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Gender Checklist: Water Supply and Sanitation
Key questions and action points in the project cycle
Three major tools are used to identify and deal with gender issues in the project cycle: gender analysis, project design, and policy dialogue.
Gender analysis is an integral part of the initial social assessment (ISA) in the fact-finding phase of project preparatory technical assistance (PPTA) and the social assessment (SA) during PPTA implementation. Gender-responsive project designs are based on the gender analysis, and should be included in the final report on the PPTA and in the report and recommendation of the President (RRP). Policy dialogue with executing and other agencies in the developing member country (DMC) should be an ongoing process, applicable to all stages in the project cycle. The findings and recommendations from the gender analysis during project planning and feedback from beneficiaries during implementation must be discussed thoroughly to determine the need for further action.
When are these tools used in the project cycle? What actions should be taken at which stage? Table 1 summarizes the key action points for each stage of the project cycle.
Though Table 1 generally applies to all WSS projects, sector loans, in which detailed project designs for all subprojects are not clearly defined at the time of appraisal, require attention of a different kind. In particular, building a gender-sensitive institutional framework should be given the highest priority. Box 1 gives some ideas of what should be addressed during WSS sector loan preparation.
Table 1: Addressing Gender in the Project Cycle: Key Action Points
| PROJECT CYCLE |
RESPONSIBILITY |
KEY ACTION POINTS |
| ISA in PPTA fact finding |
Mission Leader/ Consultant |
- Identify key gender and women’s participation issues and further information needs for PPTA.
- Identify the role of gender in the project objectives.
- Prepare terms of reference (TOR) for the PPTA gender specialist or social scientist.
|
| SA in PPTA Feasibility Study |
Consultant in collaboration with Social Development Division, Office of Environment and Social Development (SOCD) and DMC counterpart |
- Conduct gender analysis as part of overall SA.
- Draw up a socioeconomic profile of key stakeholder groups in the target population and disaggregate data by gender.
- Examine gender differences in knowledge, attitudes, practices, roles, status, well-being, constraints, needs, and priorities, and the factors that affect those differences.
- Assess men’s and women’s capacity to participate and the factors affecting that capacity.
- Assess the potential gender-differentiated impact of the project and options to maximize benefits and minimize adverse effects.
- Identify government agencies and nongovernment organizations (NGOs), community-based organizations (CBOs), and women’s groups that can be used during PPTA and project implementation. Assess their capacity.
- Review the related policies and laws (e.g., inheritance law, bylaws of water users groups), as necessary.
- Identify information gaps related to the above issues.
- Involve men and women in project design.
- Incorporate gender findings in the project design.
|
| Drafting and finalization of RRP and loan agreement |
Mission Leader, SOCD |
- Ensure that gender concerns are addressed in the relevant sections (including project objectives, scope, poverty and social measures, cost estimates, institutional arrangements, social appendix, and consultant’s TOR for implementation and M & E support).
- Determine the project’s classification in terms of women-in-development (WID) objectives (i.e., primary, secondary, none).
- List major required gender actions in assurances and legal covenants to ensure the DMC government’s or client’s actions and compliance.
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| Loan negotiations |
Mission Leader |
- List outstanding actions as conditions.
|
| Implementation |
Projects Department, DMC personnel |
- Review progress reports.
- Modify the project design, as required.
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| Benefit monitoring and evaluation (BME) |
Projects Department, DMC personnel |
- Monitor gender-disaggregated benefit indicators.
- Modify the project design, as required.
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Box 2: Social Development Fund in Maldives: “Flexible” Financing for Diverse Community Needs
In the Regional Development Project in Maldives (1999) a Social Development Fund (SDF) targeted mainly at women will be established under the Bank of Maldives to accommodate different needs across 13 focus islands. The US$2 million SDF is designed to increase the participation of beneficiary households in identifying and managing income-generating microprojects of their own choice (e.g., vegetable and fruit gardens, shops, skills training). Special attention has been paid to women’s active participation, especially given the high rate of male out-migration to other resort islands (often leading to divorce), which was identified during the participatory social assessment. Half of the SDF will be spent on income-generating activities in agricultural and nonagricultural sectors, while the other half is expected to go to WSS improvement, such as for individual septic tanks, solid waste disposal, and the introduction of sanitation facilities using appropriate technology. Equal representation of men and women in the decision-making body is also mandated: an SDF Committee of three women and three men, to be named jointly by the Island Development Committee and the Women’s Committee, will collect repayments, sift through applications, and monitor SDF-funded activities, under the guidance of the project office. The committee will regularly review the project activities and recommend modifications to the project office. Such a clear feedback mechanism is expected to provide room for corrective actions during project implementation. Furthermore, in addition to employment benefits for women, the SDF is expected to create job opportunities for out-migrated men back home and to reunite disjointed families.
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