translating national fns policies into a gender-responsive ... · each relevant sector policy, its...

Gender in Food and

Nutrition Security policy

and legislation

Translating national FNS policies into

a gender-responsive Plan of Action

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This course is funded by the European Union through the EU-FAO

Improved Global Governance for Hunger Reduction Programme

© FAO, 2014

Gender in Food and Nutrition Security

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In this lesson

LEARNING OBJECTIVES .................................................................................................................................. 2

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................. 2

WHEN SHOULD WE FORMULATE THE PLAN OF ACTION? ........................................................................ 2

THE IMPORTANCE OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES ............................................................................................. 4

THE IMPORTANCE OF POLICY COHERENCE AND HARMONIZATION ............................................................ 4

STEERING AND COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR GENDER-RESPONSIVE POLICY IMPLEMENTATION ....... 9

THE FORMULATION OF THE PLAN .............................................................................................................. 11

IMPORTANCE OF INCLUDING GENDER-SPECIFIC ACTIONS ..................................................................... 11

FORMULATING A GENDER-RESPONSIVE PLAN OF ACTION ........................................................................ 12

AN INTRODUCTION TO POLICY MONITORING ............................................................................................ 16

INDICATORS FOR POLICY MONITORING ..................................................................................................... 19

THE STEPS OF POLICY MONITORING .......................................................................................................... 22

ADDRESSING CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING A GENDER-RESPONSIVE POLICY ..................................... 25

CONCLUSIONS ............................................................................................................................................. 28

SUMMARY ................................................................................................................................................... 28


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LEARNING OBJECTIVES

At the end of this lesson, you will be able to:

describe the importance of policy coherence within the context of implementing a gender-

responsive FNS policy;

identify the steps to formulate a plan of action for the implementation of a gender-responsive FNS

policy;

identify what is needed for effective policy monitoring and evaluation;

be aware of some of the implementation challenges and know how to address them.

INTRODUCTION

To implement the policy, you need to formulate a concise plan of action.

In this lesson, we will learn how to formulate a gender-sensitive plan of action ensuring that

gender concerns are addressed during policy implementation, monitoring and evaluation.

WHEN SHOULD WE FORMULATE THE PLAN OF ACTION?

Where do we start?

Plan of action

A plan of action describes, in detail, the steps that must be taken and the activities to perform to implement the policy. A gender-sensitive action plan includes:

• an analysis of the specific gender issues related to the achievement of the policy objectives;

• strategic areas of actions identified during the policy design, from a gender perspective;

• time-bound, gender-responsive outcomes to be achieved; • an activity plan that maps out what specific activities will be undertaken, and by

whom; • a time horizon that specifies when activities will be done; • resource allocation that outlines what human and financial resources are available

for the specific gender-related activities.


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Benjamin and Ellie are two colleagues who worked on the formulation of a gender-responsive

FNS policy. The cabinet of ministers has just approved the policy and it is now time for implementation.

“How are you thinking you will proceed with the policy implementation?”

“You see, when we were formulating the policy, we considered the implementation issues. We

identified potential constraints and we took into account practical issues on how to implement it more

effectively.”

Tip 1

Formulate the policy and the plan of action at the same time.

“During budget planning and before policy approval, we also identified and presented some

activities for funding that would support a gender-sensitive policy implementation, such as capacity

development and institutional capacity strengthening.”

Tip 2

Identify gender-related actions for funding even before the final approval of the policy.

“To facilitate implementation, we also clearly linked the policy objectives and priorities to the

overarching policy framework and to the goals based on international commitments like the Convention

on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)1.”

Tip 3

Link the policy objectives to those of overarching policy frameworks (such as a poverty

reduction strategy).

1 If your country has ratified CEDAW, you should also consider what steps must be taken during policy

implementation, in order to comply with the legal state obligations derived from treaty ratification.


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“Since the implementation of the plan of action depends on many stakeholders (from government

and civil society), we engaged representatives of these stakeholders early on, through frequent

consultations, to create a sense of ownership of the policy. We took care that this group was gender-

balanced, and that a significant proportion of its members could speak for the most food insecure and

vulnerable groups, including rural women, and chronically ill and disabled people.”

Tip 4

Involve stakeholders early in the process.

THE IMPORTANCE OF GUIDING PRINCIPLES

The policy design sets out certain guiding principles that should guide the plan of action. These

principles, such as good governance practices and gender equality, should apply to all activities that will

be included in the plan of action. Therefore, as a first step, you should identify specific actions to ensure

that the guiding principles will, indeed, be implemented.

Let us go back to our colleague Ellie and see how she dealt with this issue:

“Applying the guiding principles may seem obvious, but it is very important to explain in the plan of

action how these principles will be implemented. We started by identifying the specific actions needed

to ensure the implementation of the guiding principles, which included the pursuit of gender equality. So

we analysed the findings of the institutional analysis, and realized that the main institutions responsible

for implementation were not familiar with how to address gender inequalities. Therefore, we identified

specific actions for institutional capacity strengthening to allow for the inclusion of gender equality as a

guiding principle. Here is an example of the actions we identified:

We will establish an explicit strategy to ensure that all activities pay attention to the different needs and

priorities of rural men and women. We will raise gender awareness of staff so that they can better

address gender issues and women’s empowerment during implementation.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF POLICY COHERENCE AND HARMONIZATION

Before we look at how to formulate the plan of action, it is important to consider that FNS has a

multidimensional nature: other sector policies, strategies and plans (relevant, for instance, to health,

social protection or education) should also address the underlying causes of food insecurity,


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vulnerability and malnutrition. Therefore, a critical aspect for a successful gender-responsive FNS policy

implementation is its coherence with the policies of other sectors:

Trade

Social protection

Agriculture

Health

Infrastructure

Education

Employment

Each relevant sector policy, its FNS-related goals and objectives, and its gender equality principles

must be coherent with the goals, objectives and principles of the FNS policy.

Usually, there is little coherence between FNS policy and other sector policies unless specific actions

are taken to ensure it. Let’s have a look at the following sector policy objectives and their effects on the

gender-responsive FNS policy framework:

• Objectives that may support the gender-responsive FNS policy framework:

An agricultural sector policy that aims at the development of appropriate technology for

adoption by household farmers.

An education policy that prioritizes literacy training and basic education.

• Objectives that may be in conflict with the gender-responsive FNS policy framework:

An agricultural sector policy that prioritizes development of large-scale and mechanized

agricultural production.

A land use policy that leads to concentrated land ownership.

A food trade policy that encourages the import of processed foods to raise import duties (as a

source of government revenue).

How to address the issue of coherence across sector policies?


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Here are some actions to consider:

1. During project formulation

a. Carry out a comprehensive review of relevant sector policies during policy

formulation.

b. Identify the gender implications of the policies and gender-related gaps.

2. During project implementation

c. Make sure these gaps are addressed by the multisector FNS policy.

d. Identify actions to promote changes in sector policies that are in line with the

gender-sensitive FNS policy goals and objectives, and the policy’s gender equality

principles.

Tip – Promote the participation of national actors

• When the initial analysis shows that there are major inconsistencies between relevant

sector policies and the FNS policy, it is useful to promote the participation of national

actors who are responsible for the implementation of the sector policies in the

formulation or revision of the FNS policy. The idea is that their participation will also

contribute to making the sector policies gender-responsive while furthering FNS goals

and contributing to the achievement of FNS objectives.

How can you harmonize sector policies with the FNS policy framework?

Changes in sector policies often take time and are not easily achieved. Challenges include:

Lack of political will

Length of process

Budget issues

Conflicts in priorities


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Lack of political will

There may be a lack of political will to adjust sector-specific policies when they favour governmental

priorities, even if they are detrimental for the well-being of the most vulnerable groups.

Length of process

Implementing major policy changes may require lengthy administrative and legislative processes. It

may be decided to postpone changes and retain an existing sector policy until a new one is

formulated.

Budget issues

A shift in sector priorities may result in a sector’s budget reduction or increase, which might be

opposed by some decision-makers. If a large share of sector budgets depend on external funding,

the recommended policy changes may need to be aligned with donor priorities.

Conflicts in priorities

Recommended changes may conflict with, or not support, sector or stakeholders’ priorities.

Different decision-makers might be interested in targeting the specific needs of only certain groups.

How can we deal with these challenges?

Success in harmonizing sector policies with a gender-responsive FNS policy also depends on which

sector(s) or institution(s) have the government’s mandate for FNS. Let us go back to our colleague

Benjamin to see what he recalls:

“The ministry of agriculture had the mandate for FNS. We were hoping that the process would be

easier, because it could promote policy harmonization among the health, trade and employment sectors.

However, there was no commitment to address certain social challenges and gender equality issues, and

the ministry of agriculture did not have the power to impose such changes on the other sectors.”


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What would be the possible actions to address the challenges described by Benjamin,

in ensuring FNS policy harmonization with sector policies?

Create an interministerial body that has responsibility for the FNS mandate.

Ensure the direct involvement by sector policy decision-makers during the sector policy

review process.

Promote awareness raising of policy-makers and implementers on the links between gender

issues and other FNS-sector issues.

An inter-ministerial body that has responsibility for the FNS mandate will be better placed to

facilitate the adoption and implementation of recommended policy changes in one or more

participating sectors, particularly if it has the authority to make recommendations with respect to

budgetary allocations. Direct involvement by sector policy decision-makers during the sector policy

review process can help lay the foundation for the acceptance and implementation of the

recommended sector policy changes. Harmonization and implementation of FNS would also

depend on a good understanding of the existing links between gender issues and other FNS sector

issues. What was needed first, was the awareness raising of all the different sectors’ policy makers

and implementers. Consider this real case:

Real case: the TAHSEEN project

In Egypt, family nutrition and health concerns are considered women’s responsibilities, even though men make important decisions that affect family health. The TAHSEEN project brought together the ministry of health and population, the ministry of agriculture and the ministry of water resources and irrigation to raise their awareness about the gendered nature of health care and the multisectoral dimension of FNS policy implementation. The TAHSEEN project used farming analogies, for instance, to improve men’s understanding of reproductive health concepts (e.g. comparing the importance of optimal birth spacing to the benefits of crop spacing). The post–test training revealed an increase in the participants’ knowledge of optimal birth spacing, from 27 to 96 percent, according to the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The ministry of health and population was appointed as a leading organization to coordinate the nutrition and health policy implementation process.


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STEERING AND COORDINATING COMMITTEE FOR GENDER-RESPONSIVE

POLICY IMPLEMENTATION

We mentioned the usefulness of an interministerial body to put in place mechanisms and actions to

promote gender equality in FNS policies as well as harmonization among sector policies. This body could

be a gender unit in a ministry or a steering committee. The actions should cover the political,

institutional and economic spheres.

Who should be members of the committee?

The committee might be chaired by the lead ministry responsible for FNS. Such a committee might

include members who are representatives of:

relevant central government structures, such as the ministries for women’s or gender affairs,

agriculture, fisheries, water, planning and finance or statisticians;

all relevant decentralized government structures such as regional and district councils, ensuring

that rural women’s interests are specifically represented;

representatives of NGOs, including those with knowledge of gender issues in rural areas;

representatives of international aid agencies, ensuring there is at least one gender sector specialist;

representatives of men’s and women’s producer’ groups and rural organizations such as

marketing cooperatives or private traders’ organizations.

What would be their responsibilities?

ensure coordination between all implementing parties and assign (financial) resources and

responsibilities between different government structures and non-governmental organizations (NGOs);

ensure exchange of information between all parties;

facilitate the revision and passing of gender-responsive policies and legislation, ensuring that all

parties concerned apply the relevant measures. (It is essential that the study, revision and

modification of regulations and laws are carried out early in the work plan);

monitor the implementation of policies to ensure that the objectives, outcomes and outputs are met;

identify actions to address gender constraints and needs at each subsectoral level in a manner

that improves the sector’s response to macropolicies such as devaluation, food import/export,

trade liberalization or market privatization;


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ensure transparency of actions and decisions;

revise the macrolevel policies that would help to overcome poverty, hunger and malnutrition;

identify the capacity-building needs of the respective human resources to implement the project.

consider the possibility of developing gender-sensitive pilot projects.

What about their areas of influence?

The steering committee might also need to collaborate with other government ministries and

organizations to obtain changes in other related areas such as:

improvements in girls’ and women’s education and technical training;

promotion of off-farm income-generating activities for women and marginalized groups;

improved access to social services, particularly rural health care;

recognition of the interdependence of the productive and domestic spheres by addressing the

needs of the unpaid domestic economy in social policy and in physical infrastructure;

improved rural infrastructure to meet the market and domestic needs of women, especially in

relation to transport.

Political, institutional and economic spheres

1. In the institutional sphere focus on:

• formal recognition of men and women as food producers and providers;

• changes in land laws to improve women’s access to, control and ownership of, and responsibility over, land;

• changes of regulations and procedures to improve gender equality in access to different services: health, food delivery, financial services, training and education;

• enforce laws to facilitate women’s access to markets and marketing institutions, and provide employment opportunities.


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THE FORMULATION OF THE PLAN

IMPORTANCE OF INCLUDING GENDER-SPECIFIC ACTIONS

Let us see how to proceed with the formulation of the plan. First, it is important to notice that gender-

responsive FNS policies generally work towards gender equality in two ways:

1. Achieve gender equality as part of the expected policy impacts

In this case, one or more explicit policy objective(s) involve specific actions to promote equal

rights and opportunities for men and women.

2. In the economic sphere, investments in:

• goods and services to meet women’s needs as producers, traders and prime carers in the household;

• water infrastructure and management taking into account women’s and men’s different needs and constraints, in relation to food production, consumption and sanitation needs;

• conservation and management of biodiversity, land, water and fragile ecosystems;

• capacity development of male and female professionals, leaders, farmers and consumers in the four pillars of FNS.

3. In the political sphere:

• strengthen gender equality in decision-making at all levels from grassroots community groups to central government ministries and people’s representative bodies;

• strengthen women’s participation in decision-making in ongoing development programmes and projects;

• raise awareness of politicians about the need for gender-sensitive FNS programmes.


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Example: Ensure equal access to land for men and women.

2. Promote gender equality in all policy actions

In this case, gender is a cross-cutting issue: specific actions are needed to ensure that gender

equality and non-discrimination are the guiding principles for all actions in the plan.

Example: To increase livestock productivity actions must ensure that both men and women can

access low-cost veterinary services.

It is essential that you indicate clearly in the plan how you will achieve all the gender-related actions:

All intentions expressed in the policy in relation to gender equality should be translated into

concrete actions, which, in turn, are included in the plan and in the monitoring and evaluation

framework.

FORMULATING A GENDER-RESPONSIVE PLAN OF ACTION

The main elements of a plan of action to implement a gender-responsive FNS policy include:

Policy objectives as starting points

Time-bound outcomes

Outputs needed to achieve the policy objectives

Activities

Budget allocation

For example:

Policy goal 1: Increase the quantity and quality of food available, accessible and affordable to all people at all times.

Objective 1: Regulate land tenure and land ownership in a gender-equitable way. Objective 2: Improve FNS among all smallholder farming households. Action 1: Provide both men and women farmers with adequate access to farm inputs, credit and market information.


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Policy objectives as starting points

The plan states clearly the policy objectives identified in the policy design. All the other elements in

the plan of action are designed to achieve those policy objectives.

These objectives, as we shall see, should then be transformed into time-bound, realistic and

gender-sensitive outcomes.

Time-bound outcomes

Defining specific gender-sensitive outcomes and related indicators is important to measure the

change over time and the extent to which the intended objective has been achieved, and so

monitor policy impacts. Sometimes, the intended outcomes are not realistic and by closely

monitoring achievement you may realize that you need to adjust them. Unforeseen events (such as

natural disasters) may also impact negatively on the achievement of the outcomes, which would

trigger a revision.

For example: Policy gender-sensitive objectives normally refer to achieving changes such as:

improved and equal household access to food,

higher levels of domestic food production in both male-headed households and female-headed households,

lower levels of malnutrition among boys and girls,

greater gender equality in access to resources and services, and

increased stability.

For example… … imagine that your intervention aims at improving the access to adequate food, but that you did not identify a specific outcome. If only one household achieves adequate access to food five years after the start of the intervention, you may conclude that the objective has been met. Instead, if you identified the outcome as, “twenty-five percent of female-headed households that are food insecure achieve stable and adequate access to food after three years”, then you can measure whether the policy objective has been met at that point in time.

Another example

If one of the objectives of a gender-responsive FNS policy is to reduce gender inequality in access to resources, the related outcome could be expressed as follows: “After three years from the implementation of the plan of action, 40 percent of all female farmers have the same access as male


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Outputs needed to achieve the policy objectives

Outputs are the tangible goods and services that will be produced using the resources allocated

under the policy. Outputs contribute to the achievement of the policy objectives.

Activities

When defining the activities, a common mistake is to compile a long list of activities that are often

unrelated. Instead, one must first identify the strategic areas of action to determine priorities.

What is the activity that will allow to achieve the policy objectives? What should be done first?

Once you answer these questions, you can indicate specific activities that are programmed in time

and are organized according to the strategic areas of action you have identified.

In addition, you should also identify the institutions responsible for the implementation of the

activities and the costs (estimated in round figures).

Examples may be:

• increased coverage of social protection programmes for men and women;

• the enactment of a domestic law designed to promote gender equality in access to productive resources;

• improved capacity of rural health services to deal with children’s malnutrition;

• increased knowledge of male and female farmers about marketing conditions and how to respond to market incentives;

• more effective institutional response capacity to natural disasters.


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Tip – Activities

You should also include all FNS policy monitoring activities in this section.

Budget allocation

When the specific needs of women and men are explicitly recognized in planning outputs and

activities under the plan of action, then the allocation of resources in the budget should also reflect

these gender-specific needs.

Example of a section of an activity plan for a three-year plan of action.

This is an example of activities organized according to the identified strategic areas of action for a policy whose main objective is to reduce the prevalence of obesity and its health consequences among men and women, boys and girls.

For example…

… for women to have equal access to work as men have, we need to allocate additional resources targeted at women to arrange for adequate childcare.

Or, if there is gender inequality in adult literacy rates, resources should be allocated for literacy courses to make it possible for women to attend such courses.


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AN INTRODUCTION TO POLICY MONITORING

Once the policy is being implemented, how do we know whether it is achieving the

intended objectives, or what its impacts are on men’s and women’s lives?

We need to carry out a monitoring and evaluation of the policy. Policy monitoring comprises a range of

activities that analyse and describe the development and implementation of policies and their

outcomes, identify potential gaps in the process and outline areas for improvement.

Monitoring a gender-responsive policy also implies continuous analysis of its gender aspects and an

assessment of its impacts on both men and women and on gender relations.

Monitoring a gender-responsive policy also implies continuous analysis of its gender aspects and an

assessment of its impacts on both men and women and on gender relations . This process also

implies a gender-sensitive budget analysis as a monitoring tool.

Gender-sensitive budget analysis as a monitoring tool

Gender-sensitive budget analysis can become a monitoring tool. If the budget of the plan of action is indeed formulated to reflect the different needs of women and men, then the analysis examines the specific allocations and expenditures. For example, if the results show that actual allocations and expenditures were consistently close to 100 percent for men but much less than 100 percent for women, then the budget implementation process needs to be improved when it comes to women-specific allocations and expenditures. If the budget of the plan of action was originally not formulated in gender-sensitive ways, then the findings of a gender-sensitive budget analysis can contribute to support the budget formulation in the next planning cycle.


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Here some questions and answers about monitoring a gender-responsive policy:

When should we plan for policy monitoring and evaluation?

Planning should begin as early as possible in the policy cycle. The sex-disaggregated data gathered during

policy formulation and the gender-sensitive baseline studies2 should inform the monitoring framework.

Is monitoring done only once, at one specific point in time?

No. Monitoring is a continuous activity that systematically makes use of information to identify

successful or ineffective initiatives and to guide the strategic rephasing of the programme over time.

Should the beneficiaries be involved?

Yes. Measures must be taken to involve all stakeholders (especially representatives of the most

vulnerable, including rural women). All should participate in the monitoring to see how the

intervention is affecting them.

Is monitoring done at the national level only?

Monitoring can take place at global, regional, national, local and community levels.

Why is it important to monitor a policy?

You can:

2 A gender-sensitive baseline study, which includes data disaggregated by sex, age, socio-economic and ethnic

groups, aims to assess the gender-specific situation at national or local levels; in this case, with respect to food and nutrition insecurity and the associated factors.


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measure the achievement of the gender-equality outcomes of the policy as defined in the

plan of action;

get information on the implementation process as defined in the plan of action, including

the production of outputs and delivery of goods and services;

track the planned use and management of human, material and financial resources.

Policy-makers can obtain important benefits from monitoring a gender-responsive policy.

To summarize the benefits, we can say that monitoring:

• allows policy-makers and stakeholders to examine systematically the process of policy

implementation and to evaluate its effects on the lives of men and women, boys and girls;

• identifies the operational barriers that hinder the achievement of gender equality and can be

addressed through policy and programme reform;

• supports gender advocacy efforts and guides the development of new, timely and gender

equitable policies;

• improves gender-sensitive implementation of existing policies.

A policy monitoring framework provides information about:

• What is working or has worked as planned?

• What is not working or has not worked as planned, and why?

• Is there anything that needs to be done differently?

Gender-sensitive policy monitoring must also include questions related to gender issues:

• Are the policy’s activities achieving the intended gender equality goals?

• How is the policy affecting women and men differently (by age, ethnicity, caste, education,

employment and geographical location)?

• What are the gender-related changes caused by the policy over time?

We refer to: a) process monitoring and b) impact monitoring:

a. Process monitoring

What in the established process is not working or has not worked as planned, and why?


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Is there anything that needs to be done differently?

How are the policy activities and the policy implementation methods affecting women and men?

Is there any major difference that needs to be addressed?

b. Impact monitoring

Has the policy achieved the intended gender equality goals?

How?

And if not, why not?

For whom have gender equality goals been achieved, and for whom have they not?

We just mentioned that gender-sensitive policy monitoring intends to find out whether the gender-

equality goal is being achieved, and measures the impacts and changes in men’s and women’s lives.

How can we measure such changes?

We can measure these by defining and using gender-sensitive indicators. Gender-sensitive indicators

point to changes in the status and roles of women and men over time, and measure whether the policy

implementation is moving towards achieving gender equality. They are formulated on the basis of data

disaggregated by sex, age, ethnicity and other socio-economic variables relevant to the project or

programming context.

INDICATORS FOR POLICY MONITORING

Gender-sensitive indicators to monitor policies can be process indicators or impact indicators:

a. Process indicators measure the ways that the plan of action is being implemented. For example,

they indicate the number of men and women participating in policy implementation activities.


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b. Impact indicators measure the impact that the implemented plan of action has produced in

relation to its objectives. For example: The number of men and women with access to land has

increased by 30 percent.

There are a number of internationally applied composite gender indices and related indicators.

These indices are used to rank countries on a gender-equality scale and include the following:

Gender-related development index

Gender empowerment measure

Women’s empowerment in agriculture index

Gender equity index

Gender gap index

Gender-related development index

The gender-related development index contains three indicators:

• life expectancy at birth, of women and men;

• adult literacy rates and years of schooling of women and men;

• relative share of earned income by women and men.

Gender empowerment measure

The gender-empowerment measure assesses the gender gap in empowerment in three areas:

For example…

…if the policy design includes a number of implementation principles, then the plan of action should abide by those principles. Thus, a number of process indicators should be defined to monitor the extent to which those principles have effectively guided the implementation of the plan of action.

Let us assume that a FNS policy states that good governance principles (such as participation, empowerment, transparency, accountability, non-discrimination, inclusiveness, equity) should be applied in implementing the policy.

Gender equality would dictate that those good governance practices apply equally to women and to men. Thus, the indicators to measure these governance principles need to be broken down by sex and compared between women and men. Where differences are found, then corrective actions are needed in the implementation of the plan of action to ensure that those gender differences are eliminated.


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• political participation in decision-making in terms of the share of parliamentary seats held by

women and men;

• economic participation in decision-making in terms of shares of professional, technical,

managerial and administrative jobs held by women and men;

• power over economic resources in terms of shares of earned income received by women and men.

Women’s empowerment in agriculture index

The women’s empowerment in agriculture index is a significant innovation in its field and aims to

increase the understanding of the connections between women’s empowerment, food security and

agricultural growth. It measures the roles and extent of women’s engagement in the agriculture

sector in five domains:

• decisions about agricultural production;

• access to and decision-making power over productive resources;

• control over use of income;

• leadership in the community;

• time use.

Gender equity index

Developed by Social Watch, the gender equity index uses three indicators:

• Education: the gender gap in adult literacy and in enrolment rates of girls and boys in primary,

secondary and tertiary schools.

• Participation in the economy: percentage of women and of men in paid non-agricultural jobs,

and the income ratio between women and men.

• Empowerment: percentage of professional, technical, managerial and administrative jobs held

by women, and their share of parliamentary seats and ministerial posts.

Gender gap index

Developed by the World Economic Forum, the gender gap index considers five indicators:

• Economic participation: unemployment among women and men, levels of economic

activity, and renumeration of women and men for equal work.

• Political empowerment: number of women who are government ministers, share of

parliamentary seats held by women, number of women holding senior legislative and

managerial posts, and years that a woman has been head of state.


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• Economic opportunity: duration of and share of wages received during, maternity leave,

number of women in managerial positions, availability of government provided childcare,

private sector wage inequality, and impact of maternity laws on hiring of women.

• Educational attainment: literacy rates of women and men, their respective average years of

schooling by women and men, and primary, secondary and tertiary school enrolment rates for

girls and boys.

• Health and wellbeing: effectiveness of government in reducing poverty and inequality,

adolescent fertility rates, infant and maternal mortality rates, and percent of births attended by

skilled health staff.

THE STEPS OF POLICY MONITORING

The monitoring of a gender-responsive policy is often confused with the collection of primary and

secondary sex-disaggregated data. However, it consists of more than just obtaining the information.

In fact, sex-disaggregated data collection is only one step in the following process:

1. Consider the findings of the FNS situation analysis

To formulate the monitoring framework, you should consider the findings of the FNS situation

analysis and the preparatory research carried out at policy formulation (i.e. gender-sensitive

baseline studies, participatory definition of gender-specific concerns and needs, gender-sensitive

stakeholder analysis and assessment of the organizational capacity to carry out gender-sensitive

monitoring and evaluation). Baseline studies will be very useful to measure change through the use

of indicators.

2. Define the gender-sensitive indicators to be used in the framework

If possible, all stakeholders involved during the implementation (including representatives from the

beneficiaries) should also participate in the monitoring, to see how the activities are affecting them.

They could, for example, contribute to the identification of the indicators. When local people

participate in the formulation of gender-sensitive indicators, they can measure their own progress and

monitor changes against indicators that they have identified themselves instead of using

predetermined indicators that are imposed upon them.


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3. Formulate the monitoring framework and include it in the plan of action

To see what a monitoring framework consists of, we can look at two different examples.

Example 1 This example covers the technical details with respect to outcomes to be measured, indicator definition and frequency of measurement. It reflects the impact monitoring; that is, the outcomes to be measured are directly linked to the policy objectives.

Example 2 Here is an example of a monitoring information schedule, which shows the importance of disseminating specific outputs targeted at various audiences.


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4. Collect the qualitative and quantitative information

The information to be collected (in particular, sex-disaggregated data) should be defined in the

monitoring framework and is related to the previously identified indicators (see the example of the

monitoring framework). Key elements during this phase are:

• recruiting data collectors;

• training of enumerators;

• avoiding gender bias in the communication process.

Gender sensitivity in the survey process is of critical importance to avoid gender bias in sex-

disaggregated data collection. Therefore, it may be necessary to organize capacity development

activities for enumerators.

5. Analyse the information and the indicators and draw conclusions

Data must be adequately processed and managed, analysed, interpreted and disseminated to the right

audiences in the most appropriate forms. Only when this is done properly will the monitoring be

effective in identifying and introducing the changes needed in the design and/or in the policy

implementation. It is important to hire adequate technical staff (such as statisticians and gender

experts) not only for information gathering, but also for information processing, analysis and

dissemination.

6. Disseminate the findings and recommendations

The dissemination of the findings and recommendations of the monitoring process should be carried out

in accordance with the monitoring framework (see the previous example).

It is important to plan to disseminate the findings quite early in the implementation process in order to

facilitate the identification of possible adjustments needed during implementation.


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ADDRESSING CHALLENGES TO IMPLEMENTING A GENDER-RESPONSIVE

POLICY

You may encounter a number of challenges during the policy implementation. It is important for you to

recognize how and why these changes are occurring in order to find adequate ways to address them.

For example, a very important and recurrent challenge is poor institutional capacity and the lack of

commitment to consider gender issues in the FSN plan of action and its implementation.

Let us consider the most common challenges and possible ways to respond to them.

Limited availability of gender-specific FNS information

There may be significant gaps in the information needed to formulate a plan of action. Moreover,

the information may be dispersed and not easily integrated, and sex-disaggregated data may be

hard to find. However, in order for the policy to be gender-responsive or transformational, relevant

gender-specific information is vital.

Possible ways to address this challenge:

• Carry out a new and comprehensive FNS situation analysis upfront, trying to include primary

data that allows for gender-specific analysis.

• Raise awareness on the importance of gender statistics in national statistics offices/units that

generate agricultural data, in the statistical services of other government agencies and in all

institutions that provide administrative data.

Just as policy formulation should be evidence-based, so, too, should the plan of action. You

could go back to the initial situation analysis to identify the information you need. If sex-

disaggregated data are not easily available, it would be important to raise awareness on the

importance of gender statistics across institutions.

This awareness raising may require legislative action or an administrative policy, capacity

building of statistics staff at all levels and upgrading of tools, procedures and equipment

(software and hardware). The participation from the outset of gender experts and champions

in undertaking the FNS situation analysis is fundamental.


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Weak links between the FNS information analysis and the formulation of the plan of action

The information analysis and its findings may often be stated in a format that makes it difficult for

the formulation team to understand how to transform them into actions. As a consequence, the

identification of strategic areas and activities is often done with little reference to available

information, typically turning them into ‘wish lists’ and not into concrete gender-transformative

actions. Lastly, information analysis may not have included the identification of constraints in the

implementation.


• Train the formulation team of the action plan to analyse the information available, even when

this is in a format difficult to access.

• Identify and understand the constraints for the implementation of the plan of action, so that

they can be addressed.

Being able to identify constraints in the implementation process and to analyse the available

information adequately can be a first, necessary step to link the FNS information analysis and the

plan of action more effectively.

Difficulties in mobilizing the different stakeholders

The implementation of the plan of action needs to involve multiple governmental and non-

governmental stakeholders (i.e. planners, managers, technical and support staff), even though FNS

and gender equality may not necessarily be high on their list of priorities.


• Involve multiple stakeholders directly in making decisions with respect to the plan of action, to

create ownership and obtain their commitment to gender-equality goals.

• Ensure adequate funding so that the human resources of implementing stakeholders are

adequately trained on gender issues.

There is a need to directly involve multiple actors in making decisions with respect to the plan of

action, to create ownership and obtain their commitment. These commitments are also needed to

ensure that adequate resources (both human and financial) are allocated to the implementation of


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the plan of action. Moreover, funding should be allocated to ensure that human resources of

implementing stakeholders are adequately trained.

Confusing institutional arrangements with respect to FNS and gender equality

The responsibility for the FNS mandate is normally scattered throughout various institutions. For

example, nutrition in the health ministry, food availability in the agriculture ministry, food access in

employment and social protection ministries, acute vulnerability to food and nutrition insecurity in

disaster preparedness and management agencies, and food imports and exports in the trade

ministry. Implementation roles between the national and local levels are poorly defined while

considerable implementation depends on local level (and community) planning and actions.


• Discuss policy coordination and the need to establish effective coordination mechanisms early

on in the implementation of the policy.

• Promote strong partnerships between government, civil society and the private sector.

• Carry out a capacity assessment in terms of gender in all institutions involved in the plan of

action as well as gender-awareness activities.

There is a need for strong partnerships between government, civil society and the private

commercial sectors. How much effort should be put into establishing or strengthening such

partnerships depends on the nature of the relations among those three sectors. For example, the

relations between some NGOs and the commercial sector might often be antagonistic, and good

working relations between government and civil society organizations might be difficult in certain

contexts.

Lack of gender awareness and understanding of gender inequality

FNS planners and policy decision-makers may not be aware of the causal connections between

food and nutrition insecurity and gender inequality. They may also lack the political will and

commitment to address gender inequalities in FNS. Since a large number of stakeholders and

decision-makers participate in the formulation of the plan of action, not all may understand gender

issues and how these should be addressed in the plan of action.



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• Ensure full participation in the formulation of the plan of action of the institution that holds the

gender mandate on behalf of the government, and/or civil society organizations that are active

in addressing gender issues.

• Policy-makers can act as champions for gender equality and can take on a capacity-

strengthening role during plan formulation to make sure there is an understanding of gender

issues among all participants.

In fact, capacity assessment of all organizations involved in the plan of action and gender-

awareness raising are often of primary importance.

CONCLUSIONS

We considered how even a well-designed, gender-responsive policy may not be effective if its

implementation is not carefully planned. Good intentions are not enough. What counts is what is

actually achieved, and for whom.

Formulating a concise plan of action to implement the policy, taking carefully into account issues such

as harmonization with other sector policies, allocation of specific resources for gender-related

activities, institutional capacity strengthening and capacity development of implementing staff, should

help you ensure that the policy will work effectively towards achievement of the gender-equality goals

that you have envisioned.

SUMMARY

• To implement a FNS gender-responsive policy, you need to formulate a concise plan of action. Here

are some tips to start:

1. Formulate the policy and the plan of action at the same time;

2. Identify gender-related actions for funding even before the final approval of the policy;

3. Link the policy objectives to those of overarching policy frameworks (such as a poverty

education strategy);

4. Involve stakeholders early in the process.

• A critical aspect for a successful gender-responsive FNS policy implementation is its coherence with

the policies of other sectors: each relevant sector policy, its FNS-related goals and objectives, and

its gender equality principles must be coherent with the goals, objectives and principles of the FNS


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policy. An interministerial body is useful to put in place mechanisms to promote gender equality in

FNS policies, as well as harmonization among sector policies.

• All intentions expressed in the policy in relation to gender equality should be translated into

concrete actions, which, in turn, are included in the plan and in the monitoring and evaluation

framework. The main elements of a plan of action to implement a gender-responsive FNS policy

include:

1. Policy objectives as starting points;

2. Time-bound outcomes;

3. Outputs needed to achieve the policy objectives;

4. Activities;

5. Budget allocation.

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