This paper is an output of a three-year ongoing process of
mainstreaming a gender and poverty (GAP) approach in
the programme of Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH). The
paper is aimed at sharing lessons learned and the challenges
ahead. Since 1999 the UK government (DFID) has funded
the development of a GAP Approach in NEWAH

Michelle Moffatt (7221584)

Raju Khadka (7221587)

English

Loughborough University Institutional Repository

MOFFAT and KHADKA16528th WEDC Conference Kolkata (Calcutta), India, 2002A gender and poverty approach in practiceMichelle Moffatt and Raju Khadka, NepalSUSTAINABLE ENVIRONMENTAL SANITATION AND WATER SERVICESTHIS PAPER IS an output of a three-year ongoing process ofmainstreaming a gender and poverty (GAP) approach inthe programme of Nepal Water for Health (NEWAH). Thepaper is aimed at sharing lessons learned and the challengesahead. Since 1999 the UK government (DFID) has fundedthe development of a GAP Approach in NEWAH.The paper begins by describing the present situation andchallenges in the Nepal context and the relevance ofpracticing a GAP approach. The other part describes howawareness and capacity building of NEWAH’s staff andlessons learned from practice of a GAP approach in 5 pilotprojects, are changing the policies and working practices ofNEWAH1.Equitable access and a sustainable supply of water arefundamental to the goal of eliminating poverty. Unsustain-able supplies and inequitable access to water are a drain onthe lives and livelihoods of the world’s poorest men,women and children. International thinking has focused ondecentralised, demand-driven approaches. This approachwas based on a belief that community-centred approaches,which respond to demand, would prove more sustainable.NEWAH’s experience over the past 10 years is that thedemand driven approach has not always been a success. Inpractice many agencies are neglecting to invest in thenecessary ingredients. What is needed to ensure institutionsand programmes are able to enhance capacities for equita-ble demand-driven community management? The essentialingredients include a long-term approach that seriouslyattempts to address gender equity and poverty issues. Itrequires an approach that addresses power relations, tounderstand and overcome difficulties experienced by com-mon property institutions. Such an approach raises ques-tions such as whose demands are heard? Is it the elite oreveryone in a community? The question of who can partici-pate and who is included is crucial in addressing povertyreduction.In reality communities comprise of men and women whoare better off and men and women who are poorer orpoorest. In Nepal demand for project services by the‘community’ are too often demanded by the powerful,better off and high caste men of the community, with littleor no prior consultation with women and poorer/lowercaste men (Dalit) and ethically disadvantaged men. Itnaturally follows that it is these better off men who are thefirst to come forward to liaise with project staff, take themanagement decision-making positions in the Water UserCommittees and effectively take control over ownership ofwater supply systems. This evidence suggests that whenwater is treated as a commodity, access to water manage-ment roles of women and the poorest is increasingly takenover by better off men.There are plenty of examples in Nepal where the self-interests of elite male-dominated rural WUC groups haveled to conflict. Examples include inequitable and non-transparent financing. Illegal pipe connections by the betteroff has affected equitable water distribution in a number ofcommunities, which in turn has led to irregular user feepayments and breakdown of water systems. Ultimatelysuch conflicts have led to unequal access and control oversafe drinking water systems. Who suffers most? It is alwayswomen and the poorest who have no voice or choice indecision making. So how does an agency address genderand class/caste inequities? The answer is with a great dealof commitment to change deeply embedded negative atti-tudes over the longer term.NEWAH’s commitment to addressing gender equity andpoverty issues began by allocating resources for genderawareness and skills building of its staff to address genderand poverty issues at community level. It established aGender and Poverty Unit in 1999, comprising of 32 tech-nical and social staff. Five regional operational GAP teamsand one team based at headquarters were created. Table Ahighlights the key elements of NEWAH’s GAP approach.After a period of training and practice by delivering genderawareness training to peers in NEWAH, partners andcommunities, the teams began in 2000, to pilot a GAPapproach in 5 projects throughout Nepal. The GAP ap-proach recognises that without agency intervention, poormen and women are automatically excluded by elites frommanaging community water supplies.In order to be poverty sensitive, it is necessary to identifywho the poorest actually are. A Well-Being Ranking PRAexercise was introduced in the GAP pilot projects todetermine who contributes what. Identifying the pooresthouseholds enables NEWAH and communities to provideadditional support such as paid labour, free latrines anddifferentiated financial contributions for O&M, in agree-ment with the community management committee. Thehouseholds themselves decided the criteria for each socio-economic group and ranked households into groups. Cri-teria included amount of land ownership, food sufficiency,employment/income, indebtedness such as bonded labourand disability. In the pilot projects most often the lowercaste households filled the lower socioeconomic groups,but not exclusively. However, there were no lower castehouseholds in the richest groups, reflecting the link be-MOFFAT and KHADKA166tween caste and poverty. The results of the exercise werepresented in a mass community meeting and debated untila consensus was reached.The GAP approach aims to achieve a 50/50 genderbalance in management committees. This is to help ensurewomen participate in decision making with men over waterresources and to minimise management committees beingdominated and controlled by male elites. GAP teams werepro-active in persuading communities of the benefits ofactive mixed gender committees for increased democraticcommunity decision-making. The results of the 5 GAP pilotprojects are very encouraging. Women were elected into50% of the 4 key positions in the management committees(Chair, Vice-chair, Treasurer and Secretary). NEWAH willmonitor the performance of these committees, particularlywomen’s roles in decision-making and identify future sup-port they require to continue to be effective. Equallyimportant is the increased representation of poorer, lowercaste men and women in decision-making positions incommittees.GAP teams evolved their own strategies for supportingwomen and poorest/low caste groups to enable them toachieve equal access to project information, training andpaid job opportunities. This involved many informal meet-ings and discussions, such as negotiating with richer/elitegroups of men and women, encouraging women and poormen to attend meetings and to voice their opinions. Build-ing confidence of women and men to allow women to trainin technical jobs and to take key positions in communitymanagement committees was also a key activity. GAPteams reported that the GAP pilot projects presented teammembers with major challenges, especially in facilitatingdiscussions on very sensitive gender and poverty issues. TheGAP teams feel they have gained confidence and skills inimplementing a GAP approach. Dealing with initial resist-ance by elites to avoid conflicts was a very real concern forstaff at the beginning of the process. The fact that noconflicts were experienced in the community and signifi-cant results were achieved has considerably increased theconfidence of GAP staff.The GAP approach also recognises that community levelfinancing of water services, usually in the form of flat rateuser fees, often penalises the poor. A graded rate mainte-nance system for O&M has been piloted with some com-munities, which allows for the poorer socio-economicgroups to pay less than the better off groups. Despite initialresistance by some better off households, these householdswere subsequently persuaded by the community manage-ment committee and GAP staff to participate in the systemon the basis of sustaining the livelihoods of the poorest andthe water system.  NEWAH will monitor the progress ofthese graded rate systems of payment in the longer term forimpact on sustainability and livelihoods.NEWAH’s recent experience is that consulting women aswell as men on technology design options ensures technol-ogy is appropriate to meet both men and women’s practicalneeds. Under the GAP approach women have been theprimary decision makers over the number, location andTable 1. Key elements of the GAP approach? supporting women to be more actively involved in all the work of the project- e.g. decision on tap-stand/tubewells location and structure? identifying who the poor actually are, to determine who contributes what? supporting ways to increase women representation to 50% in the PMC1? exploring ways to use women’s leadership qualities and decision-making capacities? enhancing management capacities of communities for them to become managers and owners of their water supply and sanitationsystem giving attention to legal issues, transparency in decision-making and money handling? providing poor women and men the opportunity to carry out paid work, skilled and unskilled? providing gender awareness training to both men and women in the community? providing health, hygiene and sanitation education to both men and women, boys and girls (‘in-school’ and out-of-school’)? providing confidence building and awareness raising so that poor and also better off women, who are often not allowed to participate inpublic events, can claim the right to participate more in community activities? providing training and education to women and men in income generation; kitchen gardening and savings and credit? exploring ways to increase latrine construction by providing subsidies to the poorest households and through children’s committees? exploring ways to motivate the community to adopt graded rate system of maintenance fund collection on the basis of social justice? analysing household and community activities by women and menMOFFAT and KHADKA167position of tapstands and tubewells to ensure their practicalneeds are met. For example tapstands that have to belocated by a busy trail have, have at the request of women,been positioned facing away from the trail to increaseprivacy. Women were consulted on height of parapets usedby them to wash clothes and height of faucets. Throughconsultation with women as well as men, some GAPcommunities have even opted for community-financedcommunal bathing units. NEWAH has a flexible policy relating to the number oftapstands per cluster of households. In situations of casteconflict that cannot be overcome, tapstands will be builtseparately, particularly for isolated, low caste, deprivedhouses. This is an important dimension in addressing castediscrimination and ensuring equal access to safe drinkingwater. In one GAP project a small cluster of 3 low-castehouseholds opted for a smaller tapstand to reduce theircontribution in local materials for cement and because theyfelt they did not require a full-size tapstand. In anotherproject clusters of high caste and low caste householdsagreed they should and could share a water point.Free latrines to the poorest households were introducedbecause the poorest households cannot afford to purchasepermanent latrines. Temporary latrines have not beeneffective as they are perceived as ‘kutcha’ or poor qualityand therefore not worth maintaining. Over 95% of thepoorest households in the GAP pilot projects benefitedfrom a free permanent latrine (sanitation slabs that cost 2GB pounds). However, some households were unable tobuild a latrine due to being landless and other strategies willneed to be considered for landless households. NEWAHwill monitor this initiative to assess the effective use of theselatrines in the post-project phase. School latrines wereconstructed separately for boys and girls, taking intoaccount practical gender needs.The GAP approach recognises that men as well as womenshould have access to health, hygiene and sanitation educa-tion. Men, in their role as fathers, need to be encouraged toassist their children in changed hygiene practices such ashandwashing after defecation and before eating. If everymember of the family has access to increased health andsanitation knowledge, the impacts on health will be greater.In the GAP pilot projects men were often resistant to joiningwomen in tole health education, as they perceive health andhygiene to be the role of women. NEWAH recruited a maleand female community health volunteer (CHV) in eachproject. The male CHVs were able to persuade more mento attend health education and to discuss health issues. Theimpacts of changed hygiene practice and related sharing ofroles between husbands and wives will be evaluated in2002.NEWAH has been implementing a Child-to-Child healthand sanitation approach in schools for 5 years. In the GAPprojects this approach was expanded to ‘out-of-school’children. The Child Health Awareness Committees (CHAC)were comprised of an equal number of boys and girls whotrained both ‘in school’ and ‘out-of-school’ children inhealth and sanitation education via posters, competitionsand street theatre. The impacts of this approach have yet tobe evaluated, but anecdotal evidence suggests this was avery successful initiative, as children were able to success-fully act as agents for change. For example, applyingpressure on parents to purchase and use a latrine. Percep-tions of teachers and parents revealed there was improvedpersonal hygiene in 75% of schools and improved schoolenvironment in 85% of schools. Perceptions of children,relating to school and family’s changed hygiene practiceswill be obtained in a forthcoming evaluation.The GAP approach recognises that poor men and womenwho are often ‘volunteered by village elites’ to contributeunpaid and unskilled labour in WATSAN projects arebeing penalised. NEWAH’s projects require up to 50 daysfree labour days from each household, depending on thenumber of households and distance from roadhead, duringconstruction of the water system, as part of the communitycontribution. This means that poor families are unable towork in their fields or as paid farm labourers during thisperiod resulting in a loss of income. The GAP projectstherefore introduced 50% payment of the standard dailylabour rate for poor households who contributed unskilledlabour.The GAP approach places emphasis on paid job oppor-tunities to women as well as men. Traditionally the maleelites in a community come forward for training and paidjob opportunities. In the GAP pilot projects women havebeen trained as paid system maintenance caretakers as wellas men. This enables women to swiftly respond to break-downs that immediately affect them, especially in theabsence of men, who are increasingly away as seasonallabourers in other towns or cities. Women were also trainedas paid sanitation masons, along with men. Some womenwere initially resistant to taking on technical jobs, becausethey feared being ridiculed by men and women in thecommunity. Confidence and awareness building byNEWAH and partner staff enabled women to train andbecome effective in their new roles, with the support of thecommunity.In response to demand from communities, particularlywomen, NEWAH has introduced kitchen garden technicaltraining. In the GAP projects this was accompanied by asmall vegetable seed subsidy to all households. However,the number of kitchen gardens established was relativelylow due to reasons including lack of land and lack ofavailability of seeds locally. In one community green veg-etables do not form part of the diet and demand to growthem was therefore low. However, the majority of kitchengardens established were by the poorest households.NEWAH will evaluate the results of this initiative, particu-larly whether households were actually able to increasetheir subsistence or cash income through kitchen gardensand the role of women in production and benefits to them.All of the above GAP initiatives (except paid unskilledlabour and a gender-sensitive savings and credit scheme)are now being phased into NEWAH’s entire programmeMOFFAT and KHADKA168from November 2001. The savings and credit initiative isstill being piloted. While paying for unskilled labour con-tributions was found to be a successful poverty reductioninitiative for the poorest households, it adds to costs ofprojects. This initiative will be phased into NEWAH’sprogramme, pending the GAP evaluation results and avail-ability of donor funds.As part of phasing-in of the GAP approach throughoutNEWAH’s programme, NEWAH plans to train a secondphase of GAP teams in the summer of 2002 as basic genderawareness trainers. Each regional office will then have twoGAP teams (12 staff) able to implement up to four GAPprojects in each region from 2002.  This will enableNEWAH to further build in-house capacity to comprehen-sively implement, monitor and evaluate gender and pov-erty-sensitive projects. Without this in-house gender train-ing capacity at all levels, NEWAH would not be able togender awareness train the 50-60 new communities andlocal partners it works with each year. In 2002 the GAPapproach will be integrated in around 35% of NEWAH’sprogramme, with 100% integration achieved by 2004.NEWAH as a changing institution is also shaping thebehaviour of its partner organisations in promoting pro-poor policies and implementing them at community level.In the 5 GAP pilot projects, NEWAH oriented partners onthe rationale of a GAP approach, provided gender andpoverty awareness training and skills building at commu-nity level, to enable successful implementation and facilita-tion of a GAP approach. By 2004, it will be in a position toinfluence the behaviour of up to 60 partner organisationsand communities with whom it works annually.ConclusionScaling up gender and poverty-sensitive community man-agement of WS&S systems is needed, but it requires insti-tutional commitment, resources, time and  long-term sup-port. What is important is a change in institutional attitudein accepting and implementing approaches to enhancegender sensitive and pro-poor community management. Itis essential to view women and men in a community asequal, regardless of caste or class, and to respond to theirneeds. This important dimension is often neglected in allstages of a project cycle. Addressing gender and povertyissues can substantially contribute to achieving equitableaccess and sustainability for poverty reduction.Should you be interested in obtaining more information,please do not hesitate to contact us at e-mail:gap@newah.com.np or at NEWAH, PO Box 4231,Kathmandu, Nepal.References1 NEWAH, Nepal Water For Health, is a non-government, non-political and non-profit making organization working throughout rural Nepal to provide cleansafe drinking water, hygiene education and sanitation.It aims to improve the living standard of the poor byproviding community development initiatives.2 PMC is Project Management & Maintenance Committee in the community.MICHELLE MOFFATT, NEWAH, Nepal.RAJU KHADKA, NEWAH, Nepal.

A gender and poverty approach in practice

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A gender and poverty approach in practice

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