Gender

Background:

PROGOTI recognizes that gender relations and inequalities are fundamental causes of poverty. Women and girls do not enjoy the same status, power or access to and control over resources as men and boys. This situation is unacceptable. Principles of equity and social justice require us to work to ensure that everyone has equal opportunity for expressing and using their potential, irrespective of sex, age, race, color, class, caste, religion, ethnic background, sexual orientation, HIV status or disability. PROGOTI is fully committed to channeling energy, effort and resources into processes that create a society that values women, men, girls and boys equally. PROGOTI has increasingly worked with a gender perspective over the years. This experience has led us to acknowledge that women’s empowerment and the recognition of women’s rights as human rights are essential for sustainable development and can be empowering for everyone. It has also taught us that working with a gender perspective means involving and engaging men and boys in order to improve the status of women and girls. These lessons – along with the need for improved learning and monitoring around gender issues and clear accountability mechanisms – have guided the development of our gender policy.  This document provides guidance for operationalizing the strategic objectives of PROGOTI. However, it also stands alone as the over-riding policy document on gender for all of PROGOTI. The following sections are not discrete segments and should be taken as a whole. The policy seeks to ensure greater consistency of gender principles, policies and practices across the organization and to provide an accountability framework in relation to gender, against which all staff can be accountable and against which PROGOTI will audit itself.

 

Principles and goals:

“A rights-based approach demands that we take the analysis of poverty and marginalization beyond communities and households to individual women, men, boys and girls as well as to the most vulnerable and marginalized groups.”

 

Principles

The achievement of gender equality requires that:

• Gender equality and equity are central to PROGOTI’s being and doing;
• The empowerment of women and girls is recognized as fundamental to our mission;
• Every individual understands and demonstrates attitudes and behaviors that promote gender equality and equity;
• Adequate resources are allocated to gender work;
• All work is continuously monitored against gender indicators;
• And the cross-cutting nature of gender concerns is recognized (gender equality is both everyone’s responsibility and an area that warrants specialized attention and resources)

 

Goals

The gender policy aims to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerments are central to PROGOTI’s:

• Programs at all levels;
• Organizational culture and behaviors;
• And public image.

 

Objectives and Strategies:

The following pages lay out the specific objectives and strategies for programs, organizational development, public image and finance and resource allocation.

 

Programs Objective

All programs empower women and promote women’s rights as human rights. Strategies apply gender analysis at all stages of policy and program work, including planning, implementation, impact assessment and development of measurable gender indicators.

 

Strategies

• Develop capacity of program staff to carry out gender analysis.
• Develop gender-sensitive approaches and methods of work which are empowering, building on lessons learnt from Stepping Stones, Reflect and other participatory methodologies.
• Ensure program staff takes responsibility for promoting gender equality.
• Through the Accountability, learning and planning system (Alps), monitor and evaluate programs for gender goals, and develop and employ good practice guidelines and indicators.
• Promote the creation of structures and opportunities for women’s participation in decision-making at all levels.
• Ensure that women’s and girls’ voices are heard in mainstream development processes.
• Undertake capacity building (e.g. resource allocation, training, information, networking) to strengthen women’s organizations and groups, and organizations working towards gender equality.
• Promote, support and participate in the women’s movement to advocate for implementation of the Beijing Platform for Action and other national and international instruments for women’s rights.
• Include a gender equality perspective in all campaign and influencing work.
• Support women and girls to secure their economic, social, political, civil and cultural rights.
• Promote women’s and girls’ independent access to and control over land, employment, services and institutions, including their ability to exercise rights over their own bodies and find protection against violence.
• Develop, promote and use creative ways of engaging men and boys (and not only women and girls) as agents of change in the pursuit of gender equality.
• Support partners who are aligned to our gender principles, and work to inform and influence those who are not, with the option of breaking the alignment in cases where positive change fails to occur.

Organization development Objective

Gender equality and equity are central to PROGOTI’s being and doing.

Strategies

• Ensure that specialized gender functions are in place and adequately resourced.
• Recognize knowledge related to gender concerns and gender-related analysis as one of the core areas of capacity for staff and build capabilities throughout the agency.
• Build a common understanding around gender through induction and training.
• Ensure that all training across the agency is gender-sensitive.
• Make all HR systems and policies gender-sensitive and responsive, and integrate gender indicators into staff objectives, accountabilities and performance management systems.
• Priorities gender sensitivity in all terms of reference, including TORs for external consultants.
• Determine the nature, structure and causes of gender imbalances in staff throughout the agency and set targets for recruitment, retention and promotion of staff accordingly, particularly women in senior positions.
• Develop strategies for reaching those targets, including:

– affirmative action;

– career development opportunities including development posts, training and internal promotion;

– family friendly and flexible working policies to allow staff to fulfill caring responsibilities (including job-sharing, maternity, paternity and parental leave, and policies on childcare provision and/or subsidies for staff);

– sexual harassment policies;

– safe and secure transport and accommodation when travelling, particularly for women staff; and

– equal pay for work of equal value.

• Use information technology to facilitate home working, flexible working hours and virtual working to strike a balance between home responsibilities and work;
• Ensure that staff access to and use of information technology is gender equitable.

Public image Objective

The external presentation of PROGOTI should promote a balanced view of the issues surrounding gender equality and equity.

Strategies

• Gender analysis will be central to the development of all marketing, fundraising, sponsorship and campaigns work and gender concerns will be incorporated into activities wherever possible.
• Design fundraising proposals and appeals to fulfill PROGOTI’s strategic goals and objectives on gender equality and equity.
• Inform donors about PROGOTI’s gender goals and objectives and give positive examples of PROGOTI’s gender work.
• As part of the recruitment of a wider anti-poverty movement, PROGOTI will actively encourage the recruitment of new supporters who are gender sensitive.
• All materials and general communications will be formulated to reflect PROGOTI’s goals and objectives on gender equality and equity, challenging gender stereotypes and recognizing diversity.
• Gender-sensitive language and images will be used in all internal and external communications.
• Whenever possible, women’s and girls’ voices will be heard in the first person.
• Ensure that women and men are proportionately represented during press briefings and other public relations activities.

 

Finance and resource allocation Objective

Adequate resources are allocated to gender work across the organization.

Strategies

• Commit a high level of support and resources to gender work and functions.
• Include a gender dimension in all finance guidelines, instructions and policies.
• Develop and refine tools and methods for assessing and reporting on gender-related investments at every level of the organization.
• Maintain and update annually qualitative and quantitative information on gender related expenditure.

Implementation and accountability:

This section outlines the framework for the implementation of the gender policy. It provides guidelines on the responsibility of different parts of the organization for the achievement of gender equality. However, detailed strategies and their implementation plans will be elaborated by divisions, regions and country programs.

• Executive directors will be accountable for the implementation of the policy.
• Executive directors and heads of department will demonstrate the political will to implement the required attitudinal changes implied by the policy.
• All staff will be expected to show a gender perspective in their work.
• The national, regional and international gender working groups will monitor and review the implementation process.
• Three-year plans will ensure that the PROGOTI’s strategic objectives on gender receive adequate resource allocation.
• The organizational mechanisms and gender posts necessary for implementation of the gender policy will be put in place and resourced.