Gender and Development

Bangladesh

Small Scale Water Resources Sector Development Project II

Water projects are designed not only to build a dam or to install a pump. They could also ease the burden of those who have to collect water from unsafe and remote sources, and uplift the livelihoods of the affected people by using water as a resource for development. Till the early 1970's, water sector development initiatives had been designed and implemented mostly by following a top-down approach. Stakeholders were hardly consulted in identification, design, operations and maintenance of projects. Women are commonly ignored although they manage water both for domestic and agricultural activities and are also involved in small-scale income generation activities using water resources. The projects were mostly supply-oriented, and not demand-driven. As a result, projects suffered from lack of ownership and could not attain their desired results. Establishing stakeholders' ownership through participation of all affected men and women, and determining conditions for socio-economic change are considered important prerequisites for sustainable development. Gender mainstreaming through stakeholder participation is also a precursor to integrated water resources management, in which all stakeholders engage in the full project cycle.

Mainstreaming Gender in Water Management

Mainstreaming gender is a process of assessing implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs. It is a strategy to include women's and men’s concerns and experiences in design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programs in all socio-economic levels so that women and men benefit equally, and gender inequality is gradually reduced. The ultimate goal of mainstreaming gender is to achieve gender equality – equal access to resources, benefits and participation in the decision-making process, ultimately leading to women's empowerment.

In rural Bangladesh, where there are strong social and cultural barriers, participation of both men and women will facilitate smooth achievement of process-related outputs. Since women are the primary collectors, users, and managers of water for both domestic and agricultural production and they manage home and community-based sanitation activities, it is wise to integrate their concerns, provide them with access to and control over resources, and promote their decision-making power to achieve desired results of policies, programs and projects.

The goal of mainstreaming gender equality is thus to create equal and just structures to enable both men and women to contribute effectively to economic development. Better access to water means better health and nutrition for households, and gives women more time for income-generating and community-based activities, taking care of family members, or their own welfare and leisure. Children, especially girls, can go to school because they are no longer required to haul water from a distance or help their mothers in household activities and look after younger siblings. Therefore, water sector projects can significantly contribute towards women’s socio-economic empowerment, especially when project activities are linked to social mobilization and income-generating activities, and provide access to productive resources such as credit.

Bangladesh Government’s Gender Strategy for Water Sector Development

The Government of Bangladesh has taken important initiatives towards sustainable water resources development through participation of all stakeholders, including women. The Government's gender mainstreaming strategy in water sector development focuses on

• providing men and women with equal opportunities to participate in project activities
• reserving a percentage of membership for women in each of the field level organizations
• training of both men and women in gender roles and interests
• educating both men and women in recognizing the value of women’s productive, reproductive and community works
• creating an understanding of women’s practical needs and strategic interests among project staff and members of field level institutions
• ensuring that project and line agency staff are gender sensitive
• ensuring that women’s demands are incorporated into sector-based action plans
• adopting a gender perspective in the analysis of any study undertaken in the project
• collecting information from both men and women while undertaking a study
• being aware of the difficulty of overcoming prevailing socio-cultural barriers
• creating community awareness on gender issues through mass meetings at Polder (area of land protected from flood/tide) sub-project levels

The Bangladesh Water Policy approved in 1999 advocates making water available to everyone, including the poor and the underprivileged; taking into account the particular needs of women and children; and bringing forth institutional changes to decentralize the management of water resources and enhance women's role in water management. The Policy emphasizes greater women’s participation in the water sector for sustainable management of water resources. The Guidelines for Participatory Water Management (2000), National Water Management Plan (2001), and Gender Equity Strategy and Gender and Development Action Plan developed by the Bangladesh Water Development Board and Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) are consistent with the Government’s objectives in water sector management which clearly emphasize women’s participation in water sector institutions (e.g. Water Users’ Groups and Water Management Cooperative Associations [WMCA]) to promote women’s empowerment and gender equality.

At present, all water sector projects in Bangladesh are designed, implemented and monitored according to the guidelines and policy objectives of the Water Policy. The Small Scale Water Resources Sector Development Project II highlights how gender issues are being addressed in an ADB sector development loan to bring about positive changes in the lives of project beneficiaries. Water resource development projects are now adopting a holistic approach encompassing structural works, social mobilization, gender and development, economic empowerment, institutional development and sustainability.

Case Study: Small Scale Water Resources Development Sector Project II

The Small Scale Water Resources Development Sector Project II is being implemented in 61 districts of Bangladesh with financial assistance from the ADB, Government of the Netherlands, and Government of Bangladesh. The overall goal of the Project is to support the Government of Bangladesh's poverty reduction effort by increasing sustainable agricultural and fishery production. The main objective is to develop around 300 sustainable stakeholder-driven small-scale water resources management systems with special attention to the poorer section of the population. The implementation period is from mid-2002 to mid-2009. This case study presents gender-inclusive results achieved by the Project’s fifth year of implementation.

The main components of the Project are

• beneficiary participation and WMCA Development: assisting beneficiaries to organize themselves to participate in the selection, design, implementation as well as operation and maintenance of sub-projects
• development of small-scale water control systems: implementing sub-projects with appropriate agricultural extension and fisheries development activities and environmental monitoring
• institutional strengthening: strengthening project management capacity of the Project Executing Agency, the LGED, for small-scale water resources development at the national, district and upazila levels through technical assistance

Rehabilitation and construction of embankment and/or water control structures, re-excavation of drainage channels, development of water retention capacity of canals, beels, borrow pits by re-excavation and construction of water control structures, improvement of existing irrigation system and expansion of irrigation command area are in the scope of work of the Project.

The Project has adopted participation as the main tool for gender mainstreaming through the following basic principles:

• sub-projects are identified by local people (female and male)
• beneficiaries and project-affected people (both female and male) are involved in all stages of sub-project development
• beneficiaries (water users) contribute financially to operations and maintenance

The approach is a combination of two parallel processes: establishing functional institutions and construction of quality infrastructure. Equality in distribution of project benefits, participation by both women and men in all stages of the project cycle, participation of women in the Managing Committee, equal wage for equal work, constitute the gender focus of the Project. The functional institutions are Water Users Group, Executive Committee of the Water Users’ Group and the Water Management Cooperative Association.

During Project design specific gender interventions were identified under each component based on stakeholder consultations. During project implementation, a gender specialist was recruited to develop the Gender and Development Guidelines and Action Plan in August 2003. Since 300 sub-projects were to be implemented over a period of 6 years, gender-based activities were identified and planned on a phase-by-phase basis for all activities at various stages and levels. Gender issues are therefore being addressed and monitored following the Gender Action Plan throughout the three stages of the sub-project development cycle:

• Identification and Feasibility
• Design and Institutional Establishment
• Construction and First Year Operation and Maintenance

During the Identification and Feasibility stage, rural women are interviewed as part of the Participatory Rapid Appraisal (PRA), to understand their needs and problems and to address them later during implementation. By mid-2007, a total of 510 PRAs have been completed with around 70-75 women participating in each PRA session. These PRA sessions were conducted by female staff with gender and development expertise. Gender-specific information were recorded in PRA reports. By mid-2007, a total of 164 Union Parishad (local government) chairmen and members were also trained on gender issues in this first stage.

In the Design and Institutional Establishment stage, WMCA is established. An Organizing Committee is first formed to prepare the by-laws of the association. After 3 months, a First Management Committee is formed consisting of 12 elected members with a 30% target for women. Its responsibility is to enroll more members, including women, collect shares and savings, organize and conduct regular meetings, manage finances, conduct elections, and register the association. By mid-2007, the total number of WMCA members in 236 sub-projects was 83,576, of which 27,958 were women (30%). Thus, the 30% targets were also achieved for women’s representation in the Organizing and First Management Committees of the WMCA.

During the Construction and First Year Operation and Maintenance stage, the Project provides an opportunity to poor and destitute men and women to be employed in “Labor Contracting Societies” (LCS) and carry out earthworks. New LCS guidelines were finalized in 2004, including on gender issues and equal wages for men and women. By mid-2007, a total of 22,412 LCS crew were recruited, including 3,364 women (15%). They were trained on the new LCS guidelines and gender issues together with a total of 632 Government and Project staff who received Training of Trainers. Under the Project, men and women are getting equal wages (all earthworks are now paid on volume basis), and this is monitored by Project and LGED staff, and consultants. Wages provided to LCS crew members are recorded on their ID cards, and authenticated by LGED staff.

Apart from the main elements of the Project Gender Action Plan, the Project is now in a position to provide additional support to women through the Poverty Reduction Plans. During the third stage, a Poverty Reduction Plan Book is prepared in each WMCA which includes a chapter on gender and development. The poverty reduction activities planned for women depend on their specific needs such as vegetable cultivation, poultry and livestock, fisheries, sewing, midwife training, dowry, education, health and sanitation. The Project is assisting the WMCAs in achieving the targets set in their Poverty Reduction Plan Book by creating links between them and different government departments at field level (Agriculture Extension, Fisheries, Women and Children Affairs, Livestock), and assisting them in receiving training from these departments. In particular, the Upazila Women and Children Affairs Officer is invited as a resource person in the Gender Awareness training to inform WMCA members about the support available from this department such as sewing training, justice for violence against women, and dowry problems. The WMCA members of 99 sub-projects have received training on preparing Poverty Reduction Plan Books and 52 Plan Books have been completed by mid-2007.

For enhancing the capacity of WMCA members, by mid-2007, over 2,000 training courses were completed on agriculture, fisheries, gender issues, environment, management, micro-credit management, and operation and maintenance. About 22% of the trainees were women. A total of 7,868 members received micro-credit loans from their WMCA, of which 2,403 were women (30.5%). Women are using the loans for running small shops, cow fattening, poultry rearing and vegetable cultivation. A total of 190 General Facilitators, 29 Fisheries Facilitators, and 34 Agriculture Facilitators were recruited and trained on gender issues to assist the WMCA members in building their capacity and achieve Project objectives. In December 2004, 23.5% of WMCA members were women, which increased to 30% by 2007. Similarly, in December 2004, 19.7% of the WMCA beneficiaries who received training were women, which increased to 22% in 2 years. Only 11.9% women were recruited in LCS in December 2004, which also increased to 15% in 2007.

Conclusion

Gender mainstreaming through participation of both women and men villagers in all stages of the Project cycle, and also in the various institutions built within the Project is empowering Bangladeshi women. Women’s participation in the WMCA, Managing Committee, and Operation and Maintenance Committee enhances their status in the family and community. Women’s involvement in economic activities transforms them into income-earning members of their families. Their work within the community, and representing their community make them courageous and motivate them to participate in local level governance. Women in the Project are confident active change agents, and not passive project beneficiaries. The sub-projects are no longer supply-oriented, but are increasingly demand-driven. Hence, the chances of sustaining Project impacts are higher.