10. Gender Action Plan

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.

(ii) At the start of the Project, specialized teams, including members from the women's affairs office, consultants/NGOs, and commune facilitators, will join meetings of women in the communities to brief these groups on the project components and expected outcome. The briefing will be done at times that are convenient to the women. (iii) At such meetings, women will be encouraged to speak about their livelihoods and their needs so that the proper use of project resources to benefit them and their communities can be determined. (iv) Each commune is expected to start with one women's planning organization. For this, the women's groups will select leaders between 5 and 10 per organization information dissemination, training, and capacity building. (v) The selected leaders will be trained in gender-responsive planning and development, leadership development, and accountability. They will represent the women in the different organizations (e.g., CPBC, bidding committee, and project management committee, community fisheries). By the end of year 4, at least half of all CPBC members should be trained women representatives, selected directly by their women constituents. (vi) Women representatives will participate in commune planning to ensure that the interests of their constituents are represented, and they will meet weekly with their constituents to brief them on the various activities. (vii) Gender-responsive commune development plans will be reviewed by the women's planning group at a plenary meeting before these are submitted to the CPBC for consolidation. (viii) Local women's groups will meet weekly and keep records of the proceedings to aid monitoring by commune facilitators.

C. Strategy for Gender-Sensitive Project Management

5. The Project will leverage the following gender-sensitive project management tools: (i) Gender focal points will be established in each CLFT. (ii) The gender focal points will meet each month to assess gender-related achievements and gender issues encountered during project implementation. (iii) The progress reports will include gender-related achievements. (iv) The midterm review will determine if the targets set for the participation of women are being met, and draw up plans as appropriate.

D. Design of Gender-Responsive Commune Development Plans

6. The CLFTs, along with the provincial and district gender focal points, will meet at least twice with the members of the CPBC and women's planning groups at commune level, to identify their needs and priorities and assist them in formulating sub-proposals to be included in the CLF. (i) The CPBC prioritization exercise should include separate group discussions for women participants to screen activities proposed by women and the poor. (ii) The CLF allocation should reflect women's practical needs, such as water supplies, sanitation, and health services, which will reduce women's work load and free up time for income-generating activities.

E. Delivery of Investment Packages

7. For the construction or rehabilitation of small-scale infrastructure, such as intra-village roads, wells, and latrines: (i) Ensuring that contractors' agreements contain an appropriate clause promoting the hiring of women and equal pay for men and women for work of equal value. (ii) Reserving half of unskilled jobs for women, especially women-headed households, so that they can support their families without having to go out on boats with their small children to catch fish.

For rural water supply and sanitation, (i) Ensuring the appropriateness of awareness-raising and health education materials, training packages, and manuals to the literacy level of women in the project area, and emphasizing the important roles of women, especially married women, in operation and maintenance, as they rarely leave the communities. (ii) Assisting targeted communities in establishing water and sanitation user groups1 where women make up at least 40% of the board members, have equal opportunity to receive training, and participate in meetings to decide on the location and design of water points and latrines that meet the practical needs of women.

F. Education for the Protection of Natural Resources

8. Gender focal points and consultants will facilitate the testing of awareness-raising material on women's groups. This issue will also be incorporated in literacy classes, in schools, and in the child-to-child approach for out-of-school children.

G. Expected Outcomes

9. The expected outcomes of the gender action plan are: (i) All project entities are trained in gender-responsive planning, implementation, and monitoring. (ii) At least half of all community fisheries, CPBCs, and other committees are fully trained. (iii) All selected commune councils have trained and articulate women members. (iv) In all 316 villages, women take an active part in planning. (v) Women constitute at least 50% of social infrastructure groups/committees. (vi) Training in participation and gender-responsive project monitoring is conducted for all 316 villages.

1 National guidelines on water and sanitation user groups were drafted during the preparation of the proposed Tonle

Sap Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project. At least 40% of the boards of the water and sanitation user groups will be formed to include at least 40% women and at least 50% the board members will receive technical training in operation and maintenance. The boards will also be representative of the ethnic composition of their members.