gender action plan

(LAMP)

1.Introduction and Background:

1.1.Government of Punjab with the financial assistance of International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) has formulated a project namely Livestock and Access to Markets Project (LAMP), which is being implemented in Khushab, Layyah, Mianwali and Bhakkar Districts of the Punjab Province of Pakistan.

1.2.The project will follow participatory development approach to improve the living standard of vulnerable communities in target Districts. LAMP is designed to assist the Government to achieve poverty reduction through economic growth of households while ameliorating their immediate circumstances (livestock asset distribution; some basic civil works like provision of water and energy schemes, besides provision of essential livestock services through L&DDDand private sector service providers).

1.3.The overall goal of the project is to reduce rural poverty in the selected Union Councils of the target districts. The Project is in line with the Government of Punjab's Medium Term Development Framework (MTDF), where development of the livestock sector is indicated as a key priority. The Government of Punjab places high priority on developing the Livestock sector in the Province.

1.4.This project would support the Government of Punjab in enhancing livestock productivity/production by addressing the constraints that prevent the fulfillment of the livestock sector potential. The project would, especially, support production increase and access of livestock products to the market, and facilitate the linkages between smallholder producers and a wide range of private entrepreneurs along the dairy and livestock value chains.

1.5.In rural areas of Pakistan women are equally performing livestock activitiesespecially small ruminants like sheep, goats and poultry.

1.6.In dairy production, women account for about 93% of total employment. In Punjab a rural woman otherwise spends 59% of her daily time in livestock related activities but her labour is not monetized.

1.7.Rural women of Pakistan engage in cutting fodder, cleaning livestock, managing sheds and watering and milking animals. They are also responsible for collecting and preparing dung cakes - an activity that provides energy for household consumption and brings additional income to poor families.

1.8.With the exception of grazing, livestock management is predominantly performed by women. Therefore, to focus and acknowledge the role of the woman in livestock led rural development and poverty reduction along particular dimension of nutrition; for uplift of their communities; a strategy has been planned for the executing of project and setting all objectives in the view of gender mainstreaming.

2.Gender Mainstreaming through the LAMP

2.1.Gender mainstreaming is the public policy concept of assessing the different implications for women and men of any planned policy action, including legislation and programmes, in all areas and levels. Mainstreaming essentially offers a pluralistic approach that values the diversity among both men and women.It is a strategy for making women's as well as men's concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. The concept of gender mainstreaming was first proposed at the 1985 Third World Conference on Women in Nairobi, Kenya. The idea has been pushed in the United Nations development community. The idea was formally featured in 1995 at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing, China, and was cited in the document that resulted from the conference, the Beijing Platform for Action.

2.2.Gender mainstreaming can be seen as a process of organized behavioural change. Gender mainstreaming must be institutionalized through concrete steps, mechanisms, and processes in all parts of the social organization, which requires to demonstrate transparency, inclusiveness, accountability and the implementation process with rigorous monitoring.

2.3.IFAD’s Plan of Action (PoA) 2003-2006 for “Mainstreaming a gender perspective in IFAD’s Operations” was developed to operationalize the gender mainstreaming principles contained in IFAD’s Strategic Framework 2002-06. It was conceived as a time-bound initiative aiming to bring greater consistency and upscale IFAD’s efforts to integrate gender in its operations. Gender considerations have now largely been integrated into IFAD’s business processes related to the project/programme cycle, including Action Plan deliverables (Quality Enhancement Procedures, Supervision Guidelines, etc.). Attention to gender mainstreaming/women’s empowerment have been confirmed by IFAD’s Targeting Policy, approved in September 2006, and the Strategic Framework 2007-10. This Framework reiterates core principles, definitions and key responsibilities contained in the previous Gender PoA, which remain valid to guide IFAD’s action. It confirms attention to gender issues as a permanent feature in business processes related to IFAD’s project-programme cycle, and establishes the basic parameters and indicators against which IFAD’s performance in this area will be monitored within its regular reporting and monitoring systems.

2.4.The LAMP will develop its own ‘Gender Framework’ for gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment in the context of IFAD’s programmatic work. In processes linked to the project cycle, efforts will be pursued to ensure that there is accountability in addressing gender as per the design of the project, following the Key features of gender sensitive dimensions in the context of the quality enhancement and quality assurance systems. Attention to gender equality will be addressed in the project results framework and key performance indicators.

2.5.LAMP shall pursues a three-pronged strategy for gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment aiming to:

  1. expand women’s economic empowerment through access to and control over fundamental assets;
  2. strengthen women’s decision-making role in community economic affairs and effective representation along social organizations; and
  3. improve the knowledge and well-being of women and ease women’s workloads by facilitating women’s access to basic rural services and infrastructures, in addition to innovate ways and means to extend her access to encash her labour in monetized terms.

2.6.In pursuing these objectives LAMP’s approach combines gender mainstreaming with proactive measures and activities specifically directed at women. Proejct’s action is guided by the principle that development initiatives should be based on an understanding of gender-differentiated roles and needs and provides equal opportunities for women and men to access benefits and services. This will require both attention to gender differences in all aspects of the project, and the implementation of specific measures to enable women to acquire the means and ability to participate as equals in economic and social development, as well as in the decisions that affect their lives and those of their families. This warrants sharing of knowledge, innovation to operate across traditional barriers, HRM & HRD as per the maturity cycle of learning.

2.7.In line with IFAD’s Strategic Framework 2007-10, attention to gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment, through LAMP, will focus on key areas:

  1. natural resources,
  2. technologies,
  3. financial services,
  4. markets,
  5. rural off-farm employment and enterprise development, and
  6. local and national policy and programming (dialogue) processes.

By establishing the Key features of gender-sensitive design and implementation as per IFAD-supported projects and programmes, the LAMP Framework operationalizes the principles related to gender mainstreaming/women’s empowerment contained in IFAD’s Policy on Targeting and Strategic Framework 2007-2010.

2.8.Gender equality/women’s empowerment entails addressing gender differences through special focus on women within all identified target groups – for reasons of equity, effectiveness and impact” (IFAD’s Policy on Targeting, 2006).

2.9.“For development efforts to be effective, differences in gender roles and responsibilities need to be taken into account; and across all these (target) groups LAMP will focus particularly on women, not only because they have significantly less access than do men to assets and services – and less voice in public decision-making, but also because addressing these inequalities and strengthening the capacity of rural women to perform their productive roles more effectively, has a major impact on poverty reduction and on household food security” (IFAD’s Strategic Framework 2007-2010.

2.10.OPERATIONAL OBJECTIVES:

2.11.1. With the overall goal of contributing to the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment (MDG3) through its operations, to mainstream gender concern into the project/programme cycle IFAD sets the following operational objectives:

  1. Results-based Country Strategic Opportunities Programmes (COSOP) integrate gender concerns;
  2. Project and grant design fully integrates gender concerns according to the Key features of Gender-Sensitive Design and Implementation;
  3. Project and grant implementation ensures gender-equitable participation in and benefit from project activities
  4. Supervision/implementation support gives attention to gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment
  5. Project completion reports give attention to gender mainstreaming/women’s empowerment.

2.11.KEY FEATURES OF GENDER-SENSITIVE DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION

2.14.1.Through its direct involvement in project design and implementation, or in dialogue with co-financing partners, IFAD will seek to ensure that certain key features are reflected in the design and implementation of the initiatives it supports. These include:

  1. the understanding of gender differences in the activities or sectors concerned;
  2. actions to empower women, economically and in decision-making;
  3. operational measures to ensure gender-equitable participation and benefits;
  4. provisions for monitoring and evaluation of gender differentiated impact and participation. The resulting gender strategy will be forward-looking while at the same time feasible given previous experience, and also ownership by key implementing partners. IFAD will engage in continued and active dialogue with its partners – at country-level and in its grants programme - to build a shared understanding of the importance of gender issues and women’s empowerment in poverty reduction, and agreement on the best ways to achieve these goals. It is also committed to continued efforts to learn, share knowledge and pilot innovative approaches in this area.

2.12.KEY FEATURES OF GENDER-SENSITIVE DESIGN & IMPLEMENTATION OF LAMP

i.Gender Analysis Data

The project design document contains – and project implementation is based on – genderdisaggregated poverty data and analysis of gender differences in the activities or sectors concerned.

ii.Strategic Focus

Based on the above, the project design report articulates – or the project implements – actions which aim to:

•Expand women’s economic empowerment through access to and control over fundamental assets;

•Strengthen women’s decision-making role in community affairs and representation in local institutions; and

•Improve women’s knowledge and well-being and ease their workloads by facilitating their access to basic rural services and infrastructure.

iii.Operational Measures

The design document describes (and the project/programme implements) operational measures to ensure gender-equitable participation in, and benefit from, project/programme activities. In addition to context-specific measures to be developed case-by-case, these will generally include:

•Trajectory of allocated resources should be so set to ensure adequate take careof gender strategy implementation under different heads of activities;

•Ensuring and supporting women’s active participation in project-related decision-making bodies, committees and technology platforms;

•Ensuring that project/programme management arrangements (composition of the Project Coordination Unit (PCU); project terms of reference, etc.) reflect attention to gender equality and women’s empowerment concerns; and

•Ensuring direct project outreach to women (e.g. through appropriate numbers and qualification of filed staff), especially where women’s mobility is limited.

iv.Monitoring Evaluation

The project’s logical framework and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system specify in design – and project M&E units collect – gender-disaggregated performance and impact data.

At the operational level, responsibility for implementing project-related activities rests primarily with countryprogramme managers and teams. Ultimately, the responsibility for ensuring that projects empower women and provide gender-equitable access to benefits rests with the borrowing country, and in particular with the project management team.

RESULTS FRAMEWORK FOR GENDER MAINSTREAMING IN LAMP
Narrative Summary / Results Indicators / Data source
Goal: Improve gender equality/women’s empowerment / Percentage rating of the Project for gender equality (IFAD
Results Management Framework 2007-2010, Result Indicator 4, sub-indicator 4) / Annual Portfolio Performance Report
(PPR)
Objectives
Project design fully integrates gender concerns according to the Key features of gender sensitive design and implementation / Percentage of project design reports on gender as per ‘Pre-Key features of gender-sensitive design and implementation” Maturity Assessment Template (MAT), Key Success Factor (KSF) 2 sub-score at QE / KSF 2 Sub-scores on gender as per
QE Panel Report Summary
Assessment Sheet) summarized in PPR[i]
Grant design fully integrates gender concerns according to the Key features of gender sensitive design and implementation / Percentage of grant design documents scored 4 and above and for gender focus / Gender-sensitivity score in grants assessment template following grants TRC
Project implementation ensures gender-equitable participation in and benefit from project activities / Percentage of projects scoring 4 and above on gender focus in implementation[ii] / Annual Portfolio Performance Report
(PPR)
Grant implementation ensures gender-equitable participation in and benefit from project activities / Percentage of grants scoring 4 and above on gender focus. / Annual Portfolio Performance Report (PPR)
Supervision/implementation support gives attention to gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment / Percentage of supervision reports reflecting Guidelines for supervision and implementation support of projects and programmes funded from IFAD loans and grants (2007) / Baseline to set benchmarks (2008)
Bi-annual reviews
Project completion reports give attention to gender mainstreaming/women’s empowerment / Project completion reports (PCRs) ratings factor in attention to gender equality/women’s empowerment. / Rating by PMD Front Office

5.OPERATIONALIZATION

5.1.At the project level, gender is not only used for women, but by gender it means, men and women, boys and girls. Mainstreaming gender through Livestock and Access to Markets Project (LAMP) shallpresent opportunities to increase the effectiveness of its investment in enhancing the capacity of rural women and men by augmenting their likelihood to strike and sustain through their immediate eco-systems by tapping on business opportunities that are otherwise available and can be readily put into use by hand-holding in the form of helping organize vulnerable sections of communities; by giving them basic seed for business (asset transfer: goat; poultry etc.); basic training to ameliorate the need sets’ conditions and to provide them access to business information (knowledge management) and to create requisite market traction through vertical market linkages with additional provision of institutional credit (formal micro-credit through digital banking products) so that they could be provided sustainability and possibility of scaling up to gain economies of scale in due course of time.

5.2.The Project recognizes gender equality as a pivot to achieve socio-economic uplift of vulnerable communities (target group). LAMP envisages gender mainstreamsin all aspects: from planning, inception, implementation, monitoring and evaluation to creating impact that synthesize into economic empowerment along gender dimensions.

5.3.For addressing needs of vulnerable rural households (target group), the Project CoordinationUnit is focusing on opportunities that equalize the access to equity (of opportunities- irrespective of colour, creed, and gender) as per IFAD Gender Mainstreaming guidelines that are in perfect harmony with Livestock & Diary Development Policy of Government of the Punjab in the L&DDD. This further aims at identifying constraints to the participation of poor men and women, and structuring an institutional response by evolving apposite strategies that can convert weaknesses into strengths and threats into opportunities throughtangible and measurable actions to ensure equitable access to project resources, business opportunities, skills’ training, and market linkages for creating an enabling environment that could ensure element of sustainability well after the project would have exhausted its life cycle, which entails incorporating lessons learnt along trajectory of implementation (exit strategy).

5.4.Thus, equality and women’s empowerment are included both in the project’s objectives and in the core principles of engagement through participation in community organizations and in developing indigenous but ingenious business models, capable of upscaling elsewhere, another advantage of the project.

5.5.The GAP is designed to help project teams integrate gender in their offices and programs. GAP shall give visibility to and accountability for gender mainstreaming. The GAP strategy shall make project activities more tangible. For delivering the practical benefits to women and sustainability of project outcomes it is important to do emphasis on gender mainstreaming within project beneficiaries by generating business opportunities (employment generation) and income opportunities (economic empowerment that entails social empowerment along dimensions gender mainstreaming) as defined inputs of LAMP.

6.Gender Analyses Plan

6.1.Gender analysis refers to the many ways we can assess and understand the differences in the lives of women and men, girls and boys and the relationships between and among them, including:

  • Access to resources, opportunities and decision making;
  • Activities, roles and responsibilities; and the
  • Constraints, vulnerabilities and risks they face relative to each other.

6.2.The project GAP will carry out frequent gender analyses to understand needs of men and women; review key interventions and ensure that all the data is analyzed in a way that all groups’ needs are identified and catered for.

7.Reporting Mechanism

7.1.The Director Gender will report to the Project Director with regard to progress on GAP on daily basis. The progress will be provided against key outcomes, outputs and process indicators.