RAP PUBLICATION 2001/05

Workshop on gender-sensitive local

planning

TABLE OF CONTENTS

27–29 June 2000

Bangkok

Thailand

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whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization
of the United Nations concerning the legal status of any country,
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Technical support:

Ms Revathi Balakrishnan, PhD

Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development Officer
FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok
Ms Mary Rhodes, PhD
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR USA

Cover credit:
Apinya Petcharat
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok

For copies, contact:

Ms Revathi Balakrishnan, PhD
Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development Officer
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok 10200

Email: Revathi.Balakrishnan@fao.org
Fax: 66-2-697-4445

ISBN No: 974-7946-15-7

Foreword
Food and Agriculture Organization aims to achieve elimination of hunger and sustainable food
security for all. The technical expertise across the organization is deployed to a singular
purpose of elimination of hunger and poverty reduction among the marginal groups and
disadvantaged populations across the globe. As globalization proceeds in accelerated phase,
bringing prosperity to the already advantaged communities of people, those who began their
lives with fewer options may face persistent barriers to keep pace with changes. The rural
communities would face greater risk for livelihood if the local solutions were not put in place.

Asian countries recognize this challenge and support the efforts to devise local strategies in the
context of globalization. Hence, the trend in these countries is to develop local governance
institutions and foster stronger local leadership to assist communities to face the social threats
and economic risks. Countries in Asian region have a long tradition of local governance and
now they are being formalized in structures promoted by national governments. The past and
new governance structures and processes have to fit together to improve governance at the
local level. The current social equity concerns and complex financial transactions can pose
stress on the local governance system. The planning structure could become increasingly
formal and the new leaders may lack the awareness and capacity to deal with new norms of
equity including gender equity and accountability for equity. Hence, FAO regional office for Asia
and the Pacific organized a workshop as a capacity building effort to foster the local planning
perspectives to be gender sensitive.

During the FAO workshop on “Gender Sensitive Local Planning” officers responsible for local
planning administrations explored the issue of integrating gender considerations in local
planning. The workshop deliberations examined the current local administrative structures and
planning processes to determine current status and constraints to promote gender sensitive
approaches in local planning. The workshop activities resulted in developing a framework for
gender sensitive local planning. The information shared and the recommendations generated by
the participants are presented in the publication. The recommendations are addressed to both
FAO as well as members countries who participated in the meeting.

I sincerely hope that the publication will serve as guide to improve the local planning efforts to
be increasingly sensitive to gender considerations. There is much work yet to be done to
improve the planning process to be gender responsive and address the women's concerns in
the local planning strategies. But, I believe we have made a good beginning in the workshop
and will continue to strengthen our joint efforts to achieve gender equality through appropriate
local planning approaches and participation of all stakeholders.

R.B.Singh
Assistant Director General and
Regional Representative
FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand

November 1, 2001

FAO REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, BANGKOK

© FAO 2001

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This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software.
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
GLOSSARY

1.0. BACKGROUND

1.1. GENDER-RESPONSIVE PLANNING

 1.2. PARTICIPATORY INFORMATION FOR LOCAL PLANNING

2.0. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES

3.0. VENUE AND DURATION

4.0. COUNTRIES REPRESENTED AND PARTICIPANTS

4.1. SELECTION OF OFFICE BEARERS

5.0. PROGRAMME

6.0. SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS

6.1. OPENING REMARKS

6.2. SHARING EXPERIENCES: ORGANIZATIONS INVOLVED IN GENDER-SENSITIVE

LOCAL PLANNING

6.3. COUNTRY PRESENTATIONS AND RELATED DISCUSSIONS

6.3.1. Bangladesh

6.3.2. Cambodia

6.3.3. China

6.3.4. India

6.3.5. Nepal

6.3.6. Pakistan

6.3.7. Thailand

6.3.8. Sri Lanka

6.3.9. Viet Nam

6.4. SECRETARIAT PAPERS

6.4.1. Women-inclusive local planning: cultivating a new planning culture

6.4.2. Institution building for participatory gender-sensitive local planning

7.0. REGIONAL REVIEW: COMMONALTIES AND SHARED CONCERNS

8.0. RECOMMENDATIONS

8.1. COUNTRY-SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS

8.1.1. Bangladesh

8.1.2. Cambodia

8.1.3. China

8.1.4. Nepal

8.1.5. Pakistan

8.1.6. Sri Lanka

8.1.7. Thailand

8.1.8. Viet Nam

8.2. COMMON FRAMEWORK FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

8.2.1. Overall policy framework for gender-sensitive local planning

8.2.2. Information generation

8.2.3. Human resource development

8.2.4. Workable institutional setup

8.2.5. Monitoring mechanism: how to implement workshop recommendations

8.3. ACTIONS FOR FAO

8.4. FAO RAP SUGGESTION

9.0. NOTE OF THANKS

REFERENCES

ATTACHMENT 1 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

ATTACHMENT 2 PROGRAMME
 GLOSSARY

ACFTU All China Federation of Trade Unions

ACWF All China Women's Federation
ADB Agriculture Development Bank, Nepal
AIT Asian Institute of Technology
ARI Agricultural Research Institute, Bangladesh
BBS Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics
CAAS Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
CASD Community Action for Social Development, Cambodia
CCAP Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy
CDWP Central Development Working Party, Pakistan
CEDAW Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women
CUSRI Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute
DCB Decentralized Capital Budget, Sri Lanka
DCC District Coordinating Committee, Sri Lanka
DDC District Development Committee, Nepal
DOAE Department of Agriculture Extension, Bangladesh
DOAE Department of Agriculture Extension, Thailand
DVDC Divisional Coordinating Committee, Sri Lanka
ECNEC Executive Committee of the National Economic Council, Pakistan
ESCAP Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
FAO Food and Agriculture Organization
GWDO Great West Development Office, China
IRDP Integrated Rural Development Programme, Sri Lanka
LGPAD Leading Group for Poor Area Development, China
MLD Ministry of Local Development, Nepal
MOF Ministry of Finance, Nepal
MPI Ministry of Planning and Investment, Viet Nam
MWCA Ministry of Women and Children Affairs, Bangladesh
NCFAW National Committee for the Advancement of Women, Viet Nam
NEC National Economic Council, Pakistan
NPC National Planning Commission, Nepal
National Working Committee on Women and Children of the State
NWCWCSC
Council, China
PC Provincial Council, Sri Lanka
PDWP Provincial Development Working Party, Pakistan
PFA Platform for Action, Bangladesh
PRA Participatory Rural Appraisal
PRDC Provincial Rural Development Committees, Cambodia
PRI Panchayat Raj Institution, India
RAP FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
RAPS FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, Sustainable Development
RD Rural Development, Pakistan
SDA FAO Rural Development Division
SDPC State Development Planning Commission, China
SDWW FAO Women in Development Service
UDA Urban Development Authority, Sri Lanka
UNDP United Nations Development Programme
UNESCO United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund
VC Village Committee, China
VDC Village Development Committee, Cambodia
VDC Village Development Committee, Nepal
WID Women in Development
 1.0. BACKGROUND
The twentieth century development gains in the Asian region were marked by spectacular
success in the economic sector of a few countries. But world focus on such success hid from
view the inequities in the economic and social spheres existing within these successful
countries as well as in other slow-growth countries. “Several countries in the region achieved
high growth rates and rural poverty saw a substantial decline during the 1980s and 1990s.
However the impact was not uniform across the region. Three fourths of the world's poor (1.3
billion) live in the rural areas of the Asia and Pacific region. The South Asian sub-region in
particular has been the home of two fifths of the income poor of the developing countries. Most
of the poor in the region are small and landless farmers living in rural areas. The poorer people
are found among women, children and youth, older persons, ethnic minorities and victims of
disasters and conflicts. Poverty involving the rural sector could remain the significant issue in
the first decade of this century, considering the fact that about 80 percent of the world's
economically active population are engaged in agriculture in Asia.” (PAI 1998) Hence in the
Asian region, concerns such as the following continue to dominate the development agenda:
achieving economic growth with shared prosperity among rural communities; fostering gender
equity in shared prosperity; fostering local responsibility for planned development and
sustainable resource management; and achieving effective local governance that promotes
prosperity and gender equity in rural communities.

Most recently the Asian approach to development has been guided by principles of equity and
participation. These two principles emerge in programming ideas such as participatory local
planning, equitable participation of stakeholders that is inclusive of women and neglected
clients, effective local governance and fostering the local community's responsibility for local
prosperity and ecological sustainability. Though equitable participation in local planning was
promoted by development agencies and civil organizations, commitment to these processes
varies widely among and within the countries. It has become increasingly acceptable to weigh
gender considerations and to include women in development. But gender-equity commitment is
yet to be consolidated and actions are yet to be formalized as consistent programmatic
approach.

1.1. Gender responsive planning

FAO is committed to and does promote gender-responsive planning. In brief, FAO gender-
responsive planning has come to mean essentially “first, learning about how gender shapes the
opportunities and constraints that women and men face in securing their livelihoods within each
cultural, political, economic and environmental setting. Because women and men have different
tasks and responsibilities, and different livelihood strategies and constraints, they must each be
consulted. There is overwhelming evidence that development has to address the needs and
priorities of both women and men in order to be successful” (FAO 1999b).

According to FAO, an ideal gender-responsive agricultural planning process would entail the
following elements (FAO, 1999b):

• Information flow up and down, and across the planning ladder to provide valuable
information to all stakeholders;
 • Dialogue, negotiation, consensus building and the creation of channels of
communication that allow farmers and planners at all levels to take decisions together
about appropriate actions;
• Building linkages and partnerships among stakeholders at the same level as well as
between levels;
• Empowering women and men to express their needs and aspirations in the institutional
planning process at all levels; and
• Follow-up to community-based planning efforts and to the commitment of resources
(both financial and human).

The elements of gender-responsive planning such as free information flows, dialogue,

negotiation, participatory decision-making, building of linkages, articulation, resource allocation
and action often confront gender-defined hurdles and barriers preventing women to be included
as key stakeholders. But most often due to reasons of cultural conditions and resource and
social constraints that are gender specific, women are not effectively integrated in the local
planning process.

1.2. Participatory information for local planning

Information generation for local planning has been the main rationale for practising and
promoting methodologies such as participatory rural appraisal, participatory research and
participatory learning; however, it also suffers from a few weaknesses such as:

i. insufficient analysis, synthesis and use of qualitative information as tools for local
planning;
ii. inadequate contribution of women in the participatory process to identify gender-specific
concerns for local planning; and
iii. lack of approaches to use effectively sex-segregated qualitative information for
participatory local planning.

It is recognized that “the generation and use of information on rural gender issues compete with
many other priorities … Important rural/urban, gender, age and other differentials at the sub-
national level are overlooked in research and evaluation. This makes it difficult for issues of
social equity and the specific needs of male and female agricultural producers to be adequately
addressed” (FAO 1999a). The gender-specific limitations stemming from applying information
generated from participatory processes and gender gap issues stemming from involving women
in participatory local planning should be examined by planners at the provincial and district
levels, to streamline the planning process with local communities. The recommendations and
outputs from an earlier FAO expert consultation on participatory research methods and gender
database for local planning were integrated into the deliberations of this workshop.
 2.0. PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES
The purpose of the workshop was to support an objective review of the current status and local
planning situation, in order to develop strategies for gender-sensitive planning that also
addresses the multidimensional needs of the local clients in agriculture and rural communities.
The definition of local clients should be inclusive of all, but in this workshop a special emphasis
was on women as local producers and managers of local resources as well as on gender
concerns that affect women's participation in local planning. In order to address the aspects of
multidimensional needs and gender in planning, it is important that the dialogue include
contributions drawn from multi-sectoral and multidisciplinary professionals involved in planning
at provincial and district levels. Hence the workshop invited the representation of professionals
who are involved in integrated planning for local development. In the workshop the dialogue was
among the representatives from the agencies involved in planning for and with rural
communities and they developed gender-sensitive planning guidelines. The focus was on
integrated local planning that would be gender sensitive.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the specific workshop objectives were as follows:

i. Review the current situation on integration of gender concerns and inclusion of women
in the local planning process, and programme development in local government.
ii. Examine specific models of people's participation in gender-sensitive planning for local
development that achieves prosperity with equity and equitably shared responsibility.
iii. Compare country-specific experience of success in the integration of women in the local
planning process and use of sex-segregated information for local planning.
iv. Compare the country-specific constraints to include rural women's concerns and
women's participation to achieve gender-sensitive planning.
v. Working within the country-specific framework for local planning processes and local
development mechanisms, identify strategies for gender-sensitive strategies and
women-inclusive approaches.
 3.0. VENUE AND DURATION
The workshop was held at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok.

The workshop lasted three days from 27 to 29 June 2000.

 4.0. COUNTRIES REPRESENTED AND PARTICIPANTS
Countries attending were Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka,
Thailand and Viet Nam. The participants were nominated by the respective governments, and
their participation was facilitated through FAO representations in these countries.

The UN agencies and research institutions situated in Thailand also were invited to participate.
The following agencies were represented: the Asian Institute of Technology, the Economic and
Social Council for Asia and the Pacific, Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University, the
United Nations Development Programme and UNICEF. A list of the participants is included as
Attachment 1. Among the 18 participants, 6 were men and 12 were women.

The participants' backgrounds were such that they represented multidisciplinary expertise; they
had responsibility for planning, for local governance or for agriculture planning.

4.1. Selection of office bearers

The meeting unanimously elected the following office bearers:

Chairperson:

Nargis S. Nahar
Deputy Chief
Planning Commission
Government of Bangladesh

Vice Chairperson:

W. H. Munasinghe
Deputy Director
Human Settlement Division
Department of National Planning
Ministry of Finance and Planning
Government of Sri Lanka

The FAO secretariat provided a reporter for the workshop, Leonie Venroy, SNV Netherlands.
 5.0. PROGRAMME
The programme was planned for three days, from 27 to 29 June 2000. R. B. Singh, Assistant
Director-General and Regional Representative of the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the
Pacific, delivered the opening address. Dong Qingsong, Deputy Regional Representative, also
attended the opening session.

The opening session programme included a video presentation entitled “Phantom statistics”
which highlighted the lack of statistics on women in agriculture and rural communities. The
programme also included sharing of experience by representatives from the invited agencies
and self-introduction by the participants. A participatory exercise on understanding gender was
done.

Another media presentation in the programme, entitled “Net worth”, reported on women's
participation in an aquaculture programme in Bangladesh. It was produced under the aegis of
the Consultative Group on International Agriculture Research, by the International Centre for
Living Aquatic Resources.

The programme included country presentations from Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, India,
Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The country papers were prepared
following the outline provided by FAO. The RAPS group technical officers representing rural
development and women in development areas presented two secretariat papers.

By design, the format of the workshop allowed exchange of views on participation, planning at
the local level, institutional mechanisms for local planning and gender-responsive planning,
constraints and potential modality for gender-responsive planning at the local level. The
discussions were facilitated to draw the participants' views on prevailing conditions at the
country level for gender-sensitive local planning, and the need and type of information needed
for gender-responsive planning.

The country representatives also generated recommendations that were directed to promote
and strengthen gender-sensitive local planning at national level and for an FAO follow-up to the
workshop.

The workshop programme is presented as Attachment 2.

 6.0. SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS
This section summarises the presentations made in the various sessions of the workshop.

6.1. Opening remarks

R. B. Singh, Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative of the FAO Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific, delivered the opening remarks. Dr Singh stated that the region is
marked by diversity in culture, political systems, area occupied, population size and size of
economies managed. He highlighted the importance of women as crucial human resources for
development. His statements included a declaration by the UN Secretary-General on the
importance of including women in the development process and the commitment of FAO
Director-General Jacques Diouf on the role of women in achieving food security. Dr Singh also
cited the Sustainable Development of Water Resources Director's declaration on the role of
policymakers to focus on integrating women in agriculture and rural communities. He also
quoted Chairman Mao's slogan “Women hold half the sky” to illustrate women's roles in nation
building.

The Assistant Director-General applied genetic principles of exclusion and inclusion to social
systems. He stressed that, based on the principles of inclusion, the participatory process
promotes partnerships hitherto excluded. The local planning process helps us to learn from
each other and helps us to think and act for local development. He emphasized the importance
of making planners understand and acknowledge the contribution women make. He cited the
example of India, where one third of the seats in Parliament are reserved for women, and thus it
is up to women to use this opportunity. He commented on the timeliness of “Gender and food
security - The role of information”, published by the Women in Development Service, FAO
Rome, and indicated that the participants should receive copies.

Dr Singh concluded that in this workshop all participants should identify ways to increase the
real inclusion of women in participatory local planning, and should make recommendations
based on experience that would help FAO develop strategies for local planning.

6.2. Sharing experience: organizations involved in gender-sensitive

local planning
i. The Asian Institute of Technology: The Asian Institute of Technology is an academic
institute which focuses on research. AIT has undertaken research on the local planning
process. Its findings indicate that the local planning process in projects is done with a
participatory rural appraisal (PRA) component. The belief is that in a bottom-up process
PRA is essential to get community-based data from women and men groups. However
PRA does not always ensure women's participation or represent women's needs as
such. When the new PRA team arrives in the study area, the women prefer to express
only socially accepted issues.
ii. Chulalongkorn University: Chulalongkorn University, as an academic institution, is not
oriented towards field-level development interventions. About ten years ago, research
with UNESCO focused on the scientific study of women at the local level concerning
their choice of vocational training. The findings indicated that women always worked in
the domestic sphere. When training turned to technical aspects, women would not get
the training. Men wanted to receive technical training themselves and according to them
 they would transfer the knowledge to their wives. Women should have training for their
roles as mothers and wives and in domestic skills. Health and maternity care were
important, but women wanted training to raise their earnings. In the end, the women's
workload was heavy, but they still had no control over their earnings. More time was
needed to create an attitudinal change among men. Based in Chulalongkorn University,
the Social Research Institute (CUSRI) has a women and youth studies programme,
which currently focuses on indicators of children's rights and child labour. It also has the
Social Water Project, through which a database on women is placed in the CUSRI
website. CUSRI mission and activities are very much gender sensitive. A two-year
project on indicators of wellbeing as understood by villagers uses focus groups to collect
information and CUSRI insists that women of all ages be included in the focus groups.
iii. ESCAP: ESCAP has no field activities on gender-sensitive local planning. The focus is
on micro-credit institutions as they function to improve women's access to resources, to
review the effectiveness and modalities for micro-credit outreach and to identify effective
tools from this review. ESCAP efforts are directed to strengthen community-based
organizations through training on how to involve women in development.
iv. Kasetsart University: The Centre for Cultural Studies at Kasetsart University promotes
gender-equality issues and focuses on the socioeconomic impact of the crisis. Its studies
indicate that women have less time than men to participate in community work and that it
is difficult to get women on decision-making seats. Baseline data still lack gender-
disaggregated data. The village head has a strong influence in the community. Women
don't raise their voices. People's partnership is still wanting.
v. UNDP: Participants representing UNDP informed the meeting on projects in Thailand on
poverty alleviation, and the integration of components with the projects that relate to
agriculture and gender-sensitive planning at the village level. The emphasis is on
building the capacity of rural farmers in a bottom-up approach with the involvement of
nongovernmental organizations. UNDP officers exchange views and pay as much
attention as possible to gender aspects in the field of poverty eradication. NGOs,
government offices and others have undertaken exercises on gender-sensitive planning,
which have resulted in work plans with more visible gender aspects.
vi. UNICEF: The UNICEF main office in Thailand is in Bangkok. Two area-based offices
have recently been opened, namely in Chiang Mai and Khon Kaen provinces. UNICEF
area-based staff monitors and follows up projects supported in the Upper North and
Northeast, respectively, to make sure UNICEF support has real impact. In the Northeast,
gender matters are relatively new issues. It was found that a large number of women
participate in community activities.

6.3. Country presentations and related discussions

The country presentations were prepared following the terms of reference provided beforehand.

6.3.1. Bangladesh

Mrs Nargis Shamsun Nahar

Deputy Chief
Planning Commission
Government of Bangladesh

i. Summary
Women's fundamental right to equality is guaranteed in the Constitution of Bangladesh and
women are entitled to special provisions in their favour from the State. In spite of this, women in
Bangladesh face much deprivation and discrimination and many disadvantages. This adverse
situation can be attributed to the cultural legacy, traditional societal expectations, their
disproportionate burden without equitable remuneration, lack of opportunity and social and
religious taboos. The gender issue has been addressed in the national development plan with a
view to integrate women in the development process. Specific projects and programmes in
different sectors have been taken up with this end in view. Appropriate policy backup and
institutional framework have also been provided for effecting positive socioeconomic changes
among the womenfolk.

In Bangladesh a tiered organizational arrangement achieves local planning. At present the local
government in Bangladesh is based on four tiers, viz. village council, union council and
municipality, upazilla (sub-district) council, and district council. Of the four, only the union
council has been activated. So far elections have been held for the union councils, pourashavas
(municipality) and one city corporation. The union council has played a vital role in village
development for more than a century. It is the entry point of grassroots politicians. A union
council has a chairperson, nine (male and female) members and three female members, all
directly elected.

Local and regional planning, district planning and rural area planning are relatively new ideas. At
present, there is no distinct local planning countrywide. The successive five-year plans of the
country have emphasized local-level development with a focus on the rural poor, in one way or
another, but actual achievements have been rather limited due to constraints, at the top of
which is the lack of participation by stakeholders, who have had hardly any role in development
initiatives. In accordance with the present government's fundamental principles, the Fifth Five-
Year Plan envisages that each of the local-level institutions will have well-defined and extended
functions. They will participate in the preparation of development programmes and projects at
the local level. Standing committees for such fields as law and order, health and family planning,
agriculture, irrigation and the environment, education, social welfare, development of women
and children, sports, culture, and fisheries and livestock will be established. The standing
committees will assist the local government bodies at all levels to conceive, design, formulate
and implement local-level development programmes and projects. Local government bodies
therefore will be vested with roles and responsibilities. They will focus particularly on how these
institutions can be made participatory to enable the local people to provide inputs for planning,
and how, through a process of bottom-up planning, the development programmes and projects
of the various tiers of local government will be integrated.

The local government ministry has a direct network at grassroots level - in other words, with
local people. The departments and agencies under the division carry out various programmes
and projects undertaken and financed by the division.

The Ministry of Agriculture and its agencies, including the Department of Agriculture Extension
(DOAE) and the Agricultural Research Institutes (ARI), are responsible for providing support
services for the production of food crops. DOAE is responsible for the transfer of new
technology from ARI to farming communities and it provides feedback to the research system
on the technological needs of the community. DOAE has an administrative structure up to the
union level and its supervisors are the extension agents who contact individual farming families.
To make local planning more effective the local institutions have to be activated in proper ways,
community-based working groups have to be formed from the grassroots level and rural people
have to be trained so that they can participate in the process. Above all, policy commitment on
devolution needs to be given effect expeditiously because devolution will provide the necessary
framework of partnership in the development process between the national and local levels.

Data for local planning can be collected from censuses and other survey reports published by
the Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics (BBS), such as the Household Expenditure Survey, Labour
Force Survey and Agricultural Census. Besides, other studies and surveys are carried out from
time to time by the Bangladesh Institute of Development Studies, NGOs, UNDP, UNICEF and
other private organizations. A series of district study reports were prepared by BBS, and
afterwards the Planning Commission prepared some 30 district reports. The data available are
usually gender-based. Regarding data about women's development, some inventories have
been prepared at various times. These data are generally used by the Central Planning
Organization, various actors in the socioeconomic development scenario, viz. sponsoring
ministries, executing agencies, NGOs and development partners.

The government of Bangladesh has endorsed, without any reservations, the Platform for Action
of the Fourth World Conference for Women held in Beijing in September 1995. Accordingly, the
government has already formulated an action plan on the basis of recommendations of the
sectoral-need assessment teams for the 12 critical areas of concern identified by the platform.
The Ministry of Women and Children Affairs has been designated as the modal ministry for
follow-up and implementation of the platform for action. Furthermore, the government adopted
the National Policy for the Advancement of Women and spelt out policy measures in the current,
Fifth Five-Year Plan.

Focal points have been established in nearly 46 line ministries to identify Women in
Development (WID) projects, to assist in the formulation of sectoral plans and to coordinate and
take care of gender aspects in the respective sectors. An inter-ministerial WID Programme
Implementation and Evaluation Committee, chaired by the head of the Ministry of Women and
Children Affairs, has been formed to review, evaluate and coordinate WID activities. The
National Council for Women's Development, consisting of 14 ministers, secretaries of 13
ministries, one member of the planning commission, five members of Parliament and up to 10
prominent women to be nominated by the government, was formed in 1995. The Prime Minister
chairs the council.

Since rural women's integration in development is a multi-sectoral approach, each ministry has
its projects for that purpose and is funded from the respective sectoral allocation. Besides, there
are some special allocations for the advancement of women, such as housing loans for woman-
headed families, female education stipends up to secondary level, monthly allowances for
widows and destitute women, skill development, entrepreneurship development and special
credit programmes.

The local government division which is responsible for wide-ranging local-level development has
taken measures to ensure access of women to various local government bodies to take part in
governance and the decision-making process. As per provision three seats in each union
council are reserved for women, who are directly elected. At present, there are 12 828 female
members in union councils who can take part in local-level decision making. Moreover, 22
women have already been elected as chairpersons in 4 276 union council bodies. In each city
corporation, there are three or more women members or ward commissioners, depending on
the size of the city corporation, elected indirectly by the elected commissioners of the city
corporations. Accordingly there are at present 372 women ward commissioners. Women are
also eligible to contest all the general seats for election.

The government is pursuing the promotion of greater participation of women in the planning and
formulation of sectoral programmes and projects at all levels (union, thana, district and
national). The Local Government Engineering Department and the Public Health and
Engineering Department have introduced the process of involving women in identification,
preparation, implementation, operation and maintenance of projects at local level in rural
infrastructure, water resource and public health. For this purpose, women user groups and
stakeholder groups are organized on a systematic basis.

Two committees on women's development and coordination were formed recently at district and
thana levels, consisting of members from different government, NGOs, women social workers
and persons involved with women development programmes. These committees will act as
conduits between national and local-level development plans aimed at accelerating WID and
mainstreaming women in the entire gamut of development.

As local planning is at a nascent stage, the scope of people's participation, especially women's
participation, is still narrow. Even in the institutional setup, female members cannot play their
due roles because of traditional dominance of their male counterparts. There is a general
tendency to assign relatively less important roles to them in spite of their being directly elected.
Even as stakeholders they face constraints in voicing their views.

ii. Discussion

• Line agencies identify needs of the community in their own sector and bring them up to
the ministries. Interaction takes place with the community through the representatives in
sectoral agencies.
• Women are active in homestead production that contributes to household food security.
• Gender-neutral projects serve the needs of women and can be beneficial to women and
men in addressing their livelihood needs (for example: mushroom growing).
• The women's association is helpful to rural women. NGOs facilitate the formation of
women's groups. They also train women's groups and provide credit and skills training.
• A persisting problem is the lack of coordination between agencies and lack of focal
points in various ministries. A suggestion could be that ministries should do the
coordination more carefully. Coordination will be easier through local planning.
• There is cooperation and coordination between NGOs and government, yet a lot
remains to be done. Sometimes NGOs are given the responsibility to arrange certain
training activities.
• All ministries look after the men, so there is no special ministry for them.
• The adverse situation (relative underdevelopment of the female population and recent
positive changes) can be attributed to cultural legacy, traditional societal expectations,
disproportionate burden among women without equitable remuneration, lack of
opportunity and social and religious taboos.
• Domestic violence exists and the government has to face it. Steps have been taken to
punish the offenders.

6.3.2. Cambodia
 Ms Khiev Bory
Director of Social Planning Department
Ministry of Planning
Royal Government of Cambodia

i. Summary

After two decades of war that weakened human resources, ruined the quality of basic
production, health services and education, the situation has not yet improved appropriately, and
poverty remains one the main obstacles to the socioeconomic development of Cambodia. The
situation of children and women in Cambodia is the worst in the Southeast Asia region. The
proposed activities directly address this situation through participatory approaches that fulfil
children and women's basic rights.

The population is overwhelmingly rural, with 85 percent of it estimated to live outside the large
urban centres. For this reason and because rural incomes and social indicators lag well behind
those of the urban areas, the development of Cambodia's rural areas is a prerequisite for
national development. Since the rural area is the first priority of the government's objectives, the
Community Action for Social Development (CASD) programme has been created.

CASD is a community-based development programme initiated by the United Nations Children's

Fund (UNICEF) in cooperation with the Cambodian government to improve the living condition
of children and women. The basic strategy of CASD is to enhance the capacity and creativity of
the family and the community to address systematically the main problems of children and
women, namely infant, child and maternal mortality, malnutrition, lack of primary health care,
lack of basic education, gender disparity, extreme vulnerability, and unemployment and low
income.

The implementation of the CASD programme extends from the national level to the provincial
level and then to the village and community level.

At the national level, CASD works with nine ministries. The Ministry of Planning works closely
with CASD on policy and resource mobilization issues and the Ministry of Rural Development is
responsible for coordinating CASD activities in cooperation with other participating government
ministries, namely the Ministry of Women's Affairs and the Ministry of Inter-ministerial and Inter-
agencies Coordination for Technical and Strategy Issues. Focal points are from the ministries of
Women Affairs, Health, Education, Agriculture, Social Action, Interior and Finance.

At the provincial level, the coordinating working groups made up of members of relevant
departments and training teams manage the programme. The coordinating working groups have
been established under the provincial rural development committees, which are chaired by the
governors.

The role of the working groups is to provide planning and budgetary support, technical
assistance, management, and coordination of material assistance, communication, analysis,
monitoring and feedback to villages.

At the village level, a cadre of elected village representatives was started to facilitate the
programme, but it was eventually replaced by the Village Development Committees (VDC).
Thus, VDC is the primary structure for CASD implementation. The main role of a VDC is to
mobilize the community and to provide a communication channel. The committees help the
villagers to assess their problems, analyse potential solutions and develop village action plans.
The main challenge at their level is to develop their capacity to mobilize for social development
at the family and household level.

The main challenges are:

• lack of assurance for programme funding,

• lack of a budget line in the government,
• lack of a broad spectrum of skills among counterparts to meet the need for high human
resources at the initialization of programmes,
• lack of training opportunities for women, and
• lack of women in decision-making positions.

ii. Discussion

• Cambodia's paper presents a special programme. UNICEF is involved in the project and
only works in social programmes. The national plan focuses on improving the situation of
women after the war and covers economic and social aspects.
• The project plays a big role in changing attitudes and thus has a very strategic objective
to assist women.

6.3.3. China

Ruifa Hu Linxiu Zhang

Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

i. Summary

In China, the State Development Planning commission (SDPC) is the national planning agency
responsible for the overall development plan in China. Its line agencies are located at province,
prefecture and county levels. The government at each level has a planning committee and
makes development plans at the beginning of each year. Apart from these line agencies, there
are special development offices which are responsible for sector-specific development
programmes. For example, the Leading Group for Poor Area Development office is a special
office set up by the State Council to deal with poverty alleviation issues in rural China. Such as
office is organized to deal with multidimensional poverty issues across the ministries. The Great
West Development Office, which was set up last year under SDPC, is another example. Such
special development offices can be found in each ministry. Under the Ministry of Agriculture,
there are various development offices, which are responsible for certain agricultural
development programmes.

In China, the county level is an important level for development planning. Almost all the counties
have their unitary development plans. In China, the township level is the lowest administrative
level that receives government budgetary support. The township's plan-making process is
based on the objectives of the county plan and the village committee's suggestions.
The villages are the lowest administrative organizations in rural China. However, the
management and decision-making processes in villages are different from those at the township
or higher levels. The village committee is the comprehensive decision-making and governing
body at the village level. Self-governance is the most distinct characteristic of the village
committee. Because all village leaders are elected by farmers in the village, they often must
listen to the opinions of farmers during the plan-making process. Of course, their decisions must
conform with township and higher-level plans. In all village committees in China, it is compulsory
to include at least one woman to represent female farmers. Thus, most of the plans of
agricultural production and rural development are gender sensitive. A decision at the village
level must get the agreement of most committee members, including the women's association
representative.

In order to ensure women's participation in the decision-making process and to protect women's
rights and interests, China set up one of the world largest women's organizations - the All China
Women's Federation, immediately after the founding of the People's Republic of China. ACWF
has been given full play, to its advantage, in organization, propaganda and coordination and in
active cooperation with the government to carry out activities that suit women's needs and
promote women's involvement in socioeconomic development. To further strengthen the work
related to women and children, China set up a National Working Committee on Women and
Children at the State Council in 1990. In 1991, the government also set up a special women's
committee under the All China Federation of Trade Unions. These countrywide organizations
have, to a large extent, ensured necessary dialogues between women and the government,
between the government and NGOs and across sectors in reflecting women's needs. Apart from
the above-mentioned women's organizations, there are various kinds and different levels of
organizations (both governmental and nongovernmental) which deal with special women's
groups' issues.

Women's participation in the planning process at regional and sub-regional levels is reflected by
a set target on female leadership positions in government agencies. In China, all counties have
a female governor or vice-governor. About 50 percent of the townships have a female governor
or vice-governor. These female leaders play an active role in the planning process at all levels.

Institutional assurance by no means guarantees that women enjoy 100 percent equality. Due to
traditional beliefs and other constraints, women in rural China still suffer from discrimination in
accessing resources and opportunities. As a result, women's educational level is relatively lower
than men's. Such human quality difference restrains participation in political as well as in
economic decision making. For example, although the Chinese government set a compulsory
goal to have a female governor at each governmental level, it is often the case that the female
governor's voice is not well heard. This is either because of the biased opinion from men in
society or due to the vocal quality that makes women's voice seem less convincing and
decisive. Thus, there is still room for improvement in order to strengthen women's participation
in the decision-making and planning process in China. This may require efforts from all sectors.

ii. Discussion

• Due to the socialist structure, the All China Women's Federation operates as a semi-
NGO structure with support funding from the government. ACWF has the responsibility
to address women's rights issues. Women articulate their issues via this structure from
village working committees to higher levels.
 • Recently there were local elections in which female candidates participated. There is
equality between men and women. At the village level the women rank higher than men.
The mother is the head of the family. Women work outside the village and this is
happening more often in the whole area due to the crisis in rural economies.

6.3.4. India

Ms Bharathi Sivaswami Sihag, IAS

Ministry of Rural Development
Government of India

i. Summary

India already has implemented a 33-percent reservation for women at all three levels of local
government, the gram (village) panchayat, intermediate panchayat and the district panchayat
levels. Mandatory constitutional reservation for women has given women space and profile in a
dramatic fashion and brought them to the very centre stage of politico-economic decision
making. More than a million women have been so empowered. There is however some concern
about the quality of participation due to the wide prevalence of illiteracy and lack of exposure of
the elected women. Clearly capacity building is a matter of urgent concern if confidence levels,
exposure and knowledge base of Panchayati Raj functionaries are to improve. This is an
essential though not sufficient condition for true democratic decentralization. Many of the
Panchayati Raj Institution (PRI) functionaries are first-time political office holders; some or
perhaps a substantial number are neo-literates and even illiterates. Both rural men and women
are disadvantaged in this regard. The condition of women particularly merits attention, however,
functioning as they do in a highly paternalistic environment within the home, and with systemic
oppression due to their organic link with the larger and iniquitous economic system at the lowest
end of the pecking order. At a fundamental level, increases in allocations for health and
education can only serve to augment the overall quality of human capital in general and women
in particular. Strengthening of group lending strategies, improving access to and availability of
micro credit will considerably improve the quality of female participation in development
processes. The general unevenness in levels of implementation of the 73rd Constitutional
Amendment is a matter of concern. The capacity of local people is a crucial variable for
participation. While currently, with a few exceptions, local government institutions depend
almost entirely on devolution from the top, a sustainable strategy would be to demarcate areas
of revenue mobilization by local governments. Without this, it is hard to envisage the future
vibrancy of PRI.

The democratic decentralization campaign in Kerala is of unique significance in the history of

India for it seeks to establish politics of social change which restructures the systems of power,
of production and of relations especially between the state government and the people who
imagine the alternatives and build them. The decentralization campaign going on in Kerala is
one of the most radical of its kind and conveys important lessons for all of us.

The following gains will automatically accrue by focusing on this new agenda:

• prioritization according to local felt needs of the population

• better local resource endowment
• better regional distribution of the gains of development
• better class distribution
 • improved local resource mobilization
• intensified people's participation

ii. Discussion

• The panchayat is a nurturing ground for change in the Indian public image with the
involvement of women. Women learn to think big through participation in the panchayat.
Previously women were not seen at the political level. There is a fear that all is going in
one stroke to the women. If women would be brought into the political process at the
local level, it may mean that more money needs to be allocated for health and education.
Education is necessary for women to improve their status and be empowered.
• The panchayat system is in favour of women. They will have more access to land and
capital but not to resources. Without equality at the policy level, democracy can be
promoted, but it will not work. Resources should be shared. Assets should be shared
equally without waiting for outside support.
• The local level is politically divided, and the lowest tier structure is very small in which
two of the five people must be women.
• Union councils are not financially viable. Every society wishes to be free of tax. This has
implications for raising revenue for the local planning of community development.
• Frequent changes of the system disrupt linkages with local-level administration and line
departments.
• In India the debate is open on how long the country can avoid taxing the agricultural
sector. The rural and urban parties should more equitably share the burden.
• The taxation process should be right with a policy from the state level. From the
democratic process perspective, a whole set of parallel policies will be needed. Now the
state and government have the right to tax. By giving the local level the right to tax, local
governments will have funds at hand to enable improvement in health and education.

6.3.5. Nepal

Mr Y. B. Pradhan
Executive Secretary
Bhaktapur Municipality
Nepal

i. Summary

Nepal has gone through many periodic development plans for local development but their
outcome has not been satisfactory. The main causes of this situation are faulty planning and
lack of accountability, ineffective implementation and insufficient participation by local
communities.

In the process of rural development of the country, His Majesty's Government of Nepal has
launched programmes such as the Participatory District Development Programme and the Local
Governance Programme. These programmes aim at strengthening decentralized participatory
development planning by enhancing the capacity of local-level government institutions and by
mobilizing community organizations and civic societies. The Ministry of Local Development at
the central level is the focal agency for local development planning. Under this ministry, there
are 75 District Development Committees (DDCs), 58 municipalities and 3916 Village
Development Committees (VDCs). These are all the people's representative units of local
government except the ministry. In these institutions, female participation is relatively small.

At the village level, the development committee is responsible for the local planning, whereas in
the case of the municipal area, the municipality is responsible for formulating and implementing
the municipal plans and programmes. In the same way, the DDC is responsible for district-level
planning. The lowest tier of local planning is a village council, the general body of VDC. The
VDC authority prepares its annual plans and programmes through multi-sectoral consulting
including women's groups. The district development council approves plans and programmes
prepared by the VDCs. In municipalities, the executive body formulates its annual development
plans and programmes after multi-sectoral consultation. The local development plans and
programmes of the municipality are finalized after the discussions and approval of the municipal
council. On the other hand, the Ministry of Local Development allocates its funds to the DDCs,
VDCs and municipalities as local development grants to support the local development
planning. On top of the planning process is the National Planning Commission, an advisory
body to the government, which coordinates and allocates the development funds to the
concerned ministries and government agencies, and approves the National Priority
Development Plans to implement in the fiscal year. In other words, the National Planning
Commission allocates development budgets, issues guidelines to the ministries to formulate the
annual plans, coordinates among different ministries, and prepares the national annual plans.
Nepal thus applies a bottom-up planning approach.

Complementing this local planning structure are the government line agencies for the planning
and implementation of the rural development plans at the district level. At the district level there
are government offices of the different ministries to deliver different services for rural
development. The district development committee is the sole agency of local governance
regarding rural development activities. The district-level offices of the Agriculture Development
Bank are responsible for agricultural credit to the local farmers. The Agriculture Inputs
Corporation takes care of managing and delivering production inputs. The veterinary hospital is
responsible for livestock development and irrigation offices manage the irrigation facilities. All
these units within a district form a committee to deliver agricultural inputs for rural development.

The participants of the planning are the people's representatives elected by the villagers. For
example, one VDC has nine wards or blocks. The inhabitants of each ward elect five
representatives, out of whom one is a ward chairperson (who represents the respective VDC)
and the remaining four, including a female member, are ward members. Whereas the ward
chairperson functions as a bridge between VDC and the local ward people, the members have
the responsibility to assist their chairperson in executing the local plans and programmes.
Besides, they are all members of the VDC council.

The funds allocated for local development by the Ministry of Finance as development grants to
the local governments (VDCs, DDCs and municipalities) are channelled to them through the
Ministry of Local Development. On the other hand, the line agencies of the national government
established in the districts have their own development undertakings to deliver rural
development services. Local resource mobilization also contributes to the funds for rural
planning. VDCs, DDCs and municipalities can raise funds by levying local taxes.

Most of the local governments have prepared their local profiles. Much of the information related
to development works is incorporated in these local profiles, through which one can identify the
local needs to be fulfilled on a priority basis. Local profiles are prepared by the concerned units
and are featured in the introductory booklets on VDCs and DDCs put out by the Central Bureau
of Statistics and in “Mechi to Mahakali” (East to West boundaries of Nepal) published by the
Department of Information.

Different governmental organizations, nongovernmental organizations and, in some cases,

international nongovernmental organizations collect the data and prepare local profiles. With an
in-depth study of the concerned village profiles, the VDC planning unit can identify and prioritize
their development needs. In this way the locally available information is used in the formulation
of the local plans.

The socioeconomic status of the Nepalese women is still far behind the times. The active
participation as well as contribution by women in nation building will be lessened unless socio-
cultural norms and values support their involvement. Lessons learned from irrigation and rural
drinking-water supply projects show that gender analysis is a useful planning tool as it helps to
identify gender-based differences in access to resources and how different members of
households are affected by a project.

The existing development models have acknowledged the indispensability of women's

increased participation in the all-round national development process and in making them
equally enjoy the outcome of development. Although various measures were taken up for the
development of women in the past, inequality between men and women still exists in various
areas. In order to create an egalitarian democratic society, the government has defined
strategies in the current Ninth Five-Year Plan to bring women into the mainstream of the
national development.

These are the policies and programmes envisioned by the national government to ensure
women's active involvement in the mainstream of national development. The District Women
Development Branch Office under the Ministry of Women. Children and Social Welfare is
responsible for implementing gender-mainstreaming actions at the district level in Nepal. This is
the only government office established at the district level to support different women-related
development activities in their respective districts. The plans and programmes implemented by
Women Development Branch offices are fully funded by the government budget. Another way to
support women in development works is through the local governments, VDCs, DDCs and
municipalities, by means of local development grants and the mobilization of resources by the
local government.

Owing much to illiteracy, poor health, poverty, orthodox traditions and the discriminatory legal
system. Nepalese women are still found suppressed, exploited, neglected and forced to live
insecure lives. Taking these bitter facts into consideration, the role of women in development
has been integrated since the Sixth Five-Year Plan (periodical) as a national policy. Several
sectoral women's development programmes were implemented and institutional development
efforts carried out. However, the progress in gender equality is not satisfactory.

In Nepal, the government formulated the Gender Equality and Women's Empowerment National
Work Plan 1997, considering the Beijing Declaration of 1995. According to this national work
plan, serious attention has to be paid to women and poverty, education, health, violence, armed
insurgency, economy, policymaking bodies, institutional structure, human rights, environment
and children. A number of programmes have been selected for implementation in the current
Ninth Five-Year Plan. If these programmes can be implemented satisfactorily, they surely will be
instrumental in uplifting the social and economic status of rural women.
Rural women's participation in the local planning process is minimal. In order to increase
women's participation in politics, the Nepalese Constitution has made it mandatory for all
political parties to field at least five percent women candidates in elections, from the ward level
to Parliament. Consequently, the number of women ward members today comes to about 36
000. Still, the main obstacle to their greater participation in all sectors of society is the high rate
of illiteracy among them. Rural women are the ones who are most adversely affected in male-
dominated society. Besides illiteracy, poor health conditions, rural poverty and discriminatory
legal systems virtually cripple them. Awareness-raising programmes and easy access to
educational facilities, especially for the rural poor women, can bring forth a qualitative change in
that direction.

ii. Discussion

• Preparation of plans at the local level is done by VDC, which is chosen by the villagers.
Autonomy is ensured at every level without interference from officials.
• It is often true that national planning institutions have a national policy, but the problem is
one of implementation.

6.3.6. Pakistan

Mr Abdul Ghani Sameen

Joint Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural Development
Islamabad

i. Summary

Pakistan has a federal form of government in which the president is the constitutional head and
chief executive as head of the government. The functional jurisdiction and division of subjects
are constitutionally demarcated among the federation and the provinces. At the federal level, the
ministries and divisions with multifarious duties have sundry departments which are responsible
for the administrative policies and programmes of their respective sections. The number of
ministries and divisions is not fixed and may increase or decrease at the will of the chief
executive. To ensure people's participation at all levels, the Constitution provides for national
and provincial legislative assemblies and senates. Pakistan has a predominantly agrarian
economy. This sector is the trendsetter of the country's economy.

Plan formulation and policy guidance are a political function and the result of interaction
between the planners, politicians and experts. The National Economic Council (NEC) is the
supreme body to decide on the shape and size of the plan, targets, inter-sectoral priorities and
resource mobilization. The chief executive chairs the council while the federal minister,
provincial governors, provincial finance ministers, provincial chief secretaries and federal
divisions concerned are the members. There is also an executive committee of the council,
ECNEC, which is headed by the finance minister. The cabinet division provides the secretariat
services to NEC and ECNEC. The planning machinery in Pakistan consists of the planning
commission and planning and development at the federal level, and planning and development
departments and boards at the provincial level. Sectoral ministries and departments running
large development programmes have their own planning cells for designing their plans and
project proposals.
The sanctioning authority consists of ECNEC and the Central Development Working Party,
which are at the federal level, and the Provincial Development Working Party at the provincial
level. These ensure that the general policy, objectives and pattern of development laid down in
the planning document are followed properly. The need to decentralize programme and project
planning is particularly stressed so that felt needs, aspirations and thinking of the communities
concerned originate at appropriate levels and move up.

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development was formed in 1976 at the federal
level, headed by a minister with a secretary as the executive head. The ministry is responsible
for framing policy on local government and rural development, issuing guidelines, arranging
training for NBD personnel and elected councillors, carrying out research and coordinating with
international agencies and governments in the field of local government and rural development.
There are local government and rural development departments at the provincial level working
under the provincial minister and provincial secretary. These departments also have their offices
at district level for local-level development planning for the urban as well as rural populace.

The Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development and the Local Government
Department are not responsible for delivery of agricultural inputs. There is a Ministry of Food,
Agriculture and Livestock at the federal level and agriculture departments at the provincial level
for delivery of services. The ministry is responsible for policy guidelines, research, grant in aid
and fixation of prices for agricultural inputs and crops. Provincial departments, having their
access even below the tehsil level, provide consultancy services, improved seeds, agriculture
machinery, social conservation services, pesticide and other agricultural extension services.

A new local government system has been introduced with devolution of powers to the district.
The intermediary tier between province and district, i.e. the division, has been abolished. The
district is the hub of basic governance, planning and development. The new system is
comprised of three tiers, the union councils, tehsil councils and district assemblies. Each union
council has 26 directly elected members out of which 13 members are women. The chairperson
of the union council is elected directly and represents the union council in the district assembly.
The tehsil council consists of 34 members elected by the members of union councils, out of
whom five are women. The district assemblies are comprised of 66 members: 50 general seats,
10 seats for women, 3 seats for workers and farmers and 3 seats for minorities. The women,
workers and farmers and minority members are elected indirectly by the members of the union
councils. The 50 members are elected directly, one from each union council; they each
discharge the twin responsibilities of chair of the union council and membership of the district
assembly. The district assembly has the right to tax and to get its share of finances from
provinces.

Every district elects its chief mayor and deputy chief mayor through direct vote. The chief mayor
is responsible for district administration and for choosing a district coordination officer and SP
from the panel of officers, subject to verification by the district assembly. The heads of NBDs
also are posted according to the choice of the chief mayor.

All the planning, processing and implementation of the district-level schemes and projects are
undertaken under the supervision of the chief mayor through NBDs.

In consonance with the bottom-up methodology and participatory development, the formal
planning system begins at the union council ward level for both urban and rural areas. Municipal
and development needs are communicated to the tehsil and district levels respectively. The
tehsil and district administration and planning departments prioritize development initiatives
based on locally identified priorities commensurate with financial capacity. The development
inventory is part of the tehsil and district budgets and the respective councils and assemblies
are responsible for passing these budgets. In addition to this, the union councils, with expanded
and strengthened capacity for revenue generation and implementation, are empowered to
initiate development schemes. The schemes targeted for development by the union councils are
communicated to the tehsil and district levels to complete the integrated planning picture of the
district.

There are numerous federal, provincial and local agencies engaged in data collection. The main
source of information is the Statistics Division, which provides up-to-date information on
population, labour, agriculture, manufacturing, prices, foreign trade, finance and economic
development, health and education. In spite of the institutional arrangements noted above, the
database on the rural sector is very poor. Talking particularly of the rural development
programme, the monitoring and evaluation arrangements have been lacking, and specific data
is hardly collected on a regular basis. One often finds different and sometimes conflicting figures
in reports and studies of the various organizations, and no system crosschecks and controls
errors.

The Ministry of Women's Development, as the national focal point for women, requires a
network of offices not only at the federal level but also in the provinces as well as other
agencies so as to facilitate the task of women's development. Through prolonged and persistent
follow-up the provincial governments created the women's development departments. In the
federal government, 19 ministries have established focal points by designating a senior-level
officer to coordinate with the Ministry of Women's Development on women's issues and review
various activities of that ministry in line with the national policy on women. The Ministry for
Women's Development started a systematic gender sensitization training programme for officers
of various ministries in the federal government and provincial departments to improve the
existing process of identifying, planning, implementing and evaluating the performance of
women's programmes and projects.

Although Islam and the Constitution of Pakistan accord equal rights to women, they lag behind
men due to a long history of social, cultural and economic biases. They suffer from malnutrition,
poor health conditions, low life expectancy, low education, high birth rate and non-recognition of
their direct and indirect earnings, work and contribution within the family (with very few
exceptions). The issues relating to women's development are very complex and cannot be
solved easily.

During the Eighth Five-Year plan, the thrust of women-related policy and programmes remained
on four areas: i) improving educational status, ii) expanding health facilities, iii) providing more
opportunities and openings for income generation and iv) removing discrimination in education
and employment and other gender-related problems and issues.

The number of women's seats in local bodies has almost doubled. A bill for the restoration of
women's seats in Parliament has been moved. The establishment of an ombudsperson for
women is being proposed.

The Ministry of Women's Development has instructed all provincial governments and
departments, federal ministries and divisions, semi-government organizations, autonomous
bodies and attached departments to implement the cabinet decision regarding women
employment in their organizations. According to the latest census of federal employees, women
have a 5.5 percent share in federal government services.

A national plan of action for women was launched in 1998. It aims to establish coordination
units, monitoring and evaluation units, resource centres and gender management units at
federal, provincial and district levels.

ii. Discussion

• In the states of Pakistan, data collection and field-level activity are carried out by NGOs.
Currently, a structured mechanism for data collection and management does not exist.
• In the past, some women were in very high ranks and undertook leadership functions.
The current 5.5 percent quota for inclusion of women is the minimal criterion that
organizations have to employ. A problem in setting quotas is that women have a low
education level, thus it is difficult to find qualified women. At the village level, the quota is
necessary as an indicator of integration. There is a need for capacity building.
• The FAO role in people's participation should be to look into female farmers' situation
from the perspective of improvement and not merely to focus on the number of female
government officials.
• Donor organizations are very active in capacity building through support to vocational
training centres. Donor involvement is mostly through NGOs.
• Most women's problems will be solved through better and higher education. Special
programmes with focus on education for women are needed. In Pakistan there is a
special department that works on education and educational kits, and provides adult
education for men and women.

6.3.7. Thailand

Mr Chavalvut Chainuvati
Deputy Director General
Department of Agricultural Extension
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
Bangkok

i. Summary

Thailand's agricultural sector plays an important role in fulfilling food security and in earning
national income. In this sector, women provide much labour. Therefore it is essential that both
men and women be given opportunities to sustain agricultural production. Thailand has yet to
demonstrate satisfactory achievement in rural development with gender equity. Most often, rural
development activities emphasize male groups rather than female participation, but at the
household level all family members contribute to production. These days, rural women
themselves seek opportunities rather than just doing household work. Thai rural women make
decisions and contribute to agricultural production. They face difficulties in doing their tasks.
Rural women have very little opportunity for participation in decision making and project
planning for resource utilization and management at sub-district level. Women account for only
eight percent of the committee members of the sub-district administration.

Various institutional and resource problems have impeded progress in rural development.
Hence it is necessary to find solutions that call for a new development modality promoting a
learning process with local communities and development action centring on the tambon (sub-
district) level. The government has launched the Tambon Agricultural Technology Transfer
Centre as a local planning modality to be replicated countrywide. There are tambon centres in
all 76 provinces at present and the aim is to extend them to every district - altogether 800
centres throughout the country - and to further replicate them in 6 000 tambons by the year
2003. Such a project to increase the capacities of local communities for agricultural
development emphasizing community people's participation will benefit farmers and enhance
government efficiency. Agricultural development becomes systematic and increasingly efficient
through implementation by government officials, farmer leaders, professionals and all
concerned agencies.

The sixteenth constitution, promulgated in 1997, strongly intends to assure gender equality and
to solve problems of the labour force. The following norms are clearly stated in Section 30:
Equality - men and women have equal rights; unjust discrimination against a person on the
basis of sex is not permitted; measures determined by the state to eliminate obstacles to or to
promote a person's ability to exercise his or her rights and liberty as other persons do shall not
be deemed as unjust discrimination. It is further stated in Section 80 that the state shall promote
equality between women and men and create, reinforce and develop family integrity. In the
eighth national development plan, human resource development has been emphasized with
special attention on woman and children. Labour problems are to be solved and women's
participation in the decision-making process is to be encouraged for parity income distribution,
poverty alleviation, natural-resource and environment conservation including development of the
quality of life among women and families to meet the basic minimum-need criteria. The National
Commission on Women's Affairs has been assigned to set up the policy and long-term plan on
women's development. The objectives of this plan are to develop the potential of women
physically, intellectually, skill-wise and spiritually; women are to be given opportunities to
receive social and economic services that will lead to their holistic development. All
discrimination will be eliminated in order to create equality particularly for the less developed
groups of women. Women also will be protected in all aspects and will be encouraged to
participate in the development process for the peace and wellbeing of the family, community,
nation and international community as well as for a good quality of life.

Increasingly it is realized that farming women should become partners in agricultural

development planning and implementation. Hence, the Department of Agriculture Extension
(DOAE) has undertaken activities such as basic training for agricultural extension workers and
home economists, forming farming women's groups as a means to receive agricultural
technology and home economics information, and organizing local community centres to
improve women's access to information, training, credit and technology. Since 1976 DOAE has
realized the importance of farming women's roles. Seven hundred home economists were
recruited to work at the district level in order to improve the life quality of farming families. These
home economists directly help farming women and rural youth. The objectives of farming
women's groups function with multipurpose objectives, such as to improve knowledge and skills,
disseminate information, increase income generation potential, and ensure development and
leadership.

ii. Discussion

• In keeping with the rapidly changing needs of the local communities, the government
has decentralized in order to respond quickly and to allocate resources directly to the
local community.
 • It is government policy to support bottom-up planning.
• Women own land. In some areas of the country, the customary system is to provide land
only to women.
• Regarding vocational training, relatively few women are trained in non-traditional skills.

6.3.8. Sri Lanka

Mr W.H. Munasinghe
Deputy Director
Human Settlements Division
Department of National Planning
Ministry of Finance and Planning
Colombo

i. Summary

In 1987 the Sri Lankan government enacted the 13th amendment to the Constitution under which
many administrative and development responsibilities were devolved to the provincial councils.
With this amendment, provincial development planning and implementation became devolved
subjects. Local and divisional level development now involves the devolution of powers and
functions to the provincial and district levels, the decentralization of administrative machinery
and the creation of an institutional framework for the realization of both economic and social
development objectives.

During the past twenty years, the government has implemented about 21 integrated rural
development programmes covering 16 of the country's 25 districts as part of its strategy to
decentralize development. Further decentralization resulted from the Act No. 58 of 1982, under
which the government transferred activities and services from district secretariats to divisional
secretariats within the province. Administrative arrangements have been made to assign district
secretariats the responsibility for the supervision and coordination of the work of divisional
secretariats. This shift from a centralized and sectoral system of planning and development
management to a decentralized system has increased the importance of generating
comprehensive multi-sectoral, spatially based development programmes at the local level.

On the basis of resource allocation and delivery of goods and services, there are two state
bodies that operate at the lowest local level. They are the divisional secretariat (lowest-level
decentralization of national government machinery) and the pradeshiya sabha (lowest-level
local government body).

Of these two the divisional secretariat is a body of state officials, whereas the pradeshiya sabha
is a body of elected local government representatives as well as state officials. As the
geographical boundaries of the responsibilities of these two formal organizations are generally
coterminous and they form a cohesive unit, one for administration and the other for service
delivery, they can be considered an efficient spatial unit for planning strategy for development.
This spatial unit can be used to mobilize local resources, ensure popular participation in
planning and implementation and to forge a stronger link between the government, the
community and other organizations such as NGOs.

At the local level, the divisional secretariat functions as the administrative arm of both the
national government and the provincial administration. The delivery of services and the
regulatory activities formally administered at the district level have been transferred to the
divisional level. The objective of this is to ensure that delivery of services to the people is
undertaken at the level closest to their place of residence. The divisional secretariat will
coordinate the activities of all line ministries at the local level including those activities which do
not fall directly under it but are of a local nature. It is a multi-functional secretariat, which deals
with both devolved, and reserved and concurrent functions under the 13th amendment to the
Constitution. As regards local development planning, the coordination of various grassroots-
level programmes and projects and development activities from village-based institutions takes
place at the divisional level.

At the local level, pradeshiya sabhas are local government units concerned with the delivery of
traditional local government services in the area of their authority which is coterminous with the
area of authority of a divisional secretariat. At this level of local government, the pradeshiya
sabha is responsible for the regulation, control and administration of all matters relating to public
health and other public amenities and with the protection and promotion of the comfort and
welfare of the people within the area.

Development plans prepared at the local level will be integrated with planning at provincial and
national levels. They will also conform to national development policies and priorities led down
in the public investment programme. The local planning process involves the preparation of the
annual budget by the divisional secretariat. The divisional secretariat calls for development
proposals relating to devolved functions from provincial organizations operating at the divisional
level, prioritizes them and sends them to the provincial council for possible funding. The line
ministries also receive development proposals from the local level, formulated and prioritized on
a sectoral basis, and relating to reserved and concurrent functions. On the basis of national
development requirements, the ministries prioritize these again, and funds are allocated to the
relevant provincial councils under the Province-Specific Development Grant for those proposals
that have been accepted. National bodies coordinated by the divisional secretariat implement
the proposals.

The existing machinery for the exercise of the functions of the divisional secretariat is through
the district coordinating committee. There is a subcommittee called the divisional coordinating
committee. The district coordinating committee is seen as providing a forum through which
development expenditures for grassroots-level programmes such as the village advancement
programmes of the integrated rural development programmes, the programmes of the
pradeshiya sabhas and expenditure from the decentralized capital budget could be coordinated.
The decentralized capital budget is a grant for each parliamentary division, given for investment
purposes following certain procedures laid down by the Ministry of Plan Implementation. The
main planning tasks at the divisional level are to integrate and reconcile the various social
mobilization and village advancement programmes implemented by the integrated rural
development programmes, the samurdhi programmes, NGO programmes with other
programmes such as the decentralized capital budgets of MPs and provincial councillors.

The Urban Development Authority (UDA) has prepared guidelines which are designed to
integrate physical planning with economic planning in order to improve the level of planning at
the divisional and local authority levels, particularly at the pradeshiya sabha level. With these
guidelines each local authority and its corresponding divisional secretariat will be able to tailor
their planning to their own resources and increase the complexity of planning as capacity
increases.
The Regional Development Division of the Ministry of Plan Implementation has the mandate to
prepare division-level resource profiles with the help of divisional secretariats. The ministry
updates the resource profiles annually. The Department of Census and Statistics conducts
household income and expenditure surveys every five years. Information on average household
income and average household expenditure per month is available from the surveys. At the
local level information is available on the geographical area of local authority, its population,
registered votes, people representatives, number of grama niladhari divisions, annual income
and other factors. At the local level, development plans consist of projects and programmes,
and therefore statistical information is widely used in project formulation, appraisal,
implementation and evaluation.

The recent creation of the Ministry of Women's Affairs is a significant pointer to the importance
that the government places on the development of women in the country. The ministry has the
mission to advance women through initiating, formulating and monitoring policies and
programmes to facilitate mainstreaming of gender equality, ensuring human and fundamental
rights with the coordination of public- and private-sector agencies, NGOs and international
agencies. The new ministry has appropriate policy objectives and will implement the national
plan of action which conforms to the policy guidelines adopted by the government through the
Women's Charter. These guidelines are in tune with international standards and programmes
embodied in the Beijing Plan of Action adopted by the World Conference on Women in 1996.

In Sri Lanka, difference in sex is recognized as biological and therefore, the enjoyment of equal
rights and opportunities to a large extent is guaranteed by society. But this normal practice is
different in the rural environment when compared with the urban. There are more opportunities
for urban women to participate in community activities than for rural women. Traditionally,
women have played a major role in both agricultural and domestic activities. Many of the
religions practised in Sri Lanka, particularly Buddhism, have accorded women co-responsibility
with men in the family unit and equal status with men in society. Over time, however, the
position of women has deteriorated.

There has been a remarkable increase in labour force participation by women during the last
two decades mainly due to equal opportunities in education. However, in the census data
women's contribution to agriculture is considered to be unpaid family work. These women in the
informal sector still lack access to land, credit, technology and skills (Six-Year Development
Plan, 1999–2004).

The government, in recognizing the potential for the marginalization of women in Sri Lankan
society, has maintained a policy for them of equal opportunity and status with men. Further, the
role of women in organizing and implementing small-scale development activities has been
recognized. Women individually and collectively often represent an important force for family
and community stability and growth, and hence can be expected to assume a significant role in
community and micro-scale enterprise development.

It is evident that women in Sri Lanka are important in the development of the local economy and
are responsible for the welfare of the community and families. A number of organizations have
been set up at the local level such as women's rural development societies, mahila samithi,
women's chambers of commerce and others.

Women are entering former male preserves; however, the majority of women are concentrated
at the lower levels of the employment structure and are particularly vulnerable to exploitation.
ii. Discussion

• Education and higher literacy rate did help the women. Now they suffer less. Currently,
Sri Lankan women's political participation is higher and their economic situation has
improved. Still Sri Lanka needs to pay attention to the plantation sector and minority
women.
• Professional women are widely accepted. Every ministry has a focal point for women.
• Women are also involved at the local level and use radio programmes and the local
newspaper well.

6.3.9. Viet Nam

Ms Pham Thi Tuoc

Deputy Director of Planning Department
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
Hanoi

i. Summary

Prior to 1988, Viet Nam's economy was driven by a central planning mechanism. All social and
economic activities were regulated by central planning organizations. Since 1988, Viet Nam has
shifted to a market-oriented economy operating under the state administration. Planning plays a
role to guide the social and economic activities.

The organizational structure of planning agencies is as follows:

• National level: the Ministry of Planning and Investment coordinates all economic and
social resources and development;
• Sectoral ministries: departments of Planning and Investment;
• Province level: departments of planning and investment of the provinces;
• District level: divisions of planning and investment of the districts; and
• Commune level: the basic level of the planning system.

In local communities, banks and business organizations have an increased presence in Viet
Nam. The planning process is hierarchical, though there is a provision for local inputs to be
presented to the central people's committee. The national plan must be submitted to the
National Assembly for approval. Budget allocation is made to decentralized administration in the
provinces, districts and communes. The government coordinates the budget among provinces.
The national statistic agency provides data for planning. The data at the local level are available
through pilot surveys, but they are not always sex segregated. It will be necessary to request
the planning agency to use some indicators differentiated by men and women in the planning
system to improve the quality of local information.

Following the Beijing Conference, the Government of Viet Nam promptly authorized the National
Committee for the Advancement of Women in Viet Nam to formulate a national plan of action for
the advancement of women in Viet Nam by the Year 2000. This plan has the overall objective to
improve the material and spiritual life of women, and makes 11 specific recommendations on
how to bring this about. The programme for the advancement of women could not be
implemented separately but would be integrated with other socioeconomic development
programmes. At all levels such as ministries, sectors or localities, a gender development
programme has been inserted into different programmes and action plans. Therefore, there is
no fund separately allocated to the programme for the advancement of women. In 1988, the
Council of Ministers promulgated Decision No. 163/HDBT, dated 19 October 1988, defining the
responsibility of all levels of local authority to ensure the participation of women unions in state
administration. According to this decision, during the local planning process or decision making
on social or economic issues relating to women and children, it must be discussed with the
women's union at the same hierarchic level. Women participate in local planning through their
representatives in the women's union.

The main obstacles for rural women's participation in local planning processes are:

• Rural women must work hard in agricultural activities and household work while
community meetings and social activities are often reserved to men.
• The higher consideration for men is still popular in rural areas.
• Qualification and knowledge of rural women are still limited.

ii. Discussion

• In the Constitution, women and men are equal. There is an improvement due to
government efforts but still women in rural areas have the disadvantages of high
poverty.
• To promote women, social and development programmes should be given priority. Due
to the high prevalence of poor people, overcoming difficulties cannot be solved quickly.
There is a need to improve gender sensitivity in the planning process. Though sex-
disaggregated data are available, they often cannot be used as indicators. Integration of
gender sensitivity in the planning process is also difficult.

6.4. SECRETARIAT PAPERS

Two secretariat papers were presented by the officers of the RAPS technical group at the FAO
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific by the Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in
Development Officer and by the Regional Rural Development Officer, respectively.

6.4.1. Women-inclusive local planning: cultivating a new planning culture

Revathi Balakrishnan
Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development Officer
RAPS/SDWW

i. Summary

National development programmes aim to create relevant changes for the people. In these days
of globalization and communication revolution in every developing country change is inevitable
and organizations have to adapt to manage change. Hence, transformation of development
organizations is a prerequisite to achieve people-centred results. Transforming development
organizations should strive to focus on issues of equality and human rights, with specific
emphasis on gender equality and women's rights. Hence, development planning processes
should also become gender sensitive. An historical review of the development planning
paradigm indicates that the commitment to gender integration, including women's specific
resource and service needs, has evolved over time. In the Asian context of devolution of power,
planning responsibility has moved to local government. Such a shift from centralized planning to
local planning with involvement of the local community presents a unique opportunity to include
the hitherto marginalized clients in the planning process, women among them. But the social
prejudices and cultural biases at work in the local communities may also impede women's
participation as key stakeholders. Rural women may not always articulate adequately in many
societies. Most often, due to various reasons of cultural conditions and resource and social
constraints that are gender specific, women are not effectively integrated in the local planning
process. The gender-sensitive local planning approach demands transformation of planning
institutions. If the statements on gender equality and advancement of women are to become
implemented actions for achieving relevant results, then the organizational culture among
planning institutions has to change. The most common planning tradition that places importance
only on biophysical realities and valuing the knowledge in certain biophysical subject areas has
to be reviewed.

People-centred stakeholder-responsive planning would require multidisciplinary contributions

and would demand the inclusion of social sciences. The inter-sectoral competition for resources
has to be replaced with inter-sectoral resource-sharing cooperation for local development.
Planning is a creative process. It is a process that focuses on the future. It is a forward-looking
process. Hence the challenge lies in finding creative means to change the organizational culture
and traditional biases to make the planning process stakeholder responsive, gender equal and
women inclusive.

ii. Discussion

• Historically, training women through agricultural extension programmes has not been
impressive and FAO agrees that training programmes for rural women must be
strengthened.
• Projects benefit not only women but the whole household; thus, it is important that
planned interventions should include women in the planning process.
• For good planning the effective use of information is important. The data should be sex
disaggregated.
• Targeting women is related to assisting them in the many roles women have in their
households.

6.4.2 Institution building for participatory gender-sensitive local planning

Wim Polman
Rural Development Officer
SDA-RAPS
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok

i. Summary

In order to improve social equity and food security at the community level, it is essential to
improve the participation of rural poor women in local planning and development programmes
aimed at sustainable agricultural and natural resources management.
Development concepts, policy approaches, planning methodologies and tools will have real
impact on living conditions and activities of the rural poor when they are in harmony with local
values and truly functional in terms of:

a. ensuring the mobilization of the rural poor;

b. creating real transformation of local poverty conditions by providing wider opportunities
for the participation of the rural poor, as equal and dignified citizens in society; and
c. promoting a more equitable distribution of economic development resources and
opportunities at the community level.

Local development planning should be comprehensive in order to cover the very wide
differences in local conditions and in the nature and intensity of the needs of rural poor women,
as small and landless farmers, rural disabled, youths or aged and as members of an ethnic
minority, among other factors. Achievement of gender-responsive local planning and equity in
local development will ultimately depend upon the degree of empowerment of poor rural
women, in particular as small farmers and landless rural workers.

Empowerment of women at community level will be demonstrated:

a. by improved access to information, formal and informal education and training, and
mobilization;
b. by improved levels of awareness, commitment and self-help capacity in building savings
and assets, in entrepreneurial and leadership roles at the individual, household, group
and organization levels.

The increased emphasis given by the main development agencies to good governance,
participatory decentralized planning and related institutional restructuring provides a useful
basis for the promotion of participatory local planning, bringing prosperity and equity among
poor women, as small and landless farmers, within their rural communities.

Gender-responsive participatory local development planning procedures for decision making

and project planning and implementation methods and tools should provide for adequate
flexibility, in terms of goal setting, time dimensions (short, mid and long term), availability of
facilities for financial resources, transparency of criteria for financial entitlements and effective
distribution mechanisms.

Government policies, legislation, resources allocation and institutional capacity-building

programmes in support of gender-responsive local planning will have more impact and be more
sustainable if they include coalition building and partnership with local rural people's
organizations. Such partnership can be established on the basis of informal and institutional
platforms that facilitate regular policy dialogue and project collaboration at local, district and
national levels.

The rural development policy advice and technical assistance of FAO in the field of promotion of
participation and institutional capacity include concepts, methodologies and tools and field-level
experience in the Asian and Pacific region, which are relevant to the promotion of gender-
responsive local planning development.

ii. Discussion
• An issue was raised in relation to promoting local programmes to be in harmony with
local values, particularly as related to women's participation where local values may
undermine women's social position and articulation.
 7.0. REGIONAL REVIEW: COMMONALTIES AND SHARED CONCERNS
The presentations and discussions identified certain common occurrences and shared concerns
as related to gender-sensitive local planning. In general the concept of decentralized planning is
gaining ground in the countries that represented the region in the workshop, but institutional
arrangements varied depending upon the country situation and openness of the political
systems. Yet all the countries shared the concern that the capacity among the local planners
was most often weak and the commitment to gender-sensitive planning was not robust. The
nongovernmental organizations work at the local level to include women in development
projects. Women's ability and willingness to articulate their needs and demand for resources is
uneven across the region. The cultural factors that undermine women's knowledge of their right
for equal participation are barriers for gender-sensitive local planning. The lack of sex-
segregated data and the lack of capacity to apply the available information are also
impediments to gender-sensitive local planning.

As shown in the schematic presentation below, the potential for integration of gender issues and
direct participation of women in the planning process is higher under the devolution model
(Figure 1). Particularly as planning moves to lower levels, opportunities for rural women's direct
participation improve, as does the possibility to achieve gender-responsive planning. But the
challenge posed relates to improving the capacity of the rural women for effective participation.
Figure 1. Planning levels and potential for people's participation, including women
 8.0. RECOMMENDATIONS
Recommendations from participants were included in the country statements, and generated
during the workshop. These are presented under broad categories such as country-specific
recommendations, workshop-generated recommendations within a common framework and
recommendations for FAO action.

8.1. Country-specific recommendations

8.1.1. Bangladesh

a. The allocation of business to local government should explicitly spell out the
responsibilities and work schedules of the female commissioners and members of union
councils.
b. Fund provision for Women in Development activities is not now separately earmarked in
the budgetary allocations of different ministries. Resource allocation for women should
be shown separately.
c. Women can be provided access to power through access to material resources. To this
end some definite ways are: (i) credit support following the principles developed by the
grameem bank and some NGOs working in the field, (ii) reform of inheritance law, (iii)
affirmative female employment policy and (iv) election of women members by direct vote
instead of indirect election.
d. Change the traditional gender code of the division of duties of males and females
through education, orientation and increased consciousness.
e. Harmonize gender-sensitive local development with national development.
f. Closely monitor the working environment of the elected women local-government
representative to identify and promptly resolve constraints, hazards, and lack of security
faced by them.

8.1.2 Cambodia

a. Improve village leadership quality when women participate in the Village Development
Committee.
b. Increase and improve at all levels the participation of women, especially at the village
level through training and improve the monitoring of gender-related information.
c. FAO should provide the financial and technical assistance to collaborate with the
government of Cambodia and other agencies to develop gender-sensitive local planning.

8.1.3 China

a. Improve female education as the fundamental solution to women's empowerment.

b. Increase gender awareness at all levels and all sectors as essential to improve gender
sensitivity in policymaking.
c. Enforce laws and regulations in relation to women's and children's rights.
d. Increase the recognition of women's importance in economic and social development.
e. Encourage the participatory approach in decision making at all levels.

8.1.4 Nepal
 a. The first commitment is to re-visualize women as integral rather than sectoral beings.
This can be accomplished best by following a lifecycle approach. Women in
Development as well as other mainstream programmes will be recast based on this re-
conceptualization.
b. The Nepalese Constitution provides for equal rights for men and women. Such rights are
widely exercised. Nonetheless, certain laws infringe upon the constitutional provisions.
Therefore, the government, at the earliest possible date, must enforce the laws related
to ancestral property, violence against women, girl trafficking and other areas.
c. Although the health status of women in Nepal has improved in recent years, it remains at
an unsatisfactory level. So, the government has to efficiently implement the plans and
programmes spelled out in the current periodical plan that relate to the improvement in
women's health.
d. The main reason for the underdevelopment of women in Nepal is the high illiteracy rate,
which makes them unable to participate in local planning. Therefore, the government
should pay due attention to raise the literacy rate among the rural poor. The government
must hammer out some special incentives under which girl students, especially those
from the backward sections of society, will get quotas and other privileged treatment in
technical education, short-term training, scholarships and other areas of the educational
process.
e. The development administration should be made more gender responsive. Additionally,
the government should review the rules and regulations pertaining to such public bodies
as the Public Service Commission, which can help ensure more active participation by
women in national development. If need be, women should be provided with special
incentives by the central government and all bodies that function directly or indirectly
under it. By measures like these, both the active participation of women in the decision-
making process and the overall development of a nation like Nepal will be fully ensured.

8.1.5 Pakistan

a. The agriculture and forest departments may arrange extension training exclusively for
women through female extension agents.
b. It would be appropriate for women with very small farms to have loans to purchase yield-
increasing inputs, to grow more for their families' staple-food requirements.
c. The capacity of the financial intermediaries to reach the rural poor in general and poor
rural women in particular is to be strengthened and their personnel and procedures must
be reoriented to be more sensitive to the needs of poor women. The staff of the financial
intermediaries should be trained to have a clear understanding of the economic role of
women through their social and family responsibilities.
d. Providing infrastructure, extension, training and marketing support to make women's
enterprises more profitable is preferable to providing subsidized credit.
e. Appropriate crop and livestock insurance also may be devised to support women's
credit-based activities. It will help if the interest rate remains stable during the life of the
loan.

8.1.6 Sri Lanka

a. Make the local development process as simple, participatory and transparent as

possible.
b. Strengthen the principle of devolution; increase private-sector participation and broad-
based participation by various groups, especially women and youth.
 c. Make better arrangements to have an operational mechanism for development plan
formulation, plan consolidation and plan integration at the local level with the higher
levels.
d. Develop a corps of skilled development planners at the local level.
e. Integrate real local leadership with trained local bureaucracy to be more development
oriented.
f. Focus attention on the relationship among activities on the basis of philosophical,
technical and institutional dimensions at the local level to maintain the sustainability of
participation of women in community activities. The lack of integration among these
dimensions will lead to unsuccessful participation.
g. More attention should be given to maintaining a balance among women's roles in order
to get maximum participation of women in community activities.
h. Action must be taken to empower members at the household, community and local
government levels through broad activities such as institutional systems, technology
improvement, infrastructure facilities, training and extension services, development
groups, marketing facilities, information systems and financial services.

8.1.7 Thailand

a. Provide and support women's access to the extension service through the process of
one-stop service under implementation of the Tambon Agricultural Technology Transfer
Centre.
b. Increase women's access to credit with no or low interest rate for farming family
improvement.
c. Increase concerns on gender awareness and mainstreaming gender issues among
those in high-ranking positions that formulate national policies and programmes.
d. Encourage active people's thinking and decision-making process.
e. Enhance participation of women in politics and public-sector decision making.
f. Encourage the establishment and development of farming women's organizations to be
channels of women's development; also, set up a mechanism to provide opportunities to
farm women to take part in community administration.

8.1.8 Viet Nam

a. Planning agencies should include some criteria on the inclusion of gender-integrated

development into the planning process.
b. Promote training for women to improve their knowledge and capacity to reinforce their
self-confidence.

8.2. Common framework for recommendations

The meeting decided that in the final format the recommendations should be viewed in the
following framework:

1. overall policy framework for gender-sensitive local planning,

2. information generation,
3. human resource development,
4. workable institutional set up and
5. monitoring mechanism: how to implement workshop recommendations.
8.2.1 Overall policy framework for gender-sensitive local planning

a. Mobilize people's active thinking and develop decision-making mechanisms for

integrated gender-sensitive local planning.
b. Increase women's access to credit with no or low interest rate for farming families.
c. Enhance the participation of women in the political process and decision-making by
institutionalizing women's groups.
d. Make policy commitment on devolution to achieve expeditious delivery of services at the
local level.
e. Allocate resources for needs defined on a gender basis.
f. Encourage grassroots-level demand-driven planning.
g. Make the fundamental devolution from the national government and mobilize resources
from the local level.
h. Provide real capacity building for women in local planning.
i. Carry out gender analysis on integral parts of the planning process.

8.2.2 Information generation

a. Employ female data collectors to get information from women.

b. Collecting data should be targeted at specific needs, not just members of farmer groups.
c. Create a database of organizations that combine efforts of government and NGOs to
create gender-sensitive databanks.
d. Target data collection to women as farmers and workers, not just as family members.
e. Organize the media in a manner that it helps to educate women to come out of taboos.
f. Use accessible data appropriately.
g. Identify gender-sensitive data for programmes and projects formulated by the
government, NGOs and donors.
h. Compile gender-segregated information on agricultural behaviour and rural
development.
i. Shift from collecting data to generating gender-sensitive guidelines for national planning.
j. Collect information on women in agriculture.
k. Dialogue with the private sector on gender-sensitive local planning as well as with other
development partners.

8.2.3. Human resource development

a. At the local level, the quality of participation must be upgraded. Capacity-building

exercises to improve exposure to the existing knowledge base and confidence levels of
Panchayat Raj Institutions functionaries are imperative.
b. The quality of women's participation must be improved to build capacity for participation
at both ends - changing men's mindset and women's confidence.
c. Provide and support women's access to extension services through the process of one-
stop service under implementation of the Tambon Agricultural Technology Transfer
Centre.
d. Sensitize high-ranking officials on gender awareness and mainstreaming gender in rural
development.
e. Encourage the establishment and development of farming women's organizations to be
the channel of women's development and setting the local industries as well as micro
enterprises. Set up a mechanism to provide opportunity for farming women to take part
in community administration.
 f. Organize a programme for women on education and training to create effective
participation.
g. Set up capacity building for women to enable them to participate in planning purposes at
grassroots level.
h. Improve the capacity building of local authorities.
i. Promote education and training for women to improve their participation in the planning
process.
j. Increase gender awareness throughout society, especially among men, to create better
opportunities for women.
k. The facilitators should be trained to make the planning process open and interactive to
exchange roles.
l. Encourage gender-specific groups to ensure an increase in women's participation.
m. Train women leaders to encourage women to participate in planning.
n. Achieve more interaction continuously between those who collect the data and those
who use it.

8.2.4. Workable institutional setup

a. Information flow
1. disseminate information both ways
2. employ interactive and continued dialogues from the local to the national level
and back to the village level
3. increase access of women to information, communication and education
4. maintain continuous promotion of gender equality
b. Strengthening of the planning mechanism
1. increase the number of informed members as people's representatives
2. remove unfavourable legal procedures detrimental to women's economic
empowerment
3. involve all stakeholders at all levels of the decision-making process.
c. Mobilization of resources
1. allocate resources on the basis of local needs and priorities
2. make higher allocations for health and education
3. multiply strategies for saving and credit organizations (SELF-HELP)
4. expand rural credit through banking facilities
d. Institutionalization

For institutionalization of gender-sensitive planning in general, and gender-sensitive local

planning in particular, the national plans should reflect commitments made by the countries for
gender equality as demonstrated in their ratification of CEDAW and National Plans of Action as
follow up to the Beijing Conference on Women.

8.2.5. Monitoring mechanism: how to implement workshop

recommendations

Develop a synthesis of workshop presentations and discussions to develop a conceptual

framework on the key concerns on gender-sensitive local planning. This could be a cooperative
and continuing activity among workshop participants with technical support of the FAO RAP
WID programme and the ESCAP WID section.
8.3. Actions for FAO
a. FAO should in addition use the data from the Ministry of Agriculture for agricultural
sector policy advice and project formulation but also obtain relevant data from other
departments related to women. (All countries in the region)
b. Agriculture census data collection should be broadened beyond commodity and crop
area data collection. (All countries in the region)
c. FAO should provide technical assistance in training needs assessment for building
capacity at local governance level for gender-sensitive planning, and develop guidelines
for planners. (Selected countries-sub-region grouping)
d. This could be an area for developing a sub-regional project to support the countries.
e. Thailand: FAO should provide technical assistance to support gender-sensitive national
planning exercises.

8.4. FAO RAP suggestion

Carry out a TCDC activity to develop a case study on the successful lessons learnt about
gender-sensitive local planning in the region, and share it with interested countries.
 9.0. NOTE OF THANKS
The workshop participants thanked the FAO Regional Office for supporting the workshop and
the technical officer for organizing it. The FAO Regional Office records its thanks to the
member-country governments that nominated the workshop participants. The organizers
thanked the participants for their contributions and valuable recommendations.
 REFERENCES
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1999a). Filling the data gap. Retrieved 17 August
2001 from the World Wide Web: http://www.fao.org/docrep/X2785e/X2785e02.rtf.

Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO, 1999b). Participation and information - The key to
gender-responsive agricultural policy. Retrieved 17 August 2001 from the World Wide Web:
http://www.fao.org/docrep/X2950e/X2950e01.rtf

ESCAP 1998. Emerging issues and development at regional level; socioeconomic measures to
alleviate poverty in rural areas. Poverty Alleviation Initiatives, Vol. 8 No 2, April–June 1998.
Bangkok
 ATTACHMENT 1
WORKSHOP ON GENDER-SENSITIVE LOCAL PLANNING

FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

Bangkok, 27–29 June 2000

(Meeting number: RAP 905)

Lists of participants

BANGLADESH Ms Nargis S. Naher

Deputy Chief
Irrigation Wing
Planning Commission
Block 17, Room 30
Sher-e-Bangla Nagar
Dhaka Tel: 88-02 9110965
Fax: 88-02 8117581
Email: kkaiser@bdcom.com

CAMBODIA Ms Khiev Bory

Director
Department of Social Planning
Ministry of Planning
Phnom Penh
Tel: 855-12 887988
Fax: 855-23 216190
Email: siekly@forum.org.kh

CHINA Dr Hu Ruifa
Associate Professor
Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences
30 Baishiqiao Road
Beijing 100081
Tel: 86-10 62178580
Fax: 86-10 62178579
Email: hurf@public3.bta.net.cn

INDIA Ms Bharathi S. Sihag

Director (Rural Housing)
Ministry of Rural Development
Krishi Bhavan
New Delhi 110001
Tel: 91 11 3381967
Fax: 91 11 3381967 / 3384703
Email: bsihag@hotmail.com
NEPAL Mr Yamuna B. Pradhan
Secretary
Bhaktapur Municipality
Durbar Marg
Bhaktapur
Tel: 977-1 610096; 610076; 610310
Fax: 977-1 613206
Email: bhaktapur@wlink.com.np

PAKISTAN Mr Abdul Ghani Sameen

Joint Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural
Development
Islamabad
Tel: 92-51 9203572
Fax: 92-51 9203429

SRI LANKA Mr W.H. Munasinghe

Deputy Director
Human Settlements Division
Department of National Planning
Ministry of Finance and Planning
Colombo 1
Tel: 94 01 320459 / 323534
Fax: 94 01 448063

THAILAND Mr Chavalvut Chainuvati

Deputy Director General
Department of Agricultural Extension
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
2143/1 Phaholyothin Road
Chatuchak
Bangkok 10900
Tel: 662 5793021
Fax: 662 5799539
Email: chavalv@doae.go.th or chaiboo@hotmail.com

Ms Payao Ratanavibulaya
Chief, Farm Home Improvement Section
Department of Agricultural Extension
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
Phaholyothin Road
Chatuchak
Bangkok 10900
Tel: 662 5793894 / 9406113
Fax: 662 5793894
 Ms Jutaporn Srivipattana
Senior Home Economist
Agricultural Administrative Development Division
Department of Agricultural Extension
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives
Phaholyothin Road
Chatuchak
Bangkok 10900
Tel: 662 9406113
Fax: 662 5793894

VIET NAM Ms Pham Thi Tuoc

Deputy Director
Department of Planning & Projection
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development
2 Ngoc Ha Street
Ba Dinh District
Hanoi
Tel: 84-4 8234277
Fax: 84-4 8455407
Email: hanh@icd-mard.ac.vn

Institutes & UN Agencies:

AIT
Dr Babette Resurreccion
Assistant Professor
Gender Development Study
Asian Institute of Technology
PO Box 4
Klong Luang
Pathumthani 12120
Tel: 662 5245781
Fax: 662 5246166
Email: babette@ait.ac.th

Dr Kyoko Kusakabe
Assistant Professor
Gender Development Study Coordinator
Asian Institute of Technology
PO Box 4
Klong Luang
Pathumthani 12120
Tel: 662 5246131
Fax: 662 5246166
Email: kyokok@ait.ac.th

Chulalongkorn University
Prof Oonta Nopakun
Department of Non-Formal Education
Chulalongkorn University
Phyathai Road
Prathumwan, Bangkok 10330
Tel: 662 2182632
Fax: 662 2182634

Dr Angkarb Korsieporn
Social Researcher
Social Research Institute
Chulalongkorn University
Phyathai Road
Prathumwan
Bangkok 10330
Tel: 662 2187390
Fax: 662 2155523; 2187396
Email: kangkarb@chula.ac.th

ESCAP

Dr S.A.M. Nuruzzaman
Social Affairs Officer
Women in Development Section
Social Development Division
ESCAP
The United Nations Building
Rajadamnern Avenue
Bangkok 10200
Tel: 662 2881669
Fax: 662 2881018
Email: nuruzzaman.unescap@un.org

Ms Yukie Hori
Social Affairs Officer
Women in Development Section
Social Development Division
ESCAP
The United Nations Building
Rajadamnern Avenue
Bangkok 10200
Tel: 662 2881539
Fax: 662 2881018
Email: hori.unescap@un.org

Kasetsart University
Dr Chaiskran Hiranpruk
Director
Rajanagarindra Institute of Cultural Studies
Kasetsart University
50 Phaholyothin Road
Chatuchak
Bangkok 10900
Tel: 662 9428144; 9428617
Fax: 662 9428617
Email: fhumcrh@nontri.ku.ac.th

UNDP

Ms Walaitat Worakul
Programme Officer
Poverty Focal Point and Member of Gender Team
UNDP
12th Floor, United Nations Building
Rajadamnern Avenue
Bangkok 10200
Tel: 662 2881817
Fax: 662 2801414
Email: walaitat.worakul@undp.org

Mr Nimitr Chalothornsuthi
Chief of Projects Administration and Coordination
Policy and Planning Division
Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre
Yala Province
Tel: 66-073 213353
Fax: 66-073 213478; 222996

UNICEF

Ms Weerawan Wateenan
Assistant Project Officer
UNICEF
Khon Kaen Coordinating Office
Room Nos. 1202–1203
Research and Development Institute
Khon Kaen University
Khon Kaen 40002
Tel: 662 043 362078
Fax: 662 043 224418
Email: wwateenan@unicef.org or
weerawan@kkul.kku.ac.th
 Ms Nipa Sodatippornchai
Project Assistant
UNICEF
Khon Kaen Coordinating Office
Room Nos. 1202–1203
Research and Development Institute
Khon Kaen University
Khon Kaen 40002
Tel: 662 043 362078
Fax: 662 043 224418
Email: wwateenan@unicef.org or
weerawan@kkul.kku.ac.th

WHO

Ms Laksami Suebsaeng
National Professional Officer on AIDS
World Health Organization
Permanent Secretary Building 3, 4th Floor
Ministry of Public Health
Tiwanond Road
Nonthaburi 11000
Tel: 662 5918198
Fax: 662 5918199
Email: laksami@whothai.moph.go.th

FAO resource person: W. Polman

Regional Rural Development Officer
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
39 Phra Athit Road
Bangkok 10200
Tel: 662 697 4000 ext. 316
Fax: 662 2800445
Email: Wim.Polman@fao.org

FAO secretariat: Revathi Balakrishnan

Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development
Officer
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
39 Phra Athit Road
Bangkok 10200
Tel: 662 697 4000 ext. 148
Fax: 662 2800445
Email: Revathi.Balakrishnan@fao.org

Leonie Venroy
Technical Advisor
SNV Netherlands Development Organization
108–112, D1 Van Phuc Compound
GPO Box 189
Hanoi
Tel: 84-4 8463791
Fax: 84-4 8463794
Email: snvvn@snv.org.vn

Somchai Udomsrirungruang
Secretary to Dr Revathi Balakrishnan
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
39 Phra Athit Road
Bangkok 10200
Tel: 662 697 4000 ext. 134
Fax: 662 2800445
Email: S.Udomsrirungruang@fao.org
 ATTACHMENT 2
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific

A PARTICIPATORY WORKSHOP ON GENDER-SENSITIVE LOCAL PLANNING

27–29 June 2000

PROGRAMME

26 June 2000
Participants' arrival

27 June 2000: Day 1

8.30 to 9.00 AM Registration

9.00 to 9.30 AM Opening session

Opening remarks
Dr R.B. Singh
ADG RR
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok

Participants' introduction

9.30 to 10.00 AM Break

10.00 to 10.30 AM Media presentation

The Phantom Statistics: Rural women and information
Followed by discussion on information on rural women
available for local planning

An overview of the workshop

Presenter: Dr Revathi Balakrishnan
FAO/RAPS WID Officer

10.30 to 11.00 AM Sharing of experience of participating agencies on gender

concerns in local planning
Representatives from invited agencies

11.00 to 11.30 AM Overview of the workshop

Election of office bearers
 Chairperson
Ms Nargis S. Nahar, Bangladesh

Vice-Chairperson
Mr W.H. Munasinghe, Sri Lanka

11.30 to 12.15 PM Country paper

Thailand
Mr Chavalvut Chainuvai
Deputy Director General
DOAE

12.15 to 1.15 PM Lunch hosted by ADG RR/FAO RAP

1.15 to 2.00 PM Participatory exercise on gender and participatory planning

Country reviews: Status and situation of gender-sensitive

local planning
Presentation and discussion

2.00 to 3.00 PM Bangladesh

Ms Nargis S. Naher
Deputy Chief
Planning Commission, GOB

3.00 to 4.00 PM Cambodia

Ms Khiev Bory
Director
Department of Social Planning
Ministry of Planning

4.00 to 5.00 PM Secretariat resource paper

“Women-inclusive local planning: cultivating a new planning
culture”
Dr Revathi Balakrishnan
Regional Rural Sociologist and WID Officer
RAPS/SDWW
28 June 2000 Day 2

Country reviews: Status and situation of gender-sensitive

local planning
Presentation and discussion

8.00 to 8.30 AM Pakistan

 Mr Abdul Ghani Sammen
Joint Secretary
Ministry of Environment, Local Government and Rural
Development

8.30 to 9.00 AM Sri Lanka

Mr W.H. Munasinghe
Deputy Director
Human Settlements Division
Department of National Planning
Ministry of Finance and Planning

9.00 to 9.30 AM Discussion

9.30 to 9.45 AM Break

9.45 to 10.15 AM China

Mr Hu Ruifa
Associate Professor
Centre for Chinese Agricultural Policy
Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences

10.15 to 10.45 AM Viet Nam

Mrs Pham Thi Tuoc
Deputy Director
Department of Planning and Projection
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development

10.45 to 11.15 AM Nepal

Mr Yamuna B. Pradhan
Executive Secretary
Bhaktapur Municipality
Ministry of Local Development

11.15 to 11.45 AM India

Ms Bharathi S. Sihag
Director (Rural Housing)
Ministry of Rural Development

11.45 to 12.15 PM Discussion

12.15 to 1.15 PM Lunch break

1.15 to 1.45 PM Secretariat paper

 “Institution building for participatory gender-sensitive local
planning”
Mr W. Polman
Rural Development Officer
RAPS/SDA

1.45 to 2.45 PM Presenter: a participant

Regional review: Institutional structure for local planning at
central, district and community levels: A synthesis from the
country presentations
Discussion
Facilitators
Dr Revathi Balakrishnan
Ms Leonie Venroy

2.45 to 3.30 PM Small group sessions: participants

Identifying the entry points in the institutions for integrating
gender concerns and gender-sensitive planning

3.30 to 3.45 PM Break

3.45 to 4.15 PM Media presentation

Net worth: women in aquaculture

4.15 to 4.30 PM Synthesis of group findings for potential entry points for
integrating gender concerns and gender-sensitive planning
Presenters: group leaders
Facilitator: Ms Leonie Venroy

29 June 2000 Day 3

9.00 to 10.15 AM Identification of information constraints and potential to use

sex-segregated data for integrated local planning

Discussions on sex-segregated data available and

information gaps on gender-differentiated needs

Facilitator: Dr Revathi Balakrishnan

10.15 to 10.30 AM Break

10.30 to 11.45 AM Small group sessions: participants

Identification of country-specific constraints for and

 modalities to overcome constraints to make local planning
gender sensitive and women inclusive

11.45 to 12.15 PM Country-specific constraints and modalities to overcome

them to make local planning gender sensitive and women
inclusive
Presenters: group leaders
Facilitator: Ms Leonie Venroy

12.15 to 1.15 PM Lunch break

1.15 to 2.30 PM Developing strategies for gender-sensitive approaches

within respective country-specific local planning frameworks
Participants: preparation of action strategies

2.30 to 3.15 PM Country action strategies

Presentation:
Eight country representatives

3.15 to 3.30 PM Break

3.30 to 4.15 PM Country action strategies

Presentation:
Eight country representatives
(Continued)

4.15 to 4.45 PM General recommendations

4.15 to 5.00 PM Workshop closure

30 June 2000 Day 4
Participants' departure

30 June 2000 Day 4

Participants' departure