Gender and Development

IN THIS ISSUE

This GNN highlights the regional lateral learning activities held in New Delhi, India on gender mainstreaming particularly in the areas of energy, environment, and natural resources.

IN FOCUS

The Regional Seminar on Gender, Environment and Natural Resources was held from 22-24 October for ADB executing agencies to:

• showcase gender-inclusive ADB loan projects achieving successful results
• build gender and development (GAD) capacity of project staff implementing loan projects with gender action plans

This was the fourth Regional Seminar organized under the Regional Technical Assistance (RETA) Project 6092: Enhancing Gender and Development (GAD) Capacity in Developing Member Countries (DMCs) (Phase 2) providing a forum for lateral learning. It was organized by the Regional and Sustainable Development Department (RSDD) in partnership with the South Asia Regional Department and the India Resident Mission (INRM).

Among 68 participants (35 men/33 women), 32 were Project Directors or senior project staff from ADB executing agencies in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam, and Uzbekistan; 20 ADB resident mission national officers and gender specialists; 6 guest speakers from academia, research institutes and donor agencies in India; and 10 ADB headquarters staff. The participants [ PDF ] represented 36 ADB loan, grant and TA projects related to natural resources management.

The program included

• opening remarks by Mr. Prodyut Dutt [ADB] and Ms. Sonomi Tanaka [ADB] emphasizing gender equity and natural resources management as two important elements of ADB’s long-term strategic framework
• a keynote address on Gender, Poverty and Environment by Dr. Amita Shah from the Gujarat Institute of Development Research in India
• an overview of ADB GAD policy, common GAD concepts and tools for gender mainstreaming
• presentations by Project Directors sharing their experiences in implementing gender-inclusive loan projects in irrigated agriculture and water resources development; aquatic resources management; coral reef rehabilitation; clean energy and access improvement; flood protection; emergency reconstruction and rehabilitation in response to earthquake and tsunamis; and urban environmental improvement
• a multi-donor panel including ADB, World Bank, UNDP, UNIFEM and Barefoot College moderated by Dr. Akanksha Chaurey from the Energy Resources Institute in India (TERI) on improving access to clean energy services to the poor
• a technical overview on gender dimensions of climate change presented by Dr. Jyoti Parikh from the Integrated Research and Action for Development (IRADe), India
• closing remarks by Shireen Lateef [ADB] on ADB’s commitment for enhancing GAD capacity in DMCs for sustainable development outcomes

View the seminar program and presentations.

Immediately following the regional seminar, the ADB Gender Specialists Annual Consultation Workshop were held from October 25-28 to

• discuss ADB’s overall GAD performance and declining resources and implications for gender specialist (GS) work to achieve Strategy 2020’s GAD targets
• exchange experiences in country programming; project processing and implementation; and gender capacity building
• share results from the Rapid Gender Assessments Phase II as a platform to analyze the weaknesses and good practices in gender mainstreaming across sectors

Orientation sessions were conducted for new gender specialists to clarify their roles in gender mainstreaming in loan operations and strategic planning.

Five Gender Specialists presented the gender action plans and gender-inclusive Design and Monitoring Frameworks (DMFs) they developed during the design phase of

• Nepal: Small Towns Water Supply and Sanitation Project II
• Sri Lanka: North Central Provincial Roads Project
• Indonesia: Metropolitan Sanitation Management and Health Project
• Bangladesh: Public Expenditure Support Facility and Countercyclical Support Facility Program
• Uzbekistan: MFF Program on Water Supply and Sanitation Services

Three others discussed gender-inclusive results or challenges in GAP implementation under

• Bangladesh: Northwest Crop Diversification Project
• Viet Nam: Second Lower Secondary Education Development Project
• Uzbekistan: Land Improvement Project

Two gender specialists also elaborated on their participation in Country Partnership Strategy (CPS) Development (Nepal) and Mid-term Review (Bangladesh) consultations and their achievements in ensuring gender responsive strategic planning in ADB country programs in these DMCs. View the workshop program.

Participants Feedback

Based on participants feedback, both the Regional Seminar and the Gender Specialists’ Annual Workshop met participant expectations in terms of learning about good practices in gender mainstreaming and concrete results that can be achieved through developing and implementing project-specific gender action plans. The interactive nature of both meetings allowed ADB project directors, national officers and resident mission-based gender specialists to learn from each other. Close dialogue among project directors and gender specialists working on similar projects developed networks that may lead to future exchange visits between several countries for project staff and gender specialists to continue their lateral learning process. Both meetings provided new gender specialists and project directors with less GAD experience increased motivation and knowledge to incorporate gender issues in on-going loan projects and replicate good practices in gender mainstreaming to improve the sustainability of development programs. For more information, view the full write up [ PDF ] on these lateral learning events.

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ADB AND OTHER EXTERNAL EVENTS

CoP Seminars
ADB headquarters, Manila

The Gender and Development Community of Practice recently organized the following seminars:

• Implementation of the Gender Action Plans of ADB Projects in Cambodia (16 December)
  ADB consultant Ms. Brinda Crishna made a presentation on 16 December presented her findings on the implementation of the gender action plans of the following ADB projects: (i) Tonle Sap Rural Water Supply and Sanitation; (ii) Commune Council Development; and (iii) Tonle Sap Sustainable Livelihoods.
• How Accountable has the Asia Pacific region has been to its women (10 December)
  ADB's Ms. Samantha Hung and Ms. Marzia Mongiorgi-Lorenzo provided feedback to ADB staff on the Asia Pacific High-Level Intergovernmental Meeting held in November to review 15 years of implementation of the landmark UN Beijing Platform for Action on Women. The global Beijing+15 Review* will be held during the 54th session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women March 2010.

View the presentation [ PDF ].

The workshop on Gender Equality on Infrastructure Projects in Latin America and the Caribbean* is the second of three workshops on “Gender Equality and Infrastructure” sponsored by the Multilateral Development Banks Gender Working Group (MDB). The first workshop was held in Manila in November 2008. The second workshop brought together development practitioners from the public and private sectors, government agencies and academics, to build practical, hands-on skills for gender mainstreaming throughout a project cycle in the areas of energy, transport, water and sanitation, and irrigation. A third workshop will be held for the Africa region in 2010. The lessons learned and tools from these series of workshops will be compiled into a publication on Gender and Infrastructure.

The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) leads other subregional initiatives in integrating antitrafficking and same migration concerns. The GMS Working Group on Human Resource Development (WGHRD) considers cross-cutting social dimensions, including human trafficking and safe labor migration. In its oth meeting, an informal group on social development was established. The meeting in Vientiane in November provided an opportunity to explore the link between the four cross cutting areas (gender, vulnerable groups and ethnic minorities, HIV/AIDS and infrastructure, and anti-human trafficking) that comprised the social development subsector (SDS) and how it fitted into HRD and other GMS subsectors.

Specifically, the meeting was aimed at

• presenting key elements of the GMS HRD Strategic Framework and Action Plan with focus on the social development subsector
• present the key elements of ADB technical assistance on Implementing the G MS HRD Strategic Framework and Action Plan
• review and discuss the approved and proposed initiatives for the SDS
• decide next step for these initiatives. Delegates include government representatives from Cambodia, PRC, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam; and representatives of bilateral, UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, regional academic/research institutions, and ADB

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) convened a High-level Intergovernmental Meeting* (HLM) to review the regional implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action adopted at the Fourth World Conference on Women (Beijing, 1995) from 16-18 November 2009 at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok.

During the meeting, ADB's Vice President Ursula Schaefer-Preuss presented a regional overview for a panel which discussed gender gaps in achieving the MDGs in Asia and the Pacific. She called for policy makers and development partners to urgently act jointly to realize the common vision of the MDGs and Beijing Platform for Action for the Advancement of Women. Read her speech.

The global Beijing +15 Review* will be held during upcoming the 54th Session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women in New York from 1-12 March 2010.

The Ministry of Women's Affairs of Cambodia organized the Conference?attended by 166 local and international participants from the government, nongovernmental organizations, donors and other development partners?provided participants the opportunity to share program approaches addressing violence against women and children (VAWC) directly related to urban youth. The first session focused on Sexual Violence: Primary Prevention for Youth, whereas the second session focused on Domestic Violence: Primary Prevention Directed at Youth. H.E. Minister of Women's Affairs delivered the welcome remarks.

The Ministry of Women's Affairs will prepare a conference report that summarizes key recommendations. ADB provided financial support to the organization of the Conference.*

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FORTHCOMING EVENTS

Regional Workshop on Technical Assistance on Human Trafficking and Safe Migration Concerns for Women and Children into Regional Cooperation*, 27-28 January 2010, Dhaka, Bangladesh

Gender and Development Community of Practice Seminar on Male Trafficking, 23 February 2010, ADB headquarters

ADB Gender and Development Learning Week, 8-12 March 2010, ADB headquarters

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Gender Specialists' Corner

ADB welcomes Ms. Susann Roth, who joined ADB in November as Social Development Specialist (GAD) in the Country Coordination and Regional Cooperation division of the Central and West Asia Department. Prior to joining ADB, Ms. Roth was a consultant for several NGOs in the Philippines and India where she worked on crosscutting issues of gender and development and health care. Ms. Roth obtained her Master of Public Health with emphasis on gender aspects at the University of the Philippines and she holds a PhD in medical sciences from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and from the University of Washington, as well as a Medical Doctor degree from the University of Heidelberg.

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NEWS

ADB News

Southeast Asia Department's Gender Newsletter: SEAGEN Waves, Volume 3 Issue 1, ADB

SEAGEN WAVES is a newsletter that highlights the gender and development initiatives and activities of ADB's Southeast Asia Regional Department. This issue of SEAGEN WAVES presents the preliminary findings of the ongoing gender study of the crises impacts. The issue also features articles that showcase a sample of GMS regional and country-specific initiatives addressing social development and gender issues.

Women Key Beneficiaries of Innovative Rural Road Project in Sri Lanka, ADB

Other News

UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, UN
View the message* from the UN Secretary General on International Day for Elimination of Violence

Climate change deal must aim to help women: UN,* Reuters

Women bearing brunt of climate change,* CNN

Empowering adolescent girls in East Asia and the Pacific to protect, build human capital,* World Bank

United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) 30th Anniversary, UNIFEM

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ADB PUBLICATIONS

ADB Economics Working Paper Series: Gender Equality and Inclusive Growth in Developing Asia

The paper reviews the recent progress toward gender equality in developing Asia by examining a number of indicators proposed under the Millennium Development Goal 3 plus approach.

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OTHER RESOURCES

UNIFEM Currents November 2009 Issue,* UNIFEM

The Drum Beat - Issue 519 - Gender-Based Violence Communication,* November 2009, The Communication Initiative Network

10 things you need to know about human trafficking,* World Vision

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FEEDBACK

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