Catalog

External Forum on Gender and Development
Turning Commitment into Action

By Marcia R. Samson ( msamson@adb.org )
Senior Editorial Coordinator

	“We believe ADB is committed to promoting gender issues, but much more still needs to be done to translate this commitment into concrete programs and projects” Patricia Licuanan, President, Miriam College Philippines

Gender experts from Asia and the Pacific brainstormed recently to find ways to improve the status of women and reduce poverty through ADB’s operations. The 13 members of the External Forum on Gender and Development met at ADB’s headquarters in June and November 2002 to discuss ways to turn ADB’s commitment to mainstream gender concerns into reality.

The External Forum was established in 2001 to advise ADB on critical gender issues in the Asia and Pacific region and broaden ADB’s contacts with regional gender experts and women’s organizations.

The group met with management and senior staff from ADB’s regional departments to discuss strategies for mainstreaming gender in the reorganized ADB.

“Your expertise and experience are very important to us,” ADB President Tadao Chino said in a meeting during which the group presented its collective position. “Let us continue to work together to improve all opportunities for women in Asia, which is important to reducing poverty.”

Delegates raised several issues with President Chino that they feel could help improve ADB’s operations:

• Assigning gender specialists to each of ADB’s regional departments
• Increasing loans and grants with direct gender benefits
• Training staff to become more sensitive and technically competent in dealing with gender issues
• Providing incentives to mainstream gender concerns in more projects
• Finding ways to recruit and retain more women at senior levels
• Including national women’s ministries in consultations on country strategies, programs, and projects
• Ensuring that nongovernment organizations and community-based organizations representing women are included in consultations with civil society
• Strengthening partnerships with United Nations agencies concerned with gender issues

“The External Forum wants to truly add value to ADB,” said Patricia Licuanan, President of Miriam College in the Philippines and former Chairperson of both the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the UN Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. “We believe ADB is committed to promoting gender issues,” she said, “but much more still needs to be done to translate this commitment into concrete programs and projects.”

The External Forum members are eager to contribute to ADB’s gender mainstream- ing strategy. They have offered to provide their inputs into preparing country strategies and programs, and to act as resources for gender training of ADB staff members and government officials.

In connection with their most recent meeting at ADB in November 2002, Forum members organized seminars for ADB staff on gender issues in postconflict reconstruction and on gender, macroeconomics, and trade.

Dr. Licuanan, who is a special advisor to the new Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Afghanistan, is also working to improve coordination between ADB and other international agencies in their gender-related projects in Afghanistan.

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