Gender and Development

Bangladesh

Small Scale Water Resources Sector Development Project, 1995

This project aims at sustainable growth in agricultural production and income of about 140,000 small landholders or landless farmers, in 37 districts of western Bangladesh where more than half of the beneficiaries live under the poverty line. The project includes flood control, drainage improvement, water conservation and command area development. It has three major components: beneficiary participation and water management association development, the development of small-scale water control systems, and institutional support for small-scale water resources development.

Given the subordinate position of women in Bangladesh, and the fact that project meetings tend to be dominated by men, it became obvious during implementation that special measures are required to ensure the active participation of women at all stages of the project, if their needs are to be identified and met.

To develop a specific mechanism to address these issues, a gender and development (GAD) Action Plan was formulated. It will ensure systematic attention to gender concerns in this project. The Plan focuses on three main areas: (i) overall institutional framework for the project; (ii) sub-projects, including income generating activities; (iii) the water management cooperative associations and the local construction societies.

Within the institutional framework, training modules and tools will be reviewed to ensure integration of gender concerns. Project staff will be provided with gender capacity building training.

In the case of sub-projects, women will be involved in project identification and planning to ensure that women's needs in existing activities such as fish culture and vegetable cultivation are addressed. Support for other income generating activities will be explored, including duck rearing and tree growing.

Given women's important role in water collection and use, separate meetings will be arranged for women to ensure their membership in Water Management Cooperative Associations. The project now requires that women constitute at least one third of the committee members of these bodies. Special training will be provided to women to build their capacity to participate effectively in the work of the Associations.

Progress with implementing these measures will be closely monitored on the basis of gender-related monitoring indicators, to ensure that the needs of women are considered in all stages of project implementation.