1. Aid for Gender Equality
Key points from the UNU-WIDER/ReCom conference, Copenhagen, Denmark
16 December 2013
Programme: http://www1.wider.unu.edu/recomgender/content/programme
Leaders of gender equality efforts in Asia, from left: Dr. Khieu Serey Vuthea, Director General of Social Development,
Ministry of Women's Affairs, Cambodia; Dr. Attiya Inayatullah, Former Minister for Women's Development, Population
Planning, Social Welfare and Special Education, Member of the Parliament of Pakistan; and Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury,
Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh. Photo: Gry Tina Tinde
Morning session:
The conference was introduced by
Charlotte Slente, State Secretary for
Development Policy at Danida.
Photo: Alexander Zach
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2. Dr. Amartya Sen, Professor of
Economics and Philosophy, Harvard
University
Next was a talk via video by Amartya Sen, Professor at Harvard University. Dr. Sen said achieving
gender equality is about 1. Enlightenment; and 2. Agency. On enlightenment - Women's education is
key regarding fertility and reducing the number of child births. On agency: A study in India showed
that when women have a stronger role in their family and society it's also positive for reproductive
health issues.
Why should one think of men and women differently? This is about human beings. On feminism: It's
an issue of humanity.
Dr. Caren Grown, Economist in
Residence, American University,
Washington. D.C.
Photo: Alexander Zach
Dr. Caren Grown @CarenGrown Economist in Residence at American University welcomed
participants. She quoted a 8 March 2008 statement by Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon:
“...in women the world has at its disposal the most significant and yet largely untapped potential for
development and peace.”
Two reports are key, said Dr. Grown: 1. A report by FAO from 2010-11 “The State of Food and
Agriculture” and a report by the World Bank in 2012 “Gender Equality and Development”.
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3. Dr. Grown said gender equality is multi-dimensional. Much literature states that there is a strong
impact of women's education on economic growth. However gender gaps in e.g. pay levels may also
enhance economic growth, although research findings are less robust on this topic.
Since 1975 when the UN declared the first decade on women we have seen a lot of progress: More
girls in school, labor force and reduced female mortality. Secondary education is an area that needs
focus. Labor market issues are important - it's about the conditions of work. Gender gaps have not
been closed in the labor marked. Women lack property rights in agriculture. In Ecuador more women
than men own land; however the value of what women own is always less. On time use: Across the
world, women globally carry out two hours more than men on unpaid work. Even in Sweden women
do more house work than men. Regarding seats in parliament: Women are largely underrepresented
in parliaments, making up approximately 20 per cent globally.
What are donors' responses? A twin-track approach: 1. Women focus and 2. Gender mainstreaming.
No. 2 got donors into trouble. Donor commitment has been reduced recently – there has been a big
drop in funding between 2011 and 2012. In 2011 it was around 18 per cent of all aid, and it is not
enough. If it were mainstreamed it would be 80 per cent. What works: on education: conditional
cash transfers; Scholarships. Health: maternal mortality: Skilled attendants; emergency obstetric care,
functional referral system; reproductive health, contraceptives, sexuality education, safe abortion
services.
What we don't always know is how these interventions stack up against each other and what are the
entry points?
What works and could work? Economic: poor women need more bundled services. Responding to
gender-based violence is essential, via e.g. community-based interventions.
Challenges: Stand-alone projects vs. scale up. Mainstreaming vs. "Away" streaming. Which means
that mainstreaming may make gender disappear. The lack of data hampers us in this conversation.
Data are necessary to make the issues visible.
Conclusions: Strategic entry points for interventions that "move the needle" and are oriented to
outcomes. Results on the ground – success "begets" success. Invest in monitoring and evaluation,
especially impact evaluation; invest in data collection. We need to ensure the political will. It is much
the same situation as 20 years ago. We need to move beyond rhetoric.
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4. Dr. Léonce
Ndikumana,
Professor of
Economics,
University of
Massachusetts
Amherst
Photo: Alexander Zach
The next speaker was @LEONCENDIKUMANA, Professor of Economics at the University of
Massachusetts Amherst.
According to Dr. Ndikumana:
1. There is a quantity and quality problem: there are inadequate volumes of aid; on quality: there is
allocational ineffectiveness; predictability is lacking. To reduce poverty you need results, and much is
needed in the agricultural sector.
2. There is weak additionality, such as spillover effects, technology and knowledge transfer.
3. Failure to influence policy and institutions.
4. Poor alignment of incentives and interests.
5. Lack of learning from mistakes
Empirical question: Does increasing volume of aid help ameliorate aggregate human development?
Results and implications: The overall impact of aid on human development depends significantly on
initial conditions. The finding suggests that aid evaluation that does not take into account initial
conditions is likely to underestimate the impact of aid on development outcomes. The focus should
be on relative progress rather than absolute progress.
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5. Kai Gehring, Research
Associate, University
of Heidelberg
Photo: Alexander Zach
Kai Gehring @HeidelbergU speaks on Gender inequality and the allocation of aid. In outlining a study,
Mr. Gehring said there is little evidence of a merit-based allocation of aid. Improvements in
education and female literacy are followed by reductions of aid. An exception is in increased
numbers of women in parliaments, where increases are awarded by more aid.
Donors with high shares of women in parliament are more likely to reward higher female
parliamentary representation in recipient countries.
Left-wing governments react stronger to need in terms of unbalanced in education and women's
rights. Male ministers commit more aid in developing countries w well-established women's rights.
Female ministers react to imbalances in tertiary education with higher aid commitment. It is a multifaceted challenge. Donors respond only partially to need in terms of gender inequality. Donors do
not reward recipients for improvements.
Dr. Mina BaliamouneLutz, Professor of
Economics, University of
North Florida and
Director of Research,
African Center for
Economic
Transformation, Accra,
Ghana
Photo: Alexander Zach
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6. Talk by @Mina_Lutz and question-answer session.
Mina Baliamoune-Lutz says the MENA region has seen major advances for women in the past
decades, however much remains. There are disparities among the countries in terms of female
members of parliament. Results suggest that aid to equality organizations and institutions is in
general effective. A critical mass of women in parliament can create more push for gender equality.
Foreign aid could have a catalytic role in this process. There is documented evidence on
ineffectiveness of aid to family planning in terms having a positive (side)effect on women’s
empowerment in MENA. This argues for more support for women's reproductive health via
organizations that work for women’s political representation. More women in political leadership
gives results, as they adopt different policies than men, namely policies that support women’s rights.
The active participation of women in the Arab Spring has differed among countries - Tunisia for
example vs. Libya or Yemen.
Dr. Liv Tønnessen
Senior Researcher
and Coordinator of
Gender Politics at
Christian Michelsen
Institute in Bergen,
Norway
Question from Dr. Liv Tønnessen: Please help explain the reason for the higher participation of
women in parliament in countries emerging from conflict.
Question from Roger Williamson - I'm worried about a personalization of the issues with the
appointment of female ministers.
Question from a member of the audience: Is there a certain kind of aid that works better than others?
Reply from Mina Baliamoune-Lutz: On countries emerging from conflict and female representation in
parliament: I did look at these countries, e.g. Lebanon. My understanding is that when you come out
of conflict you reconstruct, and women and men are needed. Aid donors may insist that women are
involved. Differences in female political representation in countries rebuilding after war and
countries in peace is an important issue that needs further study. Arab countries mostly have
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7. autocratic governments, she added. There are various obstacles for women to access government
positions.
On female state leaders I hope to see a female president in Egypt. Advancement of women is not
happening fast enough in MENA.
Kai: should we focus on sex of minister or the composition of the bureaucracy? Whether a minister is
female or male is relevant. However for development ministers it doesn't seem to have a big impact.
Female ministers may care a little more about gender equality.
General comment: it makes sense to allocate aid to where the needs are highest. One should
consider incentives.
Léonce Ndikumana: I think it's OK if donors reduce aid when education improves to move aid to
countries that need it more. Donors are conflicted as to whether to interfere in domestic processes
via institutional support. However good institutions make better policy, and could use aid to improve
their work. Donors may prefer to fund institutions that operate well already, but when will
institutions be good enough to merit aid? It could be a long wait. When donors have worked with
countries to reform tax system as in Uganda in 1991 - tax collection improved. There are positive
results. An OECD project helps with tax audits, as another example. If we want to see gains from aid,
institution strengthening is the way to go. For instance on transport: To improve use of infrastructure
- donors should not only build and improve roads but help to manage transport & infrastructure. So
we cannot go around institutions. Yet donors want immediate results and reporting even after a few
months. Donors need more patience when investing in institutions.
Dr. Roger Willamson, Senior
Research Associate of the
Institute of Development
Studies, moderated a session
on “Actors of Foreign Aid”.
Photo: Gry Tina Tinde
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8. Eugenia McGill, Lecturer at
the School of international
and Public Affairs (SIPA) at
Columbia University, New
York
Photo: Alexander Zach
Eugenia McGill outlined gender mainstreaming experience of major Asian donors; identified trends,
variations, lessons; and described a Philippine study. She said “femocrats” from Australia, New
Zealand and others piloted gender mainstreaming in 1970s-80s. It was endorsed at the Beijing
women's conference in 1995 and UN-ECOSOC in 1997. It's a means to an end. Key ingredients are:
strong leadership, expertise and accountability, effective procedures and practices, capacity-building
measures for staff and development partners, adequate financial resources, and evaluations.
Major Asian donors: Asian Development Bank, AusAID, JICA (Japan), KOICA (South Korea), New
Zealand Aid Programme. All have gender equality policy documents except New Zealand. High-level
political leadership on gender equality is generally weak or sporadic. Notable variations: Global
ambassador on Women's Issues of AUSAid, Senior Gender Advisor at ADB.
The number of in-house gender experts is generally insufficient, but improving. Institutional
mechanisms: senior gender advisors (ADB, AusAID, JICA). Expert teams are centrally located. Internal
accountability mechanisms: All but New Zealand have this. ADB has gender mainstreaming targets.
These donors have country and project level reporting to a varying degree. All but New Zealand have
an external gender advisory forum. Japan has a parliamentary caucus.
Process: Country strategies: ADB requires a country gender strategy. AusAID has a quality-at-entry
reporting and project gender action plans. All org acknowledge that implementation was not good
enough. ADB adopted achievement of intended gender results, which drives how ADB conducts
reviews. Training and capacity development: Internal: induction and sector-specific training,
guidelines, checklists, newsletters, direct support (all were subject to gender staffing constraints). Elearning tools: AusAID - under development. Gender career streams AusAID - under development.
External training/coaching of government counterpart staff is taking place.
Evaluations, research and learning: Formal evaluations are receiving increasing attention (several
under way). Also gender program stock-takes (AusAID) and rapid gender assessments (ADB). Genderrelated research: Little is initiated by research departments or affiliated research institutes. Info on
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9. country case may be found in study: Philippine Harmonized GAD Guidelines: Collaboration by the
Philippine Commission on Women and other partners.
Reflections: Challenges include political changes and organizational restructuring; economic
development projects; weak or uneven implementation of gender policy commitments. The use of
gender-related research is promising.
Dr. Malokele Nanivazo,
Research Fellow, UNUWIDER
Photo: Alexander Zach
Dr. Nanivazo outlined results of a UNU-WIDER study of gender mainstreaming by development
agencies in Denmark, Finland and Sweden.
Key findings: The three Nordic development agencies Danida (Denmark) Sida (Sweden), and the
Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Finland (FMFA ) all recognise gender mainstreaming as an important
part of the policy-making process. Gender equality is a well-funded objective in all three agencies,
but Danida and FMFA lack a separate budget for mainstreaming activities. While all three agencies
include gender analysis as part of their programme development process, this commitment often
evaporates when it comes to implementation. The aid effectiveness agenda and changing aid
modalities represent challenges to the future of gender mainstreaming.
Budgets and financial resources
The levels of funding for gender equality programmes and mainstreaming activities means that, at
least on the face of it, gender equality is a well-funded objective.
• In 2011 Danida devoted 18 per cent of its total development budget to gender mainstreaming and
special interventions.
• During 2008-10 6 per cent of Sida-funded development interventions had gender equality as their
primary objective, and 71 per cent of development interventions had gender equality as a significant
objective.
• FMFA currently targets 54 per cent of its total aid budget towards gender issues.
However these figures may lead to an overestimation of the financial resources available for gender.
There is a need to distinguish between budgets for special interventions for gender, and integrating
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10. gender into existing programmes (the latter specifically referred to as mainstreaming in FMFA and
Danida). Danida disburses most of its resources on special interventions and has no specified budget
for mainstreaming activities. Similarly, FMFA does not have a separate budget for mainstreaming
activities — instead it advises that each project should assign a proportion of its budget to
mainstreaming, which does not always happen in practice. Sida recognises that gender budgeting is
an area where increasing attention is needed.
Dr. Nilima Gulrajani,
Senior Researcher,
University College,
Oxford University
Photo: Alexander Zach
Dr. Gulrajani @NilimaGulrajani said private donors give considerable sums of money to development,
by some estimates over USD 55 billion in 2012 (OECD 2012). Nilima Gulrajani gave an overview of
historical evolutions of private actors:
The role of private actors has developed from business as a tool for growth to:



corporate social responsibility
inclusive business
social business
She outlined challenge fund characteristics:
Partnership - between donors and businesses mainly, often via third party contractors 2. Innovation incentive to think outside the box 3. Leverage - encourages additional investment 4. Competitive select the "best" opportunities Intersection with gender policy: "It is challenging to harmonize and
promote gender-sensitive dialogue on new aid modalities." Policy recommendations for donors
engaging with the private sector:
1. Carefully consider donor and corporate comparative advantages 2. Be clear and ambitious
with gender objectives in project selection phase (baseline indicators etc.) 3. Partner with
committed social businesses 4. Integrate and ensure consistency between gender strategies
and markets-for-poverty strategies
2. Engage corporate actors more pro-actively on gender 6. Ensure greater oversight over third
party engagement
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11. Päivi Kannisto,
Adviser for Gender
Issues, Ministry for
Foreign Affairs of
Finland
Photo: Alexander Zach
Photo: Alexander Zach
From left: Dr. Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Speaker of the Parliament of Bangladesh; Dr. Finn Tarp,
Director, UNU-WIDER; Dr. Khieu Serey Vuthea, Director General of Social Development, Ministry of
Women's Affairs, Cambodia; and Dr. Attiya Inayatullah, Former Minister for Women's Development,
Population Planning, Social Welfare and Special Education, Member of the Parliament of Pakistan.
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12. Afternoon session:
The first presenter was the Speaker of Bangladesh Parliament Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury. Dr.
Chaudhury said that a majority of those living on 1 USD a day are women. Gender equality must be
looked at in a more comprehensive context, including the millennium development goals and Post
MDGs, security and food security. gender equality must be brought to the center of the development
agenda. Aid effectiveness should be seen in a broader context, including gender-based-violence,
education and political participation.
Aid to developing countries - how does it address these concerns? Economic growth doesn't
necessarily enhance inclusiveness. To achieve transformative change we need gender equality at the
forefront.
Dr. Khieu Serey Vuthea, Director General of Social Development, Ministry of Women's Affairs,
Cambodia: When she was 5-6 years old she discovered girls were appreciated very much and seen as
a flower or white cloth. In 1993 we wanted to be not just a perishable flower but a precious gem.
Men and women should work together for a country's progress, not just for the family. At the
Ministry of Women's Affairs we launched gender mainstreaming, and we have a National Council for
Women to help implement and respond to CEDAW. There is a working group on women. The
Ministry of Women's Affairs has a strategic plan for issues such as pension equality, economic
empowerment and access to justice and leadership positions. Cambodia has a mechanism and
platform on how to achieve gender equality. There is a gender mainstreaming action group and plan
in each ministry. To be more effective Cambodia also has a program-based approach focusing on
transparency vis-a-vis donors. Civil society is a key partner. Cambodia is learning about how to move
out of gender norms, and research is currently being done on this topic.
Dr. Attiya
Inayatullah,
Member of the
Parliament of
Pakistan (on left)
and Dr. Khieu Serey
Vuthea, Director
General of Social
Development,
Ministry of
Women's Affairs,
Cambodia.
Photo: Alexander Zach
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13. Dr. Attiya Inayatullah, Former Minister for Women's Development, Population Planning, Social
Welfare and Special Education, Member of the Parliament of Pakistan: Where are we today? We no
longer talk about just women in development or women and development, but women's
empowerment. What do we want with women's empowerment? We mean entitlement, women's
agency, and with that also the human rights agenda. Women are victims still, all over the world. They
are also agents of change. In creating the post 2015 goals women are very underrepresented. One of
the most important matters for Post 2015 is the development framework. There should be
consensus on the centrality of gender in the development framework.
The framework must include transformative goals, and seek depth in these matters. This morning we
heard about religious orthodoxy and that is a great concern to us women. I appeal to the donor
community to keep gender issues on that radar screen. When partners speak for us on gender
equality it strengthens our voice. In an appendix to the study on aid and gender of three Nordic
countries I noticed a big gap: Family planning. I urge donors and particularly Nordic countries to
consider bringing family planning back where it belongs.
QA session:
Comment by Dr. Vuthea: Regarding the CEDAW committee response from Cambodia, it was difficult
to obtain all necessary data from ministries. But mini data made by donors helped us report to
CEDAW. Donors who support gender please also include gender analysis for all sectors.
Dr. Inayatullah: Pakistan is in a state of democratic transition. Women must be integral to this
process. An example: achieving a critical mass. We have 20per cent women in the Pakistan and
Bangladesh parliaments and this has made a big difference. We need to reach the critical mass of
33per cent women in parliament.
Women need not just to be there but to exert influence, too. We have a women's parliamentary
caucus in Pakistan. A woman's role is to strengthen all democratic institutions. We have registered
the forum for women in Pakistan politics. We need a foothold in parliament as it approves budgets.
The oversight functions of parliament are also crucial. There must be coherence between the
country's plans and international partners' plans and commitments. Donors cannot move until they
see such coherence. Gaps between national and international action plans must be addressed from
the beginning. The question of accountability is key. Gender issues tend to be isolated from
"important people" who decide on budgets. Dr. Chaudhury: It is important for countries and donors
to have a good cooperation and set a time frame. Simplified procedures are necessary. Everyone
implementing gender policy must be sensitized, such as staff in the ministries. The Ministry of
Women's Affairs is sometimes not included in aid planning.
Questions from the audience: Patti O'Neill from OECD-DAC: Do donors adhere to the principles in
the Paris, Accra and Busan declarations?
From Prof. Ndikumana: Are aid principles institutionalized and operationalized by donors?
From Prof. Grown: Funding for women's organizations is relatively low. How to increase it?
Parliaments are becoming less powerful as power is being centralized. How can donors help?
Prof. Baliamoune-Lutz: What's the most effective way for aid money to empower Pakistani women?
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14. Gro Lindstad,
Director of
FOKUS,
Norway
Photo: Alexander Zach
Answers:
Dr. Choudhury: It would be interesting to study to what degree the declarations of Paris, Accra and
Busan address gender equality and if this is being implemented. The declarations are not enough but
they need to be institutionalized. Much is happening on this in Bangladesh including training. A
monitoring mechanism similar to CEDAW's is necessary. A 2007 development forum mechanism was
established and something like this could be useful. We need to strengthen advocacy and linkages to
donors to increase funding for NGOs. Women in parliament are key and we support quotas. Not
enough women are coming through via elections so quotas help. Political parties need to engage
more women and nominate them. Some parties seem to believe that they will not win the election if
they increase the number of female candidates. This must be addressed, because with this situation
more nominations may not be enough.
Dr. Inayatullah: 45 per cent of people in Pakistan live below the poverty line. Participatory
development is a must due to the vast diversity of the country. That's where donor money will be
most effective to advance women's rights and participation. We cannot have donor-driven assistance.
Donors must be transparent and work with governments. Being an NGO is almost a bad word, but
the civil society sector has a huge role to play watching the parliament and government and must
play this role. NGOs should not aim to work at a macro level. They can affect behavioral change and
should do interventions that are scalable and replicable. We have a national commission on the
status of women. It's completely independent from government. The corporate sector should be
brought into the donor world. The Buffett Foundation and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation are
good examples.
Moderator Dr. Finn Tarp of UNU WIDER summed up some key issues from the session:
Empowerment, civil society and private sector role, and need for data.
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15. Session on Aid and sectoral issues: See webcast video of the session here:
http://www1.wider.unu.edu/recomgender/article/video-aid-gender-equality-webcasts
Moderator: Tony Addison, Chief Economist and Deputy Director, UNU-WIDER
Speakers: Jasmine Gideon, Lecturer, University of London - Aid in the health sector
Nathalie Holvoet, Lecturer, University of Antwerp - Aid in the education sector
Sirkku K. Hellsten, Professor, University of Dar es Salaam - Aid in Support of UN resolution 1325
Helle Munk Ravnborg, Senior Researcher, DIIS - Land administration, gender equality and
development assistance: Lessons learned and challenges ahead
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16. Panel discussion on the future of aid and gender equality
Video http://www1.wider.unu.edu/recomgender/article/video-aid-gender-equality-webcasts
Moderator: Caren Grown, Economist in Residence, American University
Speakers:
Cindy Clark, Co-Executive Director, Association for Women's Rights in Development
Lucia Hanmer, Lead Economist, Gender and Development, World Bank
Patti O’Neill, Co-ordinator, OECD
Carolina Wennerholm, Senior Policy Specialist on Gender Equality, Sida
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17. Photo: Alexander Zach
Speakers, organisers and UNU-WIDER partners
Gry Tina Tinde
16 December 2013
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