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Planning the project
Planning based on gender analysis When your organisation has examined the project idea with your partner organisation and a preliminary outline of problems and stakeholder groups has been drawn up, you can start the actual work of planning the project itself. A gender analysis should also be made at this stage at the very latest, if it has not been done already during the pre-planning stage. Refer to the section on pre-planning above to see how to conduct a gender analysis. Remember to use the information obtained from the gender analysis when weighing up alternative solutions within the project or matters concerning the project as a whole. Gender analysis is a great help when considering solutions because the different perspectives of women and men either support or weaken different types of solution. When you know the significance of gender in the division of labour, the use of income, the right to control resources, and power systems, it is easier to make choices between different alternatives when implementing the project and easier, as well, to avoid mistakes. Gender analysis makes this possible. Involving women and men in the planning When there is a choice of solution models in a project, you should, together with your cooperation partner and the beneficiaries, choose the alternative that best ensures the participation of both women and men in the project work and in decision-making. Try at the same time to recognise the possible obstacles that the cultural environment or the community may impose on, for example, participation or decision-making by women. In this way you can prevent in advance such problems as mistrust of the project arising in a particular group. It is also important to listen to the different stakeholder groups, and to both the women and the men within them (and to the girls and the boys, too, if they are involved), in connection with the concrete activities and technical solutions in the project as well. For example:
Focus on gender in the project aims When the aim and intended results of the project start to take shape, as well as the steps that will lead to them, you must check how far, and in which ways, gender aspects and effects have been taken into account in drawing them up. The objective and expected results of the project must be specified separately for women, men and other project target groups selected on the basis of analysis. Remember to divide needs into practical needs and strategic needs at this stage, and think about the ultimate goal at which the project’s objective and expected results are aiming. Note that the objective of the project cannot be the improvement of the status of women if its results are only things that affect the fulfilment of women’s everyday basic needs, such as clean water, food security or medical treatment. Think carefully: Can the project have an impact on the satisfaction of strategic needs and thereby on the reduction of inequality?
Indicators and gender perspective Indicators are instruments that help you to monitor your achievement of development cooperation objective and expected results. Indicators measure or describe changes that have been achieved by the project in particular respects. Indicators can thus be either quantitative (measuring one or more factors) or qualitative (descriptive). The source of the data used in the indicators must also be specified. Indicators may be based on regular official statistics, questionnaires, or surveys, for example. The objective and expected results of the project plan must be specified in terms of indicators. The changes that are expected with regard to the status of women and men must also be clearly seen in these indicators, so that the project’s success in reducing gender-based inequalities can be monitored over the course of the project. The choice of which particular indicators to use naturally depends very much on the nature of the project. Qualitative indicators often tell us more about the wider impacts of project operations on people and their behaviour, but quantitative indicators, too, can be an important means of revealing and clarifying changes. There are two kinds of indicators that measure or describe gender equality:
Differences between quantitative and qualitative indicators regarding gender equality are illustrated in this table. Formulate indicators with the help of local people It is important that the project beneficiaries and other stakeholder groups are involved when the indicators are being designed. There may be differences of understanding – perhaps even great differences – between you and the project beneficiaries as to which factors best describe or measure change and development. If the goal is to improve the quality of health care, for example, the doctors at the health centre may think that the best measure is the decrease in the incidence of specific illnesses in the area. The patients, on the other hand, may see quality best in terms of their receiving proper services and answers to the questions they have on their minds when they visit the health centre. In the end the indicator used will thus reflect what each group thinks to be important! When formulating indicators it is important to remember:
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