| PARTICIPATORY GENDER AUDIT* OF DEVELOPMENT PROMOTION GROUP |
What is a participatory gender audit?
A participatory gender audit is a self-assessment methodology for development programmes that focuses on improving the organisation’s performance with respect to gender equality and women’s empowerment. Its aim is to help participants learn to assess their work, their functioning, and their collaboration with others, as well as to find ways to improve and contextualize what they are doing. This process can lead to proposals for change, thereby translating learning into action. Unlike a regular evaluation, the participatory gender audit is based on self-assessment and not on external evaluation. Individuals employed in development programmes or associated with the organization through partner organizations or beneficiaries are considered to be empirical experts, who are able and motivated to assess themselves and their organizations.
Introduction : In DPG, a Participatory Gender (PGA) took place from 16th January until 1st of February and it was led by Hettie Walters, Wageningen International, The Netherlands as team leader and trainer. The whole process was funded by EED Germany which is the donor for one of the DPG programmes, but it encompassed all the major projects and programmes executed by DPG and paid attention to the whole organisation as such. The team of facilitators that were first trained and later executed the PGA consisted of 10 persons in addition to the team leader. The gender composition of the team was 3 men and 7 women.
Focus of the participatory gender audit – The participatory gender audit focuses on four aspects of an organisation’s programmes:
- The conditions that the organisation has created to realize gender equality, women’s empowerment and gender balance
- What is actually being done to achieve these goals;
- The perception of achievement of those involved in the programme and associated with it; and
- The formulation of recommendations for improvement.
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Decision making in the organization – The developmental work of DPG is executed by DPG directly or through NGOs to whom DPG provides financial support. The CEO of DPG is the chief functionary for the overall functioning of all DPG programmes and organization. All major decisions are made by him though processes in which shared decision-making is promoted. Project directors / leaders are rendered decision-making powers that enable them to effectively lead their projects. Decisions in the projects planning and implementation are often taken by the core programme staff after consultation with representation from the target communities. With respect to the NGOs it can be said that there is absolutely no control by DPG in any of their internal decisions. However, the NGOs have to report to DPG about the execution of the activities for which they receive funding form DPG. The fact that there are five women-headed NGOs out of twelve is an indication that DPG respects and believes in women’s leadership and decision-making in developmental issues
The following emerged as the core values of DPG: transparency, accountability, democratic functioning, hard work, commitment, code of conduct for staff, women-friendly policies, capacity-building of staff and partner organisations, staff welfare measures, equal opportunities for women and men, motivation for senior staff to initiate and establish independent NGPs, participatory culture that provides space for dialogue and dissent, and accessibility and approachability at all levels of the organization. Women staff are particularly encouraged to equip themselves professionally through opportunities to participate in trainings at national and international levels and other career path development initiatives.
PGA with DPG staff, Consultants
Partners, Abex Body and Target Group.
DPG can be credited with promoting women’s empowerment at the grassroots through setting up and strengthening of NGOs and CBOs. 12 NGOs were selected and capacitated to initiate and carry forward activities targeted at ensuring women’s participation at all levels. DPG, NGO and APEX (multi partners) have come together fund micro-enterprise initiates which include running of petty shops, grocery stores, oil business, selling bangles and fancy items, idli shop, running telephone booths, cloth business, selling home appliances and plastic utensils, selling tender coconut etc. skills, training includes domestic appliances training for repairing television, radio, production and marketing of pickles, salting and drying of fish and its marketing.
As a result of DPG’s initiates we have seen the following – At the community level women have seen an increase in their status and perception of self-image. Politically, women have been encouraged and capacitated to stand for local body elections both in reserved and non-reserved seats. Of the total number of 328 women who contested the elections in project and partner areas, 135 of them won the elections in 2006. The experience has been that when in comparison to men who won elections in the past, women have been more earnest and capable in enabling the benefits to reach the community.
Conclusion - DPG is an organization that intrinsically promotes gender equality and women’s empowerment in all it does, in the approaches it chooses and uses, in the choice of partner organizations and the strengthening of CBO’s that are mainly women’s SHG. Although this PGA is not an impact evaluation, and we have not been able to assess the outcome and impact of DPGs work through direct contacts as the SHG levels we are convinced that an impact evaluation would only confirm what we have expressed in our findings and confirm the extent and depth of the changes in gender relations and women’s position in the family and the communities.
DPG can also profile itself better. So far the public image it has maintained has been low profile: giving opportunities for taking credits to partners and the women themselves. DPG can strengthen its public profile by stating more clearly what it states internally in the recent gender policy: to challenge and change power relations that are the root cause of the exclusion of girls and women. We seek to transform gender relations by redistributing more evenly the division of resources, responsibilities and power between men and women.
DPG intends to support and promote the creation of a state level APEX body namely “Rose Malar Federation”, in which the women will birth a shared voice and use their numbers as a force to seek and realize changes in the society. The PGA audit team encourages DPG to go forward boldly with this endeavour.
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