INSTITUTIONAL AND
ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENT
OF
THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND
CHILDREN AFFAIRS
A report by the consulting team
comprised of
Ms. Gillian Carr-Harris
Ms. Asha Ramesh
Ms. Shaheen Anam
July 2002
Report to the Local Consultative Group
on Women’s Advancement and Gender
Equality and the Ministry of Women
and Children Affairs
1
Executive Summary
An Institutional and Organizational Assessment (IOA) of the mandate of the Ministry of
Women and Children Affairs (MoWCA) was undertaken as a joint initiative of MoWCA
and the Local Consultative Group on Women’s Advancement and Gender Equality (LCG
WAGE) with the financial support of five different donor agencies i.e. CIDA, DFID
Bangladesh, The Royal Netherlands Embassy, UNFPA and UNICEF.
The process of the IOA study was to engage the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs
and principally the senior management of that Ministry in a brain storming exercise to see
where and how the Ministry could advance its own work in the future. The
study/interaction was aimed at extracting some of the strategies for ensuring that gender
mainstreaming was advanced within the Government of Bangladesh, in such a manner
that MoWCA could work more effectively to achieve its own goals and objectives in
tandem with the development partner agencies.
The other aspect of the IOA was to spell out some long-term strategies for MoWCA. The
development partners are increasingly working within a program-based framework,
aimed at building sustainability of government and reducing the government’s
dependence on donor driven projects. For this reason, the development partners and
MoWCA felt that there needed to be a longer-term perspective on the direction of current
and future funding support to MoWCA.
There were two parts to this assessment: firstly, a scorecard on the current status of the
GOB’s gender mainstreaming in general, and the work of MoWCA in particular; and
secondly, the requisite strategies for future action. The scorecard had to been seen in the
light of the international commitments made by the Government of Bangladesh at the
Fourth World Conference. The scorecard also had to identify how much had been carried
out in light of the National Action Plan (NAP), which was the GOB’s national program
that had been its response to the Beijing PFA (Platform for Action). The scorecard had to
also take into account the amount of change that had taken place particularly in the light
of three subsequent and critical changes within the GOB: (1) the promulgation of the
National Policy for the Advancement of Women; (2) the acceptance of the Allocation of
Business for the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, and (3) the partial
institutionalization of the Policy Leadership and Advocacy Unit (PLAU).
Development Problematique
The challenge for the Government of Bangladesh has been to put into effect “an enabling
environment for women’s advancement” or what is generally called “putting gender
mainstreaming into practice”. The concept of not keeping women marginalized in the
country’s development programs or budgets and providing the necessary affirmative
action to get women to be partners in development, is well understood by policy makers
in Bangladesh today. It has been made prescriptive in many of the policies and plans that
are being carried out by the senior administration of the Government. However the
2
methodology of putting this concept and these prescriptions into practice in government
and in the MoWCA still remains an essential challenge. This is in spite of the production
and dissemination of the National Action Plan, which was seen as a prescriptive
document for Government to follow.
The analysis of why gender mainstreaming is difficult to put into practice needs to be
seen at two or three different levels. First and foremost, the political will is required from
top-levels of government to generate action. This is evidenced by the fact that the
National Council for Women’s Development (NCWD) has not met more than twice over
the past five years. Secondly MoWCA as the lead agency needs to lobby specific
Ministries for increasing the minimal budget for women’s development, and changing
their Allocation of Business (AOBs).
Thirdly, the machinery that the GOB set up to carry out gender mainstreaming is only
partially functional. At present there are 49 WIDFPs (Women in Development Focal
Points) and 49 Associate WIDFPs (AWIDFPs) that are found in the GOB. There are
many more sub-WIDFPs that generally work at the departmental levels. On the whole the
WIDFPs are at the Joint Secretary/Joint Chief level although the WIDFP system does not
function well given the range of their activities. There was a general feeling within the
bureaucracy that gender was a donor priority, but this has been gradually changing and
the GOB is responding to gender concerns more and more. The WIDFPs tend however,
to delegate the work to the Deputy or Senior Assistant Secretary/Chief levels. It is crucial
that the WIDFPs and AWIDFs collaborate together if gender mainstreaming is to occur
in any given Ministry.
What these AWIDFPs have been able to achieve is that they have disseminated
information and generated considerable awareness. In this way they have had some
measurable success in a few ministries (eg. Ministries of Health and Education and
Primary Mass Education Department) in terms of program implementation. What they
have not been able to do is to effect policy change. Most of the eight WIDFPs
interviewed for this assessment found the resistance within their Ministry high to gender
issues. Such resistance leads them to have a disincentive in their work. The assessment
team did however note that there were some exceptional cases of AWIDFPs that were
working against all odds.
The third level is in MoWCA itself. MoWCA in this assessment included DWA
(Department of Women Affairs) and JMS (Jatiyo Mahila Sangstha). MoWCA has the
problem of many internal constraints related to budget allocation and staffing, as well as
various external constraints such as its handicap when it comes to coordinating with the
other Ministries.
Putting gender mainstreaming into practice in the long-term means finding methods to
overcome obstacles. The key strategies for moving forward are to get the senior levels of
Government to give gender mainstreaming a much-needed push in terms of making
Ministers and Secretaries more accountable on gender mainstreaming by insisting they
follow the National Action Plan recommendations. The Minister in charge of MoWCA
3
could support this action by identifying the desirable results (i.e. less violence against
women, greater contribution of women in the national economy, etc.).
With respect to the WIDFPs, this national women’s machinery has been superimposed on
a bureaucracy, working against the culture of the bureaucracy. Cross-sectoral
management has been found to be difficult due to a lack of inner flexibility. The GOB
has derived its governance structure from the Westminster model, and it operates in a
top-down management style. This means that the vertical linkages create “a separateness”
between different Ministries. This was evident by the fact that in the last Public
Administrative Reform Commission (PARC 2000), its Task Force recognized that they
could only achieve gender mainstreaming when there was a change in the whole public
service and governance structure. Once this essential resistance is recognized, it makes it
easier to understand why the WIDFPs have not been as effective as they could have been
given the system in which they operate.
There are two important consequences from this bureaucratic culture in terms of “putting
gender mainstreaming into practice”. Firstly, the bureaucracy is suited to carry out
projects; and this means that people are still viewed more as beneficiaries and less as
participants in their own development. In order to ensure that projects are also achieving
gender mainstreaming, policy research, coordination, and program focused development
should also be taken up.
Secondly, the government is hesitant to work too closely with NGOs or women’s
organizations. This may be another root cause to explain why the goals of women’s
empowerment and advancement and the mainstreaming of gender/women have been
slightly impeded. Ideally good governance is the partnership between government and
non-governmental organizations carrying out the National Action Plan, a common
strategic document for improving the status of women. The government views itself as
having the key responsibility for implementing NAP even though the NGOs have played
a critical role in the drafting of the Platform for Action at Beijing and the NAP in
Bangladesh. MoWCA’s working with NGOs could be improved and this is a key
recommendation of this report.
Findings of the Report
The IOA is a trenchant analysis in so far as it has considered both the available
documents and consulted the staff in MoWCA and many other Ministries. It took up both
a conventional organizational analysis using standard indicators, and it also took up a
secondary analysis in terms of evaluating “the degree and kind of institutionalization”
that has gone on in the GOB with regard to gender mainstreaming.
The conclusion of the IOA is that the organizational/personnel issues of MoWCA need to
be attended to immediately (i.e. organogram, staffing problem, financial requirements for
existing program, etc.). What can be worked out in the medium term is the division of
roles and responsibilities between the different branches and units of MoWCA (primarily
Planning wing, Development and Administrative Branches, PLAU and DWA) with
4
respect to augmenting their technical assistance and support to other agencies within
government. These need to be managed in such a manner that they generate synergies.
Only intra agency coordination will make it workable. Making MoWCA a service agency
in addition to implementing women’s projects, would require that MoWCA have a “facelift” of sorts. However it seems with a thorough review of the Ministry and the AOB, that
this is given in the mandate and the NAP, and that the basic building blocks exist for this
to occur. Translating it into action will be a process that needs careful planning. For this
to happen, however, MoWCA has to take seriously its own capacity development
requirements and some of the organizational strengthening that needs to be put into place.
The capacity development and organizational strengthening will have to be done at every
level within the Ministry, and in DWA. For the financial resources to be made available,
detailed discussions with development partners and donors are a prerequisite.
In addition to the technical assistance functions that MoWCA would carry out, they
would also need to attend to some of the capacity development requirements of WIDFPs
of other Ministry’s personnel so that different sectors can fundamentally implement
gender/women’s programming better. Apart from setting up a gender training institute
and strengthening other training infrastructures, MoWCA would have to be able to give
training a high priority.
Only when MoWCA has something to offer other Ministries through in-house expertise
will one of the main obstacles be removed. Simultaneously another part is the question of
generating the political will. This involves lobbying senior government (particularly
Ministries of Planning and Finance) directly or through the NCWD. One way is to get the
honorable Prime Minister (P.M.) to support such an initiative. Another approach is to
work more with the Parliamentary Standing Committee. Whatever the strategy adopted,
sufficient political will has to be generated to enable MoWCA to play its lead role and for
other Ministries to be seen to be accountable for carrying out the National Action Plan
(NAP).
Following the IOA process, there is a planned policy dialogue at the Inter - Ministerial
level. It is recommended that the policy dialogue reaffirm some of the following steps to
senior government officials and donor agencies. These recommendations are:
1.
Reallocate budgetary resources (Revenue and Development budgets) to ensure
that adequate funds are available for activities related to NAP implementation and
women/gender projects as well as incorporating gender at all levels of the
planning process, while ensuring that appropriate guidelines are put in place and
that there is a monitoring mechanism.
2.
Provide legitimacy to the existing coordinating committees (i.e. IEC, WIDCC,
WID Network) with accountability to the National Council for Women’s
Development (NCWD). This is to ensure gender mainstreaming is at all policy
and programming stages in the development process and that there is
strengthening of coordination and monitoring of Gender and Development
activities of different Ministries through designated and clearly mandated WID
5
Focal Points.
3.
MoWCA and other Line Ministries to work in a consultative relationship with
NGOs and women’s organizations to mainstream gender and strengthen the NAP
implementation process jointly.
4.
Receive commitment for meaningful strategic and coordinated financial support
from the donor community to mainstream the implementation of the NAP,
thereby helping to deliver on indicators spelled out in international commitments.
The policy dialogue could give this additional boost if the development partners indicate
their interest in the recommendations and are prepared to support a programming
approach based on a long-term vision for the strengthening of the National Women's
Machinery.
6
Section 1: Introduction
This Institutional and Organizational Assessment (IOA) commissioned by five donor
agencies in Bangladesh analyzes the institutional and organizational issues related to
gender mainstreaming in the Government of Bangladesh in general, and in the Ministry
of Women and Children Affairs, in particular. The IOA is a trenchant analysis in so far as
it has considered both the available documents and consulted the staff in MoWCA and
many other Ministries.
The IOA study/interaction assessed the general functioning of the Ministry of Women’s
and Children Affairs without getting into detailed analysis. This was in line with the
terms of reference provided by the donor group in consultation with MoWCA. (See
Appendix 1.)
It was recognized that there had been a lengthy assessment process carried out in 1997
called the “Institutional Review for Women in Development” (IRWID)1 and that much of
the assessment done then, continued to have relevance in today’s situation. It was more
useful in this study to do an appraisal and get a scorecard as to what has happened since
the IRWID report rather than redo another major review. Consequently this report draws
on the IRWID report in making its assessment.
The IOA report first took up both a conventional organizational analysis using standard
indicators, and it also took up an institutional analysis evaluating “the degree and kind of
institutionalization” that has gone on in the GOB with regard to gender mainstreaming.
The process of the organizational analysis was to engage the Ministry of Women and
Children Affairs and principally the senior management and that Ministry in a brain
storming exercise to see where and how the Ministry could advance its own work in the
future. The conclusion was that the organizational/personnel issues of MoWCA need to
be attended to immediately (i.e.organogram, staffing problem, financial requirements for
existing program, etc.). After the immediate problems are dealt with, MoWCA could be
augmented to a technical assistance and support organization to other agencies within
government. This would mean that the roles and responsibilities would have to be worked
out between the different branches and units (primarily Planning Wing, Development and
Administrative Branches, PLAU and DWA) with respect to augmenting their technical
assistance and support to other agencies within government.
The institutional analysis in contrast, focused on key issues of gender mainstreaming
such as the national policy framework, the relationship of MoWCA to other Ministries,
the functioning of some of the coordinating bodies, the status of NAP, etc. This again
reinforced the argument that unless MoWCA plays the crucial “catalyzing and
facilitating” role, gender mainstreaming will be slow to be “put into practice”. The
technical assistance functions that MoWCA could carry out, would attend to some of the
capacity development requirements of WIDFPs of other Ministry’s personnel so that
1
IRWID – 1997: A five volume study done over 6 months and produced in 1997
7
different sectors can fundamentally implement gender/women’s programming better.
Apart from setting up a training institute and strengthening other training institutes,
MoWCA would have to be able to give training a high priority.
More than just an assessment, the donor community in close collaboration with MoWCA
wanted to identify some of the strategies that could be put in place for them to better
manage the development assistance programs. Increasingly the development partners are
working within a program-based framework, aimed at building sustainability of
government and reducing the government’s dependence on donor driven projects. For
this reason, the donors felt that there needed to be short, medium and long-term
recommendations on the direction within MoWCA. These recommendations are given in
section 5 below. In particular there is a matrix that draws out the weaknesses, constraints,
and recommendations that may be the basis for further consultation between the
respective government personnel and the donor representatives.
In conclusion then, what emerges from this IOA report, is that the technical assistance
role of MoWCA must be improved at all levels i.e. PLAU, the Planning wing and DWA.
This “TA” input would consist of working more with other Ministries on the NAP
implementation. Although this has been initiated, it needs to be upgraded, and in
particular needs to be carried out in the Planning wing and DWA.
8
Section 2: Methodology
There were two methodological approaches used in this study. First, to elicit as much
information from staff members of MoWCA as possible. This was done in two ways:
through interviews, and through a strategic planning workshop. The interviews were held
throughout a three-week period between March 1st to 22nd, and the workshop was held on
three days between March 18th and 20th, 2002. From this staff input, there was sufficient
information to put together an Organizational Assessment and derive from it some of the
key recommendations.
There were about 14 interviews and these can be found in Appendix 3. Of these the most
significant was with the Secretary, and the others were with MoWCA staff or selected
WID FPs. The list is as follows:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Secretary of MoWCA
Deputy Chief, Planning
Deputy Secretary Development
Deputy Secretary Administration
PLAGE Project Coordinator
Additional Director, DWA
2 Deputy Directors DWA
1 Senior Assistant Chief – MoWCA
Assistant WID FP - Health Ministry
Deputy Secretary - Health Ministry
Senior Assistant Chief - Ministry of Environment and Forests
Deputy Chief - Ministry of Education
Deputy Chief - PMED
Assistant Chief - Ministry of Information
The strategic planning workshop notes are found in Appendix 6, and within these notes,
there are sub-sections on the purpose and expectations of the workshop. Most importantly
however were the sub-sections on opportunities (which in fact are constraints); problems
for the WIDFPs (again constraints); solutions which are in fact the opportunities, and
then recommendations. These have been incorporated into the recommendations.
It must be added here that the strategic planning workshop was co-directed by a
consultant from Management Development Foundation, a Dutch consulting firm. MDF
is known for its methods of carrying out strategic appraisals with public administrators2.
The method MDF used was to identify the strategic objective of the workshop, and then
to analyze the constraints (problems) (on red cards); opportunities (solutions) on green
cards, and specific recommendations for action (yellow cards). The full involvement of
2
The MDF method was only partly used in the planning workshop because the planned outcome had to
cohere with the IOA study.
9
the staff is one of their prime goals. In this case the workshop was for middle
management level officers.
Following the workshop, the various constraints, and opportunities were categorized
against the unit or department. In reviewing the outcome of the strategic planning
workshop, it seemed necessary to put the comments in some sort of analytical framework
in order to make the organizational assessment. The framework that was chosen was the
main categories that were used in the institutional assessment known as IRWID, taken up
in 1997.
By using the same categories from the IRWID report (see below), it was expected that the
progress could be measured. In fact this did not occur because the situation has changed
making comparison difficult. (An effort at a comparison was made and it can be found in
Appendix 2.) For instance, in the meantime the National Policy (NPAW) was passed; a
changed AOB was accepted and much technical assistance was provided through the
operationalization of the PLAU unit. It made comparison difficult.
In any event the categories of IRWID were used, and this was very helpful in making the
Organizational Assessment. The categories3 were:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Location and authority: i.e. Problems related to lack of authority
Organizational structures eg. Procedures, instituted guidelines:
Personnel/human resource development/personnel issues
Financial resources
Technical assistance i.e. technical information and technical support
Priority setting and strategy formulation
Feedback from field activities
Intra agency communication and coordination (including monitoring) i.e. within
MoWCA
9. Inter sectoral communication coordination and monitoring i.e. Within GOB
10. Inputting project planning and decision making processes i.e. inputting NAP
recommendations
11. Formation of strategic alliances eg. With NGO’s/Women’s organizations.
The second methodological approach was developed for the Institutional Assessment.
This was a review of the NAP primarily, first with MoWCA; and then with selected other
Ministries. Of the status report of MoWCA, an assessment could be made of a) what has
happened; b) what has not happened; and c) how to practically move forward. This
corresponded to a) opportunities; b) constraints and c) recommendations. It was also felt
that this matrix could be a tool in the measuring of the status of NAP in the future as well.
Matrices of other six Ministries were also tried. Owing to a shortage of time and
difficulty in extracting that information at the strategic workshop, only two or three of
3
There was no reference made to the additional three categories of expected outputs since it was not
relevant to the present analysis.
10
them were completed with seriousness. They were then compared to the NAP review
files that were collected by the Ministry, but this yielded insufficient information.
Clearly one of the findings of the NAP matrix exercise was that those actions related to
making the Ministries more accountable to a NAP process has not taken place. This was
reconfirmed in a review of the minutes of the three Coordination Committee’s meetings,
which can be found in the Appendix 15, the summary of which is in the report on page 47
.
In addition to the NAP matrix and other related documents, there was an interview with
selected civil society members to also see to what extent the institutional development
had taken place in the government. On the whole the 6 civil society members that were
consulted felt that much had taken place, but that it did not meet their expectations. The
interview and questions can be found in Appendix 7. Otherwise the comments have been
incorporated into the report on page 49.
In terms of the recommendations, these emerged out of the strategic workshop, the
interviews, the NAP matrices, and also from reading many reports related to MoWCA.
11
Section 3: Organizational Assessment
This section is an analysis of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs as the ‘lead
agency’ in gender mainstreaming. It looks at the strengths and weaknesses of its various
units and departments, and identifies the bottlenecks and opportunities that exist. This is
with the intention of finding out how to break the “log-jam” within the organization that
prevents the organizational change process started by the NAP process from advancing.
In undertaking an extensive analysis the following was examined:

Capability of DWA i.e. field level activities and field level collaboration with
other partners;

Capability of Planning Wing and PLAU

Degree of Coordination of all units/wings of MoWCA
Before first going into the constraints/weaknesses and opportunities/strengths of
MoWCA, there is a need to describe the various units of the Ministry and its functions.
1. Description of MoWCA
1.1 Allocation of Business – The AOB is that which determines the functions of the
Ministry. It was revised in January 2001 so that it could take on “the coordination
and monitoring functions of WID”. Once the revisions were made, one could
surmise that the functions of the Ministry were in line with the National Policy
for the Advancement of Women (NP) and with the National Action Plan (NAP).
The putting together of the revised AOB was quite a participatory process of the
MoWCA in consultation with the WIDFPs. It was a great tribute to the then
Secretary and her Ministry for her persistence in getting this document accepted
by the Cabinet Division. The challenges were quite significant.
12
The Allocation of Business for MoWCA is as follows:
1.
(a) National Policy regarding women;
(b) National Policy regarding children.
2.
3.
4.
Programme for the welfare and development of women and children.
Matters relating to legal and social rights of women and children.
Attending to the problems and affairs relating to women and children, and
communicating and disseminating relevant information for awareness building.
Programmes for empowerment of women including their employment opportunities.
Matters relating to –
(a) The National Council for Women’s Development;
(b) The National Council for Children’s Affairs.
Matters relating to –
(a) The Directorate of Women’s Affairs;
(b) The Jatiyo Mohila Sangstha;
(c) The Bangladesh Shishu Academy.
Coordination and monitoring of WID activities of different Ministries through
designated WID focal points.
Liaison with women’s organizations and civil society to encourage their
contribution.
Control and registration of all voluntary agencies for women.
Matters relating to violence against women.
Agreements and liaison with international organizations in the field of gender
equality and for the advancement of women and children.
Observance of –
(a) International Women’s Day, March 8th
(b) World Children’s day on the 1st day of October
(c) National Children’s day on March 17th
(d) Begum Rokeya Dibash on December 9th
(e) Child Rights Week on September 29th and October 5th
(a) Begum Rokeya Padak;
(b) National Awards for women and children
Co-ordination of all matters relating to children in other Ministries and
Organizations.
Liaison with UNICEF and other concerned international bodies/foreign agencies
dealing with child development.
Liaison with international organizations and matters relating to treaties and
agreements with other countries and world bodies relating to subjects allotted to the
Ministry.
Inquiries and statistics on any subject allotted to the Ministry.
All laws on subjects allotted to the Ministry.
Fees in respect of any of the subjects allotted to the Ministry except fees taken in
courts.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
The important and noteworthy change made in the revised AOB was article 8, namely
"Coordination and monitoring of WID activities of different Ministries through
designated WID focal points”. This had a substantial change impact in the direction of
the functions of the Ministry.
13
2. Organizational Structure of MoWCA
2.1 MOWCA
At present the senior management in MoWCA consists of a full Secretary, and two
Joint Secretaries. The Joint Secretary (Development) normally is the focal point for
the Ministry. It is here that the integration takes place between planning and
development branches and where the policy formulation, programming and training
functions occur. The Joint Secretary Development does most of the coordination
activities. The Joint Secretary (Administration and Violence Cell) looks after all other
matters and oversees the violence cell.
There are normally four deputy level officers handling the following areas:
Deputy Chief - Planning
Deputy Secretary - Development
Deputy Secretary – Administration
Deputy Secretary - Violence Cell
There functions of each are as follows:
Deputy Chief – Planning Wing
-Preparing and processing ADP projects for approval
-Formulation of all projects of MoWCA, DWA and JMS
-Consulting with donors on funding of projects
-Monitoring project progress
-In charge of 3 coordination committees (IEC, WIDCC, WN) meeting
-Providing comments on WID projects funded in other Ministries.
-Processing development projects of big programs for approval in pre-ECNEC + ECNEC
approval committees.
Deputy Secretary - Development
-Project/program implementation of Ministry
-Works related to the development budget, fund release, purchase, and audit
-Appt of Class 1 officers for projects
-In charge of VGD program
-Provide information to admin branch on project status
-Monitoring the progress of the implementation of projects.
Deputy Secretary Administration
-All matters related to admin and personnel
-All administration of DWA
-All procurement
14
-Organize coordination meetings within the Ministry
-Women and gender works related to the UN including CEDAW, NAP, etc.
-All celebration days
Deputy Secretary - Violence Cell
-Monitoring of complaints and all works related to violence of women and children
-Appoints lawyer
-Workshop related to all national committees on violence
-Implementation of NAP and CRC
-NGO related works
-Formulation of law
Each deputy level officer has 3 senior assistant level officers to assist them. Over all
there is about 17/18 professional staff and another 17/18 support staff.4
The organogram of the Ministry is in Fig 15. The modifications of the organogram have
not been passed.6
2.2 PLAU Unit
The PLAU Unit is a project of MoWCA. It was set up by the PLAGE project (hereafter
PLAU) and conducts institutional reviews of the status of NAP twice each year and
presents this to the WID coordination meetings, WID Network and the Implementation
and Evaluation Committee meetings.
It also looks at monitoring of the whole planning process to ensure the inclusion of
gender in the plans and policies of the GOB. In essence, the role of PLAU is that of a
“think tank” of MoWCA. It has technical expertise that enables macro-policy analysis
and in particular, keeps “an eye” on the crucial policy issues and the points that require
advocacy. It also provides a profile of the Ministry to those outside government through
the NGOs, media, international reports, etc. (a kind of publicist role) In addition it has the
duties of acting as the Secretariat for the NCWD.
One of the difficulties is that the PLAU (Policy Leadership and Advocacy Unit) is that
has not yet been integrated into the Ministry because the Ministry of Finance has not yet
given its approval to include it under the Revenue Budget. It is still dealt with as a
project. However once PLAU is finally integrated into the Ministry it will have the
following terms of reference. See Box below.
4
The actual number of support staff at the Secretariat could not be determined.
Fig 1 Present organogram of MoWCA in Appendix 4
6
An organogram within the GOB is essential to identify the commitments of the Revenue Ministry to
staffing. Every organogram determines the personnel functions.
5
15
The Terms of Reference of the PLAU






Facilitating NCWD
Communicating and dissemination for awareness building.
Coordinating and monitoring WID activities of different ministries through WIDFPs
Act as a liaison with NGOs/Women’s organizations/civil society
PLAGE-Technical support group with thrust on policy inputs.
To oversee strategies for promoting linkages and communication with stakeholders for
gender mainstreaming in policies and projects.

Policy advocacy inputs for gender mainstreaming in policies/projects.

Promote consultation of MCWA & civil society and disseminate decisions of NCWD.

Assist in media advocacy to mainstream gender

Supervise DRC.

Coordinate with the WIDFP through organizing network meetings and implementation
and evaluation meeting on status of NAP.

Conduct policy research, gender tools for planning.

Facilitate training sessions organized by PLAGE.
Through DRC collect information and reference material on women and gender
concerns to help PLAU in their focus to mainstream gender.
2.3 DEPARTMENT OF WOMEN’S AFFAIRS
The Department of Women’s Affairs is one of the most important parts of MoWCA as it
is the principal implementing arm. It is interacting with women’s needs and interests
throughout the country, and has traditionally been the flagship for women’s welfare
schemes. As described by the Director of DWA,7 the goals are as follows:








To work as a head office at the field level for women’s development and
support the Ministry to determine and implement policies on women’s
development and welfare.
To act as a guide for establishing the dignity for women and other issues
including social and legal rights for women.
To organize in such a manner that women are participating in socio-economic
and development activity effectively.
To ensure the welfare of women in society and creation of job opportunity for
them.
To provide registration and regulation of voluntary women organizations.
To provide some housing facilities for job-seeking women.
To undertake and implement development programs for needy women.
To arrange scholarships for facilitating education of children.
It may be noted that there is no change of the stated goals in spite of the change in the
MoWCA Allocation of Business. As seen in the organogram in Fig 2 in the appendix 5,
there are four Deputy Directors that look after the following units under the leadership of
a Director General, Director and Additional Director. The units are:
7
From Al Hussani “Strengthening the Directorate for Women Affairs” 2001
16




Planning, project and evaluation;
Registration of non-government organizations, publications and public relations;
Administration and finance; and
National training and development academy for women.
There is some consideration that there will be a fifth deputy director placed in charge of
Coordination and Awareness Raising, although this is in the planning stages and at the
time of this assessment no firm decision had been taken.
The number of persons working at the head office is about 151. The total number of staff
and support staff is about 531 in the districts and 1333 in the upazilas. Approximately the
number of workers in DWA today is 2015.
In terms of coverage, all 64 districts have DWA officers and about 336 out of the 440
(76%) upazilas have DWA officers. (sub-district level)
In the following box item, a description of the training and projects is given:
17
Important Activities of DWA
Training: The Training Institute of DWA has provided 3230 women in different courses from 1977-2001
mainly around skills development such as sewing skills and savings collection. In other centers as many as
51,000 have been trained at district level since 1993. At UP level 450,000 women have been trained. If you
look at the past fifteen years 350,000 women have been trained at the district and thana level.
Training has been given to different government officers on gender.
Formation of Women Led NGOs: 22388 groups have been provided registration. About 4 crore taka were
given to these groups to date.
Implementation of Projects
In 2000-2001, 179 projects were implemented by DWA, 16 were ongoing and one was new Tk 3,640.00
Lac were allotted in the ADP for these projects. They include:
1. Macro-level programs for distressed women and children under NGOs
2. Projects for enhancing women development awareness and related information
3. Begum Rokeya Training Center
4. Program for the development of destitute women
5. Kormojibi Mohila Hostel in Gopalgonj
6. Women Support program
7. Day care program for working women
8. Multi sectoral program to prevent women abuse
9. Multi sectoral program to prevent child trafficking
10. Two Kormojibi Mohila Hostel in Dhaka
11. Overall development and empowerment of women in the Chittagong Hill Tracts
12. Agricultural Training center for women
13. Creation of employment for village women
14. Shariakani women training institute
15. Income generation program for community based women through voluntary organizations.
Objectives of these projects are to:








Eradication of poverty for poor
Make them more self-sufficient
Ensure women rights
Build awareness
Coordination between government and NGO
Preventing women and child abuse
Human resources development
Extensive empowerment of women through training and credit programs.
Financial Support to Destitute women: Tk1,49,50,000 to 4169 women. This comes out of the P.M.’s
Relief Fund. This is used to help them for small income generating activities.
Although there is Training Institute, this does not do training on gender. This is why the
creation of GTI was a very important action given in the NAP.
8
There is a great deal of despite over the total of women led groups that have received resources.
According to a NUK report, over 6,000 have been given funds. (NUK – DWA registered Woman NGOs +
their roles in development – August 2000)
9
As of 2002, the number of projects is 21. See Appendix 17 for more recent listing of DWA projects.
18
The Gender Training Institute (GTI) was seen as an important solution for the capacity
development of DWA and MoWCA officers. At present there are some regional training
centers but these have been used more for beneficiaries training than for DWA officers.
The GTI is an important recommendation of NAP, and has not yet been established.
2.4 Jatiyo Mahila Sangshta
The Bangladesh Jatiyo Mahila Sangshta (BJMS) is an active autonomous body of the
Ministry and it basically has the task of carrying out 4 projects at present two that are
completed and two that are still in process. The two in process are related to micro-credit.
Primarily all the projects JMS takes relate to micro credit and rural development.
Its mandate is well intentioned but perhaps it is not as effective as it could be. More
resources are needed for JMS to function well.
Aims and Activities of JMS10
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Creation of awareness among women in all spheres of life.
Training of women in technical and vocational trades.
Help women to be economically self-reliant.
Help women to uphold their legal rights.
Motivate women to adopt family planning.
Develop linkages with all organizations (government, non-government, local, foreign) that are
working towards women’s welfare.
7. Try to incorporate women in all national development activities.
8. Encourage women to establish cooperatives and cottage industry.
9. Create opportunities for women to take part in cultural and sports activities.
10. Organize conferences, seminars, and workshop of women to discuss women’s interests.
11. Whatever steps are necessary to achieve all of the above.
10
Taken from IRWID Report, Vol. 2, pg. 22
19
3. Analysis of Constraints and Weaknesses of MoWCA
From the findings of the Strategic Planning workshop, the staff themselves made the
observation of the main constraints and weaknesses. This is found in Appendix 6.3.
Here the summary of the problems is given.
Some of the general observations supported by findings were as follows:
Constraints and Weakness of MoWCA11
Personnel/HRD/Capacity Development
Organizational structures eg. procedures, instituted guidelines
Technical assistance
Intra agency communication and coordination (including monitoring)
Location and authority
Inter sect oral communication coordination and monitoring
Financial resources
Priority setting and strategy formulation
Feedback from field activities
Inputting project planning and decision making processes
Formation of strategic alliances
Percentages
35%
17%
12.5%
8.3%
6.25%
5%
4%
3%
3%
3%
1%
Some analysis of the findings is as follows:
1. The single largest problem raised by the staff of MoWCA was related to Personnel
related issues or insufficient Capacity Development of the Staff. In all wings/units,
and in the department this was seen as a major problem. Among the WIDFPs, this
was also expressed as a problem.
1.1. In the self-assessment session with MoWCA staff, 35 per cent of all constraints/
problems mentioned by the staff were related to personnel deficiencies i.e. insufficient
capacity development, or unsatisfactory staff strength, lack of personnel supports, etc.. In
terms of looking at opportunities the MoWCA staff named personnel issues as the main
area for development (34%).12
1.2 If the NAP is reviewed, out of the 30 proposed actions, 11 or (35%) are roughly
related to personnel or HRD. In terms of the achievements in the NAP, personnel or HRD
has been one of those areas that have registered the least progress.
1.3 The WIDFPs in their own self-assessment of the problems commented that of all the
problems they face in the Ministry, almost 50% of them stated that their problems were
related to insufficient capacity or personnel related issues.
1.4 On top of the small staff strength, the mid-level and senior administrators are
constantly changing so that they cannot provide continuity and receive sufficient time to
gain the gender specialization required to do the job.
11
12
See Strategic workshop in Appendix 6.3
See page 25 below
20
2. The need for capacity development/training was one large aspect of the Personnel
deficiency felt by the staff. This has to be understood in two parts. Firstly, there is a
growing expectation on the Ministry to deliver specialized gender information or
support from MoWCA to other Ministries. Secondly, whatever capacity development
has been given has focused on the MoWCA staff or senior staff in DWA. The training
of DWA middle-level staff, particularly at the Upazila level has not been undertaken.
2.1 The IRWID and NAP reports focused on the moving from the concept of women’s
focused development to the concept of gender mainstreaming13. Since 1997 much
change has occurred within the GOB in terms of the concept of gender. What is still
problematic is “putting into practice” gender mainstreaming. The WIDFPS have
requested that there be a procedure or manual put out by MoWCA on the way to put
gender mainstreaming into practice. There is still a tremendous need for technical
transfer and capacity development.
2.2 Much discussion in the strategic workshop focused on the urgency of setting up a
single Gender Training Institute (GTI) that had been mandated in the NAP (Action
No.9). This would provide training to DWA staff. At present skills training related to
micro credit, etc., not gender training is the main capacity development intervention
for DWA at the Upazila level.
2.3 There was clear indication in discussions with the staff in the DWA directorate that
there was an unused technical expertise among senior workers (i.e. Deputy Directors
who have been in the Department for 2-3 decades) that could be offered to the
Ministry staff, particularly to train the senior staff that may have minimal gender
training.
2.4 Gender training and capacity development needs to be extended to other
departments/Ministries. Part of this could be that MoWCA is not sufficiently
interacting with the 22 training centers in the country. This point was brought out in
the IRWID report, and continues to persist as a problem. It is also to be noted that
there has been a delay in the operationalization of a UNDP project entitled “gender
mainstreaming” which is geared to working on the gender components of almost
two-dozen training centers in the country.
3 It was noted that MoWCA has increased their technical profile (as having gender
expertise) in part, because of PLAU’s “coming on line” but also through the creation
and dissemination of technical information (eg. Policy reviews, DRC documents,
policy research, institutional reviews), etc. However the other wings and units of
MoWCA do not have access to technical information nor are they using it
sufficiently. The reasons for this are numerous, most important among them, is the
lack of computer access. (See Strategic Planning Workshop notes.)
3.1 The problem of maximizing the technical expertise is two fold: firstly, PLAU is not
yet an integral part of the Ministry, so there is an ownership problem related to that which
they produce. There was a great deal of discussion in the strategic workshop over
13
IRWID Volume 1, NAP Introduction
21
PLAU’s legal identity (or the lack of it). This has led to another set of divisions within
the Ministry, which make interagency coordination more difficult.
3.2 The MoWCA staff are largely dependent on the PLAGE consultants to get the job
done rather than to use it as a learning opportunity. Secondly, PLAGE has not been
able to optimally carry out capacity development either in PLAU or in other
wings/branches of the Ministry to date.
3.3 The PLAU staff in the strategic planning workshop expressed that MoWCA
continues to see technical information as a problem area in spite of it being an
advantage.
3.4 Part of the problem with respect to information networking is related to the lack of
computerization and information systems in MoWCA
3.5 Although there have been efforts to set up an MIS in DWA, this has not been very
successful to date. A new project has been sought to make field information
available to the directorates. This still leaves out the other staff members of MoWCA
4 The other major aspect of Personnel is the problem of the number of staff required
and the number that has been put in place. This is related largely to DWA because it
is the implementing body. According to all reports, the Ministry of Establishment has
approved so many positions, which have not been filled, possibly because of funding
constraints. Moreover there is a case to be made for the need of more staff than has
been approved. The numbers of staff has been looked at in terms of the total
workload.
4.1 Through a careful study made by the Director of DWA, the following posts are
proposed for each class of workers14. This is the minimum to make the DWA to
operate correctly.
Below are the proposed positions that have been put together by DWA. It is used
here to show the difference between the actual numbers and the ideal situation for
optimal functioning but has yet to be assessed by MoWCA and so recommended for
approval
Proposed Personnel of DWA
SL
a)
b)
c)
d)
14
Name of
Approved
Office
Positions
Head Office
151
Divisional
Office (Old)
Zilla Office
531
(District)
Upozilla Office
1333
Proposed
Positions
186
54
Change
+35
+54
Total
Positions
186
54
726
+195
726
1995
+662
1995
Remarks
From Al Hussani “Strengthening the Directorate for Women Affairs” 2001.
22
Total = 2015
2961
+946
2961
Proposed Personnel of DWA
SL
1)
2)
3)
4)
Class
Class - I
Class - II
Class - III
Class - IV
Total
Approved Positions
109
485
708
713
2015
Proposed Position
530
84
1223
1124
2961
- 946 new positions are being proposed. Although this seems like a large amount, compared to
other ministries it is still minimal. This is put into perspective when one finds in one upazila 50
agricultural extension workers and only one DWA officer.15
5 The second major problem that was identified in this report was the organizational
procedures (mainly administrative) that are blocking the workflow. One of the
bottlenecks is related to the organogram. The organogram is important in assessing
the amount the Ministry gets from the revenue budget.
5.1 DWA has not had an approved organogram since 1984, and this has hampered
operations and affected the hiring of personnel.
5.2 The planning wing of MoWCA has not been made a wing so that to expect the
planning wing to be able to interact with other Ministries under the NAP is difficult
unless it gains the status of a “wing”.
5.3 PLAU does not have “what it requires”to take up action. This will only be given once
it becomes an integral part of the Ministry.
5.4 Interagency communication and coordination is occurring but not to the extent
that is desirable for the needed change process within the Ministry.
6 One of the problems that has come up continuously in the discussions was around the
whole issue of intra-agency coordination. Because it emerged as a central issue, the
assessment team selected it as a key area for “strengthening” in the recommendation.
The current Secretary like many of his predecessors may be open to constant
interaction, but this does not necessarily mean that there is a process of
institutionalizing interagency coordination. All the staff recognized the importance of
communication, coordination and monitoring as functions of the Ministry as a whole.
6.1 In the past much of the interagency coordination happened at the Joint Secretary
level. This is because the Joint Secretary is “the focal point” in MoWCA. The fact is
that MoWCA is “the lead agency” in gender mainstreaming therefore it needs to
coordinate the many activities of the wings/units of planning, development, PLAU,
15
For full description of posts see appendix 16
23
DWA and JMS. The Joint Secretary and Secretary can provide leadership but unless
the regular meetings institutionalize a method of providing regular planning exercises
with the involvement of staff from the Ministry and Departments, there will be a
problem of carrying out the NAP program.
6.2 This raises the second issue of the priority setting and strategy formulation. Much
discussion went on about how to move from “donor driven project oriented
approach” to a programmatic approach, so that all programs are working in a
common direction. This was seen as important for the coordination between donor
supported institutional strengthening projects as well. It was noted that often times
donor projects are not coordinated and potentially could be working cross-purposes.
6.3 One of the important issues that was raised by the staff was the whole question of the
participation and involvement of DWA staff in decision-making so that the programs,
and projects that are being taken up are “responsive to the field.” There was a special
suggestion made that there be an annual work planning session to get the formal
input of field staff. This was crucial in the strengthening of the DWA as a field based
organization.
6.4 There was considerable mention on the establishment of a fifth unit in DWA that
would focus on inter-departmental coordination and awareness building (and
monitoring) on gender. Although there has been no verdict on this proposal by the
senior management, it seemed that it would help with the coordination within the
Department and that it would assist with overall Intra Ministerial coordination.
7 Particularly the DWA, the planning wing and the development branch considered the
issue of having more feedback from the field as an important opportunity. They feel
that the WIDFPs should also be aware of how WID projects are running in their
respective Ministries by making field visits to understand the impacts on women.
7.1 DWA saw the value of NGOs/Women led groups to help them to give field feedback.
7.2 Planning Wing wanted that their staff make regular visits to the field.
7.3 More communication with the WID Coordinating Committees at the Thana and district
levels.
7.4 Greater collaboration with UP women would be another method.
8 The whole issue of financial resources was raised many times. It was mostly in the
context however of the need to increase the interest of the Ministries of Finance and
Planning to accept the claim that MoWCA was under funded in contrast to other
Ministries. This is argued on the basis of its changed mandate and the demands
provided by the revised allocation of business and the fact the organograms had not
been approved.
8.1 As the NCWD is not meeting to press for measures regularly, it is difficult for
Minister/Secretary to get the NCWD on strengthen the women’s machinery.
8.2 There was discussion around the issue of whether the Secretary or Minister
have selected a clear strategic direction as a way to strengthen their “hand” in
24
view of the many funding priorities of government. Advocacy support may be
required.
8.3 The fact that the organizational issues around personnel are not sorted out with the
Finance Ministry, is leading to financial constraints that are making program
planning and implementation difficult. This in turn does not give a good impression
of the management of MoWCA, which further fuels, the argument that MoWCA is
not capable of absorbing more funds.
8.4 Funding still is required from the donors to assist with the development budgets. The
general consensus is that there should be a “programmatic” approach and not a donor
driven approach.
8.5 The resource allocation to MoWCA from the revenue budget is meager. This is some
0.22% of the total budget. Although this has grown to crores in 2000-01 outlays, this
has not grown proportionately to the whole budget.
8.6 The total number of women focused projects in the GOB from all Ministries is 67.
There are another 274 that are partially women focused projects.
8.7 The development projects keep MoWCA functioning and these remain the main
focus. There are 21ongoing projects in DWA, 4 in JMS and another 3 being carried
out exclusively by the Ministry. There are 11 projects in the pipeline. The total
revenue allocation is roughly 3.6 crores and the total staff strength is about 2015. Out
of all workers in MoWCA and DWA most of the staff is support staff. Only 109 are
Class 1 employees.
8.8 The planning process has not adequately integrated gender and therefore allocations
of revenue/development budget remain low. This planning process has not integrated
gender into it and therefore there is still a problem with not having gender
components at every stage of the plan. This is part of the reason why the planned
budget remains so low.
25
4. Analysis of Strengths and Opportunities
The following is the result of discussions with MoWCA staff on how they see the
strengths and opportunities.
Strengths and Opportunities of MoWCA16
Personnel/HRD/Capacity Development
Organizational structures eg. procedures, instituted guidelines
Technical assistance (i.e. technical information/assistance)
Financial resources
Inter sect oral communication coordination and monitoring
Intra agency communication and coordination (including
monitoring)
Location and authority
Formation of strategic alliances
Priority setting and strategy formulation
Inputting project planning and decision making processes
Feedback from field activities
Percentages
34%
24%
14%
9%
5.1%
3.6%
3.6%
2.9%
1.45%
0.72%
0.72%
1. The key strength of MoWCA is the fact that it has an operating Allocation of
Business (AOB), and that it is working in line with the new functions.
2. The setting up of PLAU has assisted MoWCA in increasing its technical profile
(as having gender expertise) and has effectively created and disseminated a
substantial amount of technical information in terms of policy reviews, research,
institutional analysis, public relations related materials, etc.
3. The establishment of the DRC has been a most significant step towards
organizing existing resource material and creating a database for use by
Government and NGOs.
4. The development of planning tools that assists different sectors in incorporating
women’s needs and interests (and gender equality considerations) into the projects
that are being processed by the Planning Wing with Skyswam wing at the. Gender
analysis checklist as a tool is to be incorporated in PP, PCP, and TAPP . The
gender tools offers a reference to the various issues that need to be considered for
women’s projects or those projects with women’s/gender components both from
MoWCA and other Ministries.
5. Assisting IMED with the development of a Status report on the current projects
that were “partially women focused” and “wholly women focused” as a guide to
which Ministry is giving some focus to women, and which Ministries are not.
16
See Strategic Workshop on appendix 6.1
26
6. The VGD program is an effort to extend the coverage of DWA officers, provide
them with training not only in food distribution but also giving gender awareness.
Inputs provided could help make DWA staff more aware of the NAP and of the
importance of the national policy, aware of CEDAW and cognizant of methods of
promoting gender mainstreaming.
7. The support of the donors in assisting MoWCA with funds to assist with three
institutional strengthening programs has been a great help to the capacity
development of senior staff.
8. Tremendous amount of policy research has been undertaken which has given
MoWCA a reputation for having technical expertise.
9. Multi-sector program on violence has expanded MoWCA’s outreach on violence
issues. Appreciation that DWA officers could play a role in the whole violence
issue in bringing women to shelters, getting legal counsel, providing referrals,
getting the police to take the necessary action against the perpetrators, etc.
10. Significant amount of alliance building has gone on with NGOs and women’s
groups particularly in the area of policy, but also in terms of training and
implementation of projects of DWA. Registered NGOs are starting to be seen as a
force because it was evident that DWA wanted to streamline their registration
process to ensure that performance monitoring was built into the selection of
grantees.
11. Efforts towards bringing women’s led groups into some sort of consultative
relationship with MoWCA is going on.
12. Working with UP women.
27
Section 4: Institutional Assessment
The Institutional Assessment is an examination of the whole national machinery related
to women’s development/gender equality. Whereas the Organizational Assessment looks
at the particulars of a Ministry, the Institutional Assessment takes a government wide
approach. By doing such an institutional assessment, it is easier to capture some of the
dynamics of an organizational change process that has been going on since the
production of the NAP.
A change process cannot be measured without reference to the many government and
civil society actors carrying out gender mainstreaming. To assess gender mainstreaming
is to look at the kind/degree of integration of gender equality (or women’s needs or
interests) both in government and outside. Within government there is an institutional
framework in so far as there is a lead agency, and WIDFPs, along with various bodies
and committees. Outside government there are NGOs, women’s organizations and a host
of other civil society actors. Owing to the limitations of this study the focus has been on
the former, rather than the latter.
In the analysis of the institutional framework, the study refers to the weaknesses and
constraints, and the strengths and opportunities.
The institutional assessment was broken down into the following components:
1. Assessing the kind/degree of integration of the National Policy for the Advancement
of Women in public policy making. Selected national sectoral policies were reviewed,
and as well, the government’s own self-appraisal in relation to the PFA at the Beijing
Plus Five meeting at the UN in June 2000.
2. Review of the National Machinery with a view to analyzing the capability of the Lead
Ministry (MoWCA) in its efforts to carry out the National Action Plan.
3. Review of the capability of WIDFPs in selected (6) Line Ministries in accordance
with the National Action Plan. A brief NAP review was taken up keeping in mind the
sectoral policies, programs and projects.
4. Review between the coordination of MoWCA and WIDFPs. A brief look at the three
Coordinating Committees and the problems related to Intersectoral Coordination.
5. Review of the coordination with non-government actors eg. NGOs, and Women’s
Organizations.
28
1. Assessing the kind/degree of integration of the National Policy for
the Advancement of Women in public policy making.
A change process within the GOB began with the acceptance of the Beijing Platform for
Action (FPA) wherein 12 critical areas were adopted. Two consequences of this
agreement was first the adoption of the National Policy for the Advancement of Women
(NPAW) and secondly was the approval of the National Action Plan (NAP).
The National Policy laid forth a series of goals that provided direction for the integration
of gender equality and women’s development in all spheres in the public and private
domain. These include:





Implementation of women’s rights and basic freedoms
Elimination of all forms of discrimination against the girl child and women
Women’s protection and voice in armed violence
Women (and girl’s) education and training, and participation in sports and culture
Ensure women’s active and equal rights in all activities in the national economy
-alleviation of women’s poverty
-economic empowerment of women
-employment of women
-support services (childcare, care for the aged and disabled,)
-women and technology
-food security







Political empowerment of women
Administrative empowerment of women
Health and nutrition
Housing and shelter
Women and environment
Women and mass media
Specially distressed women
There are two ways to determine whether there has been some integration of women’s
needs and interests in the country. Firstly, five selected sectoral policies have been
selected for examination as to whether they reflect or resonate the women’s needs or
interests in the NPAW. Secondly, reference has been made to the assessment that the
GOB, itself made at the Beijing plus Five meeting at UN in June 2000. This shows the
degree of adherence to the PFA.
1.1 Eight Selected Sector Policies17
These eight policies that were consulted were:




17
National Water Policy (2000)
National Environment Policy (1992)
National Agricultural Policy (1999)
National Population Policy (2000)
Five of these policies were taken from a paper produced by senior gender advisor of PSU/CIDA
29




National Education Policy (2000)
National Health Policy (2000)
Labour Policy (1980)
National Rural Development Policy (2001)
National Water Policy (2000)
The National Water policy has consciously incorporated gender concerns in its broad
objectives. These specific objectives relate to:



Availability of water to all including the poor and the underprivileged and in
particular the need of women and children;
Decentralization of water management and enhance the role of women in water
management; and
All future plans for managing water resources which achieve economic
efficiency, gender equity, social justice and environmental awareness.
Women have a particular stake in water management because they are the principal
providers and carriers of water, the main caretaker of the family health and a participant
in the pre and post harvest activities. Special priority is given to poor women because of
the long distances of carrying water and the residual impact on women’s health and
productivity.
Women are not just stakeholders in water management; they also are important
participants in managing the water resources.
In sum the water policy objectives are in line with the NPAW’s objectives.
National Environment Policy (1992) – The Environment Policy is outdated. It therefore
does not even mention environment related development projects. In the 15 sectors
mentioned, women are hardly mentioned.
National Agricultural Policy (1999) – On the whole this policy is gender blind. There is
no statement of women’s role in agriculture in the policy section. It does not appreciate
that women perform most of the agricultural activities, and that women are farmers.
There is no need to create a marginal category of ‘women farmers’ for that brings to
mind, the subsidiary activities such as post harvest activities, seed preservation, nursery
raising, etc.
No mention is made of women friendly technologies.
National Population Policy (2000) The objectives of the national policy are consistent
with that of NPAW. The implementation strategies are also gender sensitive. As for
example, the participation of both men and women in family size decision making,
reproductive health education for both boys and girls as well as inclusion of health related
matters in the education curricula are mentioned. The policy also puts an emphasis on the
30
coordination between health care services and income generation activities and skills
development training for women.
National Education Policy (2000) – The objectives of the policy have taken into
consideration the goals of the NPAW like development of women as educated and
efficient human resources. The education policy has put particular emphasis on the
elimination of discrimination between men and women. However gender objectives and
strategies are not mentioned in the various sections nor in the section on women’s
education are the strategies spelled out clearly. There is affirmative action in the sense
that women with equal expertise will be given preference for employment particularly in
primary and secondary schools. In terms of the 54-member education policy committee
there were only three women members.
In all the policies, there was a range of degree of integration of women’s needs and
interests. The greatest amount of integration was found in the National Water Policy,
Population and the Education policies, and the least in the Environment and Agricultural
policies. MoWCA was not referred to in any of the policies as the lead agency in gender
mainstreaming.
National Health Policy – 2000 – The Health Policy is made up of 15 goal/objectives, 4 of
which directly refer to maternal health/ill-health. There is no mention of women
particularly in terms of their particular health requirements including the issues related to
violence. This may explain the reason why the Health Ministry was compelled
subsequently to formulate a gender equity strategy.
Under the policy principles, and strategies, it does not specifically refer to elimination of
all forms of discrimination/violence against the girl child and women. In one of the
Annexure there is reference to the Beijing Platform of Action but the articles are not
integrated into the policy. Moreover the policy does not acknowledge the large number of
women service providers. This shows that there is little coherence between the NPAW
and the Health Policy.
National Labour Policy – 1980 – This policy needs to be rewritten in light of the National
Policy for the Advancement of Women. It does not highlight women as workers,
particularly in the unorganized sectors. There has been an unquestionable impact made
by women in the garment, food processing and other industries in the last fifteen years.
Moreover it does not attribute the responsibility of the government to: provide training to
women workers; to acknowledge their role in the country’s trade unions; to identify their
numbers within the Economic zones, etc.. The Labour Policy should cohere with the
Labour Ministry’s commitments to NAP.
National Rural Development Policy – 2001 – The policy identifies women as participants
in national development and the need to improve equity in accessing government
programs. To some extent there is a gender perspective incorporated in the objectives of
the policy, which are in line with the NPAW. However in the break-down of different
rural development programs (i.e. poverty alleviation, infrastructure), there is a section on
31
empowerment of rural women, but there could be more reference made to women’s
contribution and role in each category to guarantee mainstreaming.
1.2. Assessment at Beijing Plus Five Meeting at the UN – June 2000
Another way of assessing the integration of the NPAW in the country is to review the
government’s own report on its adherence to the PFA commitments. The report is entitled
“Review and Appraisal of Implementation of BPFA”18. This review showed that many
steps had been taken against each of the twelve critical areas, whilst the alternative report
written by 300 NGOs and women’s groups was slightly less favourable.
Under the 8th critical area, namely, the institutional mechanism for the advancement of
women, the report mentions ten points. They are:
1. WID Focal point mechanism has been established.
2. NAP and NPAW has been formulated.
3. Gender mainstreaming as a strategy for women’s advancement has been
integrated in all GOB policies and plans.
4. NCWD set up and functioning
5. Monitoring and Evaluation Committee to monitor and follow-up up on NAP and
NPAW.
6. District level coordination committees on WID set up in district and Thana level.
7. Parliamentary standing committee to monitor activities of MoWCA functioning
8. Rural cooperative and informal group network at village level facilitating the
advancement of women
9. Mechanisms have been established to include women at various levels of
leadership.
In the Alternative Report by the NGOs, the main issue that is raised on Institutional
Mechanisms is related to the question of accountability and monitoring. The report
mentions that:
“accountability measures for adherence to WID should be spelled out. Systems
and practices should be put in place that will ensure accountability. The inclusion
of WID in office performance appraisals and inclusion of gender issues routinely
in program and project evaluation are some of the ways of ensuring
accountability. Care should however be taken to ensure that these do not become
mechanical exercises. WID monitoring mechanisms should also assess the gender
issues across the agencies.” (pg. 61)
 The NGO report goes on to say that the Government in its implementation
of NAP should undertake a brief review of the National Machinery with a
view to analyzing the capability of the Lead Ministry in its efforts to
catalyze and support gender mainstreaming in the Government in
accordance with the National Action Plan.
18
Review and Appraisal of Beijing Platform of Action – UN Meeting – NY June 2000: by MoWCA
32
“form the basis for setting goals and benchmark around which indicators should
be devised for monitoring government compliance and programmatic/policy
actions taken.”
They also see the role of civil society as a “watch group” for the implementation of NAP.
The NAP is seen to be the programmatic framework for the NPAW, which needs
accountability, monitoring and public action. These are all indicative of the gradual
integration of NPAW in bureaucratic functioning.
2. A brief review of the National Machinery with a view to analyzing
the capability of the Lead Ministry.
The six elements of the National Machinery are:
1. MoWCA and its Implementating Agencies as “Lead Agency”: This was
spelled out in the Organizational Analysis section above.
2. WIDFPs (WID Focal Points) –These were first instituted in 1990. There are
now 49 full WIDFPs, 49 Associate WIDFPs and a total of 100. The WIDFPs
are generally the Joint Secretaries of Development and Joint Chiefs. There is a
WID FP Coordinating Committee, which acts as a coordination and
communication point, as well as a WIDFP Network Committee. These are
further described below.
3. NCWD – The National Council for Women’s Development was formed in
the early 1990s as a high level body on women’s issues. At present there are
49 members drawn from government, MPs, civil society representatives, and
it is chaired by the PM. It formulates policy for women’s development,
oversees WID activities, guides policy makers and serves as a watchdog.
4. Women’s Development Implementation and Evaluation Committee –
This is the body that monitors the implementation of the National Action Plan
and the National Policy.
5. Parliamentary Standing Committee – This is the body that reports to
parliament the progress of the implementation of NAP and NP.
6. District and Thana Level WID Coordinating Committees – The WID
Coordinating Committees at the Thana and District levels meet monthly.
These committees were set up in all 64 districts and in 335 odd thanas to
review the issues related to women.
1.1 Lead Agency
33
In making the evaluation of the lead agency, a review of the NAP implementation was
taken up in the assessment. This included thirty actions. In order to make some sort of
status report, the following matrix was put together. There are three columns i.e.
activities in progress; what has not happened; and how to practically move forward. In
terms of activities in process, it is estimated that about thirty percent of the actions are
underway. In terms of what has not happened and how to practically move forward, the
staff of MoWCA through interviews and the strategic planning workshop determined
this.
An Evaluation Tool for Strategic Planning Workshop
ACTIONS FROM NAP INCLUDED IN THE MOWCA SECTION
Action
Activities in Process
(Action #1) The
NAP proposes that
the mission
statement be passed.
Action# 2 Revision
of AOB
(Action #3) Setting
up of the Child
Directorate
Passed by MoWCA but
not approved.
What has not
happened
How to practically
move forward
Has not been approved
Staff recruitments can be
initiated after due
consideration.
Systematic increase in all
committees has not
happened.
There is a proposal that
there should be a
minimum set for all
committees.
The planning tools are
awaiting approval
The PLAU does not have
sufficient staff,
communication facilities
and support.
To set up working groups
that can strengthen
coordination within
MoWCA /DWA.
AOB revised
It is still under
consideration. A
proposal was passed
before the
Parliamentary Standing
Committee in 2000.
Action # 4 Setting up PLAU set up
a unit for policy
research and
advocacy
(Action#5) Staff
DWA’s proposed
organogram submitted
Recruitment in
MoWCA and DWA 3years ago. Presently
lying in the ministry of
Establishment.
(Action #6)
Some representation is
in various bodies.
Increased
However consulting
Representation of
with women
Women’s
organizations is going
Organization in
on informally.
various bodies of
MoWCA
(Action #7)
Some planning tools
7a. Strengthening of developed and are
planning capacity of being used. Some
exposure trips
MoWCA
organized.
To give priority to non-
34
7b. Strengthening of
planning of DWA
(Action #8) Made
provision of
Supportive Facilities
to NCWD.
DWA has completed a
management capability
project in the process of
setting up MIS.
PLAU has been
facilitating NCWD
meetings.
Planning in DWA has
been restricted to
women’s development
projects.
NCWD is not meeting.
The honorable P.M. as
the chairman needs to
convene NCWD once a
year as per NAP.
Only 2 meetings have
been held since 1997.
(Action #9)
Reorganization of
National Women’s
training and
Development
Academy (NWTDA)
as a training
resource center
Training is imparted
through different
projects of the ministry
and a new training
academy is going to be
established:
1.Begum Rokeya
Training center
2.Technical assistance
for women at
agricultural training
center.
Besides, BPATC and
other training academy
are imparting training
on gender issue
The DRC has been set
up.
The regional training
centers have not got
consolidated into one
major gender-training
center.
DRC still has to develop
into a proper
clearinghouse. Gender
disaggregated data is still
not being collected.
transferable staff
positions involved in
project management and
stakeholder outreach. To
impart capacity building
and gender training
/orientation to them on a
regular basis.
To develop an annual
plan prepared through a
participatory process to
address the on-going
women’s development
issues apart from the
specific implementation
projects.
To set up an executive
body for the NCWD with
representatives from
among the NCWD
members to hold halfyearly meetings. The
outcome of these
meetings be then
presented to the NCWD
under the chairpersonship
of the PM.
The Training Institute
should be transformed to
a full Gender Training
Institute. This should
cater to DWA staff.
All potentials of DRC are
further being explored.
Currently a business plan
is under consideration
For it to become a fullfledged clearing house,
which would keep all
relevant, issues on
women. Gender
disaggregated data should
also be collected.
Efforts have to be made
to implement UNDP’s
Gender Mainstreaming
Project.
Efforts have to be made
35
by MoWCA to augment
the curriculum on gender
in all training institutes.
(Action #10) Phase
out the training
centers
6th five year plan is
addressing this issue.
The sectoral write-up
on MoWCA in the 6th
five-year plan has
included a project
“Evaluation of training
centers.” This
evaluation report will
provide MoWCA with
information as to
whether it is worth
functioning and costeffective.
(Action #11)
Strengthening of
JMS as a network of
small grassroots
women’s
organizations
JMS has 4 projects with
grassroots groups on
rural development
project and the Women
entrepreneur
development project.
There are 64 district
level JMS committees
and in many thanas.
Networks of these
groups have been
established and this will
be strengthened by
building a complex in
the JMS head office.
The JMS still does not
have complete coverage
in the district and thana
levels.
JMS needs to be extended
to the upazilla levels as
well
(Action #12) Prepare -PLAU has done a staff
development plan for
an internal staff
its staff.
development plan
-Capacity development
plan was made of the
WID Focal points.
PLAU is yet to get its
legal status within
MoWCA
(Action #13)
Strengthen capacity
of field officers
Regular inservice and
refresher trainings have
not taken place.
PLAU has to further
develop its technical
expertise and impart a
training of trainers in
MoWCA so that the
training process gets
regularized.
Regular
training/orientation on
capacity building and
women’s development be
imparted to facilitate
efficient management of
the projects with a gender
perspective. Need-based
trainings should be
Some training has gone
on esp. through VGD
program.
Productivity of field
officers is being
improved through
meetings of district
WID coordination
committees and
36
(Action #14)
Incorporation of
women’s needs and
interests and
concerns in all
sectoral policies
(Action #15) Revise
AOBs of all
Ministries
(Action #16)
Comprehensive and
Coordinated
Capacity
Development
Strategy
Upozilla WID
coordination
committees. PLAGE
has facilitated some
capacity building. So
have other DWA
projects.
-PLAU has reviewed
almost all the sectoral
policies that were
prepared during 19992002 or that were
revised during this
period.
-PLAU identified 5 line
Ministries (Industry,
Labour, Information,
Education, LGD) and
worked to impart
training on NAP, and
provided other inputs to
strengthen
implementation of
policies.
The MoHFW has
revised its AOB
Gender tools developed
and this is to be
included in the
trainings in 2 training
institutes, (i.e. Planning
Academy and PATC)
in April-August 2002.
Some of the training
curricula will be
strengthened under the
UNDP program on
gender mainstreaming.
Orientation on gender
tools was given to
Ministries of
Information, Industry,
and Environment
through Planning
Commission personnel.
introduced
All sectors do not have
sector specific policy.
Only few sectors have
policies. Even in those
few most have not yet
incorporated gender
equality and the priority
of gender mainstreaming
based on the provisions
of the NP and NAP.
The water-policy because
it has a gender
perspective should be
used as an archetype
while reviewing policies
of other sectors.
The input of MoWCA did
not get sufficiently
incorporated in the Health
AOB
At a WID coordination
meeting, it was decided
that the other ministries
would seek inputs from
MoWCA to revise their
AOBs.
**Capacity development
has numerous aspects and
is taken up by various
actors. To simplify this,
MoWCA and DWA
should play a lead
support role in all training
(both at the sector level
and field level), but
responsibilities should
remain with the
Ministries.
Accountability must be
assured for staff to use
training effectively.
The gender tools should
be used in 22 training
centers of the country.
Capacity development
has not adequately
targeted WID/Assoc
WID/Sub- Focal Points.
Capacity development
has not been given
sufficiently to DWA field
officers.
NGOs should be brought
in as resource persons
and trainers wherever
possible.
37
(Action #17)
Increasing women
in policy and
decision-making
(Action # 18)
Increasing women
in governing bodies
The Government is
making provision for
lateral entry of women.
Policy research and
advocacy on job quota
was very important.
Women’s
representation has
increased in a few
bodies particularly in
the banking sector.
. (Action#19)
Improve Facilities
like Day care for
Working Women
Day-Care centers have
been set up in the
Headquarters and 6
Divisions.
(Action #20)
Engendering budget
for all sectors
An advocacy program
on engendering budget
is currently in process.
Policy research has
looked at 8 sectors in
terms of allocations
going to women or
gender equality.
Meetings with Finance
Minister have taken
place.
All ministries have not
taken advantage of this
affirmative action.
The increase in the
representation of women
has not been mandated by
quota in all governing
bodies therefore
representation is limited.
Not sufficient numbers of
day-care centers set up.
NAP envisaged more
resources to change the
organizational process.
Development budget
allocations have
increased, but in
proportion to the total
development budget it
is still marginal. The
fifth five-year plan
increased this budget in
other sectoral
ministries.
(Action # 21)
Revising Planning
Procedures,
Formats and
Checklists for
planning and
Gender aware
guidelines for PP, PCP,
TAPP formats are
under preparation.
Checklists, Five year
Plan guidelines, Policy
These have not been
approved.
This provision must be
taken advantage of in all
the ministries.
More advocacy work on
job quota.
A minimum number
should be stipulated so
that such bodies have
adequate representation
of women.
The need for all the
ministries to identify the
extent of day care
required. On the basis of
this state the actual
numbers of day-care
centers should be
specified.
The NCWD under the
chairpersonship of the
PM needs to instruct the
Finance Ministry to
increase the allocation for
women to enable gender
mainstreaming.
Need to expand on
engendering of budget
“Ministry of Finance to
integrate gender analysis
of national budget.
Current work undertaken
by North-south
University (With support
from Royal Norwegian
Embassy, WB, Royal
Netherlands Embassy)
should be considered and
integrated as soon as
possible, starting with
current fiscal year if
possible.
To advocate for their
early approval so that
gender-sensitive projects
could be promoted.
38
projects
(Action #22) Set up
Violence Cell
(Action #23)
Utilization of
resources for
Strategic Projects
review guidelines have
been prepared.
The cell is offering
counseling, legal
guidance, referral and
support services.
The Multisectoral
Project on violence has
been given high priority
in the MoWCA. Six
support centers and
shelters have been
established in the six
divisions. Committees
with civil society
representation have
been set up at the
union, thana and
district levels to address
molestation cases of
children and women.
There is also an interministry committee
under the
chairpersonship of the
MoWCA minister. JMS
does legal counseling.
This is part of the
multi-sectoral violence
project. A one-stop
crisis center has been
started in Dhaka
Medical College.
26 Projects have been
taken by MoWCA and
DWA and some appear
to be strategic.
This project should lead
to a program mode in the
DWA.
The DWA officers should
be trained to handle cases
of violence to be able to
link them to the
divisional level. Also
there needs to be a
linkage of the DWA
person at the Upazilla
level to address such
cases at the field level.
They need to be equipped
sufficiently to enable the
victims to access redress
mechanisms.
MoWCA needs to work
to make other sectors take
on strategic projects on
gender.
To identify projects to
strengthen WID
coordination committees
at district and thana
levels.
Also to have projects to
strengthen infrastructure
and capacity
development, eg. FSVGD
project
MoWCA should in its
assessment of available
resources versus
workload decide on an
optimum type and
number of projects that
they should manage
giving obvious one to the
other responsible Line
Ministries
And make AOB more in
line with MoWCA as a
39
(Action #24)
Increased number
of shelters for
victims of Violence
(Action #25) Legal
Literacy
(Action #26)
Funding for other
Sectoral Ministries
(Action #27)
Encourage research
on issues of
importance to
women
They currently have six
shelters in 6 divisions
Planning wing is
reviewing most of the
other sector’s projects
that have women or
gender components.
PLAGE Gender
Facility provides fund
to other sectoral
ministries to undertake
gender equality
projects.
A lot of policy research
has been done. PLAUPLAGE operates as a
think-tank, and
undertakes policy
research and advocacy.
policy making and policy
implementing body.
This project is not a
priority and strategic one
for DWA.
No link made from the
Upazilla level.
MoWCA does not have
sufficient financial and
human resources to fund
other sectoral projects
Disaggregated data needs
to be collected and
utilized by different
Ministries.
Different Ministries need
to share the data that they
have with the DRC.
It should become a
priority and strategic
project for DWA. For this
to happen such projects
should be strengthened by
linking them to the to
Union Parishad level. The
DWA officers at the
thana and district level
must be appropriately
trained to handle cases of
violence and ensure all
possible relief and justice
to the aggrieved parties.
The link should be
established.
To upgrade DWA
personnel through
capacity development so
that they can help other
line ministries with their
gender projects
.
Research papers should
be a used in formulating
macro policies and for
advocacy.
40
(Action # 28)
28 a) Strengthen the
WID Focal Points
and coordination
(Action #29)
Strengthen
Coordination
between MoWCA
and field level.
Action # 30)
Strengthening
supervision of field
level programs.
The TORs have been
revised and reporting
formats changed. SubWID focal points have
been set up in some
Directorates and
Departments. PLAU
has been involved in
orientation on planning
tools with some
Ministries. Capacity
development has been
mostly in the form of
exposure visits.
PLAU has been
involved in organizing
the WID Focal Point
Meetings and WID
Network meetings and
doing the follow up
notes.
Wid Coordination
Committees have been
set up in each Thana
and the District level.
The composition has
been reviewed.
GO/NGO are working
to identify women led
groups.
NGOs are working with
DWA on
implementation of
projects (eg. VGD Card
distribution.)
Capacity development of
all WID Fps has not been
undertaken adequately in
many Ministries to
strengthen gender
mainstreaming.
Within the Ministries,
little coordination exists
between the WIDFPs and
the sub-WIDFPs.
Staff who are attending
the coordination meetings
are not able to take
decisions.
The coordination
meetings are not being
followed up adequately.
MoWCA could
coordinate this.
To evolve a strategy that
would ensure a limited
period of not less than 5
years in WID and SubWID positions to ensure
continuity in the efforts
of gender mainstreaming.
Provide capacity building
courses training on a
regular basis to equip
WIDFPs with enhanced
skills and update them
with issues related to
women’s development
and gender equality.
Some Ministries are
working more effectively
on gender mainstreaming,
and the best practices are
not being highlighted.
Problem of frequent
transfers and need to
clarify mandate and jobs
description and
accountability.
The meeting proceedings
are not being used
effectively to increase
women’s development.
The roles and
responsibilities of DWA
should be manageable.
They should be given
adequate supports.
The DWA needs to put a
priority on field staff,
take up their capacity
development.
The DWA should not be
implementing women
focused projects only but
using DWA staff to offer
support services to
projects as well.
DWA should subcontract some of their
projects to NGOs, and
encourage collaboration.
The setting up of the MIS
could help in. fieldwork
supervision of the
projects. The supervisory
role of DWA should be
strengthened. There is
41
need to provide
infrastructure support to
carry out projects
effectively.
3. Description of Selected Ministries Carrying out NAP
Some selected NAP implementation cases were identified. They were:






Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Ministry of Education (also Primary and Mass Education),
Ministry of Planning
Ministry of Information,
Ministry of Environment and Forests
Ministry of Law, and Parliamentary Affairs
These Ministries have been making important contributions to the carrying out of the
NAP.
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Some of the points that reflect the actions taken in light of the NAP are as follows:
 The MoHFW has developed a National Health Policy but it has not fully
addressed the women’s concern, hence the gender perspective is to be
incorporated.
 There is a recently revised AOB (August 2000) and it is not yet gender
responsive.
 The MoHFW implements all programs under the umbrella of the Health
Population Sectoral Program (HPSP). This has meant that the Policy Research
Unit (PRU) and the GIO (Gender Issues Office) are lead agencies in the
implementation of the approved gender equity strategy.19
 This gender equity strategy (GES) addresses the gender differentials and
inequities that undermine the health of women and children particularly the poor.
The main challenge is to get it operationalized by the two dozen or Line Directors
of the Ministry. This is in its early stages. There are also efforts to expand the
outreach through broader stakeholder participation including NGOs, community
19
According to donor sources, the gender strategy for MoHFW was developed gradually with a large TA
input from donors and by building up skills and capacity that would effectively put the gender strategy into
operation.
42
groups, professional association, and other government sectors (eg. Teachers) and
the private sector.20
 There are three gender cells in the Health Directorate, Family Planning and
Nursing Directorate and they all have sub-WIDFPs. They are meeting with the
WIDFP regularly.
 An example of the gender sensitivity is the strategy for maternal health. Health
care centers have been set up at the grassroots levels to facilitate women’s access
to health care. Using agents to motivate women to use health care services. The
setting up of community clinics enable women in the rural areas to access health
care more and the recruitment of 20,000 workers to assist in the health system
delivery provides outreach services. The degree to which these services are
reaching women is still being researched.
 They have set up Food and Nutrition Program and this is one of their largest
projects involving women beneficiaries. It is matched with a Nutrition policy and
a National Action Plan for Nutrition.
 There is an MIS in the GIO that shows the employment figures of the number of
women that are working. In nursing it is 95%, in family planning 70% and in
health 65%. In the merging of the two Ministries recently (Health with Family
Welfare), there was a large attrition of women employees. There is a quota for the
recruitment of women, the same as throughout all government.
 There is a large program on Communication for Behavioural change and this
focuses on removing the ‘son preference’ in health promotion and education.
 There is a big push for birth and death registration. The locally elected women are
carrying this out.
 In the NAP, there is an action “to develop appropriate monitoring mechanisms”
(Action 18). Basically the MoHFW uses the Gender Advisory Committee, a high
level steering committee including the Joint Chief Planning, to take stock of the
progress.
Ministry of Education and Primary and Mass Education Department
 The Ministry has approved the Education Policy, which has taken note of gender
discrimination and gender strategies adequately. (See section above on review of
policy.)
 Special programs have been introduced to encourage parents to send their girls to
schools. These are: (a) stipend program for girls to school up to grade eight in
20
See Appendix 3.2 interview with Deputy Secretary MHFW
43
recognized institutions outside metropolitan areas; (b) free education for girls up
to grade XII; (c) food for education programs for girls.
 Vocational courses for girls in schools and colleges have been expanded.
 The Ministry is favouring the hiring of women teachers in all primary and
secondary schools. 60% of the posts are reserved at primary level; and in 100% of
satellite schools. A lower ceiling of education has been fixed for female teachers
than male teachers.
 Teacher’s training has been upgraded with a gender component.
 Greater number of institutions (hostels) for school going girls and for residing
teachers.
 Multiple interventions for assisting girl dropouts with technical training and
literacy and non-formal education programs.
 Sub-WIDFPs have been nominated in the departments and directorates.
 Strengthening efforts to collect disaggregated data through EMIS project.
 There is no section on monitoring in the NAP.
Ministry of Planning
Planning Commission





General Economics Division set up WIDFP Committee;
Identified WID projects at the time of examining sectoral yearly program resource
allocation.
GED and SCYSWAM worked with PLAU on the gender analysis of selected
Ministries eg. Environment, Industry, Information, Education
MoWCA Working with PC to do situational analysis for the 6th Five Year Plan
Gender checklist will soon be applied to the PCP, and the formats of the PP and
TAPP will be modified.
IMED


Went through 1396 projects of RADP 2000-2001 to determine which were (full)
WID projects, and partial WID projects.
Full WID Projects: Determined very significant information that there are 12
Ministries carrying out full WID projects or a total of 67 projects (roughly 5% of
the total projects of GOB). Of the implementers of WID projects, the order of
Ministries (from highest no. of projects to lowest) is as follows:
44
-Ministry of Women & Children’s Affairs
-M/O Education and PMED
-M/O Industries
-M/O Social Welfare
-M/O Labour and Employment
-M/O Youth and Sports
-LGD &RD Cooperatives
-M/O Information
-M/O Establishment
-M/O Culture
-M/O Disaster
-M/O Home

43.2%
13.4%
9%
7.5%
7.5%
4.5
4.5
2.9%
2.9%
1.5%
1.5%
1.5%
Partial WID Projects: 274 have been identified as partial WID projects from 31
Ministries. This is about 20% of the total projects of the GOB.
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics



Incorporation of male and female categories in Population Census 2000 and other
surveys (such as per capita income expenditure identification survey, manpower
survey, health and populations data survey, nutritional survey multiple indicator
cluster survey, etc.,
Efforts to collect gender disaggregated data have been initiated and a data-sheet
prepared for Women and development program has led to a compendium that has
gender wise information from different ministries.
Gradually increasing the number of women in the data collection and supervisory
activities.
The NAP spells out in Action 8 in the section of NAP on the Ministry of Planning that it
has to monitor plans and programs in accordance with guidelines (Action 8)
Ministry of Information





This ministry has been very active in promoting women’s issues through three
projects. They are related to women’s equality, reproductive health and women’s
rights.
They have responded to MoWCA’s request to publicize news through the mass
media on sentences of convicted felons who have been involved in rape or other
violent crimes against women.
PLAU/PLAGE worked with Ministry on training journalists.
Three women have been included on the censor boards and one on the press
council.
Within their NAP, they have developed a mechanism for their own evaluation
(Action 31) are using it.
45
Ministry of Environment and Forests






Adoption of the National Environment Management Plan (NEMAP), which has a
strong focus on the needs of women. The NEMAP was formulated through a
nationwide consultation with the wider civil society including grassroots women.
Different projects on environment consider women’s needs and interests.
Developed a gender lens in the Department of Environment
Impartial employment policy is being followed in this Ministry. Females will be
given preference for employment.
27 women have been provided training on gender and development.
Incorporation of women in herbal medicine projects and environmental health
care activities
Ministry of Law, Justice and Parliamentary Affairs







A permanent law commission has been set up to review all laws related to women
and provides recommendations where required.
Involvement in a multi-sectoral project on Violence Against women has led to
numerous interventions particularly a one-stop crisis center.
MoWCA has undertaken to combat Child Trafficking and works with this
Ministry
Prevention of Women and Children Repression Act of 2000 was formulated that
deals with cases of rape, acid attacks, forced prostitution and trafficking.
Laws related to the production and sale of acid in the process of deliberation.
Establishment of Human Rights Commission in process.
Permanent law commission set up that will also review and upgrade laws relating
to women.
4. Coordination between WIDFPs and MoWCA
One of MoWCA’s principal functions is to do “coordination and monitoring of WID
activities of different Ministries through designated focal points”. This means that
MoWCA is the catalyst and the WIDFPs are the nodal points to make strategic
interventions.
In this section the study explores the views of WIDFPs both on their own work and on
the relationship to MoWCA
1. Coordination Committees
There are three coordinating committees. They are:
46



Implementation and Evaluation Committee
WID Coordination Committee
WID Network
Implementation and Evaluation Committee is the most important body overseeing the
implementation of the NAP. They have met 8 times over the past three years. The first
meeting was in November 1999. Two meetings were held in 2000 and four have been
held in 2001. The main focus of the meetings were related to NAP implementation.
Mention was continuously made on the change of the AOBs of different Ministries. No
follow up has been done. The two Ministries that have shown the most interest in the
meetings have been the Home Ministry and the Ministry of Information. Part of the
reason why this committee has not been as effective as it might have been is because it is
a follow up body to NCWD and NCWD body has only met twice in the past five years.
The WID Focal Point Coordinating Committee was supposed to have met every three
months and report their activities on intersectoral coordination. There have been three
meetings in the last three years, approximately one meeting each year. The issues that
have been raised are diverse. More than ten Ministries have raised critical concerns.
There is little follow up on this. One of the concrete results of these meetings has been
the changing of the TORs for the WIDFPs.
WID Network - There have been five meetings that have been held since its inception in
February 2000. This is an informal body to build synergies among like-minded group.
They had 3 meetings in 2000 and two in 2001. Some of the notable issues raised were on
the need for mini-libraries in the different Ministries, the work on changing the TORs and
the interest on the part of the Ministry of Industry to engender their budget.
47
Sample of Decisions Taken from the Coordination Meetings of the WIDFPs 21: Wid Coordinating
Committee, Implementation and Evaluation Committee and WIDFP Network. Some of the summary
findings are below:



These coordinating bodies focused many times on the revision of AOBs in the different ministries
viewing it as a prerequisite for mainstreaming gender.
Identified specific actions in selected ministries to fulfill the recommendations of the NAP but
unclear whether follow up action has carried out.
From the meeting points it also emerges particularly in the I&E meetings that there is not always
full attendance.
Implementation & Evaluation meetings
Total 8
AOB Revision
NCWD follow-up
Issues to be addressed by other ministries
House-keeping
NAP Status report follow-up & coordination
WID Network Meetings
WIDFP TORs
Housekeeping
Coordination with other ministries
Responsibilities of MCWA& PLAGE
7
2
2
6
8
Total
5
2
3
1
WID Coordination Committee
Total
Issues to be addressed with other ministries 3
Coordination by MCWA and WID CC
Members on the issues follow-up
3
3
3
5. Problems with Intersectoral Cooperation
With a select group of six Associate WIDFPs, they were asked what were some of the
critical bottlenecks in them carrying out their WID tasks22. They categorized it into the
following headings:
The main constraints of WIDFPs within their own Ministries is categorized in the
following way:
Constraints and Weakness of WIDFPs within own Ministries
Personnel, Capacity Development and other HRD
Organizational structures eg. Procedures, instituted guidelines
Intersectoral Communication, coordination and monitoring
Location and authority
Interagency communication coordination and monitoring
21
22
Percentages
43%
20%
3.3%
10%
10%
These were taken from the decisions full decisions are provided in Appendix
See Strategic Workshop appendix 6.4
48
Financial resources
Inputting project planning and decision making processes
10%
3.3%
In their individual ministries, the WIDFPs require personnel support, capacity
development and support from their colleagues to carry out the WID Work. This is the
main bottleneck. They also need procedures that make working on WID projects and
policies easier. There are difficulties with respect to interagency coordination and the
blockages of their senior management. Financial resources are also a problem.
The main constraints and weaknesses of WIDFPs in their relationship with MoWCA is
given in the following way:
Constraints and Weakness of WIDFP’s Relationship With
MoWCA23
Personnel, Capacity Development and other HRD
Technical Assistance
Intersectoral Communication, coordination and monitoring
Financial resources
Priority Setting
Percentages
6.25%
44%
37%
6.3%
6.3%
In terms of the problems related to MoWCA, the main problem is that they are not
getting the technical back up that they need either in the form of manuals and materials or
in terms of technical support. They are also feeling that there is a lack of intersectoral
coordination in spite of the various committee meetings. The other issues are not as
significant.
There is still a tendency for WIDFPs to expect MoWCA to take on most of the
responsibility. For example they commonly say that there are no guidelines for
implementing and monitoring the NAP. This needs to be developed within their own
Ministries. Basically the NAP clearly states that the mainstreaming of gender is the
responsibility of all Ministries.
MoWCA’s role in terms of providing capacity building inputs and technical assistance (ie
in the form gender information and other inputs) has been largely carried out by
PLAU/PLAGE. However as a project this role has been limited by the fact that it is not
an institutionalized part of the Ministry.
6. MoWCA’s Coordination with NGOs and Women’s Organizations24
23
24
See Strategic Workshop appendix 6.5
See meeting with Civil Society in Appendix 7
49
Bangladesh has a vibrant NGO sector with some 2000 registered NGOs. About 130
NGOs were involved in the whole Beijing process. They played a very important role in
contributing to the PFA and later in the drafting of the NAP and in the Beijing Plus Five
review activities.
There are a number of levels of coordination that exist between MoWCA and the NGOs
and some of them are:
DWA Registered NGOs – Small community groups get grants or loans from the DWA
annually. In a directory of these registered community groups, there is more than 6,000
but about 2500 have been profiled.
There has been some effort by some larger network groups to organize these women led
community groups so that they can become capable of carrying out larger programming
and not just small activities at the village level. This is being done in consultation with
the DWA.
Collaborating NGOs Providing Field Support: These are larger groups that work closely
with DWA at the field level. For instance in the implementation of the Food Security –
VGD program, the DWA has selected some 14-15 big NGOs through whom they will
work with 200 local groups providing food to 7 districts of north Bangladesh. There is a
lead NGO that will take the supervisory role. The training and monitoring is done by
DWA.
NGOs sitting on various committees: There are various NGO representatives that sit on
various committees such as the NCWD, IEC, PLAU Steering Committee, etc. However
there is a problem with determining the adequate representation.
Strategic Alliances; There are different kinds of strategic alliances. For instance on the
programming level, the NGOs working with locally elected women keep MoWCA
informed on their various activities. This assists with information networking. Then
again, on the policy level, the strategic alliances are related to consultations on
international processes such as the Beijing Plus Five, CEDAW, etc..
In responding to the importance of strategic alliances, the PLAU is planning yearly
consultations with such groups.
7. Analyzing Weaknesses and Constraints
1. Selected national sectoral policies were reviewed, and there were hardly any
reference to NPAW and MoWCA was not referred to in any of the policies as the
lead agency.
2. The Government’s own self-appraisal in relation to the PFA at the Beijing Plus
Five meeting at the UN in June 2000 was simply a document that did not come
50
from any evaluation process per se. This demonstrates the ad hoc monitoring of
gender mainstreaming whether from MoWCA or other WIDFPs.
3. In analyzing the capability of the Lead Ministry (MoWCA) in its efforts to carry
out the National Action Plan, it was felt that there are several weaknesses. Firstly,
the NAP is not part of the staff training after joining the Ministry. Secondly, daily
work is not carried out in light of the NAP implementation. Thirdly, there is little
prioritization of working to complete the actions. The NAP has not been
prioritized adequately
4. In reviewing the capability of WIDFPs in selected (6) Line Ministries in
accordance with the objectives and actions of the NAP, it was clear that very little
headway had been made except in some few exceptional circumstances. Job
performance was not linked to the work of the WIDFP or AWIDFP, creating
almost a discentive to work. On top of this, there was little understanding on what
is going on at the field level in terms of projects (eg. Complete or partial Women
focused projects). Much of the policy level decision making was not at the
AWIDFP level, which was the most active of the levels of the WIDFPs. It was
also observed that insufficient training and support was given to the sub-WIDFPs,
an area that needs to be developed in future.
5. Review of at the three Coordinating Committees and the problems related to
Intersectoral Coordination showed that IEC needs a strategic focus. This of course
depends on the NCWD, which needs a way of meeting even if the honorable P.M.
is not available. Also the WIDCCs require some planning and monitoring of the
decisions taken. The WID network should be a lobbying body to work on getting
some of the measures accepted in the WIDCC.
6. NGOs, and Women’s Organizations could play an important role in monitoring
but to date, there is not sufficient joint collaboration. Specific involvement of
NGO stakeholders in the gender planning in different Ministries is quite low.
7. Overall monitoring and evaluation is not sufficient in gender mainstreaming.
8. Comprehensive and Coordinated Capacity Development Strategy is too broad a
category within the NAP; it needs to be broken down more carefully between
functions and with regard to different units and branches.
9. MoWCA needs to work to make other sectors take on strategic projects on
gender. Clearly this is one reason why the other sectors are taking little interest in
women’s programming.
10. In NEC (Planning Commission), the most senior decision making body that
determines the plan allocations, finds that there is a dearth of parameters or
indicators that can measure or evaluate gender sensitivity.
51
11. As for gender related projects, it looks like that gender is not yet introduced given
the paucity of gender related data available in the project formulation stage. It is
no doubt going to help when the gender checklist is applied to the PCP, PP and
TAPP. This is in process.
12. Planning Wing has to have more skill in offering suggestions to the PP
mechanisms and making sure that gender issues get priority.
13. Although MoWCA is involved in various coordinating committee, MoWCA has
not strategically identified certain committees or bodies that they must attend on a
continuous basis. One example is the pre-ECNEC interministerial body. This
interministerial body is very important for the framing of micro projects.
14. Clearly the fact that the NCWD is not meeting means that it cannot be used for
pushing Finance Ministry and Planning Commission on the increased outlays for
gender/ women’s programs and projects.
15. MoWCA’s role in terms of providing capacity building inputs and technical
assistance (i.e. in the form of gender information and other inputs) has been
largely carried out by PLAU. However as a project this role has been limited by
the fact that it is not an institutionalized part of the Ministry.
16. In terms of the problems related to WIDFP, the main problem is that they are not
getting the technical back up that they need either in the form of manuals and
materials or in terms of technical support from MoWCA. They are also feeling
that there is a lack of intersectoral coordination in spite of the various committee
meetings. The other issues are not as significant.
10. It seems that there has been a relative plateau of expenditure on WID projects for
the past three years ending in 2000-01 so that the number of projects are not
increasing.
8. Analyzing Strengths and Opportunities
1. MoWCA has the mandate for providing more technical services to other
Ministries and WID FPs. It also has many capacities that can be maximized so
that it becomes a Ministry offering technical services. For example, the senior
management in DWA has a thorough knowledge of women’s development and
gender. The PLAU team has developed a very advanced expertise on how gender
at a policy level. These can be used more effectively through training and capacity
development.
2. In reviewing the capability of WIDFPs in selected (6) Line Ministries in
accordance with the objectives and actions of the NAP, it was clear that there was
a variety of progress depending upon how much relationship existed between
52
MoWCA and the particular Ministry. The strategic opportunity for MoWCA is to
provide both technical assistance and technical capacity to other Ministries. This
should be directed at those Ministries that have an interest to take on gender
policies, programs and projects.
3. MoWCA has developed a DRC (Documentation Resource Center), which has a
great deal of resource material that can be used to support the technical expertise
of the MoWCA staff.
4. There are gender tools developed to assist planners with an easy checklist in 8
Ministries. This could be trialed in some of the Ministries until it becomes
workable. Once that occurs it is important to build ownership of those tools within
each of the Ministries.
5. There is a great awareness about gender in various Ministries. They need some
guidelines to assist in putting in the appropriate procedures.
6. Gradually Ministries are getting to know how many projects they have that are
partial and completely WID. They are getting to know the kind of allocation and
from which budgets. This can be used as an advocacy tool to press for more
changes.
7. The DWA has sufficient field contact to maximize a program at the field level in
various districts and thanas. They need to use their projects to strengthen the
registered NGOs and the DWA staff.
8. Increasingly the DWA staff can work on violence issues, as this is a major
concern of all Ministries. The intersectoral bodies, namely WIDCC as the district
and Thana level could be used more effectively.
9. The NGOs at the field level can collaborate in a monitoring process and have a
clearly defined role.
10. The national water policy can be used as an archetype for forming other policies.
11. The Government’s own self-appraisal in relation to the PFA at the Beijing Plus
Five shows that it is beginning to define itself in terms of a cross government
initiative. This is very encouraging for carrying out more actions.
12. In analyzing the capability of the Lead Ministry (MoWCA) in its efforts to carry
out the National Action Plan, it was felt that there are about 30 per cent of the
actions have been completed. This puts MoWCA in a position to take leadership
on the NAP.
53
13. Review of at the three Coordinating Committees shows that there is an interest in
communication. These bodies if used a little more strategically could push a new
agenda.
14. MoWCA needs to work to make other sectors take on strategic projects on
gender. Clearly this is one reason why the other sectors are taking little interest in
women’s programming. If MoWCA could play that role, then the interest would
be surely boosted.
15. There are a number of policies (water, education, population, etc.) that have
incorporated measures to counteract gender discrimination
16. Where there is an increasing integration of gender into programs in the MoHFW,
this is occurring within HPSP that is gender responsive and because of the
MoHFW has a gender equity strategy. This should be used as a “best practice”.
17. Affirmative Action has got a push because of the policy research and advocacy
done around Job Quota
18. In discussions with various WIDFPs oftentimes they referred to the importance of
MoWCA giving them legitimacy to follow up on WID and gender issues. This
should be taken advantage of by MoWCA.
54
Section 5: Recommendations
These are the recommendations for the Ministry based on the IOA study keeping in view
the NAP actions and suggestions made by the staff. Following this is a matrix showing
the weaknesses, constraints and recommendations for action. Most of these
recommendations have incorporated the suggestions given by the government officials
that attended the SPW.
1. MoWCA’s organizational structure has to change sufficiently to take on the
responsibility of leading the ongoing organizational change process on gender
mainstreaming.
1.1 This would mean that MoWCA change its organogram once and for all (not doing so
over successive occasions with DWA making a change and then JMS making a
change, etc.). Once Establishment Ministry approves an organogram in collaboration
with Finance and other relevant Ministries, it automatically translates into approved
positions and budgets.
1.2 Dividing responsibilities between PLAU, Planning/Development Unit and
DWA/JMS so that they work in a complimentary manner offering different technical
inputs and are responsible for different kinds of capacity development.
1.21 PLAU at the policy level through the Coordination
Committees, through NCWD, and through policy research.
1.22 Planning Wing/Development Branch through the program/projects
approved by the Planning Commission (ECNEC).
1.23 DWA through the WID CC at the District and Thana level, through
the NGOs (and DWA registered bodies) and through local field
initiatives.
1.24 JMS through its network
1.3 In order to accelerate the change over of responsibilities, some of the following
measures need to be put in place:
1.31 PLAU staff needs to be trained to carry the responsibility of the Unit.
1.32 Development and Planning Wings/Branches to manage more than
projects by taking on the “catalyst functions” related to coordinating
and monitoring NAP implementation. For this they need to do
implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all other projects getting the
appropriate feed back. This would require a computerized information network,
adequate staff either in short-term or in another capacity (i.e. from a project),
and the required training of its permanent government officers.
55
1.33 DWA needs to expedite this fifth Unit for assisting with the
coordination with the field. The Additional Director, in charge of
Registered NGOs needs to streamline system of membership and
offer training and capacity development; and the Planning and
Implementation Unit of DWA must make project management more
consultative.
1.4 To increase the status of DWA staff at Upazila/District level to take on higher grade
functions including gender training and backstopping. (Upgrade their position to
Class 1.)
1.5 JMS through its project groups could provide information regularly to MoWCA’s
planning and development branches for facilitating their program/project monitoring.
1.6 PLAU to get legal entity and to be slowly integrated into the decision-making
processes of MoWCA. PLAU to be the Secretariat for the NCWD.
1.7 To take on these functions, more financial resources are required. It is necessary to
first advocate for greater resources for the revenue budget. Beyond this a consultation
with the donors will enable review of what is needed to augment the development
budget. (See 2.4 below.)
2. Personnel, Capacity Development Within the Ministry
2.1 PLAU offers training to MoWCA on policy issues, and through
policy research. PLAU to provide Training of Trainers for MoWCA
2.2 Training for all new senior MoWCA staff.
2.3 Refresher courses for existing MoWCA staff.
2.4 Capacity development of PLAU to continue to be a priority of PLAGE 2.
2.5 Coordination of capacity development work should be immediately sought
from a development partner(s).
2.6 Setting up Gender Training Institute. (GTI)
2.7 Continue with the policy research and advocacy around job quota taken up by
PLAU.
2.8 Setting a minimum quota for women on all committees.
2.9 Gender specialization as priority in recruitment of staff.
2.10 Representation on Recruitment committees.
2.11 Explore the possibility of providing some benefit to staff for seniority.
56
2.12 Giving class I to those at upazila and district level.
2.13 Have someone assigned to look into career planning of departmental and
JMS personnel.
2.14 Advocate with Ministry of Establishment for appropriate support staff.
3. The other line Ministries must accept ownership of the NAP and be more accountable
for carrying out its provisions.
3.1 This means that the NCWD must meet to make the Ministries more accountable. To
set up an executive body for the NCWD with representatives from among the NCWD
members to hold half-yearly meetings could guarantee its regularity. The outcome of
these meetings could then be presented to the NCWD under the chairpersonship of
the honorable PM.
3.2 IEC should work against selected strategic objectives.
3.21 Each Ministry changes their AOB;
3.22 Each Ministry gets procedures and guidelines in place so that there is a
system for their putting gender mainstreaming into practice;
3.23 NAP implementation is reviewed in a manner of laying priorities and a
realistic timetable is worked out.
3.3 Gender sensitive training for all WIDFPs and AWIDFPs in line with the NAP
implementation.
3.4 There should be some kind of performance evaluation of WIDFPs.
3.5 Create a consultative relationship with donors to ensure that funding is being
provided to different sectors (Ministries) for gender equality and women’s
development. MoWCA should be seen as “the catalyst” and therefore should be
supported in playing this role.
3.6 Donors need to push for accountability and monitoring.
3.7 Work with selected Ministries on programs and policy formulations such as with
MoHFW on violence issues. (There is the interest and mandate to do so.)
3.8 Strengthening WID Coordination Committee so it has a yearly plan and monitors its
own activities.
3.9 It has been proposed that a gender manual indicating all the procedures and
guidelines related to women/gender programming be developed by PLAU/PLAGE
for all Ministries.
3.10
WID Coordinating Committee and WID Network should be made
complimentary in their functions.
57
3.11
More field visits of different WIDFPs to see women’s programs and see
how to bring in gender equality concerns.
3.12
NGOs to provide separate input on the monitoring of the NAP
implementation through yearly consultations.
4. Intra agency Coordination as a priority
4.1 To have a strategic direction on gender mainstreaming. It is recommended that the
direction be articulated by every branch, unit, department of MoWCA so that the
integration of gender equality and women’s (needs and interests) is made in policies,
programs and projects.
4.2 More strategic planning for all staff.
4.21 Increase the number of intradepartmental meetings.
4.22 Increase number of meetings between MoWCA with district/thana WID
CC committees, and other field level groups.
4.23 Annual planning with all DWA at District and Thana level.
4.24 Annual consultation with NGOs to get field reports to assist with intra
agency planning.
4.25 Prioritization of NAP implementation.
4.3 Strengthen MIS throughout MoWCA.
4.31 DWA’s Planning and Implementation Unit has MIS that needs to be
upgraded
4.32 Upazila and District level project monitoring WID CCs to provide to
MoWCA’s Development Branch and Planning Wing to facilitate their
program/project monitoring and feedback.
4.33 MIS as a means to determine status of performance of DWA staff.
4.34 MIS as a means to determine number and performance of DWA
registered groups.
4.35 Monitoring of projects by MoWCA preferably through projects.
5. Enhancing Intersectoral Coordination by clarifying the technical assistance and
technical transfer functions of MoWCA
58
5.1 A Documentation and Resource Center (DRC) has been set up in MoWCA by PLAU
to provide project information, sectoral analysis, gender impact studies, etc.. This
could be upgraded to a clearinghouse in the next phase.
5.2 There needs to be an information nodal point established in selected Ministries to
receive information.
5.3 Each branch/unit of MoWCA should be able to access and use DRC as support to the
technical assistance being offered by the Ministry.
5.4 Technical Assistance would include planning, monitoring and coordination. In terms
of planning:
5.41 PLAU at the policy level through the Planning Process and
Public Policy. Both in terms of gender planning tools and relevant
capacity development inputs, PLAU can continue to assist
selected Ministries for NAP implementation.
5.42 Planning wing/Development Branch through the program/projects
given by the Planning Commission. Checklists and other tools enable
input on each of the projects that include women (partial or full) or
gender.
5.43 DWA through the WID CC at the District and Thana level assist with
planning inputs. Work with DWA registered bodies in planning small
interventions and linking them to appropriate local field initiatives.
Work with NGOs to assist with bottom up planning.
5.5 Monitoring of Gender Mainstreaming and NAP: MoWCA can provide
supports at three levels:
5.51 PLAU at the policy level through the 3 Coordination
Committees, through NCWD, and through policy research. PLAU
should monitor the prioritization and timetable that is worked out in each
Ministry.
5.52 Planning wing/Development Branch through the monitoring of
program/projects. Assistance can be provided by DWA and NGOs.
Planning wing staff could attend other Ministries’ high level steering
committee meetings to get a first hand sense of the monitoring within
other Ministries.
5.53 DWA through the WID CC at the District and Thana level, through the
NGOs (and DWA registered bodies) and through local field initiatives
can better monitor progress.
5.6 Coordination of Policies, Programs and Projects
5.61 PLAU at the policy level has many responsibilities related to
coordination.
59
5.611 Working Coordination Committees
5.612 Secretariat to NCWD.
5.613 Catalyzes the work on engendering all budgets in all
Ministries.
5.614 Work with Planning Process on 5 Year Plans, ADP and
Sectoral Funding.
5.615 Work with the Ministry of Planning particularly IMED on the
monitoring of gender by introducing appropriate format and
checklist.
5.616 Works with BBS to develop disaggregated
data and methods for data collection.
5.62 Planning wing/Development Branch coordinating MoWCA projects and
other Sectoral Projects.
5.63 DWA through strengthening the WID CC at the District and Thana Level
5.64 DWA coordinating field level projects.
5.65 JMS to coordinate its activities both through information exchange and by attending
regularly intra agency meetings in the Ministry.
5.66 Working to get the coordination committees to function effectively.
6. The capacity building would need to be taken up with all WIDFPs (AWIDFPs and
Sub-WIDFPs)
6.1 Capacity Development would be carried out along with Technical
Assistance. As indicated above there would have to be a breakdown of
responsibilities between the different Units/branches.
6.11 PLAU provides capacity development at the policy level and advocacy
level. This may include: Capacity development through the coordination
bodies of WIDFPs including training on gender checklists and formats for
PP, TAPP, PCP in the gender analysis framework that has been developed
by PLAU. Also assist with the training of different sectors to put together
guidelines within each Ministry.
6.12 Planning wing/Development Branch could offer training through the
inputting and evaluation of other sector’s program/projects given by the
Planning Commission. They could disseminate the checklists and other
tools enable input on each of the projects that include women (partial
or full) or gender.
60
6.13 DWA would offer training of other members of the WID CC by DWA staff.
DWA staff would also work with locally registered women’s groups.
6.14 Facilitating other trainings.
6.141 Curriculum input for training institutes.
6.142 BBS to train different Ministries on gender aware data
collection.
6.2 NGOs to give training to the DWA registered bodies and through local field
initiatives.
6.3 The DWA officers should be trained to handle cases of violence and trafficking to be
able to link them to the divisional level. Also there needs to be a linkage of the
DWA person at the Upazilla level to address such cases at the field level. They need
to be equipped sufficiently to be able to take such cases forward to enable the victims
access redress mechanisms
6.4 JMS to give training to its network.
6.5 Each Ministry work out its own training with WIDFPs, AWIDFPs and
Sub-WIDFPs.
7. MoWCA in a consultative relationship with NGOs and women organizations.
7.1 DWA to sub-contract field level projects to NGOs
7.2 Work with NGOs to develop best practices on women’s development and
gender equity projects.
7.3 Strengthen DWA registered groups. The women-led NGOs need
strengthening over the next five years if they are to collaborate with
DWA/MoWCA on joint programming. This would mean that DWA should
develop a development project for this purpose.
7.4 Supervision of monitoring of DWA led NGOs needs to be enhanced.
7.5 Annual consultation with NGOs on policy issues particularly on training of
locally elected women.
8. To increase overall budget
8.1 PLAU to provide information to the NCWD on the percentage of full/partial WID
projects and to make projections for the future.
8.2 Advocate to NCWD that all Ministries need to engender budgets based on current
policy research undertaken.
61
8.3 Work with Ministry of Planning and Planning Commission to influence gender
perspective and gender inputs in the Five Year Plan, ADP, and the Sectoral Plans.
8.4 Have MoWCA hold a consultation with donors on the priorities for development
funds.
62
A. Organizational Aspects: Weakness/Constraints/Recommendations
Weaknesses
I. Large
mandate
without
sufficient
inputs (i.e.
particularly
human
resources).
II. MoWCA
and DWA are
project focused
and not
program
focused.
25
Constraints
Recommendations
Ministry is being
expected to cater
to more demand
(i.e. give more
technical
support,
information and
policy research)
without
sufficient inputs.
(Additional
inputs are
exacerbated by
the fact that
existing inputs
are not properly
allocated.)
Donors are
reluctant to give
more resources
for projects
because they fear
the creation of
inefficiencies
(i.e. white
elephant.) At the
same time they
are wanting to
catalyze the
contribution
from women at
all levels to
enact various
social change
processes.
There is a belief
that if there is a
cross-sectoral
MoWCA’s25
organizational
structure has to
change sufficiently to
take on the
responsibility of
leading the ongoing
organizational change
process on gender
mainstreaming.
(Recommendation 1)
MoWCA to be more
program focused and
not exclusively
project focused.
Switching away from
projects” is currently
more popular among
the donor community
than among
government units
(especially DWA). It
does not seem
realistic at this stage
for MoWCA and
DWA to give up on
projects as they are
set up to perform that
function and their
history has evolved
out of
Short-term
Action
MoWCA to sort
out filling
present posts.
Finalize and get
approval for
organogram.
Medium- term
Action
Ensure that
MoWCA can
deliver the
goods by
offering
technical
services and
give other
inputs.
To achieve this,
press for
approval
through NCWD. (This is
Use
elaborated
coordinating
below.)
committees to
lobby various
Ministries.
In terms of the
present
women’s
projects, they
can be used
strategically to
a) increase
coverage and; b)
do capacity
development of
DWA staff,
registered DWA
groups, and help
other field level
actors.
Once this is
done, DWA is
in a better
position to
upgrade gender
MoWCA will
need to
systematically
work to become
a credible
agency offering
services to
other
government
departments
and Ministries
in moving from
project to
program
focused
activities.
PLAU being
Recommendation here is not to change the AOB.
63
policy change in
government,
then they do not
need to fund
women’s
focused projects.
This does not
tend to cohere
with the
structure and
functions of
DWA at present.
welfare/development
26
model. The change
over from project to
policy oriented
programming remains
a priority of the NAP.
For this to be
achieved, gradual but
strategic planning
must be undertaken
with consensus
building among all
staff.
Additional functions
on policy and gender
equity issues have
been introduced.
There is scope for
improving
performance in these
new areas. Also there
needs to be an
orchestration between
women’s projects and
gender mainstreaming
activities.
III. Lack of
institutionalized
interagency
coordination.
Much of
interagency
coordination
happens at the
Joint Secretary
(Development)
level.
Direction setting
is not often
coming from
NAP and
26
For this reason,
Recommendation 4
for interagency
coordination is given
below in section III.
Interagency
coordination must be
cross MoWCA and be
a priority for all units,
branches and
departments.
(Recommendation 4)
mainstreaming
from field level.
Using Food
Security VGD
as an example
of a best
practice that can
be expanded by
other DWA
funded projects.
To coordinate
the activities of
PLAU at a
policy level;
planning wing at
a project level
and DWA at a
field level.
Work more
closely with
WIDCC at
institutionalized
in MoWCA, it
is important to
attend other
high-level
committee
meetings on
policy matters.
Planning wing
on
programming
matters.
DWA on other
departmental
matters.
Work to create
MoWCA to
have synergies
between PLAU
at Policy level,
Planning wing
on program and
projects and
DWA at field
level.
(See
Recommendati
See Husani’s “Strengthening The Directorate For Women’s Affairs” (2000)
64
program
priorities.
district and
thana level
through DWA
to strengthen
field links
Interagency planning
to be regularized.
Ad hoc
monitoring.
To regularize
and make more
frequent
meetings for
planning and
monitoring of
progress.
ons 5.4 – 5.54)
DWA linked to
upazila +
districts
through
computer
network. Build
upon existing
MIS system.
Implement a
series(3) of
strategic
planning for
MoWCA staff
workshops over
the next year.
Interagency
monitoring to be
institutionalized so
that NAP
implementation is
also monitored.
Information
Information links to
the field need to be
Put into motion
the annual
planning with
field groups.
Also input from
DWA registered
NGOs.
Planning and
Development
Branch to have
more field visits
to assess project
status.
Work with
NGOs for
monitoring.
Set up
consultative
mechanism with
NGOs to get
their input.
65
dissemination
is weak across
Ministry.
There is little
sharing of
information
because of a
shortage of
computer
networks/hardwa
re.
built between DWA
and field offices and
between
MoWCA/DWA and
JMS.
IV.Low staff
strength and
weak in gender
expertise is a
major problem
particularly at
field level.
Government is
not recognizing
problem of staff
shortages. They
are in a cost
cutting mode
with pressure by
foreign
governments.
Increase personnel +
capacity development
within Ministry
(Recommendation 2)
Also lack of
personnel
supports (i.e.
secretarial and
other support
staff)
MoWCA to lobby
government for
additional posts
including full
coverage of country.
(There should be at
least one DWA
representative in
every Thana in the
country. This one
DWA worker would
compare to as many
as 50 agricultural
extension agents in
every Thana.)
By having at least one
DWA representative,
then DWA can
potentially ensure that
the Upazila/ District
Chairpersons are
responsive to the
women’s agenda.
Identification of
second hand
equipment to
assist MoWCA
with urgent and
immediate need
to generate
computer based
information.
Policy Dialogue
could assist with
lobbying if
donors are on
side.
DWA working
on women’s
projects that
involve
upazila/dist.
Chairpersons.
This is
important in
strengthening
the priority for
women’s
development at
field level.
Planning with
donors for more
information
support inputs.
Show that with
more staff
capacity,
MoWCA is
able to generate
development
projects for
other
Ministries.
DWA requires
coverage in the
country for it to
develop its
prowess, and
technical base of
information.
Coverage can be
strengthened by
projects. At the
same time staff
capacity can
also be built up.
Also there can
be contribution
from the NGOs
66
V. Insufficient
capacity
development
for MoWCA,
for DWA and
for WIDFPs,
AWIDFPs, and
Sub-WIDFPs
Training is not
carefully
targeted to
upgrade staff
performance (eg.
with regard to
NAP.)
Whatever
training is given
is usually given
to senior staff.
Many of these
government
officers are
constantly being
transferred. This
is the case within
MoWCA and
among WIDFPs.
Training that assists
with the
organizational change
process is necessary.
MoWCA offering
training or training
inputs to other
Ministries as part of
technical services.
and DWA
sponsored
groups towards
this capacity
development
Pressing on the
operationalizatio
n of UNDP’s
Gender
Mainstreaming
Project is an
immediate
priority.
PLAU could
play a training
role in policy
advocacy
functions in
PLAGE 2.
There was a
Gender training
recommendation in
is severely
the NAP to set up a
lacking among
GTI (Gender Training
other staff
Institute). This needs
particularly at
to be reevaluated and
district and thana negotiated with (a)
level.
donor.
DWA’s fifth
Unit could play
a role in
coordinating
some of the
training of
dist/thana level
officers.
Training content
is weak on
gender, on
NAP, and on
violence
issues/follow up
strategies.
NGOs could be
contracted to
give training to
DWA
particularly to
the Registered
NGOs.
Operationalzing
a Gender
Training
Institute that
also contains
DRC*.
(*DRC should
play a role in
supporting the
technical
services.)
Ensuring
that Planning
wing are
offering
capacity
development to
other
Ministries.
This may mean
that their
capacity is built
up.
Donors could
take stock of all
their projects in
67
MoWCA and
DWA and see
how to
coordinate
training inputs
more
effectively.
MoWCA to
produce a
manual for all
the Ministries
on basic
procedures
related to gender
and women’s
development.
VI. Insufficient
contact
between
MoWCA and
Ministries
MoWCA limited
person power
and insufficient
info/other
resources
Enhancing
intersectoral
coordination by
clarifying technical
assistance and
technical transfer
functions of MoWCA
(Recommendation 5)
Each Ministry
should work out
training with
own staff
particularly at
the departmental
level, i.e. subWIDFPs.
Example of
Env. Deptt. as a
best practice,
using gender
lens and training
of departmental
staff should be
highlighted.
Increasing the
technical
assistance
capacity at all
three levels i.e.
PLAU, Planning
wing and DWA
with assistance
(from dev’t
budget)
Planning wing
One of the
ways of
“switching
over” is for
MoWCA to
help other
Ministries to
target funding
from donors.
It is suggested
in this regard
that there be a
68
can upgrade its
capacity by
working to
implement
checklists + new
formats using
gender tools.
national
consultation in
which the
donors and
various
Ministries work
out various
gender related
projects. The
lead agency
MoWCA will
gain legitimacy
in this process
and the whole
proves of
institutional
will be more
integrated.
Undertake
Institutional
Strengthening
project
exclusively for
planning wing.
69
B. Institutional Aspects: Weakness/Constraints/Recommendations
Weaknesses
VII. NAP
implementation
by other
Ministries weak.
VIII. Secretaries
of Ministries are
not taking NAP
seriously in dayto-day planning.
Constraints
Recommendatio
ns
Pressure for
Line Ministries
NAP
must accept
implementation
ownership of the
is not sufficiently NAP and be more
institutionalized
accountable for
i.e. inadequate
carrying out is
system of
provisions
monitoring
(Recommendatio
except through
n 3)
IEC/WIDCC
AWIDFPs doing
most of the work
but the power is
with the
WIDFPs.
Gradually within
government
(particularly with
Cabinet Division,
Planning,
Finance, and
Establishment,)
there has to be a
recognition of the
changed role of
MoWCA. This
needs to be a key
recommendation
of the policy
dialogue.
Line Ministries to
be made more
accountable for
carrying out
provisions
through NCWD.
Short-term
Action
Policy dialogue
must underscore
this
recommendation
with respect to
accountability. It is
further
recommended that
there be
constituted an
executive body of
NCWD that can
take decisions,
which can be
subsequently
approved by the
PM.
Medium- term
Action
Donor
governments
could set up
incentives for
Ministries that
achieve NAP
implementation.
Ministry of
Finance should be
expected to fulfill
minimum targets
of women
focused, and
gender sensitive
projects.
A project with
BBS to provide
data to Ministry of
Finance on gender
disaggregation.
NCWD take up
progress report in
next meeting.
Press for NAP
implementation in
all Ministries
“Fine- tuning” of
gender tools for
selected Ministries
Providing
technical
information and
support for
planning,
monitoring and
coordinating
gender at the three
levels of policy,
planning and field
activities.
Continued support
from PLAU in
Phase 2 for
70
IX. Coordination
meetings not
convening
frequently
enough and there
is little follow up
on the decisions
taken.
WIDCC at
district and
Thana level still
weak in terms of
women’s
planning.
X. Lack of
collaboration
with the NGOs.
Coordinating
Committees not
being used
effectively to
strategize for
change.
Intersectoral
Coordination is a
Priority. Use
existing
committees.
Improve
performance
through more
Ministries are
strategic planning
not responding to and follow – up.
the field
initiatives on
gender/women
programming
sufficiently.
Suspicion that
they will not
work in
complimentary
fashion.
MoWCA to work
in a consultative
relationship with
NGOs and
women’s
organizations.
Work with them
on monitoring the
implementation
of the NAP.
providing technical
inputs in project
planning and
monitoring.
Proposal to BBS
to give training to
Training to
different
WIDFPs on gender Ministries on
checklists and
gender aware data
formats for PP,
collection.
TAP, PCP that are
more gender
sensitive
Actions taken by
IEC should be
taken with
seriousness in the
Ministries.
Therefore
participants in IEC
should be senior
enough to take
decisions from
their Ministries.
This should be
reported in the
NCWD Executive
Meetings.
Annual
consultation with
NGOs.
Supervision and
monitoring of
DWA NGOs
enhanced.
Strengthen DWA
registered groups
with the assistance
of a development
projects.
71
Conclusion of Recommendations
In conclusion it should be reiterated that MoWCA needs additional strengthening and
restructuring to enable it to lead the ongoing organizational change process on gender
mainstreaming, which is largely encapsulated in the NAP. Many of the
organizational/personal issues need to be attended to immediately (i.e. organogram,
staffing, problem, financial shortages, etc.) In the medium term the division of roles and
responsibilities can be worked out to enable MoWCA to play an interactive role with the
other Ministries.
At the same time the various Line Ministries (particularly the fourteen identified in the
NAP) must accept ownership of NAP and be made more accountable for carrying out its
provisions. This can be reinforced by a reward system for those Ministries that address
gender/women’s development.
Making MoWCA a technical assistance agency in addition to implementing women’s
projects, would require that MoWCA have a “face 1ift” of sorts. This should be carried
out in such a manner that MoWCA promotes gender sensitive programming and policies,
and implements women’s focused projects. Gradually it should move away from projects
to a program approach. Similarly Line Ministries will have to do the same. They need to
“follow suit”.
Finally the only way that gender mainstreaming will occur is if the government works
jointly with NGOs and women’s organizations. NGOs have a large presence in the
country and the government can create a much larger impact in their own program of
gender mainstreaming and women’s development with this linkage.
72
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74
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76