|
GOOD PRACTICE EXAMPLES
As a strategy for
achieving gender equality, gender mainstreaming involves a process
of incremental change in policies, strategies and activities.
The long term objective is that attention to gender equality
will pervade all policies, strategies and activities so that
women and men influence, participate in, and benefit equitably
from all interventions. Documenting good practice in mainstreaming
gender equality entails recording positive steps made towards
achieving this goal. Although the policy, project or activity
may not yet be perfect from a gender equality perspective, it
is still possible, and important, to record positive steps in
the right direction.
Good practice examples
should document how gender equality concerns were made central
to policy-making, legislation, resource allocation, planning
implementation and monitoring of projects and programme. They
should, if possible, document the transformational aspect of
mainstreaming -the impact that consideration of gender
equality aspects has in terms of changes to goals, strategies,
actions, outcomes and impacts.
A taskforce within
the Interagency Network on Women and Gender Equality worked
to develop an inventory of good practice examples on gender
mainstreaming taken from the United Nations system. See:
Documenting
good practice examples on the mainstreaming strategy
A good practice
example of gender mainstreaming could be actions which lead
to a positive change in:
- Policies;
- Strategies /
approach;
- Advocacy efforts;
- Legislation;
- Research and
other analytical work;
- Statistics-
greater sex disaggregation, improved gender analysis of data,
or identifying gaps in the data base;
- Development
of indicators and improved monitoring;
- Medium-term
plans and budgets;
- Procedures and
processes.
A good practice
example could also document positive organizational changes
necessary to promote gender mainstreaming, such as:
- Competence development
on mainstreaming;
- Establishment
of a gender unit or focal point with a clear mandate and necessary
resources to promote and support mainstreaming;
- Indication of
management commitment to mainstreaming;
- Establishment
of accountability mechanisms;
- Development
of guidelines, manuals, and other tools to support mainstreaming:
- Establishment
of a resource base of relevant gender equality expertise for
mainstreaming.
Documentation of
organizational change to support the mainstreaming process must
go beyond simply describing the changes implemented to a discussion
of the anticipated and achieved impacts of the changes. In the
case of development of guidelines, for example, there should
be discussion of the usage of these guidelines and the impact
on day-to-day work.
Good practice examples
can also be documented on changes made to develop national environments
conducive to the implementation of the mainstreaming strategy.
These could entail:
- Provision of
training on mainstreaming for line ministries;
- Developing the
capacity of the national machinery to advocate for mainstreaming.
Suggested format
for documenting good practice examples
A format for documenting
good practice examples has been discussed.
The good practice
example (2 pages only) should follow the format below.
- Background
on the overall intervention in which the good practice process/
activity takes place.
- The reason
changes in relation to gender equality were required -
related to achievement of social justice/human rights and/or
effective achievement of the goals of the programme.
- The objective
of the process / activity being recorded as good practice.
- The strategy
adopted to achieve this objective.
- The outcome
- specific changes as a result of the process /activity, and
how these relate to the objectives set.
- The factors
contributing to / hindering the success of the process
/ activity.
- Any ways in
which the good practice activity could have been improved.
- Plans to follow-up
the good practice activity and the potential / constraints
in relation to moving forward.
- Any other lessons
learned from the process.
- The possibility
for replication or spin-off effects.
If relevant, the
following information could also be provided: Further documentation
on the example (if anything exists) and contacts for
further information.
Good practice
examples
Examples of good
practice will be documented overtime. A "bank" of
good practice examples will be developed.
|
