Gender and Equity

If water and sanitation projects and programmes are to be sustainable, equitable and effective, they must be gender-balanced and provide access for all.

Gender is also about men

This photo was taken by Sohrab Baghri, WASH coordinator for ACF Sierra Leone & Liberia, during a visit to a slum area in Freetown, Sierra Leone. This man was not only carrying a baby on his back, but he was also fetching water from a local well for his family.

Can we close the loop by making money from poop? Gladys Quispe thinks so

I wipe the dust from my eyes for what feels like the hundredth time, resist the urge to scratch the nagging bites around my ankles, and lean in closer to hear what Gladys Quispe has to say, as the squeaking pigs and clucking chickens compete with the feisty Bolivian woman.

Photo story: Promoting sanitation with women and men, girls and boys in Banjarmasin, Indonesia

As part of her advisory work for the Indonesian Sanitation Sector Development Programme (ISSDP) in 14 towns of Indonesia IRC’s Christine Sijbesma is assisting the programme on gender and participation. In April 2009 she and the local team faciltated a rapid and participatory assessment in two high-priority communities in Banjarmasin on sanitation needs by women and men. These assessments allow women and usually “forgotten” men to formulate demands for sanitation improvements. It gives pointers on their willingness and capacity to contribute in better-off, worse-off and in-between groups. It also provides insights in the degree of organization and influence of women and men and local cadres. The resulting scores give a ranking of the high-priority communities in terms of conditions, demand and organizational capacity, which helps high risk communities and the city sanitation working group to select the first community/ies for rapid action and a more likely quick success.

Gender and equity in water and sanitation: 10 lessons from project experiences

'Gender spectacles' are needed to obtain successful project results, this is one of the main conclusions of Christine Sijbema's presentation for the Soroptimists go for Water conference in July 2009. Much evidence exists that the more balanced projects are on gender and for the poor, the better sustained the results are. More information is available in the presentation.

Gender equity in water and sanitation projects (PPTminimizer).ppt (474.0 kB)

India: Gender in community-managed sanitation programme in Kerala

IRC’s Christine Sijbesma wrote the Innovative Activity Profile 3 India: Gender in community-managed sanitation programme in Kerala in the Gender and Agriculture Sourcebook (published by the World Bank, FAO and IFAD in 2008).

Gender- and poor-inclusive community-managed sanitation and hygiene in urban Indonesia

Community empowerment is important in urban sanitation development, but at the same time, community empowerment requires that the social and technical institutions in charge of empowerment and sanitation adopt new skills and techniques for working with communities. Without the right skills to assist the communities, build their skills, and provide some minimal monitoring of performance afterwards, there is a risk of over-expecting what a community can manage

Health, Dignity and Economic progress: the way forward to gender equity

Three ministers of women’s affairs, water and rural development, from Ethiopia, India and Turkey met to discuss with experts and participants during the special session “Health, Dignity and Economic Progress: The Way Forward for Gender Equity”, on Monday 16th of March during the opening of the World Water Forum 5, Istanbul, Turkey.