CHECKLISTS FOR MAINSTREAMING GENDER INTO ECA'S MANAGERIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL PROCESSES

A project on Mainstreaming Gender Equality into Budget Processes within the United Nations System was carried out in 1999-2000. It aimed to develop concrete methodologies to assist all

parts of the United Nations system to incorporate gender perspectives in programme budgets, including through identifying good practice examples.

The findings from the UN project illustrate some generic lessons for successful gender mainstreaming in budget processes - i.e. the importance of clear policy statements on gender equality and the work of the organization; clarity of gender mainstreaming in planning and budget instructions; explicit management support for gender mainstreaming; strong oversight and accountability functions; and increased dialogue between programme staff, management, budget staff and gender specialists. Some of the constraints identified were not directly related to gender perspectives but concerned technical and political capacity to produce clear statements on missions, objectives and indicators. The project also pointed out to the potential of results-based processes for gender mainstreaming in planning and resource allocations.

Below are some of the major areas that can be mainstreamed, together with checklists for gender mainstreaming. It is in no way exhaustive and does not claim to be a blue print written in stone.

But it alerts the staff concerned on some of the major issues that must be taken into account.

In order to mainstream gender, organizational development needs to take place at the institutional level. Irrespective of the size of the organization, each one of them has official and unofficial rules, norms, practices and procedures that determine what gets done, how things are done and the amount and type of resources that are allocated. Institutional components include:

vision and mission; policies and approaches to development; organizational structure;

accountability mechanisms; communications channels; institutional learning capacity; allocation of financial resources and human resource management practices.

The role of each of these components in gender mainstreaming is summarized below.

6.1 Vision and Mission

The fundamental principles and beliefs of an organization are often outlined in its vision and mission statements. These shape the long-term work of the organization, the kind of activities it carries out, and the kind of outcomes desired. Vision and mission statements are the first indication that the organization understands and has a serious commitment to gender equity.

Vision and mission statements that address gender issues give staff permission to allocate time, attention and human resources to equity initiatives.

Successful gender mainstreaming requires therefore, that staff at the Commission understands its vision and mission in relation to gender equality. The following requirements should be borne in mind regarding the mission statements and the vision of the organization:

• Develop an understanding of ECA's vision/mission with which to assess progress in gender mainstreaming idea of how ECA sees itself changing in the future,

o Familiarize with the kinds of values ECA promotes: target oriented vs. quality oriented;

competitive vs. cooperative, etc.

o Are the vision/mission statements based on a thorough analysis of the context including a perspective on gender equality?

o Does the vision/mission statement acknowledge the existence of power inequalities between women and men? Can you highlight the kinds of gender inequality: welfare, access, values, participation and control?

o Are you aware of the vision written down? Do all your staff, colleagues, know them?

Do you have a level of commitment to the mission and goals?

o Identify external factors that support or inhibit your capacity to carry out gender mainstreaming as spelled out in the vision/mission (e.g. national policies, donor priorities, or the extent of inter-agency cooperation)

6.2 Gender policies and strategies

An organization's overall approach to promoting gender equality is usually defined in a gender policy statement. General policy statements describe how the organization intends to achieve its vision, mission and goals throughout its programs, services and activities and in the organization as a whole. Kabeer (1994) says that an organization's approach results in one of three types of

policies:

• Gender-neutral policies target the beneficiary group who can best fulfill the project goals, but leave the existing division of responsibilities and resources unchanged.

• Gender specific policies recognize women's and men's particular needs and allocate specific resources or identify specific activities to meet those needs.

• Gender re-distributive policies seek to transform existing gender relations but redistributing responsibilities, resources and power more evenly between men and women. This kind of policy may require one sex or the other to give up certain privileges are take certain responsibilities in order to achieve greater equity in development

outcomes.

Although a policy is not an end in itself, it provides a basis for action and gives the organization permission to allocate needed resources when the time comes to carry out equity initiatives. A gender policy statement typically includes:

• An assessment of gender-based problems, needs and issues.

• Goals, guidelines and strategies for making the organization's programmes, services, activities, governance and operations more equitable.

• A description of how the policy will be applied in programmes and within the organization as a whole (if gender considerations are not integrated into other organizational policies).

• Indicators (drawn from base line data) which can be used to guide and monitor

implementation.

• An outline of resources required to carry out the policy/strategy (Hamerschlag and Reerink, 1996).

A gender strategy describes particular activities and processes such as management systems or guidelines that will be used to reach the goals and objectives identified in the gender policies.

APPROACHES TO WOMEN'S INVOLVEMENT IN DEVELOPMENT

(1985-?) power relations

Adapted from: CEDPA (1996, P.9); Moser (1989)

An important step in practical gender mainstreaming is to ask questions about the status of policy