Working paper for mainstreaming gender in project planning and implementation

This working paper seeks to assist project staff to establish clear, explicit and manageable tools for mainstreaming gender actions into all project activities. The paper explains the rationale for gender planning focusing particularly on the field of water and sanitation projects. The theory behind, and an approach to identifying gender needs are outlined and an explanation given as to why gender-specific analysis is relevant. In order that new facilities will be accepted and used properly, the paper stresses the need for project staff to inform both women and men about the technical, financial, managerial, health and workload implications of various options so that informed decisions can be made by both men and women at the design and implementation stages. The main part of the paper consists of a series of questions on such topics as project design and preparation; objectives and activities; and project implementation including project personnel and development partners, project planning for implementation, operation and maintenance, institutional framework, monitoring and evaluation, and how to support the active participation of both men and women, all of which serves as a checklist for building gender equity into project design and implementation.