Regional : Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia

Multisector / ADB's corporate management, policy and strategy development

ADB has been steadfast in its commitment to gender equality for at least three decades now. The overall gender equality directions and objectives of ADB are reflected in its Policy on Gender and Development, as well as in its long-term strategic framework, the Strategy 2020, which identifies gender equity as one of the key drivers of change.

The CWA DMCs have shown commitment to pursue gender equality agenda within their respective strategies. This is reflected in all CWA country partnership strategies, which include gender as a vital cross-cutting theme.

The TA aims to facilitate ADB's gender equality goals, through support for strengthening capacity of CWA DMCs in gender mainstreaming. It follows on from and builds upon the successful implementation of the RETA 7563 - Promoting Gender-Inclusive Growth in CWA DMCs, which was completed in 2016. The capacity of CWA DMCs in gender mainstreaming has remarkably improved since the implementation of RETA 7563, as evidenced by an upward trend in the proportion of gender mainstreamed projects. However, the increase has been uneven through the years. The completion report of RETA 7563 stated that while results of TA activities strongly contributed to the increase, the hard infrastructure nature of the projects, where there was little or no community interface, made gender mainstreaming very difficult. Further, the capacity of the governments to implement gender action plans is also uneven. This uneven capacity and the uneven increase in the region's gender mainstreamed portfolio highlights the remaining challenges in integrating gender in ADB's work. IN addition, the forthcoming Strategy 2030 includes _accelerating progress in gender equality_ as one of the bank's operational priority areas. This entails more proactive strategies and actions to advance ADB's gender and development agenda.

1. Relevant country level gender information is produced.

2. Gender mainstreaming approaches modeled.

3. The operational environment for gender mainstreaming in each participating DMC is strengthened.

1. (i) The Country Gender Assessment (CGA) for Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan are near completion. The Georgia CGA is awaiting approval from the Georgia Resident Mission. The Azerbaijan CGA has been revised based on interdepartmental review and is awaiting comments from the government. The Kyrgyz Republic CGA is currently being revised after review by the CWRD gender team. Two other knowledge products are being prepared and slated for publication before the end of the RETA in June 2019.

2. (i) 4 pilot projects in the different sectors have been successfully completed in Armenia (Empowering Women through Support Networks); Pakistan (Solar Power Technician Training for Women); Afghanistan (Bringing Finance Information and Assistance Services Closer to Women); and Kyrgyz Republic (Policy Development for the Elimination of Gender Discrimination in Labour Laws). 3 proposals were agreed upon to be submitted by mid-September, and 3 more are being explored, (target: 10);

(ii) 2 subprojects on women's economic empowerment have been completed in Tajikistan (ICT Training for Women Entrepreneurs) and Armenia (Success Stories of Women Entrepreneurs); and 2 are ongoing (target: 4).

An article on the pilot project in Pakistan entitled: _Sustainable Solutions to Women's Empowerment: Building Women's Capacity in Solar Energy_ was published in CWRD Knowledge Management webpage in 19 September 2017. Two videos were also produced under the project: i) Instructional video on solar technology training; ii) video documentary on project impacts".

3. The contracts of the 6 consultants recruited under the project - one international Implementation consultant for Armenia, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan; one regional consultant for Afghanistan and Pakistan; one implementation consultants each for Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan; and one national Technical Assistance Coordinator (based at ADB HQ), have been extended to June 2019. There is still one national gender officer (staff) for Uzbekistan. They continue to provide technical gender support during fact-finding and review missions, and monitor the implementation of the projects' gender action plans.

Two subprojects on strengthening national women's machineries (in Uzbekistan and Georgia) are ongoing and one in Azerbaijan is currently being explored (target: 3)

The Sub-regional Workshop on Promoting Gender-Inclusive Infrastructure Projects in Central and West Asia was successfully implemented in August 2017. A Conference on Urban Governance and Transport was held in Tblisi, Georgia in April 2018. Gender consultants also organized country-based events during Women's Month and the 16 Days of Activism on Violence Against Women.

Stakeholder consultations have been undertaken prior to and during implementation of the pilot projects, as well as during data gathering for the CGAs.

The CWRD Gender Team conducted a TA implementation review mission in August 2018 to assess the implementation progress of the RETA 9088: Strengthening Gender-Inclusive Growth in Central and West Asia (CWA). The Mission (i) discussed issues, challenges, and lessons learned in mainstreaming gender in CWRD operations; (ii) clarified and addressed issues related to gender specialists' (GS) roles in the implementation and monitoring of TA outputs and activities, as well as in the design, implementation, and reporting of gender mainstreamed projects; (iii) identified individual strengths and weaknesses and assess capacity needs of the gender team; (iv) mapped out strategies to increase gender mainstreamed projects and to improve the team's overall performance to meet bank-wide gender targets; and (v) identified actions to strengthen GAP implementation and monitoring systems in CWRD.

The TA will require the services of one international consultant (24-person months) and five national consultants (120-person months). The international consultant will assist with activities in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan and will assist with overall regional issues and/or studies, capacity development support, and preparation and dissemination of information. A total of four national consultants (24 person-months each) will be engaged in Afghanistan, the Kyrgyz Republic, Pakistan, and Tajikistan. One national consultant (24 person-months) will be hired to help coordinate implementation and supervision of the TA.

Consulting firms or nongovernment organizations will be engaged for pilot activities in each DMC.