Checklist for project visits

1. Make sure that as far as possible that both women and men are included as representatives of your organisation on project visits. 

2. Always speak with both women and men about project-related matters.

3. When planning a project set aside enough time for gathering the knowledge, experiences, opinions and expectations of as many different groups in the local community as possible. The respective experiences of men and women can be very different and can also vary between different reference groups (according to age, ethnicity, social status, education, profession, etc.)

4. Learn to understand the gender-related division of labour in the local community where you are working. Pay attention to reproductive work, productive work, and community work. Who does what? Who owns what? Who has the right to use what? 

5. Discuss with your partner organisation as to whether women and men should take part in planning meetings together or whether it would be easier for them to express their views if separate meetings are held. 

6. As well as discussing the project’s own particular themes with the participants, talk with them about other problems, too, such as possible inequality and its causes. 

7. In the country where your project operates there are certainly NGOs that work to improve the status of women and promote gender equality, many of them women’s organisations. Find out where they are operating and contact them. Women’s organisations are often prime sources of information about gender equality issues in their own countries and can perhaps help projects with gender equality objectives, insofar as their resources permit. 

8. Make sure that the information you obtain from the community and other sources is put to good use in your project planning and implementation. 

9. Make sure that both women and men take part in project implementation and monitoring. 

10. When the project is evaluated make sure that the people doing the evaluation pay proper attention to gender equality issues in their work and their report.

>>> What is the least you can do 

23.04.2004