Gender and Development

Bangladesh: Gender Mainstreaming in ADB Support

Background & Rationale

ADB's development assistance in Bangladesh covers a broad range of sectors including agriculture and rural development, health, education, water resources management, rural and urban infrastructure, small and medium enterprise (SME) development, and water supply and sanitation. Past evaluations have revealed that ADB projects have had substantial contributions towards promoting gender equality and reducing both urban and rural poverty. Experience has highlighted the critical importance of close monitoring of gender action plan (GAP) implementation at the field level, to ensure effective capacity building amongst all stakeholders in order to achieve the desired impacts.

Expected Outcome

The project objective is to enhance the capacity of project stakeholders (executing agencies, central and local government authorities, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and project beneficiaries) to better implement GAPs and to better monitor the impact and results of ADB loans and technical assistance on women's empowerment through improved quantitative and qualitative gender indicators. A national GAD Consultant will be engaged to (a) assist gender mainstreaming through the development and implementation of Gender Action Plans primarily in agriculture and rural development, water resources management, urban development and health projects; (b) conduct training and capacity development programs for project stakeholders in these sectors; and (c) document achievements in gender mainstreaming with case studies for replication in other ADB projects.

Results to Date

For two years, a GAD consultant assisted the Bangladesh Resident Mission (BRM) in developing detailed GAPs for several project sectors including water supply, water resources management, and erosion affected poor. As envisaged, the GAD consultant contributed to developing the gender capacity of project stakeholders to implement and monitor GAPs and assessed the gender impacts of ADB interventions by developing project-based gender training manuals and conducting training of trainers on crop diversification, participatory livestock development, and secondary towns integrated flood protection. Additionally, the consultant developed case studies on the impact of ADB projects on women's empowerment as inputs for midterm review and completion reports. The consultant also contributed to other gender-related awareness raising activities for development partners and BRM staff. Overall, GDCF support to the BRM for a GAD consultant provided an increased level of technical assistance for GAP implementation, GAD awareness raising and capacity development with implementing and executing agencies, as well as monitoring and evaluation for a larger number of ADB loans and grants in a wider range of sectors in the Bangladesh portfolio.