Appendix 10
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GENDER ACTION PLAN 1. The project area comprises 316 villages organized into 37 communes, with about 290,000 inhabitants in 55,000 households. Assuming a poverty rate of 50%, about 145,000 persons in 27,500 households live below the poverty line. As women constitute more than half of the population, at least 72,500 women in the project area live in poverty. At least 13,500 households are likely to be headed by women. 2. The establishment of the community livelihood fund (CLF) will offer women an opportunity to secure sustainable livelihoods. The CLF will fund community-driven development through strengthened local participation in planning. While the CLF is derived from the present system of commune council accounts—which receive funds directly from the national treasury— the Project will significantly augment the resources available to participating communes. It will deepen and expand the participation of community members, particularly women and other vulnerable groups, in planning and deciding on priority investments and associated resource allocation, distribution, utilization, and accountability. A.
Strategy for Gender-Responsive Community-Driven Development
3. The Project will support the following measures for improved gender responsiveness in commune planning and resource allocation: (i) Compulsory gender-sensitization training for all levels of staff to be involved in the Project, as part of project management training. (ii) The inclusion of sessions on gender analysis and gender-sensitive monitoring indicators in training for project staff in participatory planning and performance management based on the project framework. Gender-related training for communities will be adapted to the absorption capacity of the communities, particularly the commune councils and the commune planning and budgeting committees (CPBCs). (iii) Project presentations for Government agency staff and for beneficiaries at central, provincial, and commune levels, designed to lead to a shared understanding of gender issues and the gender equality concerns of the Project. Ensuring women's full participation and full benefit are integral to realizing the Project's outcome. (iv) The establishment of gender focal points in each provincial community livelihood facilitation team (CLFT). (v) The appointment of women to at least half of the commune facilitators posts. (vi) At least equal participation of women from poor households and men in all community-training programs. The training sessions should be short and to allow women with low literacy levels to participate. (vii) The nomination of at least two staff members of each provincial departments of women's affairs to the CLFT to ensure that women will be represented and gender issues will be discussed at CLFT meetings. B.
Strategy for Maximizing Women's Participation at the Commune Level
4. The Project will make the communities better able to formulate, implement, and manage development plans. To promote the participation of women in development planning so that the plans explicitly reflect the needs and concerns of women, the gender action plan envisages the following: (i) Women will be organized into planning groups in each community.
