Monday, January 7, 2013


NATAMBA SHADRACK
UGANDA CHRISTIAN UNVERSITY-MUKONO
snatamba@ucu.ac.ug
Question: In your own view can Millennium Development Goals assist the World to reduce poverty?
The understanding of poverty and Millennium Development Goals
At the UN’s World Summit on Social Development (1995), the ‘Copenhagen Declaration’ described poverty as “…a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education and information.” When people are unable to eat, go to school, or have any access to health care, then they can be considered to be in poverty, regardless of their income. To measure poverty in any statistical way, however, more rigid definitions must be used.
According to the World Bank Organization, poverty is described as; “Poverty is hunger, poverty is lack of shelter, poverty is being sick and not being able to see a doctor, poverty is not having access to school and not knowing how to read. Poverty is not having a job, is fear for the future, living one day at a time and not having right. Poverty manifests itself as material, powerlessness, physical weakness isolation deprivation, but its causes can be found in the power relations that govern how valued resources are distributed in a society. Like most other African countries, poverty remains the greatest challenge facing the people of Uganda.
Poverty has been defined not only as lack of incomes but also as the inability to meet basic and social needs, the feeling of powerlessness to break out of the cycle of poverty, and insecurity of persons and property. In 1992 poverty rates in Uganda stood at 56% but declined to 44% in 1997, 34% in 1999/2000, then rose to 38% in 2002/2003 before falling again to 31% in 2005/2006 (PEAP 2004).
The population in Uganda is predominantly rural and agricultural based. There are significant regional disparities in poverty levels, with the highest incidence in the north of the country. More people in northern Uganda live below the poverty line (64.8%) followed by eastern region at 38.4%, Central Uganda has 19.6%, while western has 19.3% poor people. In these regions, long affected by conflict, all the MDG indicators
fare very poorly, although the ongoing peace talks between the Government and the LRA rebels bring promises of peace and sustainable development for Northern Uganda at least (Uganda MDG Progress Report 2007).
The Government of Uganda has tried to address these challenges through a comprehensive national poverty reduction strategy, the Poverty Eradication Action Plan (PEAP), a fundamental instrument which acts as the overarching framework for national development. The PEAP sets an ambitious target of reducing the proportion of the population living in absolute poverty from 44% in 1997 to below 10% by 2017 (PEAP 2004). On the other hand, Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are a set of time-bound and measurable goals for combating poverty, hunger, disease, illiteracy, environmental degradation, and discrimination against women. - formulated at the United Nations Millennium Summit (New York, Sept. 2000)
According to the UN Department of Public Information, the number of people living in extreme poverty worldwide, on less than one dollar a day exceeds 1.3 billion, and women are the majority (UNDPI 2003). Moreover, the focus on the quantitative measurement of a dollar a day ignores the fact that for poor people do not access affordable housing and transportation, clean and safe water and sanitation, primary health care for their families and education are essential to well-being for their families and communities (Antrobus 2005). There are multiple factors that lead to this reality, which may differ by region or locality.
Uganda in particular, is a signatory to the Millennium Declaration that was launched at the UN Summit in September 2000 and these MDGs constitute specific, measurable targets that are summarized by the following eight goals: eradicate extreme poverty and hunger; achieve universal primary education; promote gender equality and empower women; reduce child mortality; improve maternal health; combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; ensure environmental sustainability; and develop a global partnership for development.
Uganda has achieved tremendous progress in the area of HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction, Universal Primary Education and gender empowerment, as well as part of goal 8 on developing partnerships for development. Income poverty levels also reduced dramatically from 56%in 1992 to 35% in 2002. It is important to note that Uganda has put in place some efforts to achieve the MDGs through the Poverty Eradication action plan (PEAP), which sums up the government’s major development plan for economic transformation and improvement in living standards. The overall goal of the PEAP is the reduction of absolute poverty to less than 10% by the year 2017.
According to the Ministry of Finance, the incidence of poverty fell from 56% in 1992, to 44% in 1997 and 35% in 2000. Uganda has done relatively well compared to many other Sub-Saharan African countries in achieving high economic growth of 6.9% per year during the 1990s and ensuring improved incomes for poor as well as better-off households. However, the impressive results have not been attained throughout the country, with places like the northern region missing out on poverty reduction “In fact, it increased from 60 to 66% between 1997 and 2000.
To achieve the MDGs by 2015 the UN Millennium Project Task Forces have identified specific sets of interventions for scaled-up investment. Many of these interventions are expected to have effects on several goals. For example, improved education leads to many benefits, including reductions in income poverty, hunger, and child mortality.
Likewise meeting each goal requires integrated strategies comprising action across many different “sectors”. For example, reducing child mortality by two-thirds will not only require specific health interventions, but also improved access to water supply and sanitation to reduce diarrheal diseases; a lowering of indoor air pollution through improved cooking fuels and stoves; and improved gender equality and maternal education.
In identifying MDG interventions it is necessary to make a clear distinction between outcomes, such as hunger reduction, and areas of programmatic activity, such as raising agricultural productivity and providing nutrition. In some cases this distinction is particularly important since, for example, “health” refers to an area of programmatic
activity as well as MDG outcomes. It is important to point out, that countries should carry out a goal-by-goal analysis of interventions required to meet specific MDG outcomes. Subsequently, these interventions need to be bundled into broader intervention areas that can serve as a framework for developing an operational strategy to achieve the MDGs (Sachs et al.2004).
In my own view, the MDGs can assist the world in poverty reduction and the student is going to give his analysis goal per goal using Uganda as his case study because it the best country know to him; however, references to other countries will be given.
The first MDG under analysis is to eradicate Extreme Poverty and Hunger and Uganda has made significant strides in reducing poverty. The population living below the poverty line reduced from 56% to 31% between 1992 and 2006. If this trend continues, prospects for achieving the income-poverty target of less than 10% by 2017 remain high. The two main indicators for monitoring hunger are the prevalence of underweight children under five years of age and the proportion of the population living below the minimum level of dietary energy consumption. Between 1995 and 2006, the proportion of underweight children reduced from 25.5% to 20.4%. The proportion of the population unable to meet the recommended food caloric intake increased from 58.7% in 1999 to 68.5% in 2006, with wide geographical divergences. The northern region reported the highest prevalence of caloric deficiency between 2002 and 2006.
However, most governments in the world and Uganda in particular have embarked on Agricultural productivity and rural infrastructure. Because three-quarters of Africa’s poor for instance live in rural areas, and an overwhelming percentage are employed in agriculture, the first area of interventions focuses on raising rural productivity in an environmentally sustainable manner. In particular, the investments in farm productivity will increase rural incomes and reduce chronic hunger, which in Africa is predominantly caused by insufficient agricultural productivity. Additional interventions for roads, power, improved cooking fuels and stoves, and water and sanitation are geared at providing a basis for higher productivity and efficiency. Investments in improved land
and water management practices will help reverse environmental degradation in rural Africa and all these will be reducing poverty.
The second MDG is Universal Primary Education; which was initiated by the Government of Uganda in particular in the 1997, with the aim of increasing access to quality primary education. The government committed itself to pay school fees, provide textbooks and other instructional materials for pupils and teachers, and to meet the costs of co-curricular activities, school administration and maintenance. Although this policy was initially aimed at four children of school-going age per family, it was revised in 2002 to cover all children of school-going age.
The introduction of UPE in 1997 led to a substantial increase by 132% in gross enrollment from the pre-UPE total of 3.1 million in 1996 to 7.2 million children in 2006. In 2004, Uganda recorded a gross enrollment ratio of 104.4% and net enrollment ratio of 86%. According to the national household survey 2005/06, the net enrolment ratio was 84%, reflecting a slight decline. Uganda is, therefore, on the right path to achieving the MDG target of 100% by 2015. In addition, the gender enrollment gap in primary education has narrowed, with the proportion of girls in total enrollment rising to 49% in 2004 up from 44.2% in 1990.
From the above, one can be able to notice that increased enrollment at UPE level has significantly increased the numbers in education at all levels. The designers of UPE have paid attention to increasing girls’ completion rates. In Uganda for example, it is UPE that gave birth to Universal secondary education (USE). Therefore, it is evident that large numbers of secondary school graduates are needed to help deliver the other MDG intervention packages; for example, secondary school graduates are needed as community health workers and agricultural extension workers.
The third MDG is to improve Gender Equality and Women Empowerment; since 1990, Uganda has exercised affirmative action in favour of women with regard to admission into university and other tertiary institutions. Women applying for admission
into institutions of higher learning are awarded extra points in addition to their scores to increase their chances of gaining admission. Indeed, the policy led to significant increase in the number of women at universities. The proportion of females to the total student enrollment increased from 31% in 1993/94 to 40% in 2002 and up to 42% in 2004. In primary teacher colleges, women were 48% of the total student population in 2003 (Uganda DHS EdData Survey, 2001). At the national level, every district has an elected woman Member of Parliament. In addition, women are encouraged to compete with men for the other constituencies – nine women won parliamentary seats after contesting with men. Thus, in the current Parliament, 89 of the 310 members are women, representing 28.7% of the legislative body. This is an improvement from the 18% registered in 1995.
Despite the improvements, however, the number of women MPs still lags far behind than that of men, suggesting that the policy of affirmative action should be maintained and efforts to enhance women’s participation in politics, governance, ensuring full reproductive health rights and access to services, as well as the guarantee of equal property rights and access to work, and management be raised.
Reducing Child Mortality and Improving Maternal Mortality; the infant mortality rate, which measures child deaths before the age of one, improved to 76 deaths per 1000 live births in 2007, from 122 deaths per 1000 live births in 1991. On the other hand, the under-five mortality rate, which measures child deaths before the age of five, declined from 167 to 137 deaths per 1000 live births during the same period. Governments are trying in providing Health, nutrition, and family planning services. The aim of this is to address Africa’s extraordinary/astonishing disease burden, widespread micronutrient deficiencies children face, and the high fertility rates in women.
This package of interventions includes the medical interventions needed to improve child and maternal health; prevent the transmission of and provide treatment for HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria; improve nutrition; and provide family planning services. The two goals have an entire package of family planning and reproductive health services which are aimed at enabling a significant reduction in Africa’s very high total fertility
rates by satisfying women’s desire to limit and space births. And with on doubt, the access to family planning, contraceptive services, girls’ education, women’s empowerment, and off-farm employment opportunities for young women can lead to a dramatic reduction in the total fertility rate in just a few years by helping to allow for better birth spacing and by strengthening family preferences for smaller family sizes will reduce poverty levels in the world.
Another MDG is to Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases; According to the 2004-05 Uganda HIV/AIDS Sero Behavioral Survey (UHSBS), 6.4% (or slightly over 800,000 people) of adult population in Uganda are infected with HIV. Overall, there has been a declining trend of HIV infection from a peak of 18% in 1992 to the current figure. The international target is to halt, by 2015, and begin to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. Uganda, therefore, seems to be well on track on this target.
But despite the sustained declining trend of HIV/AIDS prevalence, it remains a significant threat to human and economic development. Over one million cumulative HIV/AIDS-related deaths have been reported since HIV/AIDS was first recognised in the country; and HIV/AIDS remains one of the major causes of morbidity and mortality in Uganda. HIV/AIDS has orphaned scores of children. Uganda has about two million orphans, 45% of whom are the result of HIV/AIDS – yet the number is rising. HIV/AIDS has created long-term impacts on the education system, which include mortality of children and teachers. The pandemic has also adversely affected labour productivity and output in all organizations through decimating the workforce, especially skilled personnel.
Malaria remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Uganda. It accounts for 52% of outpatient department attendance, and 30% of in-patient admissions. Malaria morbidity remains high and 95% of the country is still classified as endemic to the disease. The disease is responsible for 9-14% of all in-patient deaths. However, the inpatient deaths for children under-five attributed to the disease are about double at 20-23%. Increasing cases of malaria may be attributed to increased resistance to most
commonly available drugs. I strongly believe that if HIV/AIDS and Malaria are dealt with by encouraging the people to change their behaviors, the population will be active in all sectors that foster development.
The second last MDG is to ensure Environmental Sustainability; there has been a positive trend in rural water coverage between 1992 and 2002, although it is still below the target of providing safe water within easy reach of 65% of the rural population by 2005 and 100% of the population by 2015. Data from the recent Ugandan National Household Survey (UNHS, 2006) and information from the Directorate of Water Department (DWD) indicate an increase in water service coverage nationwide from a little over 20% in 1991 to almost 68% in 2006. Equally, the Uganda Population and Housing Census (UPHC) data reports a rise in water service coverage from 26% in 1991 to 68% in 2002.
Uganda was initially well endowed with environmental resources, but various reports indicate persistent degradation of the country’s natural resources, namely: declining soil fertility; deforestation, particularly outside protected areas; pasture degradation; decreasing fish stocks; and water pollution caused by discharge from industries and domestic waste, among others. This degradation impacts heavily on livelihoods of the poor by constraining their ability to increase incomes and making them more vulnerable. This environmental stress is partly attributed to the recent impressive economic growth in the country. Uganda is reported to be losing its forest cover through deforestation. Various studies report estimates of varying annual deforestation rates from 550 km (UNHS, 2006) per year to 700 km2 to 2,000 km2 per year, primarily due to deforestation for agricultural land (FD, 2000; MFPED, 1994; FAO, 2000 – cited in UNDP, 2004).
The last MDG is the Global Partnership for Development; Uganda does not have specific (localized) targets for this goal. However, the PEAP is devoted entirely to the matter of developing partnerships for the realization of the development targets. Partnerships relate both to policies and mobilization of resources for financing the development process.
On the policy side, Uganda has had a stabilization and structural adjustment programme with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) since 1987. This allowed partnerships between Uganda and other donors to develop throughout the 1990s to date. Uganda’s economy is open, rule-based and quite predictable. However, it is a fragile economy that could be grossly affected by political developments. Uganda is an active participant in the New Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) that promotes good governance through its peer review mechanism. The peer review for Uganda that is coordinated by the National Planning Authority (NPA) at the national level and by NEPAD at a regional level is ongoing. With regard to resource mobilization for financing the development process, Uganda is placing heavy emphasis on improving domestic revenue, which in 2004/05financial year was 12.7% of GDP, way below the Sub-Saharan average of 18%.
Cross-National Infrastructure, Trade Integration, and Government Cooperation; Uganda is one of the examples the landlocked countries in sub-Saharan Africa and this means that without such countries have little chance to develop unless they have ready access to the coast through efficient, low cost infrastructure. Moreover, from a global perspective, individual African countries often present very small markets. Currently, East African countries are holding talks on how to have a Regional integration which will make possible for the five countries to exchange goods and services freely and this will also raise the interest of potential foreign investors by increasing the scope of the market accompanying a potential operating presence in East Africa. Regional integration is also important for achieving scale economies in infrastructure networks such as power grids, large-scale electricity generation, road transport, rails, and telecommunications.
Other strategies that governments have put in place in line with the Millennium development goals include; Slum upgrading and urban management; in conjunction with rural-urban migration fueled by abject/horrible rural poverty, a lack of urban jobs has led to high levels of urban poverty that are rising across much of the continent. This MDG focuses on urban infrastructure and services (electricity, transport, water and sanitation, waste disposal, and so forth) and slum upgrading. Successful urban development and the creation of viable export industries across Africa are contingent on improved access to
rich countries’ markets, particularly for apparel and light manufacturing, as well as the flexibility to use targeted industrial policies as needed
Secondly is Science, technology and innovation; these interventions focus on the mobilization of science and technology. Currently, tropical sub-Saharan Africa produces roughly twenty times fewer patents per capita than the average for the rest of the developing world. The region has only 18 scientists and engineers per million people, compared with 69 in South Asia, 76 in the Middle East, 273 in Latin America, and 903 in East Asia. Countries like Uganda have increased their investment in science by encouraging education institutions to teach sciences.
MDG Facts; 31%of the Ugandan population lives below US$1.00 per person per day, 20.4% of Ugandan children go to bed hungry , 84% of Ugandan children are enrolled in primary school, The average Ugandan woman spends 9 hours a day on care labor activities such as fetching water, firewood and caring for the sick, 13.7% of children die before their fifth birthday, 7.6% of infants die before their first birthday, For every 100,000 new mothers, 435 die while giving birth , Only 41% of births are attended by skilled personnel, 6.4% of the Ugandan population is infected with HIV/AIDS, 67% of Ugandan households have access to safe water today
In conclusion, a careful consideration to the issue of gender equality, that is, to an improved economic and social status for Africa’s women is important. To a great extent, women are the farmers, caregivers, and child raisers of Africa. They perform an incredible amount of physical labor every day merely to keep their households alive. Fetching fuel wood and water, caring for the farm animals, plowing the fields, and caring for the sick and dying in the AIDS pandemic are all tasks disproportionately borne by Africa’s women. Many of the recommended investments, such as improved access to water supply, modern cooking fuels, enhanced transport services, and improved soil nutrients, will have a special benefit for women and will target them directly.

References:

Acaye, G. (2001). Increased utilization, reduced quality: the results of cost sharing abolition in Busia. Uganda Health Bulletin 7(3) 49-53.
Consistent with Sachs et al. (2004), this paper focuses on the tropical countries of sub-Saharan Africa.
Human Development Report (2006); Beyond scarcity: Power, poverty and the global water crisis published for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
Human Development Report (2003); Millennium Development Goals: A compact among nations to end human poverty Published for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) New York Oxford Oxford University Press 2003
Kasente, DH (1995) Processes Influencing Gender Differences in Access to Post Secondary Institutions in Uganda. PhD Thesis. Kenyatta University, Nairobi.
Kirunga Tashobya, C., and P., Ogwang Ogwal (2004). The Effort to achieve the
Millennium Development Goals in Uganda: Reaching for the sky? Health Policy and Development, 2(1) 33-39.
MFPED (2004). Poverty Eradication Action Plan (2004/5-2007/8) (December) (Kampala: MFPED)
MFPED (2004). "An Overview of the National Economy", Discussion Paper 7.
(Kampala: MFPED).
MFPED (2004). Poverty Eradication Action Plan 2004/05-2007/08. (Kampala: MFPED).
MFPED (2005). Background to the Budget, 2005/06). (Kampala: MFPED).
MFPED and UNDP (2003). The Millennium Development Goals Report for Uganda. (Kampala: MFPED
and UNDP).
Millennium Development Goals Uganda’s Progress Report 2007
Millennium Development GOALS; Progress Report by Denmark 2004
Ministry of Education and Sports (MoES) (2004). The Education Sector Annual Performance Report,
Ministry of Health (2000). Health Sector Strategic Plan, 2000/01-2004/05. (Kampala: Ministry of Health).
Uganda DHS EdData Survey, 2001. Education Data for Decision Making. UBOS, Entebbe, Uganda.
Uganda Bureau of Statistics (UBOS) (2000). Uganda National Household Survey 1999/2000. (Entebbe: UBOS).
Okidi, John and Andrew McKay (2003). "Poverty dynamics in Uganda: 1992 to 2000," Chronic Poverty
UN Summit for Social Development Copenhagen (1995).
Web references:
Ministry of Health (2000). More about HIV/AIDS in Uganda. Internet: http://www.health.go.ug/docs/ part2_current.pdf Bulletin Vol. 8: No. (3/4): 211-214.
Uganda Case Study. Internet: http://www.dfid.gov.uk/pubs/files/oppguganda.pdf October 23/09
More information about the MDGs is available at www.unmillenniumproject.org and www.un.org/millenniumgoals
www.africansuntimes.com/index/ast/news/women,03.09.09

NATAMBA

BDS III semester one


Gender and Development
Baseline definitions of key concepts and terms.
Beijing Conference (World Conferences on Women)The three world conferences of the UN Decade for Women - held in 1975 (Mexico City), 1980 (Copenhagen), and 1985 (Nairobi) - were important mobilizing and awareness-raising events. The Decade resulted in a consensus document, Nairobi Forward-Looking Strategies for the advancement of Women to the Year 2000 (FLS). This document contains a comprehensive set of strategies for advancing the status of women worldwide. Ten years later, the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in 1995 in Beijing, China, to evaluate the achievements to date and plan the way forward, The resulting Beijing Platform for Action was a strong statement signed by the majority of governments in the world. The platform for Action served as an impetus for government action and a monitoring tool for NGOs to follow the extent to which their governments were following through on their national committments. These conferences have created valuable opportunities for organizing influencing policy making locally, nationally, regionally, and internationally.
Beijing +5This refers to the 5 year benchmark to measure the progress made in implementing the Beijing Platform of Action. An international meeting was convened in New York in June 2000 to discuss national achievements and constraints.
CEDAWOn 18 December 1979, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. It entered into force as an international treaty on 3 September 1981 after the twentieth country had ratified it. By the tenth anniversary of the Convention in 1989, almost one hundred nations have agreed to be bound by its provisions.The Convention was the culmination of more than thirty years of work by the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), a body established in 1946 to monitor the situation of women and to promote women's rights. The Commission's work has been instrumental in bringing to light all the areas in which women are denied equality with men. These efforts for the advancement of women have resulted in several declarations and conventions, of which the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women is the central and most comprehensive document. CEDAW Document at the UN.
Conscientisation. This is a level of empowerment which concerns the individual person's understanding of the development process in terms of structural inequality; the realization by women and men that their problems do not derive so much from their own personal inadequacies but instead they are being subjected to a social system of institutional discrimination against them. Conscientisation. involves awareness and understanding of the difference between sex roles and gender roles and that gender roles are socially created and therefore can be changed to promote equality.
CRC Children's rights are most fully articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Created over a period of ten years with the input of representatives from different societies, religions and cultures, the Convention was adopted as an international human rights treaty on 20 November 1989. CRC document at UNICEF.
Gender refers to the roles and responsibilities of men and women that are created in our families, our societies and our cultures. The concept of gender also includes the expectations held about the characteristics, aptitudes and likely behaviours of both women and men (femininity and masculinity). Gender roles and expectations are learned. They can change over time and they vary within and between cultures. Systems of social differentiation such as political status, class, ethnicity, physical and mental disability, age and more, modify gender roles. The concept of gender is vital because, applied to social analysis; it reveals how women’s subordination (or men’s domination) is socially constructed. As such, the subordination can be changed or ended. It is not biologically predetermined nor is it fixed forever.

Sex describes the biological differences between men and women, which are universal and determined at birth.

Gender Analysis is the collection and analysis of sex-disaggregated information. Men and women both perform different roles. This leads to women and men having different experience, knowledge, talents and needs. Gender analysis explores these differences so policies, programmes and projects can identify and meet the different needs of men and women. Gender analysis also facilitates the strategic use of distinct knowledge and skills possessed by women and men.

Sex-Disaggregated Data is data that is collected and presented separately on men and women.

Gender Equality means that women and men have equal conditions for realizing their full human rights and for contributing to, and benefiting from, economic, social, cultural and political development.
Gender equality is therefore the equal valuing by society of the similarities and the differences of men and women, and the roles they play. It is based on women and men being full partners in their home, their community and their society.

Gender Equity is the process of being fair to men and women. To ensure fairness, measures must often be put in place to compensate for the historical and social disadvantages that prevent women and men from operating on a level playing field. Equity is a means. Equality is the result.

Empowerment is about people -both women and men- taking control over their lives: setting their own agendas, gaining skills, building self-confidence, solving problems and developing self-reliance. No one can empower another: only the individual can empower herself or himself to make choices or to speak out. However, institutions including international cooperation agencies can support processes that can nurture self-empowerment of individuals or groups.

Gender Division of Labour is the result of how each society divides work among men and among women according to what is considered suitable or appropriate to each gender.

Women in Development (WID) The WID approach aims to integrate women into the existing development process by targeting them, often in women-specific activities. Women are usually passive recipients in WID projects, which often emphasize making women more efficient producers and increasing their income. Although many WID projects have improved health, income or resources in the short term, because they did not transform unequal relationships, a significant number were not sustainable. A common shortcoming of WID projects is that they do not consider women’s multiple roles or those they miscalculate the elasticity of women’s time and labour. An other, is that such projects tend to by blind to men’s roles and responsibilities in women’s (dis)empowerment.

The biggest difference between WID and GAD is that WID projects traditionally were not grounded in a comprehensive gender analysis. The GAD approach is gender-analysis driven.

There is definitely a need for women-specific and men-specific interventions at times. These complement gender initiatives. Research shows that the success of both sex-specific and gender activities is directly linked with the depth of the gender analysis that informs them.

Gender and Development (GAD) The GAD approach focuses on intervening to address unequal gender relations which prevent inequitable development and which often lock women out of full participation. GAD seeks to have both women and men participate, make decisions and share benefits. This approach often aims at meeting practical needs as well as promoting strategic interests. A successful GAD approach requires sustained long-term commitment.

Practical Needs refer to what women (or men) perceive as immediate necessities such as water, shelter and food.

Strategic (Gender) Interests. Interventions addressing strategic gender interests focus on fundamental issues related to women’s (or, less often, men’s) subordination and gender inequities. Strategic gender interests are long-term, usually not material, and are often related to structural changes in society regarding women’s status and equity. They include legislation for equal rights, reproductive choice, and increased participation in decision-making. The notion of “strategic gender needs”, first coined in 1985 by Maxine Molyneux, helped develop gender planning and policy development tools, such as the Moser Framework, which are currently being used by development institutions around the world.

NB: The purpose of introducing such distinctions between needs is to alert the programme specialist to the importance of addressing the structural challenges to women’s empowerment. It is not to lock women’s realities and experiences into rigid and pre-set notions of what is a strategic need versus what responds to a practical need. For, in many instances, changes in women’s practical conditions of life have an effect on power relations between men and women within the community.

Gender-mainstreaming is a process rather than a goal. Efforts to integrate gender into existing institutions of the mainstream have little value for their own sake. We mainstream gender concerns to achieve gender equality and improve the relevance of development agendas. Such an approach shows that the costs of women’s marginalization and gender inequalities are born by all.

UN ECOSOC describes gender mainstreaming as “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. 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”. (ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2)

Gender-responsive objectives are programme and project objectives that are non-discriminatory, equally benefit women and men and aim at correcting gender imbalances.

Literacy Gender Parity Index (GPI) is the ratio of the female to male adult literacy rates which measures progress towards gender equity in literacy and the level of learning opportunities available for women in relation to those available to men. It serves also as a significant indicator of the empowerment of women in society.


References:
- March, C., Smyth I., Mukhopadhyay M., A Guide to Gender-Analysis Frameworks; Oxfam, 1999
- Status of Women Canada, Gender-Based Analysis: A guide for policy-making, 1996
- UNIFEM; Focusing on Women –UNIFEM’s expereince in mainstreaming, 1993
- Molyneux, Maxine ‘Mobilisation without Emancipation? Women’s Interests, States and Revolution in Nicargua’; Feminist Studies II, 2, 1985.
- OECD, DAC Source Book on Concepts and Approaches Linked to Gender Equality



Empowerment: A process through which men, women, boys and girls acquire knowledge, skills and willingness to critically analyze their situation and take appropriate action to change the status quo of women and other marginalised groups in society.
Feminism,A way of perceiving or interpreting a social situation from perspective of women and other marginalised groups in society. It further involved taking concrete action to remedy social inequalities.
Gender. Culturally and socially constructed roles, responsibilities privileges, relations and expectations of women men girls and boys,
Gender Neutral. Planning for women, men, boys and girls as if they are homogenous/not taking into consideration their different needs and roles. Experience has shown that gender neutral planning in reality addresses the needs of the dominant group.
Gender and Development. GADThis approach to development recognizes that women, poor men and other disadvantaged groups are the victims of social structures that impact them negatively. The ultimate goal of such an approach is to create equitable and sustainable development with women and men as decision-makers through empowering these groups to create social transformation with a gender perspective. It proposes taking into account the different practical and strategic needs of women and men at all stages of a project cycle, this involves gender mainstreaming. Gender and Development has replaced the Women in Development (WID) approach in most recent development literature but has yet to be broadly implemented.
Gender Awareness. Recognition that women and men perform different roles in society and therefore have different needs which must be recognized.
Gender Equality. Equal rights and opportunities for women , men, girls and boys in all sectors, political, social , legal and economic.
Gender Sensitivity. Being aware that women and men perform different roles and have different needs which must be planned for accordingly.
Gender Framework This is a tool for streamlining the analysis of needs and issues of men, women girls and boys (especially their relationships in society). It is also a guide for approacheing methodologies and policies of an organisation.
Gender Balance. This is an ideal situation where women and men boys and girls live harmoniously enjoying equal opportunities and have mutual respect for each other.
Gender Roles. These are the different tasks and responsibilities and expectations the society has defined and allocated to men and women girls and boys. They are not necessarily determined by biological make up and therefore they change with time and according to the situation.
Gender Focus,This refers to specificly addressing the needs of women and men, girls and boys in the society as determined by their gender.
Gender Blind. This is a conscious or unconscious way of doing or saying things without recognising or considering differences in position, needs and feelings based on gender.
Gender Bias,This is a positive or negative attitude/practice towards either female or male.
Gender Stereotyping. The assigning of roles, tasks and responsibilities to a particular gender on the bias of preconceived prejudices.
Gender Discrimination. A difference in treatment of people based entirely on their being male or female.This difference contributes to structural inequality in society.
Gender Disaggregated Data. This is a classified information on the basis of genders e.,g men, women, girls or boys. This data provides important indicators of gender needs.
Gender Equity. Just treatment, balanced recognition and appreciation of both women's and men's potential.
Gender Analysis. Critical examination of issues affecting both women and men within a given situation or policy.
Gender Mainstreaming.Addressing gender issues in all development policies and projected programmes irrespective of sector or type of project. Mainstreaming is therefore the very opposite of a policy strategy of segregating gender issues into separate "women's projects" The term mainstreaming is used by those who see women's development as being essentially concerned with women's participation and empowerment to address the issues of gender inequality. From this perspective the mainstreaming of gender issues entails the transformation of the development process.
Gender Policies: Gender Neutral Policy. Seeks to target selected men and women in order to realize certain pre-determined goals and objectives, but such a policy leaves the existing divisions of resources responsibilities and capabilities intact. In this context such a policy is gender sensitive but does not change the structural status quo in a given situation. Gender Specific Policy. Is intended to target and benefit a specific gender in order to achieve certain policy goals or to meet certain gender specific needs more effectively. Gender specific policy is in a way gender sensitive because its interventions are intended to meet targeted needs of one or other gender within existing distribution of resources and responsibilities. These kinds of interventions are most often welfare oriented but with potential of achieving transformatory impact when critically planned for. In this way the difference between a women-specific policy and a gender -blind policy is based on the analysis of gender specific constraints and one that is based on prior assumptions about proper roles of women. Gender Transformative Policy. Targets women men or both and recognizes the existence of gender specific needs and constraints of each or both categories, but also seeks to transform the existing gender relations in a more equitable direction through the redistribution of resources and responsibilities. Gender redistribute is the most challenging policy intervention because it doesn't not simply seek to channel resources to women within the existing social framework but in principle questions the existing status quo.
Practical needs. Those needs which are related to satisfying both men's women's girls and boys basic material needs for their day to day survival such as food, water, clothing and shelter.
Reproductive roles. Child bearing and rearing responsibilities for both men and women. These are often borne more heavily by women.
Sex. This is a biological make up of male and female.
Strategic needs. Needs that are related to changing the situation of marginalised people, especially women and girls to reach social equaloty. These include leadership and control over resources.
Women in Development. WIDAn approach used in designing planning implementing and evaluating women only focused programmes. It does not question the relation of gender inequality and therefore tends to address the symptoms rather than the causes of gender inequality. An opposing and more recently developed view is Gender and Development GAD theory

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