative SAP Structural adjustment program SED Small Enterprise Development SEGA Socioeconomic and Gender Analysis SEPED Socioeconomic Policy and Development Division SHD Sustainable Human Development TPR Tripartite Review UNDCP United Nations Drug Control? Program UNDP United Nations Development Program UNFPA United Nations Fund for Population Activities UNIFEM United Nations Development Fund for Women UNHCR United Nations High Commission for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children’s Fund UNOPS United Nations Office of Project Services UNRISD United Nations Research Institute on Social Development WID Women in Development Gender mainstreaming experiences in fifteen countries were analyzed to prepare this report. Conducted over a one-year period by UNDP’s Gender in Development Program (GIDP), these baseline studies offer new insights that will help refine the organizational strategy for achieving gender equity. UNDP considers gender mainstreaming to be a process to "take account of gender relations in all of our policy, program, administrative, and financial activities, and in our organizational procedures". Elements of a gender planning system are: policy instruments that promote gender equity within UNDP and in its work with partners; human resources technically equipped to design, implement and manage country programs and projects; a budget to realize planned activities; and mechanisms for dialogue and communication within offices, between UNDP and counterparts, and across diverse and geographically dispersed regions. A. Significant findings Gender mainstreaming is benefiting from a commitment at the highest level of UNDP. The general impression from the country reports is that resident representatives and resident coordinators are supporting the corporate drive for more gender consciousness in country activities and internal systems. All the countries assessed had initiated action to address WID/gender planning. For the most part, UNDP and the country governments are collaborating in the quest for more equitable gender relations. The results of the global assessment suggest that gender planning is still a largely untreaded terrain in most countries, and that much more can be done to introduce systems and to improve the yields from existing initiatives. Country reports indicate that:
Factors internal to UNDP Among the internal issues which arose directly affecting UNDP were:
sustainable human development (SHD);
External factors External to UNDP were:
B. Measures to manage the challenges The report notes that improvements in the management practices of UNDP as a whole can benefit the mainstreaming effort. Some important measures to advance gender mainstreaming are: 1. Philosophical framework There is need for clarity about the purpose and goals of gender mainstreaming; Gender should be embedded in UNDP’s corporate policy, and policy instruments should be adapted to respond to gender concerns; 2. Institutional framework The institutional base for the gender focal point should relate to social and economic planning functions which are tied to the overriding goal of SHD. Where possible, the GFP can be supported by a local reference committee involving other agencies and a wider net of expertise; 3. Institutionalizing participatory planning and management Far more use should be made of team processes, which offer opportunities for dialogue and collective planning. This mode of planning can also foster inter-program linkages; 4. Monitoring indicators Programs and projects In microlevel programs, indicators on beneficiary status (income, health, etc) can tell whether a UNDP intervention has had a positive impact. At the macropolicy level, indicators such as changes in employment status by gender, access to land and capital, use of services such as health care, contribution of non-cash products to the household economy, are some of the ways of determining gender variations. Within UNDP The assessment found a need for more process indicators, such as methods of planning and decision-making. Also important are indicators to measure: a) human resource inputs in UNDP, including the quantity and quality of human resources devoted to gender; instances of staff development including gender training and confidence-building to enhance career advancements; and b) financial allocations to GAD planning, including fees for advisors, materials development, communications, and training seminars. 5. Human resource development and management
6. Information and communication There should be more selective and efficient dissemination of information, including of the gender in development policy. 1.1 Background to the exercise Over the years, UNDP has devoted considerable attention to creating systems for achieving a gender balance in its internal operations and programs. In November 1996, re-affirming UNDP's determination to correct gender imbalances in the organization, the UNDP Administrator called upon resident representatives and resident coordinators in every office to take decisive steps to accelerate the pace of changes in their systems and programs. Some of the requested measures were: the commitment of 10 percent and 20 percent of global and regional budgets respectively to strengthen WID/gender planning systems; technological improvements in information and expertise-sharing; enhancements in the human resource capacity for addressing WID/Gender in country offices; and improving the collaboration with UNIFEM. Recognizing the value of diverse global experiences in mainstreaming, and the importance of documenting and sharing lessons learned, the UNDP GIDP unit began conducting baseline analyses of gender mainstreaming late in 1995. Of the 134 countries in which UNDP is working, a sample of 20 was selected, in consultation with the bureau directors and GFPs. Considerations that applied in selecting the 20 countries included:
By December 1996, baseline analyses had been completed for 15 countries: Bolivia, Cambodia, Cameroon, Central America, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Moldova, Senegal, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Turkmenistan, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam. The Central America baseline analyses included Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, and a gender assessment of the Central American program for Refugees, Displaced Repatriated Persons (PRODERE). Approaches to conducting the assessments varied from country to country, and topics and issues were not consistently addressed. Some of the assessments involved an in-depth project review, and others did not. This report is an analytical synthesis of the 15 country reports that were prepared by consultants, and it will contribute to the preparation of a guidance note on gender planning. The focus on the countries’ experiences with mainstreaming is deliberate. While there are several references in the document to UNDP headquarters, an examination of the internal operations of headquarters was outside of the scope of the exercise. 1.2 Approach to preparing the report Fifteen country reports were reviewed for the preparation of this synthesis. In December 1996, the consultant was briefed in New York by GIDP staff, and held discussions with two consultants who were assisting UNDP with its strategic and operational plans for gender mainstreaming. Other meetings included one convened of the Gender Advisory Committee, and one among the staff of GIDP and the Poverty Elimination unit. Interviews with selected staff were done by telephone. The consultant also participated in a meeting in Port of Spain with the UNDP Resident Representative, and the Manager of the GIDP unit. Two drafts of the document were reviewed by GIDP staff and a GIDP planning consultant. In the report, the term WID/GAD is used to express the dualism in planning approaches. Indeed, most offices have not truly evolved gender planning systems, and the bulk of the work is WID-focused. Several country reports, when referring to gender, zeroed in on women’s issues. A definition of gender mainstreaming is given in Appendix A. 3. The global context: social, political and economic factors affecting gender mainstreaming The external planning environment in the country has much to do with if and how gender issues are treated by the government and by UNDP. In Tanzania, for example, the introduction of structural adjustment programs (SAPs) inspired a strong poverty eradication effort. Gender became a feature of government’s reform program, which gave priority to social protection. Elsewhere, the erosion of support to social service infrastructure in places like Uzbekistan and some of the other Central Asian Republics (CARs) has negatively affected women. These macropolicies can determine the allocation of resources for gender planning and are an important reference point for any mainstreaming strategy. Countries emerging from war face the formidable task of reconstructing their physical and social infrastructure, and in some cases instituting new economic structures and systems. The gender implications of the reconstruction process are significant for several reasons. Countries like Lebanon and Tajikistan experienced increases in the number of female- headed households as a result of the war, raising the spectre of family disintegration and poverty. The program for sustainable development in Central America, an extension of the PRODERE project, places emphasis on poverty and peace, focusing on geographical areas where poverty and environmental degradation were greatest. Although these initiatives come about in the context of distress, they offer scope for gender analysis to be inserted into project and program planning processes. There are also implications for whether WID/Gender issues are considered a priority, against other pressing reconstruction imperatives. In Lebanon, resource deficiencies in government institutions, the lack of key ministries such as the ministry of planning, and the inexperience of newer ministries such as the environment, command the concern of government to a greater extent than WID/Gender issues. Variations in the gender status within countries can be associated with geographic, race, ethnic, and class considerations. In all countries, national political leadership is limited by the abysmally poor showing of women as members of parliament and generally in the political management. For several countries, there are persistent problems for young women dropping out of the secondary school system, or being forced to leave school to provide household labour. There are also cases in which women have achieved a higher educational status than men. Almost all countries report on the increasing participation of women in the labour force. In some of the countries undergoing an economic transition from command to market economies, new jobs have been created for women in industry, but gender-determined wage differentials remain. As the economic and social re-organization is taking place, people in these countries will adopt new ways of thinking, and gender analysis might be considered as the status quo is being overhauled. Since country differences can be pronounced, even within the same region, it is critical for a gender mainstreaming strategy to be preceded by a thorough contextual analysis. 4. Gender mainstreaming in UNDP 4.1 UNDP’s role in gender mainstreaming The level of resources available to the UNDP office, the length of time UNDP has operated in the country and its relationship with government, the availability and quality of human resources in the country, and government’s receptivity to WID/Gender concerns, dictate UNDP's role in, and strategy for, gender mainstreaming. The geographical coverage of the office is also a factor: for example in Trinidad and Tobago, the UNDP office is responsible for several countries that are geographically dispersed, face different sociocultural and political situations, and have linguistic differences as well. In countries where the government might be cold or lukewarm towards gender issues, the mainstreaming effort might be driven by UNDP, usually by a senior manager who is concerned about gender issues. UNDP’s influence as a gender advocate in the country is also dependent on its financial leverage. In Turkmenistan, a small IPF limits not only the scope of the UNDP development effort there, but narrows its input to small projects that can produce visible results in a short time. In this case, the level of resources available to UNDP also determines the nature of its gender mainstreaming effort: limited financial resources would favour support to small, short term projects, most likely in line with WID interventions. GAD interventions require more sustained planning, and a longer time frame in which to produce results. Governments' relationships with UNDP can be shaped by factors such as UNDP's ability to work with the particular government; and a convergence of interests and the capacity to respond. In the Central Asian Republics, the government WID Bureaus which UNDP established function as quasi UNDP units, with UNDP in some cases housing the offices and employing the staff. 4.2 Gender mainstreaming at the field level Countries are focusing on the development areas of:
The emphasis placed on these major themes varies. Gender planning systems are part of the global drive towards sustainable human development, and should permeate all these program sectors. In reality, wide variations are found in countries, with some country planning documents stating gender equity and women's advancement as an explicit goals, and others ignoring gender concerns altogether. Projects are the most commonly used mechanism for realizing development goals. Almost every country reported on projects for women, in areas such as small enterprise, health and statistics. The transition from the project to the program approach has implied a thematic re-conceptualization, and some operational re-structuring in offices that have embarked on the change. The thematic shifts have re-configured how gender and women's advancement fit in country plans. This change has not been embraced in all countries: UNDP in Uganda saw the shift from project to program as adding "another layer of complexity" to office procedures. Countries that have linked gender to poverty (Tanzania and Vietnam have done so, and in Uganda there is an implied link between gender and poverty) run the risk of relegating gender to a poverty concern, rather than seeing it in an all embracing way; or alternatively, having gender eclipsed by poverty concerns. A link with poverty can, however, potentially benefit gender programming, by inviting the endorsement and support of government, with the heft of financial backing. 4.2.2 Mainstreaming approaches From the country reports, three broad approaches to mainstreaming can be distinguished:
Country reports indicate that there are direct and indirect approaches to mainstreaming. In a direct approach, UNDP can offer gender orientation and training to counterparts directly (for example during the pre-Beijing period, counterparts received training in lobbying and advocacy). In the indirect approach which is more common in country offices, UNDP tries to improve the gender analytical capacity of its staff who should in turn address gender concerns in planning and implementation. It is on the latter approach that this analysis focuses. Approaches to mainstreaming in country programs
Figures 1, 2 and 3 describe the trends, which were synthesized from the matrix of approaches taken by each country, attached as Appendix B. In the first area, the knowledge base residing in human resources, gender focal points are found in the majority of countries, and is the most widely used approach to mainstreaming. The next most common approach is the use of technical assistance. More than half of the countries reported on collaboration with a government WID Bureau, but the scope and the extent of this collaboration might have been influenced by the Beijing conference. In the second area, planning instruments, just under half of the countries surveyed (seven) included women in country documents. The same number had conducted gender training for UNDP staff. Surveys were used in one third (five) of countries. Four of the fifteen reported on the use of policy guidelines, and three reported on the use of checklists and a briefing kit. In the third area, planning processes, the activity reported on most was dialogue with government, followed by project planning, advocacy and dialogue with donors. Five of fifteen (one third of the countries) discussed gender at staff meetings; and addressed gender at meetings of cross-functional planning teams. The same fraction of countries reported that gender was addressed at the FPAC. WID/GAD committees had been convened in six countries. It is worth noting that in the project planning function, almost every country was able to cite an instance of women being featured in some part of their analysis, with the depth of treatment varying among countries. Only four countries reported that they had carried out project evaluations specifically addressing women. If these measures are analyzed in terms of the technical, cultural and political sub-systems of
the organization as it is undergoing change, the first two—human resources and planning instruments, relate more to the technical sub-systems. The third, planning processes, is the area in which political and cultural re-alignment of the organization have the most potential to be realized. It is these human processes that pose the greatest challenge, because at stake is the re-arrangement of institutional and power relationships in the organization (in the domain of the political sub-system), and attitudes and behaviors (in the domain of the cultural sub-system). While all three—the technical, cultural and political--are important to the success of a gender mainstreaming strategy, it is in the political and cultural areas that the change strategy will have its greatest impact. Two reports drew attention to the need for UNDP’s internal management culture to change. Dispersing the knowledge base of gender throughout the organization offers much value for ensuring that gender is conceptually and operationally addressed. Horizontal decision-making is important to gender mainstreaming, allowing for staff to interact and to share experiences. The mainstreaming measures described are part of a composite of interventions, occurring at different times and at different levels of intensity, dictated by the internal ethos of the country office. The planning context in the country, vis a vis government policy, legislation, the organization of civil society, and cultural norms and values, are critical determinants of mainstreaming outcomes. A crucial dependence on the personality and inclination of the senior management renders gender mainstreaming vulnerable to changes in senior management, and raises the need for planning practices to become more systematized. 4.3 Institutional arrangements in UNDP country offices This analysis of institutional arrangements refers almost entirely to country offices, which were the focus of the gender mainstreaming assessment. The analysis focuses on the organizational structure, human resources, planning and management, policies and procedures, and resource allocations. 4.3.1 Structure The size of an office determines the degree of functional differentiation, and is associated with different types of interpersonal relationships, with smaller offices having more intimate relationships. The quantum of financial resources invested in country projects and planning processes is also a function of size, and has implications for how much staff and material resources can be directed to WIG/GAD planning. Being a spatially differentiated organization, UNDP depends on communications technology to channel information across many countries, with varying technological capabilities. Snags in the existing system have been a sore point for some country offices. As one country report noted, decentralization affords more creativity as ideas can originate from many different points in the organization, but the systems for communicating the ideas need to be better organized. Another country report suggested that decentralizing the responsibility for managing certain funds would make project implementation more expeditious. 4.3.2 Human resources Gender focal points It was nine years ago, in 1988, that regional bureaus and resident representatives were asked to appoint gender focal points. At the time, it was envisaged that a country office would assign two persons to gender planning and monitoring: one a member of senior management who would cover policy and management decision-making; and the other a program officer who would work at the operational level. It was understood that this model would be feasible only in offices with a large enough staff. Table 1 shows the result using available data. Tanzania among the countries analyzed has had the longest experience with a GID planning mechanism, which dates back to 1989. Some countries, notably the CIS countries, have only recently established UNDP offices, and GFPs placements are understandably new. In other offices with a longer UNDP presence, it is not immediately clear what were the considerations that determined placement of a GFP so late in the process. Gender Focal Points vary in rank in the organization, in their knowledge base on gender, in their level of interest and commitment, and in the scope of their responsibility. Their effectiveness is affected by those considerations, and by the program context in which gender/WID is defined. The program context has a bearing on the resource allocations to WID/Gender, on the "stature" of the person responsible for this function, and on the degree to which synergy is achieved between WID/Gender and other programs or projects. It also affects how gender is perceived, and how the person responsible for gender is received. A broad mandate has been set for the Gender Focal Points, and it is questionable that they can fulfill the varied functions outlined in the terms of reference under the conditions that exist in most offices. The role of the GFP as an interlocutor who would relate to UNDP staff and also to government counterparts is very much dependent on the rank of the staff member. This interlocutor function can be more easily accomplished by higher ranking staff. As most GFPs are currently junior officers, their influence within UNDP and on UNDP's partners has been limited. Staff with primary responsibilities for gender planning need to feel that they are part organizational planning processes with a secure institutional locus. In the absence of a planning framework which assigns priority to socioeconomic analysis, and with limited leverage, most gender focal points in country offices must feel like institutional orphans, depending on "referent" power from their superiors. Staff development Staff training and opportunities for staff development were singled out as issues in Kazakhstan, Moldova, Tajikistan, and Lebanon. It was noted that there is need for a comprehensive staff training program which should include gender training. New learning initiatives to introduce staff to SHD are in progress, spearheaded by UNDP's Learning Resource Centre (LRC), which until 1995 was known as the Training Section. Included in the SHD course curriculum are modules on governance, poverty, environment, and gender. A training strategy has been developed, and already several countries have experimented with the modules. According to the Training Specialist in the LRC, more can be done to improve the treatment of gender in the curriculum. The Centre is able to provide ancillary services (for example on how to organize workshops and conduct needs assessments); and learning materials on gender. 4.3.3 Office environment, policies and procedures The environment in the office can foster or hinder a gender mainstreaming process. The relationship between superiors and lower ranking staff can be hierarchical in some offices, with few opportunities for dialogue between the management and staff. The Cambodia report made several references to the limits that social attitudes impose on communication between subordinates and superiors, which affect the extent to which staff will discuss their concerns with management. The Lebanon report referred to "the pyramidal organization of authority" which lowers staff morale. In that environment, female staff in the lower ranks might have to scale even higher hurdles to be considered for promotion in the office. Staff behaviour and attitudes have been affected by the establishment of staff associations in several offices, which offer avenues for improving working conditions, building rapport among staff, and improving staff relations. Another important development that can serve to improve interpersonal links is the increasing use of communications technology. Administrative arrangements for gender mainstreaming in country offices
Source: country reports *There was an expatriate program officer in 1995 **Following a break after an appointment in 1993/94 Most country offices lack the theoretical and practical bases for planning and implementing activities from a gender perspective. There were recurring calls for the GID global policy to be disseminated, and for offices to acquire tools for gender planning. Only four of the fifteen offices assessed had GID policies. But one country report pointed out that the issue of policy implementation was wider than a gender planning issue, and concerned the general need for the enforcement of corporate policies in a more systematic way. UNDP’s corporate policy to expand employment opportunities for women is not being implemented in all offices. In most offices, there is no policy directing a gender balanced distribution in staffing. In several offices, however, there is a gender balance at the program or management level, notably in Lebanon (which happened by chance, the report says), some CIS countries, Bolivia, Senegal and Tajikistan. In Tanzania, there are two female ARRs; and in Kyrgyzstan, there is one female DRR, whose appointment was "ad hoc", according to the report. Although numerical representation of women at senior levels does not in itself guarantee successful mainstreaming, it would be odd if a country had a conscious strategy for mainstreaming which did not affect the gender distribution of staff in senior positions. Attitudes towards female bosses by lower ranking female staff are not always positive, however, as was mentioned in two CIS countries and in Lebanon. Several reports called for staff to account for their gender planning efforts as part of the performance appraisal process, and for incentives to encourage staff to do more. Important indications of UNDP’s commitment to women would be working conditions that facilitate parenting and child care, and are more consideration of the needs of staff who must combine careers and these family obligations. 1. Planning and management Mainstreaming depends to a large extent on the arrangement and use of human and financial resources, and on how these resources are brought to bear on program plans. In many ways, it is a management issue, as it is the operational side of mainstreaming that ultimately determines what staff do and the impact of their actions. A review of four offices shows the institutional variations, with WID/Gender concerns associated with either human development or poverty. The office size and the number of projects being handled determine the degree of functional differentiation, and is greatest for Tanzania, which is the only country to have set up a GAD unit. As UNDP intensifies its plans to make gender equity a reality, changes will
proceed faster and with greater technical assurance if Mainstreaming monitoring indicators For the most part, country reports addressed mainstreaming from the point of view of numerical targets set or met in programs and projects carried out in the field; and the gender basis of staffing in the country office. To a lesser extent, references were made to the use of tools, such as impact analyses, gender training, and evaluation. A few reports addressed money allocated to WID activity. In the assessment of projects, rarely were there references to gender-determined access to resources (for example land, credit), and to the use of and control over those resources. Indicators to assess the effect of macro policy measures on programs and projects can be formulated around concerns such as: the allocation of funds for public investment programs (PIP); the gender basis of employment opportunities that result from these investments; and access to training related to the job opportunities. While quantifiable indicators such as numbers of beneficiaries reached are helpful to monitor gender mainstreaming practices, they offer only a limited basis for understanding the effectiveness or otherwise of gender planning. Especially as numerical results can only be produced over a long-term, it would be useful to construct process indicators, such as methods of decision-making; and indicators to measure changes in policies and their impact, within UNDP's operations and in its external programs. In the case of UNDP planning, this would mean evaluating the extent to which an office uses participatory planning, team processes, and other forms of horizontal decision-making. Indicators on financial resource allocations within UNDP offices would suggest the priority assigned to social and gender issues. Financial auditing procedures should be developed to reflect investments in gender planning systems. Program delivery The method of programming can also be an important determinant of the success or otherwise of gender mainstreaming strategies. Countries that have undertaken small WID projects at the community level are probably able to demonstrate results in a shorter time frame than those that have concentrated on macro policy. Working at the local level also has scope for creating links with other agencies, such as UNIFEM, whose complementary role can maximize the impact of UNDP’s resources. Some programs, such as governance, can embrace both macro and micro level interventions. The strategic decision for UNDP is where to lay the emphasis in gender mainstreaming, whether at the micro or macro level, and what types of institutional investments would be needed to build staff competencies in the necessary areas. In any event, there will be need to beef up the analytical capacity for gender planning in UNDP by placing long and short-term gender advisors and resource persons who can complement and expand the knowledge base in country offices and at headquarters. The placement of a GAD advisor in the UNDP’s office in Vietnam contributed directly to laying down the theoretical infrastructure for gender planning. Resource allocation A recurring observation in country reports was that the statement of gender planning intentions lacked the budget allocations to realize the plans. The Tanzania report lamented the absence of a financial commitment by UNDP to the GAD unit there. The unit is not currently receiving core funds from UNDP, which, the report notes, should be the case as gender is one of the four global pillars of UNDP. It is possible that several countries share this predicament. Findings of a 1996 assessment of the allocation of (project) resources to gender in UNDP showed the largest percentage of total regional UNDP expenditures was in the Arab States (7.4 percent), and the smallest in Latin America and the Caribbean (.6 percent of total regional UNDP expenditure). This is an interesting result, because the mainstreaming assessments suggest that the one country in the Arab States region, Lebanon, was facing some constraints in developing its gender mainstreaming strategy, while in Bolivia, representing the LAC, the process was considerably more advanced. One could cautiously consider the quantum of resources invested by UNDP might reflect the needs of the country, the quantum being greatest in countries needing a more concerted effort to mainstream gender, and being least in those that had already made inroads. 5. Institutional arrangements in the countries UNDP’s role in gender mainstreaming its country activities depends on what institutional infrastructure already exists in the country, and how effective are the mechanisms in place. In Bolivia, for example, the establishment of a ministry of human development, which brings together policy and operational concerns, sets the context for UNDP’s gender mainstreaming approach. The ministry has high level staff who are addressing gender under two organizational units. There the UNDP country strategy note treats gender as part of social integration, which is linked to poverty. i) Unit focused on women’s affairs Typically, a planning unit specially devoted to women’s affairs exists at the ministerial level (for example in Cameroon) or at the departmental level. In Vietnam, an inter-ministerial committee is responsible for this function, but no governmental unit exists. ii)Focal points in technical ministries In several African countries (Senegal, Tanzania, Uganda, Cameroon) there are focal points in technical ministries. In Cameroon, the ministry of agriculture has an agency devoted to women in agriculture which promotes the socioeconomic development of rural women. It would appear that the decision on where to locate a focal point is inspired by the degree to which women are a target population in relation to the ministerial portfolio. This thinking would suggest a preponderance of focal points in ministries of health, agriculture, environment and water. Where this focal point is located (e.g. whether in a ministry of economic development, or in a ministry of health); and the rank of the focal point have a bearing on the success of this mode of gender mainstreaming. The location of a focal point in a central ministry with wide ranging responsibility, such as a ministry in charge of economic planning and development (as is the case in Tajikistan and in Cameroon) will have more scope for integrating gender into planning, and possibly for influencing the allocation of resources to achieving gender-balanced plans. Another consideration is the mandate of the focal point, whether it is exclusively concerned with gender, or whether it includes social development; and whether this is the sole responsibility of the focal point, or whether this person has a number of other functions to perform. Whether a ministry devoted to women’s affairs can be a watchdog on other ministries is also called into question. One report cited as hindrances to this role the lack of understanding of the mandate of the women's affairs ministry by other ministries. A related issue was the unwillingness of those ministries to be subjected to questioning and control, especially where the WID expertise in the ministry responsible for women was still being developed. Turkmenistan, a country in which the government is not predisposed to establish a Bureau, not perceiving a women’s problem, offers a good example of what is possible without a WID Bureau. In that country, the report explains, UNDP has achieved a good gender parity in its staffing; and projects have been able to take gender into account. For example in one project, 50 percent of the trainees nominated by Government were women. The Government of Uganda, in contrast, has separate directorates for gender and women’s programs, but the CP4 and the MTR overlooked gender. The quantity and quality of human resources that exist for gender planning in government has a bearing on the role of UNDP specialists in gender mainstreaming. The presence of gender focal points in sector ministries would permit UNDP specialists for the sectors concerned to liaise directly with these focal points; and in such cases, a lesser role in gender planning and monitoring might be required of the UNDP gender focal point. Government tolerance and interest affect the type and extent of NGO formation. With the exception of those in the former Soviet Union (FSU), where NGO formation is still a recent phenomenon, the countries analyzed had active NGOs, both general and women-focused. The extent to which NGOs collaborate with government and with UNDP varies from place to place. The need for greater NGO liaison with UNDP arose in Uganda, where it is felt that UNDP is inflexible, and not keen on financing small projects, which NGOs tend to sponsor. The orientation of NGOs impinges on the effectiveness of their WID/Gender programmes. The Lebanon report drew attention to the "welfare orientation" of women's NGOs, which is thought to be a hindrance to good programming. Government-established women’s committees and women's councils function in most of the FSU countries. In that context, the strategy for gender mainstreaming would appear to require the simultaneous processes of developing local NGOs, and improving the capacity of the existing government machinery for addressing gender concerns. 6. Mainstreaming at UNDP headquarters The expression of UNDP’s thrust towards human-centred planning has seen changes in the internal organization of program planning units. Significant among those changes, which have directly affected gender planning, was the creation of the Social Development and Poverty Elimination Division (SEPED) within BPPS. SEPED encompasses the units of poverty, gender, and the capital development fund. The creation of SEPED permitted gender to be integrated into other social concerns. The consolidation of functions into one institutional unit has no doubt served to close some of the planning gaps, and could ultimately result in the more efficient use of resources. In the conversion of the gender planning function from a division to a unit, the unit no longer has direct access to management meetings, and this could well be a drawback for the gender mainstreaming process. Significant among the initiatives launched by the GIDP unit is the formalizing of dialogue—thematic and geographical—in the recently formed Gender Advisory Committee (GAC). Inspired by the Beijing Conference, the Committee has functioned for about a year and a half, and is now part of the institutional framework of UNDP. Membership in the GAC is drawn from staff of BPPS, GIDP, the focal points of the regional bureaus, program units including poverty and the environment, staff of the office of human resources, and representatives of partner agencies in the UN. In addition to this mainstreaming synthesis, there are two major strategic and program planning exercises currently underway in UNDP, which will help clarify and refine the organization’s approach to gender mainstreaming. 7. Summary of opportunities and constraints Country reports identified factors-internal and external to UNDP—that could either hinder or advance a mainstreaming process. Among the internal factors were: the multisectoral mandate of UNDP; a weak analytical capacity; lack of instruments to give effect to the mainstreaming mandate; the need for the strengthening and enforcement of corporate policy supporting mainstreaming efforts; issues in human resources management; inadequacies in the availability and use of data and information; and limited funds for gender mainstreaming. External to UNDP were: the shortage of skilled human resources in some countries; government apathy; cultural resistance; and weak legislative frameworks. Summary of capacities and constraints
Source: Country reports What constitutes good gender mainstreaming, and what standard should be used to judge? Country experiences differ widely, and conditions for success accordingly must relate to the specific context. A number of criteria can be used to select best practices. Gender mainstreaming spans programming and operational concerns. On the programming side, the articulation of gender equity goals, the existence and use of planning tools, and the investment of material and financial resources are among the factors which bear on project and program impact. On the operational side, some important factors are the availability and quality of human resources, internal communication practices, and organizational policies and management processes. With respect to human resources, one indicator of the country's commitment to gender equity is the gender distribution of staff--their numbers in the office and the rank of male and female staff. The challenge in selecting best practices is what combination of these factors can be said to constitute a "best practice", and how to weight the factors. Every country has a valuable experience from which other countries can learn. The following examples simply serve to highlight what was possible under a given set of circumstances, but are by no means prescriptive. Indeed, the country and office environments can dictate whether one mainstreaming techniques might be more or less appropriate than another. A cross-functional staff team, for example, has great potential to fulfill mainstreaming goals, but may be difficult to institute where there are hierarchical relations in the office. The cases below show that some countries advanced further in solidifying their external relationships with government and other stakeholders, but progressed at a slower pace in introducing and supporting gender planning systems. Tanzania stood out as a country having an advanced infrastructure for gender mainstreaming. A GAD unit established in 1993 is responsible for mainstreaming gender issues within the country program, and for imparting gender analytical skills to UNDP management and stakeholders. Headed by an ARR, the functions of the unit include policy advocacy, training, networking, research and outreach. The unit ensures that gender issues are consistently addressed in projects and programs, and has put together a draft gender policy to guide UNDP staff. Senior management has a practice of including the unit in policy and programming activities, and the unit has participated in all PACs, and in poverty retreats for policy makers and opinion leaders. With the large size of the Tanzania program (over 100 PACs), the unit of essentially two staff has more on its plate than it can handle. Follow-up to FPAC consultations is hindered by the unit’s human resource constraints, and the report noted the need for enhancing the unit’s capacity to implement its mandate. In Vietnam, the FPACs routinely critique projects for their treatment of gender. All the major country documents included gender, which was usually linked to poverty, the priority program area for the country office. Senior management, and to a lesser extent program staff, regularly sought the advice of the GFP and the GAD consultant as they wrote documents and formulated plans. A Gender Briefing Kit was launched last year. Several gender training exercises have been carried out for UNDP staff and government counterparts. Vietnam was the only country that reported having a gender strategy in place. In addition to regular donor meetings convened by UNDP, there exists a GAD networking group, involving donor agencies, national and international NGOs, and research institutions. In Kyrgyzstan, UNDP "insists on adequate numbers of female nominees for workshops, training and study tours when it can". Conditions are: a) the office is described as being "well-balanced and well-managed, with women and men represented equally in decision-making positions, and in the general staff); b) the DRR is a woman, cited as a visible indication of UNDP’s concern and commitment; c) UNDP is well respected in the country, seen to be making a positive difference to people’s lives; d) it is a small, intimate office; and e) the main Government counterpart ministry of UNDP, Foreign Affairs, has a woman as the Foreign Minister who is concerned about women’s advancement; and f) UNDP is working in collaboration with other international organizations on gender and other issues; g) there was at one stage a male Gender Focal Point in UNDP office (only briefly). Bolivia was remarkable, in having an all female senior management team, at the levels of RR, DRR and ARR. The GFP is at the level of ARR. According to the report, functions carried out by the GFP are "highly valued" by staff members, especially information dissemination". There is no GAD committee, and staff were not all supportive of this idea, fearful that it would result in more "red tape" and be time consuming. The three functional units—management, programming and administration—were able to review the Strategic Plan for Bolivia (as a centre of experimentation) from a gender perspective. While not uniformly the case, terms of reference for professional advisors did, from time to time, mention gender considerations. In Guatemala, there is a renewed commitment to gender issues within the office. The new resident representative is concerned to demonstrate by example what is possible in gender mainstreaming within UNDP and in the wider society. Following two UNDP-sponsored gender workshops, a Gender Commission has been established to follow-up on issues raised. The country office is pursuing the participation of women in follow-up to recent peace agreements. 7.3 Beyond gender: organizational practices that can benefit gender planning Improvements in management practices within UNDP will ultimately benefit any gender mainstreaming effort. Participatory planning and decision-making, investments in human resource development and management, and technological improvements to enhance communications among offices, are all measures that can pave the ground for good gender work. Although it is several years since UNDP declared a commitment to participatory planning and management, several offices are yet to use these approaches. Management and programming staff responsible for gender planning will need to develop competencies in participatory planning and decision-making, and develop skills to communicate with a range of audiences. Other critical needs identified for country offices are improvements in the capacity for research, data gathering and data management; time management; and monitoring and evaluation skills. With respect to research, more utilization of research institutions in certain cases would serve to minimize UNDP's direct responsibility for conducting research. As the Cambodia report points out, "Improving performance on gender equality issues will be difficult in the absence of a broader strategy to address these quality-of-programming issues" (p 13). As it advances the process of organizational change, UNDP has a unique opportunity to further its goals in gender mainstreaming. A change process offers fertile ground for gender innovation, as gender planning systems can be built into the emerging institutional apparatus. Gender analysis is a valuable tool to understand why, for example, a disproportionate number of female professional staff have opted for voluntary separation. 7.4 Alternative structures and systems Whether gender should be conceptually and organizationally categorized as part of socioeconomic planning is a debatable point. Gender impinges on wider social and cultural, and economic concerns. The institutional capacity for socioeconomic planning in country offices reflects not only weaknesses in the treatment of gender, but in other social and economic areas. Strategically, gender might best be anchored institutionally as a social planning concern. The reasons have to do with a) resource constraints in the field offices; b) the saleability of the concept in some countries, and c) communicating its significance especially where there is strong cultural resistance in the country. A recent evaluation has recommended that "UNDP cannot afford the luxury of a scattered approach to inter-country programmes. While there is room for variation, and while priority should be given to new thinking, the range of themes/sectors addressed must be reduced drastically". As gender permeates all program areas, it faces even greater human resource constraints than do other technical areas. For this reason, UNDP should consider establishing social planning units in field offices where this is appropriate, within which its gender focal points can operate. This would complement the arrangement at headquarters, where there is already some integration of social themes under SEPED. The establishment of such units should be integrated with other initiatives, such as SEGA, that are in the planning stages. Already some countries have integrated the gender planning function into units concerned with social planning (Vietnam, Senegal, Uganda and Bolivia). It is preferable to integrate gender into a social planning unit, although this poses the risk of dilution. Doing so would set gender mainstreaming as a goal that staff would find more attainable. As noted in the Moldova report, "gender policy is dependent as much on the levels of comfort staff show with the issues as on the commitment of leaders or a few individuals" (p 22). Countries with enough staff might consider creating, alongside the social planning unit, a committee for gender planning, which would include administrative and program staff. In its urgent drive towards making SHD a reality, UNDP has had to dismantle and assemble structures, introduce new systems, and re-organize its human and financial resources. As the organization evolves, new concepts are overtaking old ones which have barely taken root, and have hardly had time to produce results. Initiatives in gender planning must thus be re-aligned with the emerging organizational realities. This poses a challenge for the staff to ensure that their country office colleagues, and the people they serve, are aware of new planning and programming trends, and of their implications. Several initiatives for promoting gendered systems have been launched at headquarters. Included are: the senior group of women managers, the Gender Advisory Committee, and the insertion of gender concerns into the management of change process. Closer program links between poverty and gender are now being fostered. These initiatives create the necessary ground work for a deliberate and sustained gender strategy, and will no doubt bear fruit in time. They are still too new for their impact to be clearly understood. At the country level, several of the UNDP offices analyzed were set up during the last five years, and are still formulating programs and establishing their credibility in the country. For most countries, gender planning is a novel concept, and systems are now being laid down to experiment with this concept. In some cases, important information has never been used (some offices were not aware of the GID policy; countries like Moldova had never used HDR analysis; monographs such as the one on governance and gender have not reached places like Tajikistan, which could use this information to develop its governance programme.) Gender mainstreaming is benefiting from a commitment at the highest level of UNDP, and the general impression from the country reports is that resident representatives and resident coordinators are backing this drive for more gender consciousness in their programs and operations. The challenges can be categorized as structural, circumstantial and functional: Structural:
Circumstantial:
Functional:
A major conclusion of the global assessment is that gender planning and monitoring systems will work most naturally if country offices institutionalize participatory planning and management. Several offices pointed to a need to define gender mainstreaming, and to be given tools to put it into practice. There is a concern that gender mainstreaming guidelines should not add to the burden of program design, and should not appear to impose a western value system especially on countries unfamiliar with this way of thinking. Many ideas on mainstreaming are found in the country reports, and surprisingly few have actually been tested.
Keys to effective mainstreaming: Lessons learned Participatory planning and management
Human resource management
Enhancing knowledge base
Planning, monitoring and evaluation
Information flow/communication
Notable recommendations from the country reports are synthesized in Appendix D. Significant lessons which have implications for policy formulation are presented in Box 2. Following are the consultant’s recommendations to further advance the mainstreaming planning process. Consultation with country offices: 1) UNDP should continue the consultative process with countries that participated in this exercise; 2) Future assessments should be based on a standard list of mainstreaming indicators; Participatory planning and management: 2) UNDP should strengthen systems for participatory planning and decision making in the country offices by offering staff training and exposure to participatory planning and management. Consideration might be given to conducting an assessment of participatory planning processes in a sample of country offices; 3) Offices should systematize the practice of participatory planning, for example program staff brainstorming at the ideas and project formulation stages and having the gender and social concerns identified then. In that way, areas for further research before the project is developed can be identified, and information gaps filled prior to implementation; Mainstreaming at headquarters: 4) UNDP should undertake an assessment of mainstreaming at headquarters, to examine how gender is integrated into UNDP policy making at all levels, the human resource capacity for mainstreaming within the GIDP unit and in regional bureaus, and staff and management training needs. Initiatives in gender mainstreaming that have been launched at headquarters should be examined to assess how far they have become integrated into the institutional infrastructure, and what further enhancements will be needed. Structures: 5) Consideration should be given to setting up a socioeconomic economic planning unit in a country office on an experimental basis, taking into account initiatives such as the SEGA which are in the planning stages; Information flow: 6) Because of staff changes, the memory and knowledge base on gender in the country office is likely to be lost. GIDP should periodically update the information on gender to country offices, circulating key documents and explanatory information, especially when new staff come on board. A simple briefing kit, containing the gender policy, a two-page introduction to the concepts of gender planning, and key contact personnel, would suffice; Gender and organizational change: 7) As gender in many ways is concerned with a new way of thinking, any exposure staff gain to new ideas and systems, including technology, will ultimately broaden their horizons, and possibly make them more responsive to gender planning practices. For this reason, it is useful to strategically link gender to other efforts towards organizational change; Gender training: 8) It is time to evaluate how training has affected learners, and where changes should be made in the gender training approaches. Several country reports identified a need for more sector-specific training, and training that is tailored to specific groups at the various decision-making levels of UNDP and in the various specialist areas.
Definition of gender mainstreaming "Gender mainstreaming is predicated upon the assumption that gender relations are significant to development work, and must be fully reflected in development agenda-setting and policy-making. Gender mainstreaming is defined by UNDP as a process, or methodology which allows us to: `take account of gender relations in all of our policy, programme, administrative, and financial activities, and in our organizational procedures'. "Gender mainstreaming comprises two elements: (i) data collection and analysis of gender differences and relationships, most importantly with regard to the interaction of production and reproduction; and (ii) the incorporation of this understanding into our work, pricipally by the deployment of strong skills in advocacy and in participatory and consultative policy and planning methodologies. "Discussions regarding the significance of gender relations, and meetings in which policy and programme decisions are taken, are the principal fora in which gender mainstreaming takes place. "Practicioners therefore need a commitment to participatory and consultative approaches to agenda-setting, strong analytical skills, and effective capability in the ensemble of advocacy skills that will enable them to make a difference in discussions and meetings." Extracted from "Training for gender mainstreaming: a conceptual and operational framework" p 3
Approaches to mainstreaming described in country reports
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