Page 7 - GESI Framework

Gender Equality and social inclusion framework

Gender is not:

v ) Water ministries and government departments
Only about women and girls: Men and boys tend to be led by men. This is linked to obstacles
should also be part of the GESI equation. women face in entering or operating in the water
sector including a lack of access to education,
Only women’s responsibility: For real change to sexual harassment, job insecurity and comparatively
happen, everyone needs to be involved. lower pay levels.²
A western or foreign concept: Gender equality is a vi ) Failure to move from commitment to implementation.
global commitment articulated in international Even when countries sign on to international, regional
regional and national commitments to which or national agreements on gender and social inclusion,
countries worldwide are signatories. there is often a lack of capacity and willingness to apply
the necessary financial and technical resources.
An attempt to take away the rights of men and
boys: Human rights are universal, which means vii ) Regional institutions have achieved less progress.
that they apply to all human beings. Regional institutions addressing transboundary water
management involve negotiations at the political level
Only an issue for gender specialists: Relying solely requiring the cooperation and agreement of multiple
on gender specialists cannot tackle the main and often competing countries.³ This makes it difficult
drivers of gender inequality and social exclusion. to ensure a consistent and harmonized approach to
Everyone needs to be involved. tackling GESI issues.
viii ) Women are denied access to water governance
processes: Although water governance is anticipated
4. Lessons Learned to become a cornerstone of global water security,
space for women to participate in political decision
making is limited.
The GESI Framework draws on the findings and lessons
learned from a baseline study on CIWA’s performance on ix) A lack of capacity and awareness. Stakeholders at
gender and social inclusion in May 2020. It included a all levels and across all sectors tend to lack the
desk-based literature review, online survey and capacity and understanding of why and how to
consultations with CIWA staff, development partners and apply GESI considerations. This means that local-
country partners including River Basin Organizations level projects and institutional programming are
(RBOs), Regional Economic Communities (RECs), civil frequently gender blind.
society organizations (CSOs), and national governments. It
also builds upon lessons learned from CIWA’s existing x ) Lack of a systematic approach: Gender and social
efforts to promote and support the integration of GESI inclusion tends to be assigned to one individual or
considerations into its work. Key findings that account for ministry thereby limiting the ability to promote a
the low participation of women in transboundary water systematic approach. Projects tend to include
management at either the institutional or project level and stand-alone interventions rather than integrating
limited progress in addressing gender inequalities and GESI considerations at all levels and across all
social exclusion within the transboundary water sectors where the project is being implemented.
management context include:
xi ) Failure to allocate adequate resources. Allocating
sufficient funding to apply a GESI lens at the
i ) Water is a male-dominated sector: This makes it project and program level throughout the project
difficult for women to find a safe and friendly setting cycle is often overlooked because of a lack of
to express their views, participate in meetings and appreciation of GESI’s central importance to a
play a leadership role. project’s success.

ii ) Governance structures fail to accommodate women. xii ) Gender is complex: An understanding of the complex
Laws, policies and strategies at the transboundary level relationships between men and women or the ways
are mostly silent on the promotion of gender issues. in which gender norms are embedded in institutions,
This limits the level of accountability and capacity to market forces, and cultural interactions is often not
ensure that GESI issues are adequately addressed. reflected in programs and projects, particularly in
sectors that are technical and male dominated
including water resource management.
iii ) Women face socio-cultural barriers to working on
water resource management. Barriers are driven xiii ) One-off interventions: Single interventions are
by strong patriarchal values in most African inadequate to deal with the complex nature of gender
societies that position men as the key decision inequality and social inclusion. Facilitating changes in
makers and holders of power and limit women’s norms and beliefs that drive gender inequality and
access and control over resources. social exclusion requires multiple interventions at
multiple levels.
iv ) Women tend to be stereotyped as resource users.
Despite the key role they play as custodians of xiv ) Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) is inadequate: At
water and the heavy burden they bear when water both the program and project level, the gathering
is in short supply, women’s role tends to be and analysis of disaggregated data are frequently
pigeonholed into the reproductive sphere. This overlooked. This is compounded by a failure to
limits how they are included and what role they develop indicators or plan for monitoring that
play at the project and institutional level. reflects GESI considerations.

² Troell, Jessic and Yaari, Elizabeth. “Tapping our Potential: Women’s Water Leadership in the Nile Basin” 2019, Policy Paper.
³ Earle, Anton and Bazilli, Susan. “A gendered critique of transboundary water management” 2013, Feminist Critique.
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