THE IMPORTANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE WORLD BANK GROUP S GENDER ACTION PLAN (GAP) NISTHA SINHA PREM GENDER & DEVELOPMENT GROUP

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Harold Benson
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1 THE IMPORTANCE OF INFRASTRUCTURE IN THE WORLD BANK GROUP S GENDER ACTION PLAN (GAP) NISTHA SINHA PREM GENDER & DEVELOPMENT GROUP

2 Bank Group s Gender Action Plan Anchored in Bank s operational policy on gender (OP 4.20) Aims to advance women s economic empowerment in client countries to: Promote shared growth Accelerate the implementation of MDG 3: promote gender equality and empower women Targets economic sectors

3 Guiding Principles Selective Coverage Building and replicating success Tailored to country realities Evidencebased Resultsoriented Based on incentives not mandates

4 GAP Framework: Infrastructure Underpins Women s Economic Empowerment Access to High Quality and Reliable Infrastructure (Roads, Transport, Water, ICT, Energy) Make markets work for women Empower women to compete in markets Enhance women s economic power

5 GAP Funding US$65 million budget over 4 years Funds coming from the World Bank and from donor countries including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Iceland, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. In FY07-FY10, 216 proposals received nearly $21.1 million for operationalizing the GAP* 33 infrastructure proposals (region and network) funded. Most of these support gender analysis and piloting targeted gender activities in the lending portfolio and for upstream analysis GAP Just-in-Time funding available deadline February 4 Proposals intended to add value to ongoing or planned work Individual funding requests maximum of $50,000 Funding envelope of $750,000- $1,000,000 *Total exclude the Adolescent Girls Initiative, South Sudan Initiative, RBIs, and PRMGE-led initiatives.

6 GAP Allocation by Markets (216 activities, as of January 2010) PSD 42 20% Infrastructure 33 15% Funding for infrastructure: $2.2m Other 34 15% Land and Agriculture 49 23% Labor 58 27%

7 Links Between Gender and Infrastructure: A Flavor of the Evidence

8 Links Gender differences in travel patterns, time use, risks and vulnerabilities Demand Supply Design of transport, water and sanitation, energy projects

9 Gender differences that matter for infrastructure A derived demand for infrastructure services Evidence of gender differences in travel patterns, time allocation, preferences regarding sanitation

10 Who Collects Water? % Households reporting adult women and men as the usual person collecting water Women Men Source: Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey conducted between

11 Who demands transport? Q. Many different factors can prevent women from getting medical advice or treatment for themselves. When you are sick and want to get medical advice or treatment, is each of the following a big problem or not? 1. Getting permission to go? 2. Getting money needed for treatment? 3. The distance to the health facility? 4. Having to take transport? 5. Not wanting to go alone? 6. Concern that there may not be a female health provider? 7. Concern that there may not be any health provider? 8. Concern that there may be no drugs available? Nep al Uga nda India Tanz ania Sene gal Rwa nda Nige ria Nige r Mal awi Mad agas car Leso tho Gha na Ethi opia % Women reporting a problem: Having to take transport Source: Demographic and Health Surveys, circa

12 Who are riding bicycles? Source: Bicycle Use in Fushun, China, 2005.

13 Responding to Gender Differences in Demand Create a Gender Action Plan Build infrastructure in appropriate location Create users group Provide relevant linked services (e.g., street lighting for security; employment generation) Provide subsidies for use/connection

14 Links (again) Gender differences in travel patterns, time use, risks and vulnerabilities Demand Supply Design of transport, water and sanitation, energy projects

15 Impact of Providing Infrastructure on Gender Equality Can providing infrastructure Improve education, health and well-being of all, particularly women and girls? Increase women s participation economic activities? Does a gender-informed project design improve project effectiveness/development effectiveness?

16 Some Impacts Impacts Second Peru Roads project* Bangladesh RRMIMP* Morocco rural roads South Africa Electrification Education Girls pri school attendance rate 5.3% ; boys sec. school attendance rate 7% Girls sec. school enrollmnt 20% ; boys sec. school enrollmnt 14% Girls pri school attendance from 17% to 54% (a change of 308%) boys attendance by 108% n.a. Health Reporting illness and injuries among young children 8% n.a. Women s trips to hospitals from 1.4 to 2.4 trips/year n.a. Participation in economic activities Women s participation in road maintenance enterprises from 3.5% to 24%, women s participation in non-agriculture wage employment productivity women s participation by 13.5% Income, Poverty alleviation poverty moderate poverty by 5% poverty n.a. Women s welfare, Social empowerment participation by women in community decision-making n.a. Access to butane gas for cooking which women s welfare n.a.

17 Women s participation and project effectiveness positively correlated: Evidence from 121 WB supported rural water supply projects Project outcomes Overall participation Women's participation Project effectiveness Water system effectiveness Quality of project design Quality of project implementation Quality of project O&M Maintenance after one year Reliability of water system Project efficiency Community empowerment Empowerment of women Increased client capacity for WS tasks Health benefits

18 In conclusion A complex two-way relationship between gender and infrastructure More evidence needed to document which approaches work to address gender issues in infrastructure operations More evidence needed linking gender-aware project inputs to project outputs to project impacts Learning from research and M&E crucial for gender mainstreaming in infrastructure

19 Thank you!

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