Toolkit: the benefits of mainstreaming gender into the PRSPs and new aid modalities.

• Author: Kakande, Margaret
• Position: Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers

Acronyms and Abbreviations Acknowledgement Chapter 1: Introduction 1.1 The benefits of mainstreaming gender into the PRSP 1.2 The benefits of Integrating gender into the New Aid Modalities 1.3 How to use this Advocacy Tool 1.4 Report layout Chapter 2: Advocating for Educating Women in PRSPs 2.1 Identifying the Advocacy issue 2.2 Determining the Audience 2.3 Developing the advocacy messages Chapter 3: Benefits of addressing gender inequalities 3.1 Why sexual and reproductive health rights are a must for PRSPs 3.2 Why Gender Equality Issues are Important in the Fight against HIV/AIDS 3.3 Why combating violence against women is a strategic priority 3.4 Why Infrastructure to reduce women's and girls' time burden is a strategic priority for PRSPs 3.4.1 Why are gender issues important in the transport sector? 3.4.2 Why are gender issues important in the water and sanitation sector? 3.5 Why guaranteeing women's property and inheritance rights is a priority for PRSPs. 3.6 Why reducing gender inequality in employment is a must for PRSPs 3.7 Why Gender Issues are Relevant to Good Governance, a key pillar in PRSPs 3.7.1 Increase women's representation in political bodies 3.8 Why mainstreaming gender into the New Aid Modalities matters. 3.8.1 Why Gender Budgeting is critical References ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS AIDS Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome AGI Alan Guttmacher Institute DALY Disability Adjusted Life Years GBS General Budget Support GNP Gross National Product HIV Human Immuno Deficiency Virus MSM Men who have Sex Men NARS National Agricultural Research Services PRPS Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper SSA Sub Sahara Africa UNFPA United Nations Population Fund VCT Voluntary Counseling and Testing WHO World Health Organization WSS Water and Sanitation Sector ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

FEMNET's project on Gender Mainstreaming in the Macroeconomics and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process and the New Aid Modalities has progressed through a number of stages. It has evolved from research/situation analysis to development of a Training Manual and Advocacy Toolkit to Regional Training of Trainers workshops in East, Central and West Africa. This toolkit is one of the strategies FEMNET has used to increase awareness and simplify the work of conducting a gender analysis and advocacy around gender responsive budgeting particularly around the Macroeconomics and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process and the New Aid Modalities.

FEMNET has worked with researchers, trainers, CSOs, government officials and the media as major stakeholders in the project. FEMNET is grateful to all those who contributed directly and indirectly to the production of the toolkit. Their valuable contributions are highly appreciated.

Our gratitude goes to Margaret Kakande, who compiled the booklet. Our special thanks also go to Norah Matovu- Winyi and Rachel Kagoiya for the detailed comments on the publication and for ensuring the production of a quality document.

Special thanks also to the participants at the regional workshops in Uganda, Cameroon and Mali for sharing their experiences and making valuable suggestions which have enriched the booklet.

Finally, very special thanks also to our partners in development, OXFAM Novib, for their partnership and sustained support for the continued struggle for social justice, gender equality and women's empowerment.

We hope that this document will be very useful to those who would like to advocate around Gender Mainstreaming in the Macroeconomics and the Poverty Reduction Strategy Process and the New Aid Modalities at all levels.

Roselynn Musa

Advocacy Officer

Chapter 1: introduction

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are tools through which countries are implementing poverty reduction activities. A key element for effective poverty reduction is effecting pro-poor growth where the poor also actively participate. Inclusive participation, in part, is enhancing gender mainstreaming to ensure that barriers/constraints of access to public programmes are removed so that wo/men benefit equally.

The New Aid Modalities is a funding mechanism for the PRSPs where official development assistance is aligned to the PRSP priorities and channeled through general budget support to government. One of the key principles of the modalities based on the Paris Declaration is managing for results. The results will be partially achieved if all citizens do not access the benefits of PRSP programmes. This makes effective gender mainstreaming a prerequisite to managing for results.

This advocacy Tool explains the benefits of mainstreaming gender into PRSPs as well as the New Aid Modalities and/or the costs of not doing so.

The tool has adopted an operational framework of gender equality with three dimensions that define poverty:

* The capabilities domain, which refers to basic human abilities as measured by education, health, and nutrition. These capabilities are fundamental to individual well-being and are the means through which individuals access other forms of well-being.

* The access to resources and opportunities domain, which refers primarily to equality in the opportunity to use or apply basic capabilities through access to economic assets (such as land or housing) and resources (such as income and employment), as well as political opportunity (such as representation in parliaments and other political bodies). Without access to resources and opportunities, both political and economic, women will be unable to employ their capabilities for their well-being and that of their families, communities, and societies.

* The security domain, which is defined to mean reduced vulnerability to violence and conflict. Violence and conflict result in physical and psychological harm and lessen the ability of individuals, households, and communities to fulfill their potential. Violence directed specifically at women and girls often aims at keeping them in "their place" through fear.

1.1 The Benefits of Mainstreaming Gender into the PRSP

Paying attention to gender improves efficiency and equity. Although women and men share many of the burdens of poverty, in most societies women are also subject to socially imposed constraints that further limit their opportunities to improve their economic conditions or to enjoy equal access to public services and consumption goods. Poor women are also subject to heavy time burdens due to their need to balance the demands of their productive, social, reproduction, and community management roles. Poor men may also suffer the consequences of rapid economic and social change when, for example, they lose their traditional sources of livelihood or are forced to migrate to inhospitable cities or mines in search of employment. A recent report entitled Engendering Development (World Bank 2001) shows the ways in which gender inequality is costly to development. Poverty reduction strategies that are based on an understanding of the gendered nature of poverty will enhance both the efficiency and equity of PRS impacts

Improving efficiency of the PRSP

Rigid gender roles are often barriers to poverty reduction and economic growth. There is no doubt that both women's and men's contributions to household income and production are crucially needed for reducing poverty. Many families rely on women's production to keep them out of poverty or to keep them from falling deeper into poverty. In their efforts to increase family welfare, women face different constraints than men. For example:

* Women are often engaged in low-productivity agricultural tasks. They typically have much less access to agricultural extension than men, even though women are more likely than men to adopt the techniques introduced by agricultural extension agents.

* Female-owned enterprises are often undercapitalized. Female entrepreneurs often cannot access credit because they do not have collateral, such as titles to land. Landlessness is also a problem among men who find themselves forced out of agriculture.

* Where women farm their own plots, as in many parts of Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the absence of secure land rights can reduce their agricultural productivity because they do not benefit from long-term improvements to land.

* The beneficial impacts of a woman's education on the family--in terms of fertility, decisions on the education and health of her children, and her future earnings--are well known. Yet in many countries, more girls than boys are still not attending school. In some cultures, boys are kept out of school to work on the family farm or care for animals or because the families are too poor to pay for their schooling. This issue is now emerging in projects that are providing scholarships to encourage poor girls, and sometimes boys, to stay in school.

* At the macroeconomic level, evidence suggests that absolute and relative levels of female education affect economic growth. Cross-country evidence on the impact of gender inequalities in education indicates that if countries in SSA, closed their gender gaps in average years of schooling at the rate achieved by East Asia from 1960 to 1990, gross national product (GNP) per capita could have grown by about one half percentage point higher per year--equivalent to 30 to 45 percent increases.

* Where women work for wages, they generally earn less than men, even when women and men have the same education and work experience. Labor market segmentation frequently limits women to lower-paid occupations.

* Women's rights and participation in public life are associated with lower levels of corruption in business and government. Cross-country findings from several studies show that in countries where gender equality in public life is higher, the level of corruption is lower.

* Evidence is growing that gender disparities are not only inequitable but also lead to economically inefficient outcomes, resulting in slower growth and lower levels of welfare--and higher poverty.

* Macroeconomic-level...