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p. 4 of 8 BACK | NEXT Purpose of the checklist Why is gender important in water supply and sanitation projects? Key questions and action points in the project cycle Gender analysis Project design Policy dialogue Appendix: Terms of reference for gender specialist Selected references

Gender Checklist: Water Supply and Sanitation

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Gender analysis

Gender analysis for a project is usually done as part of the overall ISA or SA. Consultant services for gender analysis and preliminary project design during PPTA implementation could require from one to three person-months, depending on the scale and nature of the project. Attention should also be paid to the methodologies to be used. Key actions to be taken and questions to be asked during the analysis are listed below:

Methodologies

Desk review

• Review available information (e.g., statistics, gender analysis, documents of previous donor-funded WSS projects) on the WSS services in the project area and the socioeconomic profile of the target population.

• Review the relevant legal (e.g., inheritance law), policy (e.g., water fee subsidy policy), and institutional framework (e.g., current administrative system for water supply services) and their gender implications.

Household surveys

• Draw up gender-disaggregated socioeconomic profiles and identify the WSS practices, constraints, and needs of the target population.

• Collect quantitative information.

Participatory methodologies

• Collect qualitative information which cannot be collected through surveys.

• Define ways in which men and women beneficiaries and other stakeholders, especially poor women, can participate in the project.

• Map out the target areas. Which are the most disadvantaged areas in terms of access to services and poverty level?

• Identify major stakeholder groups and their stake.

Staffing

• Ensure adequate gender balance in field teams.

• Select field team members with gender awareness, local knowledge, cultural understanding, and willingness to listen.

Data to Be Collected

Macro institutional framework

• Gender impact of sector policy; legal and institutional framework.

• Executing agency’s capacity and commitment to participatory approaches and gender focus.

Socioeconomic profile

• Demographic

  • Composition by subregion, gender, ethnicity/caste, age, etc.
  • In and out migration trend (male and female)
  • Percentage of households headed by females
  • Household size
  • Age at marriage, by gender

• Economic

  • Income level and sources, by gender
  • Expenditure patterns and decision making, by gender
  • Land tenure and use, by gender

• Health

  • Population growth rate
  • Infant and maternal mortality rates
  • Service availability
  • Fertility level and decision making
  • Food allocation and nutrition level within households, by gender
  • Incidence of domestic violence

• Education

  • Literacy and school enrollment ratios, by gender
  • School dropout ratio, by gender
  • Child labor, by gender

• Status of women

  • Political representation and awareness
  • Sociocultural perceptions and practices of men and women
  • Gender-discriminatory policies and laws

• Gender roles and responsibilities

  • Broad gender division of labor in productive (e.g., agriculture, income-generating activities) and reproductive (e.g., household chores, child care) responsibilities, and time allocation for each responsibility

Water use and knowledge, attitudes, and practices

• Availability, quantity, and quality of WSS services

  • Who provides the services (e.g., local government, NGO, private company)?
  • Are the services available 24 hours a day?
  • Are there seasonal differences in availability, quantity, or quality?
  • Are service agents friendly?

• Costs

  • Is there a fee for water or sanitation services?
  • Who pays to whom (e.g., user committee, local government, private company)?
  • How much is the fee?

• Water sources

  • What sources (e.g., public streams, rivers, tanks, lakes, communal wells or tanks, ponds, privately owned wells or tanks, water pipes) are used?
  • How far away are the water sources?

• Water collection and storage

  • Who collects and stores water? How?
  • How much time is spent in water collection and storage?

• Water transport

  • Who carries water and how?
  • How much time is spent transporting water?
  • Are there any health hazards resulting from the transport of water?

• Use of domestic water

  • How is the collected water used differently by men and women (e.g., for cooking, sanitation, home gardens, livestock)?
  • Who decides the allocation?

• Dry-season management

  • Is water available in the dry season?

• How is water use managed during the water-scarce season? By whom?

• Roles in agricultural water: Who collects, transports, and manages water for agricultural use and how?

• Conflicts in water distribution

  • Is there any conflict between agricultural and domestic water allocation? How can these needs be prioritized?
  • Are there conflicts in water distribution in general, based on gender, income level, ethnicity/ castes, etc.? How can these be solved?

• Community (domestic) water management responsibilities

  • Who is responsible for the upkeep of the community water infrastructure?
  • Who could be key informants?
  • Are there significant differences in responsibilities based on gender, income level, or ethnicity/caste?

Sanitation knowledge, attitudes, and practices

• Family hygiene education: Is hygiene taught in the family? By whom?

• Sanitary arrangements

  • What are the sanitary/latrine arrangements for men and women?
  • How is privacy ensured? Are there any taboos in latrine sharing between men and women, and family members?

• Bathing: How and where do men and women bathe?

• Treatment of human waste

  • How is it collected and disposed of? By whom?
  • Is human waste used as fertilizer? If so, who are the collectors?

• Community hygiene responsibilities

  • Who is responsible for community hygiene?
  • Who could be key informants?
  • Are there significant differences in responsibilities based on gender, income level, or ethnicity/caste?

Access, control, constraints (nonwater issues)

• Access to productive resources or services

• Availability of and access to social services (e.g., health and hygiene, literacy program): Is external assistance available?

  • How do men and women differ in their access to and control of land, agricultural inputs, extension, markets, employment opportunities, and credit?
  • Is external assistance provided to improve access/control? By whom?

Needs, demands, perceptions, and priorities

• Sectoral priority

  • Does domestic water have priority over other infrastructure services (e.g., irrigation water, roads, schools) for men and women?
  • Are men or women interested in the project? Why? Or why not?

• Needs: Given current practices and constraints, what are the needs of men, women, the elderly, and children in the design and location of water supply facilities, latrines, and other WSS facilities and services? Why?

• Willingness to pay

  • Are men and women in the community willing to pay for improved WSS services, and up to how much?
  • Are they willing to contribute labor instead, and to what extent?

• Credit: Is there any need for credit for WSS services?

Participation

• Factors affecting participation

  • What factors affect the level of men’s and women’s participation?
  • What are the incentives and constraints?

• Seasonality: During which season is the demand for labor highest?

• Modes: Which modes of participation do men and women favor (e.g., decision making in planning, cash contribution, labor contribution for construction, training, O & M, financial management, organizational management)? Why?

Project impact

• Perceptions and distribution

  • Do men and women perceive positive and negative impacts of the project differently?
  • Are the benefits likely to be distributed equitably?
  • How can negative effects be mitigated?

• Disadvantaged or vulnerable groups

  • Are there any?
  • Who are they? Where do they live? What are their socioeconomic characteristics?
  • How will the project affect these groups?

• Land acquisition/Resettlement

  • Is any expected? To what extent?
  • What are the gender-specific implications?
  • Is there any possibility of land donation by the community?

Organization

• Water users groups (WUGs)

  • Are there WUGs for agricultural and domestic water?
  • If domestic WUGs exist, assess their (i) performance in O & M and financial management; (ii) legal status; and (iii) organizational structure (e.g., size, committee members by gender, membership by gender, membership rules).
  • If domestic WUGs do not yet exist, are men and women willing to establish WUGs?
  • Are women interested in participating in WUGs? Why, or why not?

• Women’s representation: What is the current level of women’s representation in other community decision-making bodies?

• Local organizations

  • Are there local organizations (e.g., local governments, international and national NGOs, CBOs, mass organizations) that address women’s constraints and needs? How can the project link up with them?
  • What mechanisms can be used to ensure women’s active participation in project activities?
  • What organizations can be used to mobilize and train women in the project activities?

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