69276 The Gender Dimension of Bank Assistance in Vietnam (FY03-FY06) East Asia Social Development Unit (EASSO) Vietnam Country Office The World Bank February 2007 ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS ADB Asian Development Bank ADP Agricultural Diversification Project AM Aid Memoires BIDV Vietnam Bank for Investment and Development CAS Country Assistance Strategy CAP Commune Action Plan CBDRM Community Based Disaster Risk Management CBRIP Community Based Rural Infrastructure Project CCCC Commune CBDRM Coordination Committee CDB Commune Development Budget CDBC Commune Development Budget Component CEDAW Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women CG Consultative Group CGA Country Gender Assessment CGC Country Gender Coordinator CIDA Canadian International Development Agency CPRGS Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy CPS Country Partnership Strategy CRC Convention on the Right of the Child CWG Commune Women’s Group DfID Department for International Development DARD Department of Agricultural and Rural Development DOET Department of Education and Training DOH Department of Health DOLISA Department of Labor, Invalid and Social Affairs DOS Department of Statistics DPI Department of Planning and Investment EFA Education For All ESW Economic Sector Work FPRDP Forest Protection and Rural Development Project GAP Gender Action Partnership GOV Government of Vietnam HUUP Hanoi Urban Upgrading Project HIV/AIDS Human Immuno Virus / Acquired Immune Difficiency Syndrome LTC Land Tenure Certificate LUC Land Use Right Certificate MFI Micro Finance Institution MONRE Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment MPDF Mekong Private sector Development Fund MPI Ministry for Planning and Investment NCFAW National Committee for the Advancement of Women NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NMPRP Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project NDRMP Natural Disaster and Risk Management Project OED Office of Executive Directors OM Operational Manual ICR Implementation Completion Report i IEC Information and Education Campaign IEG Independent Evaluation Group RD Rural Development PAD Project Appraisal Document PCLIP Poor Commune Infrastructure and Livelihood Improvement Program PCN Project Concept Note PEDC Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children PER Public Expenditure Review PFI Participating Financial Institution PIM Project Implementation Manual PIP Project Implementation Plan POA Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women PMU Project Management Unit PPMU Provincial Project Management Unit PREM Poverty Reduction and Economic Management PRSC Poverty Reduction Support Credit PWU Provincial Women’s Union SFE State Forest Enterprise SEDP Socio-Economic Development Plan TDT Transfer of Development Technology TTL Task Team Leader TORs Term of References VAP Village Action Plan VDG Vietnam Development Goal VDR Vietnam Development Report VBARD Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development VBSP Vietnam Bank of Social Policy VHLSS Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey VUUP Vietnam Urban Upgrading Project VWRAP Vietnam Water Resources Assistance Project WB World Bank WRAP Water Resources Assistance Project WU Women’s Union WUA Water User Association ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This review of the gender dimensions of development of the Bank’s portfolio (GPA) in Vietnam was completed by a World Bank team. The objectives of this exercise was to understand how during the last Country Assistance Strategy period (FY03-FY06) the Bank conceptualized the challenge of promoting gender equality; and the extent to which gender issues were addressed through lending operations and analytical work. The objective of this exercise was also to provide specific recommendations and input on how gender issues can be addressed more coherently in the new CAS, (now called Country Partnership strategy) for FY07 – FY10. The task team was comprised Hoa Thi Mong Pham (EASSO, task team leader), Gillian Brown (EASSO, Regional Gender Coordinator), Nina Bhatt (EASSO), Phillip Brylski (EASES), Bank’s consultant Pham Thu Hien (Gender and Development Faculty, Ho Chi Minh National Political Academy). The peer reviewers were Carolyn Turk (EASPR), Lucia Fort (PRMGE) and Mia Hyun (EASPR). Additional comments were received from Keiko Sato (EACVQ), Laurent Msellati (EACVF), Robin Mearns (EASRE), Susan Shen (EASRE) and Phuong Thi Minh Tran (EASTE). Hoa Phuong Kieu (EACVF) provided efficient assistance in the task arrangement, field visits and report editing. Special thanks are due to Bank Task Team Leaders (TTLs) and other colleagues for their valuable advice and comments during report preparation as well as for their inputs to the TTLs survey. The Task Team would also like to thank the Project Management Units (PMUs) and Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) of the respective projects reviewed, as well as the local Women’s Union (WU) and other stakeholders for their support, and input provided to the surveys, various meetings, field visits and the consultation workshop carried out in June 2006. Finally, the Task Team appreciates the support and guidance provided by Hanoi and Washington DC based Management including the Country Director (Klaus Rohland), EASES Sector Director (Teresa Serra); and EASSO Sector Manager (Cyprian Fisiy). iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS..........................................................................................i ACKOWLEGEMENTS ................................................................................................................ iii TABLES OF CONTENTS .............................................................................................................iv INTRODUCTION .....................................................................................................................1 1.1 Background .............................................................................................................................................1 1.2 Context of Gender in Vietnam.................................................................................................................1 1.3 The Government’s strategic framework for gender work........................................................................2 1.4 The Bank and Gender in Vietnam ...........................................................................................................2 1.5 Evaluation Framework and Methodology ...............................................................................................3 EVALUATION AND FINDINGS ....................................................................................................5 2.1 The Bank’s CAS (FY03-06)....................................................................................................................5 2.2 Progress in the four core areas.................................................................................................................6 2.3 Findings from the Project Portfolio Review ............................................................................................8 2.4 Field Findings........................................................................................................................................10 2.5 Findings of the PMU/PPMU Survey .....................................................................................................13 2.6 Sectoral findings...................................................................................................................................14 2.7 Gender and the Bank’s ESW in Vietnam ..............................................................................................15 2.8 Task Team Leader Survey on Gender ...................................................................................................17 2.9 Partnerships ...........................................................................................................................................17 2.10 How the Bank is internally organized to address gender issues in Vietnam .......................................18 CONCLUSTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ........................................................................20 3.1 Conclusions ...........................................................................................................................................20 3.2 Recommendations .................................................................................................................................21 List of Boxes Box 1. Gender in VDGs and CPRGS ......................................................................................2 Box 2. Methodology for the portfolio review............................................................................8 Box 3. Gender and Development: a review of 18 PADs .........................................................8 Box 4. Voices from the field....................................................................................................11 List of Tables Table 1. Gender in the CAS FY03-06......................................................................................5 Table 2. Visited project sites....................................................................................................10 Table 3. Women’s participation in some projects .................................................................12 List of Figures Chart 1. Staff profile of CPMUs and PPMUs (%).................................................................13 Chart 2. Gender integration activities in the Bank’s projects (% projects) ..........................14 List of Annexes iv Annex I: List of reviewed projects in June 2004 and June 2005 .........................................23 Annex II: POA2 Objectives and Bank’s Contribution ..........................................................25 ANNEX III: Gender ranking criteria of gender portfolio analysis of WB selected projects FY 04- FY 06 ...........................................................................................................................29 ANNEX IV: Summary on Gender Portfolio Analysis of the Bank’s Selected Projects .......30 Annex V: TTL Survey – Questionnaires ................................................................................51 Annex VI: PMU Survey – Questionnaires .............................................................................52 Annex VII: Meetings Held (April-May 2006)........................................................................53 ANNEX VIII: Reviewed ESW list ..........................................................................................54 Annex IX: Workshop participant list......................................................................................55 Annex X:The gender checklist of the project cycle................................................................57 Annex XI: Key Gender Strategies for Vietnam......................................................................59 v • INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background The objectives of this portfolio review was to understand how during the last Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) period (FY03-06), the Bank conceptualized the challenge of promoting gender equality; and the extent to which gender issues were addressed through lending operations and analytical work. This brief review also intended to provide recommendations on how gender issues can be addressed more coherently in the new CAS (called Country Partnership Strategy) for the period FY07-FY10.. The starting point for articulating gender in the FY03-06 CAS period was the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS); Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women for 2001-2005 (PoA2); and the Joint Government Donor Gender Framework (2001). In the context of these documents, the gender portfolio analysis focused on the extent to which: ƒ the last CAS adequately responded to gender issues and developed a strategy based on the above documents; ƒ select WB investment projects and analytic work followed through on commitments articulated in the CAS; ƒ there were missed opportunities in the last CAS and in the Bank’s work in general. 1.2 Context of Gender in Vietnam Vietnam leads in the Asia-Pacific region on several gender equality indicators. Almost 99 percent of communes have a commune health care center, resulting in a dramatic fall in the country’s infant and under-five mortality rate. Vietnam has one of the highest economic participation rates in the world: 85 percent of men and 83 percent of women between the ages of 15 and 60 were engaged in economic activity in 2002.1 Vietnamese women account for nearly 50 percent of the total agricultural workforce and for a large share of total new jobs (47 percent in 2005). Female political activity at national levels is impressive: with 27.3 percent female members of the National Assembly, Vietnam has the highest proportion of women in parliament in the Asia-Pacific region.2 The government has followed policies and strategies that have resulted in rapid economic growth and contributed either directly or indirectly to reducing gender gaps. However, some groups, such as ethnic minority women, have been left behind, and improvements in voice and leadership have been slow. While women are significantly contributing to economic growth, their contributions are not always recognized and workplace discrimination remains accompanied by unshared burdens in the home. Finally, with such rapid economic and social change, there are bound to be new issues such as spread of HIV/AIDS, migration, which have gender dimensions. 1 Between 1993 and 2002, it doubled its economy, and roughly halved its poverty.1 The illiteracy rate for the country is 4.6 percent and life expectancy is 70 years. Gender Situational Analysis. Asian Development Bank, 2005. 2 But compared to men, women are poorly represented among leaders in the executive branch of government. Although the Vice-President of the State is a woman, she holds mainly a ceremonial role. Women account for only 12.5 percent of Ministers or equivalent and 9.1 percent of Deputy Ministers or equivalent (Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, 2005a). 1 1.3 The Government’s strategic framework for gender work The Vietnamese government’s support for gender policies and programs during the period reviewed was based on the Strategy for the Advancement of Women by 2010, and the Second Plan of Action (POA2) for the period 2001-2005. The donor supported Vietnam Gender Situational Analysis (2000) provided the basis for these documents and mapped out five objectives for promoting gender equality: (i) equal rights for women in labor and employment; (ii) equal rights in education; (iii) equal rights in health care; (iv) quality and efficiency of women’s performance in political, economic, and cultural and social fields; and (v) strengthen the capacity of the machinery for the advancement of women. These efforts informed the 2002 Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) – a country owned strategy on which the last CAS (FY03-06) was aligned. It should also be noted that the CPRGS formed the basis for the country’s new Socio-economic development plan (SEDP) for the period 2006-2010. Box 1. Gender in VDGs and CPRGS The CPRGS used Localized Millennium Development Goals to develop a system of indicators and to monitor and evaluate progress. A number of the goals and targets are gender specific. Goal 2: Universalize education and improve education Target 1: Increase the net enrolment in primary school to 97% in 2005 and to 99% in 2010 Target 2: Increase net enrollment rate in junior secondary school to 80% in 2005 and 90% by 2010 Target 3: Eliminate the gender gap in primary and secondary education by 2005, and the gap with ethnic minorities in 2010 Target 4: Increase literacy to 95% of under-40-year-old women by 2005 and 100% by 2010 Target 5: By 2010 have improved the quality of education and increase full-day schooling at primary level (exact target depends on funding). Goal 3: Ensure gender equality-and women empowerment Target 1: Increase the number of women in elective bodies at all levels Target 2: Increase the participation of women in agencies and sectors [includes ministries, central agencies and enterprises] at all levels by 3-5% in the next 10 years Target 3: Ensure that the names of both husband and wife appears on the land-use right certificates by 2005 Target 4: Reduce the vulnerability of women to domestic violence 1.4 The Bank and Gender in Vietnam In 2000-2001, OED included Vietnam in its evaluation of the Bank’s progress in achieving gender equality.3 OED found that while the Bank’s poverty analysis work effectively integrated gender, and that while institutional strengthening within governments was considerable, the Bank’s assistance in Vietnam was largely “gender-blind.� The report also found that the Bank contributed to closing gender gaps through broader project initiatives (building schools and health centers) but there were seldom explicit objectives or attempts to address the underlying structural causes for why women and girls lagged behind on several major indicators. 3 World Bank. 2001. The Gender Dimension of Bank Assistance; An evaluation of results. Operations Evaluation Department. The OED is now called the Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) at the Bank. 2 Following upon and related to the OED assessment, the Bank in Vietnam stepped up its efforts in gender work: the first Country Gender Assessment (CGA) was completed in FY02, and was one of the first to be carried out after the Bank adopted the policy requiring gender assessments (OP 4.20). Significantly, the CAS (FY03-06), for the first time, expressed explicit support for gender via the National Committee for the Advancement of Women (NCFAW) in implementing the “National Strategy for the Advancement of Women in Vietnam.� Bank-wide efforts to consolidate and understand the institution’s gender work continued: in 2005, the PREM Gender and Development group reviewed Bank-wide implementation of the Gender Mainstreaming Strategy up to FY05. It found four main trends: i) more work on gender was being carried out compared to the past; ii) improvements were more evident in operations compared to diagnostic and analytical work; iii) social sectors were ahead of non- social sectors in integrating gender concerns; and iv) gender is more successful or evident at the design stage, it tends to falter in implementation, with monitoring and evaluation being especially weak. These main trends (except for ii) were confirmed in this review, included the results of a brief assessment of gender mainstreaming over the last two years. 1.5 Evaluation Framework and Methodology The evaluation takes as its starting point the Bank’s Operational Policy and Bank Procedures on Gender and Development (OP/BP 4.20). In particular the objective of the OP is to: “…assist member countries to reduce poverty and enhance economic growth, human well-being, and development effectiveness by addressing the gender disparities and inequalities that are barriers to development, and by assisting member countries in formulating and implementing their gender and development goals�. The policy emphasizes the importance of analytical work to identify gender issues and strategic mainstreaming of gender into those sectors and projects that are identified as priority. In this context, this review examines the Bank’s contribution to the analysis and identification of gender issues in Vietnam, and how priorities and programs have been developed to respond to specific needs. This exercise was based on a literature review, two surveys, and stakeholder consultations with Bank, GoV staff, and local beneficiaries including Women’s Union representatives. This activity built on earlier gender reviews with new data to examine whether trends or lessons could be determined in the context of the implementation of the Bank’s policies of gender mainstreaming. The methods for this activity were as follows: Desk study. This entailed a review of Country Assistance Strategies, the Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS); Plan of Action for the advancement of women for 2001-2005 (POA2), Joint Donor-Government Framework for Gender; and the Government evaluation of POA2 implementation to understand the broad context of how gender issues are being integrated in the Bank’s work in Vietnam. 3 Review of specific investment projects and analytical work. A desk review of lending investments and analytic work4 was carried out to assess how gender was integrated at various stages of the project cycle or in analytical reports produced by sectors. The investment lending review builds on earlier such project reviews carried out in FY04 and FY05 (see Annex I). Field site visits. Fieldwork was carried out for seven projects located in four provinces to understand on-the-ground gender and development practices for the projects concerned. Sectoral and regional distribution, logistics (including the availability of project staff) determined project selection. Field site visits were preceded by informal interviews with PMU, PPMU staff and meetings with local authorities. PMU and TTL surveys. Two surveys were carried out: (i) A Task Team Leader (TTL)5 survey was carried out in June 2006 to understand the relevance of gender across various sectors of investment projects, and to understand what incentives and resources would encourage further attention to gender issues at the Bank; (ii) a short survey was conducted among Project Management Unit (PMU) staff to assess PMU staffing; the nature and existence of gender training programs for female project beneficiaries and to understand how PMU staff viewed gender in their respective projects. The survey also attempted to learn how monitoring and evaluation is dealt with from a gendered perspective. Hanoi workshop. A one-day discussion was held in June 2006 to discuss preliminary findings from the field and to invite input into report. Present at this meeting were staff from PMUs and Provincial Project Management Units (PPMUs) of reviewed projects, Bank staff, and representatives from the Women’s Union (WU) and National Committee For the Advancement of Women (NCFAW). The WU representatives were invited on the basis of their known involvement in several Bank projects. Partnerships assessment. The review also looked at the external partnerships on gender during the last CAS period and the effectiveness of these in working with the government in promoting gender equality in Vietnam. Review of internal organization and resources: A brief review of the Bank’s internal organizational and resource situation for supporting a gender mainstreaming approach was undertaken with observations on the effectiveness of these approaches. 4 The types of Bank documents reviewed included PADs, aide memoires, the Country Program Portfolio Review for 2006 and other reports. 5 The TTL survey was sent to a Bank Vietnam email distribution list (EAPCOREVTN) which includes all TTLs working on AAA and lending work in the country. 4 EVALUATION FINDINGS 2.1 The Bank’s CAS (FY03-06) The FY03-06 CAS was organized around the CPRGS and had three broad objectives: (i) high growth through a transition to a market economy; (ii) an equitable, socially inclusive, and sustainable pattern of growth; and (iii) adoption of a modern public administration, legal and governance system. The starting point of the CAS was that despite the gains of the previous decade, widespread poverty remained for specific marginalized groups such as ethnic minorities, women and unregistered urban migrants. Support for gender was manifested in the second CAS objective (equitable and inclusive growth) via a sub-component which underscores the importance of “realizing gender equality and the advancement of women.� The CAS explicitly mentions the ten-year Strategy for the Advancement of Women (2001-2010), NCFAW’s Five-Year Plan of Action for 2001-2005 and the CGA FY02 as providing strategic directions for mainstreaming gender issues into the country program. On the lending side, the CAS indicated that projects likely to have a high impact on gender equality would be identified and prioritized to maximize gender equality outcomes. It also mentions that special support through a "Gender Mainstreaming Fund" (FY03-06) would be made available on an annual basis.6 Three projects in the pipeline (FY03-04) were mentioned as deserving special focus accompanied with resources for mainstreaming gender issues.7 Some concrete activities to address gender equality were also identified, such as capacity building for the gender sensitive implementation of CPRGS; Land Tenure Certificates (LTCs) with both names of husband and wife; and tackling gender issues in future PRSCs. While the CAS endorsed the importance of having a gender dimension to development, this objective is achieved by endorsing Government efforts rather than mapping out an explicit plan of action accompanied by resources by which efforts can be measured against. Table 1. Gender in the CAS FY03-06 Identification of gender Integration in CAS Integration in Were specific issues issues objectives lending programs addressed Support for gender is CPRGS objectives guided the CAS identified Concrete activities to expressed via endorsement of CAS themes: (i) high growth priority projects address gender equality the ten-year Strategy for the through a transition to a likely to have high were identified: capacity Advancement of Women market economy; (ii) an gender impact on building for gender sensitive implementation (2001-2010); NCFAW’s equitable, socially inclusive, gender equality. of CPRGS; LTCs with Five-Year Plan of Action for and sustainable pattern of These were: the both names of husband 2001-2005; and the CGA growth; and (iii) adoption of a Primary Education and wife; tackling gender FY02. These documents are modem public administration, for Disadvantaged issues in future PRSCs seen as providing strategic legal and governance system. Children; Urban directions for mainstreaming Gender appears under support Upgrading, and gender issues into the country for the second theme of the PRSC II. program. CPRGS. 6 However, with the exception of one year, these funding commitments were not followed through on. 7 Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children, Urban Upgrading, and PRSC II. 5 The Bank explicitly supported government efforts in gender work. But compared to the CASs delivered in the nineties, gender was addressed more explicitly during the last CAS period.8 While the last CAS did not provide a specific road map regarding gender integration in investments and analytical work, the Bank’s endorsement of Vietnam’s gender goals as well as its own work contributed to the achievement of POA2 gender targets (see Annex II) through the Bank’s lending operations. For instance, the Agricultural Diversification Project supports POA2 objectives on generating employment for women by introduction of plantation technology and rehabilitation of small holder rubbers and intercrop and livestock production;9 the Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction Project - via rural infrastructure and agricultural extension - has increased the incomes and wellbeing of rural poor men and women. 10 The Rural Finance II, Three Cities Sanitation, and Urban Upgrading projects have all been instrumental in increasing women’ access to credit. 2.2 Progress in the four core areas In addition to supporting overall government objectives, the CAS addressed issues of gender in four core areas: (i) CPRGS/PRSP, (ii) PRSCs (iii) Land Titling Certificates (LTCs) and (iv) investment projects. CPRGS/PRSP: A trust fund for capacity building of local authorities was established to ensure that the CPRGS was implemented in a gender sensitive manner, especially at provincial levels. The Bank’s PREM team led five regional workshops on CPRGS implementation, which included approaches and checklists for gender integration into local planning. Over 800 key provincial officials were trained in these workshops.11 In addition, two regional conferences on integrating gender into PRSPs were organized: one in Hanoi (March 2002) and the other in Siem Riep (September 2003), for six East Asian countries to share experiences and to develop action plans for integrating gender in the individual country PRSPs. A team from Vietnam actively participated in both conferences. LTCs with joint titling of both husband and wife12: To recognize the interests of both spouses in the joint ownership of land, a pilot project was developed to include women’ 8 Vietnam was included as part of the 2003 OED Gender Evaluation. In that study, all past CASs for Vietnam were analyzed for gender content and it was surmised that the treatment of gender in the 1994, 1995, and 1998 CAS. Starting with the 1994 with a poverty reduction strategy based growth, there is no explicit gender analysis or interventions with the exception of educating girls as a step towards population control. The 1995 CAS maintains a similar focus but adds partnerships with local governments, NGOs, and the private sector including mention of collaborations with the Women’s Union. The 1995 CAS identifies and discusses gender issues, and proposes a gender strategy. It recognizes there are gender issues to market economy transition, it proposes micro loans to reach poor women, and it raises women’s health issues. The 1998 CAS is a marked improvement in that it provides progress indicators which are gender sensitive, it launched a joint initiative with GoV to support the implementation of the Government’s National Plan of Action, 2000, through Bank-financed projects and programs. It goes on to state that it will support gender equity by ensuring that women and men benefit equally from all Bank assistance. 9 Gender impact assessment of small holder rubber development (Agricultural diversification project),June 2003 10 7th Supervision Mission, October 28-November 16, 2005 (NMPRP) 11 These officials were from the Department of Planning and Investment (DPI), Department of Labor, Invalid and Social Affair (DOLISA), Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), Department of Statistics (DOS), Department of Education and training (DOET), Department of Health (DOH) and representatives from provincial Women Union (PWU). 12 The project has far-reaching impacts. Between the 1980s and 1990s, the national policy on private ownership of land presented significant opportunities for rural farming communities to improve their incomes and livelihoods. Ownership of real property is one of the most important aspects of economic security for rural families. Land titling that reflects spousal co-ownership of land can significantly reduce gender asymmetries by ensuring that women have legal rights to property including the ability to use land as collateral for obtaining credit for productive purposes. 6 names on Land Tenure Certificates (LTC). Joint titling was part of the Marriage and Family Law (2000), and the Vietnam Development Goals (VDG). The CPRGS included a target of having all LTCs written with both spouse's names by the year 2005. The Bank’s Gender and Law Thematic Group supported a pilot that piloted the issuance of LTCs with the names of both husband and wife in two communes in Nghe An province. The success of this pilot led to scaling up efforts in 20 provinces with a component that included national and local information dissemination campaigns. This activity (financed by a Norwegian Trust Fund) resulted in 35,000 new LTCs issued with either the names of both spouses, or with only the woman’s name for poor farmers. Also, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) guidelines on implementing changes for the issuance of LTCs was drafted and discussed at a Bank-sponsored workshop organized in June 2004. This draft has been included on the new Land Law Decree 181. PRSCs as a tool to tackle gender issues: To some extent, the PRSCs have proven useful tools in integrating gender issues. The Land Tenure Certificate was a specific issue that was part of PRSCs 2, 3, and 4. PRSC2 included a target that 95 percent of LTCs would be issued in the names of both spouses by 2006. Vietnam now has about 40 percent of LTCs in either both names of husband and wife, or the wife’s name only. Inadequate financial resources were a constraint in the LTC conversion process. Government recognizes the importance of the gender and LTC conversion issue, and is developing a large program in land administration, with donor assistance. Discussions are underway with the Bank for a proposed Land Administration Project (IDA financed) that would assist with setting up a computerized system for issuing and re-issuing LTCs. The PRSC 5 integrates gender in planning manuals for provincial authorities to help guide a more gender sensitive socio-economic planning process. However, for the PRSC to succeed in addressing gender, proper data and analysis is needed to better guide the policy dialogue process and to establish clear priorities. Monitoring policy actions and dealing with poor counterpart capacity have been key issues. The Steering Committee of the PRSC did not have a representative with specific responsibility for gender issues which has also hampered progress. 13 Gender integration into selected investment projects. While commitments were made for a “Gender mainstreaming fund� which was to be available on an annual basis, these commitments were made available only in FY03. Funding during this year provided crucial gender support for five Bank lending operations. Here the funds were used to promote gender equality in project activities. The lack of funding in subsequent years hampered the mainstreaming activities because the Gender Coordinator lacked resources by which to approach Task Managers to assist in gender mainstreaming on their respective projects. Of the review carried out for 18 lending operations, the rural sector proved most responsive in carrying out sustained attention to gender in their project design, implementation as well as in other follow-up activities. Other sectors were uneven in that gender factored in peripherally with some attention given at the conceptualization stage with little follow-through at the design and implementation phases. These issues were discussed with Bank and government staff at a workshop on June 23, 2006 in Hanoi. 13 A representative from NCFAW was invited to attend the last meeting on PRSC 5 to signal a progress in this respect 7 2.3 Findings from the Project Portfolio Review A review of 18 projects was carried out to examine how gender is currently addressed in the Bank’s investment projects. Box 2. Methodology for the portfolio review The portfolio review consisted of a desk review of 18 projects selected on the basis of sectoral diversity combined with the expectation that some projects would contain high gender content compared to others. The review included 18 PADs, all aide memoires produced in FY 2004-2006. Key project documents (PIMs/PIPs/ Operational Manuals)14 from 12 projects were selected for review as well. Sixteen PMUs responded to a quantitative survey15 which sought to assess staff profile, nature and existence of gender training programs, and how women’s participation is manifested at project levels. The survey also attempted to learn how monitoring and evaluation is dealt with from a gendered perspective. Finally, sector discussions were held with Bank staff in Hanoi for insights on how gender is integrated into select projects and how these can be improved upon for the future.16 This activity was a combined analysis of past assessments including Gender Reviews of the selected Bank’s projects (FY 2004 & 2005),17 an OED Review18 and the Joint Government Donor Gender Framework.19 Summary desk review. The desk review of investment projects found wide variation in the treatment of gender. About 78 percent of projects reviewed address gender issues in some way; the remainder projects make no reference at all to gender. And while gender issues were commonly cited in the PADs (78 percent), gender coverage occurs far less frequently in supervision reports and other implementation documents such as the Project Implementation Manual (33 percent of those examined). In general, projects with a strong social /community development orientation integrated gender in tangible and consistent ways (i.e. gender is an axis of consideration, with specific sex-disaggregated components or activities with an intention or interest in gender equity outcomes) compared to projects that did not have such a focus (see Box 3). Box 3. Gender and Development: a review of 18 PADs • 78 percent of the social analysis sections of the PADs mentioned gender. • 56 percent, or 10 PADs, were specific in their attention to gender issues. For example, the Community Based Rural Infrastructure Project (CBRIP) seeks to ensure women’s representation in the Commune Coordination Committees responsible for project management at the commune levels; the Urban Upgrading Project chose the Women’s Unions as its implementation partners and monitors whether land use certificates in project households include women’s names or not. The Water Resource Assistance Project (VWRAP) provided gender sensitization training to all project management staff and also carried out a gender study to explore opportunities to advance gender equity. • 5 projects (28 percent) have women specific components (Urban Upgrading, Three Cities 14 PIM (Project Implementation Manual) / PIP (Project Implementation Plan) / OM (Operational Manuals) are referred as PIM. The two previous reviews in FY 04 & 05 did not focus on PIM. 15 Surveys were completed by 13 of 14 CPMUs and by 27 PPMUs from 6 projects at both the central, provincial levels. These results should be seen as simply providing an idea or a sketch of events rather than being conclusive in any way. Discussions with PMU or PPMUs indicated that some did not have the readily available data, or it was not disaggregated according to the survey demands. 16 Sector staff interviewed were from RD (Mr. Cao Thang Binh), Urban (Ms. Hoang Thi Hoa), HD (Nguyen Thi Mai) and Transport (Ms Tran Thi Minh Phuong). 17 See annex 1. 18 The Gender Dimension of Bank Assistance: An Evaluation of Results. OED, 2001. 19 Prepared by NCFAW-UNDP Project VIE96011, 2001. 8 Sanitation, Costal Wetland, HIV/AIDS and Primary Teacher Projects) • 22 percent (4 of 18) PADs mention gender but do so in very generalized terms. Often the gender intervention is included with other groups including the poor, vulnerable, or ethnic minorities. Seldom are specific activities mentioned. • 22 percent of 18 PADs did not mention gender at all. • Sex-disaggregated performance indicators are present in 16 percent of the PADs. Here, one in 10 project monitoring indicators is related to gender. Typically, these indicators examined levels of participation (CBRIP, Forest Sector Development), net enrollment rates in schools for girls, gender parity or student completion with gender parity. (Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children). • One project, the Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children Project had a gender specific project development objective: to “improve access to primary school and quality of education for disadvantaged girls and boys.� Inconsistencies in the Bank’s and borrower’s project documentation. The Project Implementation Manuals (PIM) contain the Borrower-developed operational guidelines. While in theory PIMs and PADs are supposed to be aligned, 78 percent of the PADs examined had some mention of gender in the design, yet only 33 percent of PIMs reflected this design. This gap between borrower and Bank documents suggests several possibilities: that the borrower does not prioritize gender concerns to the extent that the Bank does or that greater levels of scrutiny exists at earlier stages of project preparation (hence the attention to gender). Inconsistencies in preparation and implementation documentation: Attention to gender is most evident in PADs and less so in implementation and supervision reports which suggests that the Bank does not follow through on gender concerns in implementation documents. A ranking exercise which assessed gender consistency, quality, and outcomes in 18 projects in the design and implementation phases (see Annex III and IV) found that while 56 percent of PADs (10 out of 18) included gender analysis and activities in their design, only 4 of these 10 projects were given a high ranging of “A� because commitments at the PAD stage were not carried out in implementation. For instance, the VWRAP project has gender mainstreaming elements in its planning phase, but the absence of information in implementation documents means there are no indications to determine whether these were carried out or not. For some projects, the reverse tendency was observed. The Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction and Forest Protection projects did not mention gender in the design phase yet are examples of good practice of attention to gender during project implementation. This review also found that project documentations are an imperfect means of assessing the quality of gender impacts and intentions. For example, the aide memoires of Rural Finance II did not have gender content, yet counterpart reports contained sex-disaggregated data as well as gender sensitive impacts arising from the project. In fact, the partnership between the WU and Vietnam Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (VBARD) has resulted in increasing women’s access to credit. It should also be noted that the PMU of the Bank for Investment Development of Vietnam (BIDV) began to record sex-disaggregated data following upon a Bank supervision mission request in 2005 (as reported by the PMU). Thus positive gender impacts are evident through formal documentation (PADs, supervisions reports etc) but also at times occur though informal means and are not recorded Bank sector staff believe field results are better indicators of positive gender outcomes. Related to the above point, several Bank sector staff interviewed (Urban Upgrading Project) report that the actual participation by women in project level activities is very high, and that 9 while often PPMUs collect gender sensitive data, much of these efforts remains hidden due to various reasons including time constraints for formal recording. The Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children project (PEDC) trains both male and female teachers and at least for the Dak Nong PPMU of Dak Min district, the project collects sex-disaggregated data. Yet these activities are not reflected in the Bank’s project documentation. While VWRAP aide memoires appear gender blind, the portfolio survey results show that VWRAP has gender sensitivity targets related to irrigation components. Here, about one-third of water user organization leaders and one-third of capacity building training is earmarked for women. Thus in these instances, there were concerted efforts by the Bank to encourage PMUs to move forward on gender equality goals which were not reflected in aide memoires or elsewhere. 2.4 Field Findings Site visits were made to seven projects in four provinces to gather information on gender integration at project levels. Annex VII lists the meetings held with key stakeholders from these seven projects. Sectoral and geographical variation, logistics and PPMU availability determined project selection. At each project site, PPMU staff, project beneficiaries, and representatives from the WUs were interviewed. In total, three focus group discussions, six household interviews were carried out with women, ethnic minorities and youth. Two- schools were visited as well. Interviews with district officials and PMU, PPMU staff focused on how their agencies understand gender goals; and to learn whether there are discernable differences among PMUs/PPMUs in their understanding of gender and development. Field visits then compared these interviews with on-the-ground practices of gender integration. Table 2. Visited project sites Name of Project District Province Sector 1. CBRIP Quy Chau Nghe an Rural 2. Forest Protection and Rural Development Daklap DakNong Rural 3. Rural Finance II Hai Hau Nam Dinh Rural 4.Rural Transport II Nghi Xuan Nghe An Transport 5. Three cities sanitation project Da nang City Urban 6. HIV/AIDs prevention project Nghe An HD 7. Primary Education for Disadvantaged DakMin DakNong HD Children Knowledge of gender issues varied greatly across PMU and PPMUs. PMUs and PPMUs of projects with high social development content (community driven development, participation, capacity building, gender, and social inclusion) displayed a far greater understanding of and interest in gender issues than the staff of other types of projects. PMU and PPMU staff of CBRIP, HIV/AIDs and Rural Finance showed an understanding of the differential impacts that projects and programs have on women and men; and that their efforts are not gender neutral (“we have to create favorable conditions for women�20); and that gender based analysis was integral to the success of their work. These staff showed how gender was integrated into project design, for example by targeting sex workers, collecting gender disaggregated data, formation of women’s groups, ensuring women’s representation in 20 CBRIP PMU Director. Interview on 18 April 2006. 10 decision making bodies; and hiring female project in substantial numbers.21 These project staff identified challenges that had a gender dimension (“women are less likely to seek counsel for HIV/AIDs compared to men� or “ethnic minority women are especially more difficult to reach due to geographic and language barriers�). Thus it was evident that efforts were made to meaningfully factor gender into their project design. In projects where a gender dimension was not central to its objectives, design or implementation (e.g.. Rural Transport II), the gender implications were not immediate or evident.22 These projects were gender blind in the sense that their objectives are to provide benefits and services to all poor and geographically marginalized populations which of course includes women. Not having an explicit gender focus meant that sex-disaggregated data are not collected but perhaps more importantly, we do not have an understanding of how such projects (typically energy, infrastructure) impact men and women differently.23 Further research on how to address gender in projects where there are no obvious implications is needed. But while PMU/PPMU staff expressed support for better integration of gender at project levels, they underscored the importance of obtaining empirical evidence to support gender mainstreaming efforts. It was felt that while most government officials are open in theory to integrating gender concerns in the conception, design, and implementation of projects, they need practical examples, and supporting quantitative data which demonstrates that including gender specific designs will result in better project outcomes. Box 4. Voices from the field • Gender concept is very new. Very few people understand it correctly. People think of it biologically. (Male PMU staff, HIV/AIDS) • CBRIP is the first project to link up with gender issues. This is the first time women can go and vote for subprojects. (PPMU Director, CBRIP). • Rural communities are interested in roads. They need roads for better access to hospitals, schools, and other services. While we don’t bring the gender issue as the first priority of the project, rural areas have mostly women and older people therefore they directly benefit. (PPMU, Deputy Director, Rural Transport II). • CBRIP contributes to democracy. That means deciding, speaking up, consulting. (Female CBRIP commune member). • To encourage better attendance of women at meetings, we need to give them a per diem. These women attend these meetings at a cost to their household and agricultural work. Some women left their villages at 4 am to attend this meeting (CPCC Member, CBRIP) 21 Forty nine percent or 1187 of CBRIP staff are female at the commune level. Source: CBRIP PPMU Director. April 19 meeting. 22 Two female PPMU staff for Rural Transport II were interviewed. These women were engineers by training but were not currently involved in project implementation. In terms of gender relations at the PPMU, they felt male and female staffs were treated equally, even when they took maternity leave. They felt there were no differences in terms of promotions, area of work, and both indicated they exercised agency in choosing their respective career paths 23 Members of the Women’s Union from Rural Transport II in Nghi Thau commune were interviewed on 21 April 2006. All women in this commune were members of the WU which primarily mobilizes women to participate in commune activities, health care (especially family planning) and supports leisure (here social and sporting) activities for women. The WU’s has participated in construction work as part of voluntary contributions in government road projects. 11 The most effective institutions in addressing gender were the local ones. There appeared a positive correlation between the centrality of gender concerns at project levels with the involvement of Women’s Unions in project activities. This was evident in interviews with PMU/PPMU but also at grass root levels. If the WUs were involved, then gender was given heavier considerations by project staff, by beneficiaries, and of course by the WU. In all project sites, the Women’s Union (WU) emerged as the proactive, engaged local institution fighting for gender issues.24 Almost all female beneficiaries who participated in focus group discussions were WU members perhaps meaning that those who participate in the WU become more publicly engaged although it could mean that more proactive women choose to become members in the first place. Communes typically had high WU membership rates. For example, 100 percent of adult females (18-55) in Chau Binh commune (CBRIP site) joined the WU. Among the Chau Binh women interviewed, all had their names on Land Title Certificates, they had developed their own “self-help� rotational credit schemes, and had support mechanisms for less fortunate members of the commune (a 44 year old widow had twins with severe disabilities was supported in modest ways by the WU). The WU played a key role in the micro-credit component of the Urban projects and has a close collaboration with VBARD in the Rural Finance II project to contribute to increasing women’s access to micro-credit. Field assessments indicate that women have considerably participated in and benefited from project implementation. Most of the projects examined remain in the implementation phase. Of the seven projects reviewed, the CBRIP, HIV/AIDs, Rural Finance II, Forest Protection and Rural Development and Three Cities Sanitation projects appeared especially strong in their attention to gender in that they seek to empower women by giving them some direct control over development benefits. CBRIP was especially strong in its attention to gender concerns: women were active participants in meetings, they engaged regularly in all aspects of project consultations, they were catalysts in identifying sub-projects based on their specific needs. The project is designed to engage women in project design, monitoring and sub-projects selection. All these activities were viewed as empowering by CBRIP female beneficiaries. The survey results showed over 28 percent of all participants/trainees (16 projects with 22,000 trainees) were women. The table below showed the participation of women in some particular projects Table 3. Women’s participation in some projects Projects % of women trained, consulted Reasons for percentage outcome with at the grassroots level Three Cities Sanitation 83% This project had an explicit micro- finance Project component designed for women Primary Education for 56% Women dominate in the primary education Disadvantage Children sector, therefore they are majority of the project beneficiaries Community Based 42% Emphasis on community’s and women’s Rural Infrastructure participation in the project activities (as in Project Community Based Rural Infrastructure (CBRIP) in and Forest Protection and Rural Development projects (FPRDP)). 24 The Vietnam Women’s Union was established in 1946. In 1988, the Government decreed that the Women’s Union be consulted and involved in any discussions on policies relating to women and children and at all levels of government. 12 2.5 Findings of the PMU/PPMU Survey Women remain under-represented in key project positions. When examining the status of women in PMUs, PPMUs, it was evident that they remain in supportive or administrative roles rather in positions which carry decision making power on the operations or managerial front. (See Chart 1). With increased influence and decision-making, the presence and voice of women become less evident in PMU/PPMU staffing. At the commune levels (i.e. Community Development Boards or Commune Coordination Committees), women’s participation was more difficult to assess since there was no data available to guide our assessment. While typically there is the presence of a WU representative at the commune levels, observations from seven projects indicated overall low levels of representation. The more “technical� or “harder� sectors such as infrastructure saw less representation of women compared to CDD, social development type projects such as CBRIP. Elsewhere, project staff in other countries have emphasized the importance of Bank staff encouragement and support for female government staff in responsible project positions. M&E frameworks are typically not gender sensitive. Gender sensitive indicators are not integrated into the monitoring and evaluation framework of lending projects, and data is seldom sex-disaggregated. Only three of 18 PADs had one sex-disaggregated indicator in the project performance indicators. Since PMUs/PPMUs collect data based on the project performance indicators in the project design, it is important to early include indicators that collect data on poor and vulnerable groups, including women. Chart 1. Staff profile of CPMUs and PPMUs (%) 86 90 80 70.4 67.5 70 53 60 47 50 32.5 Men 40 29.6 Wom en 30 14 20 10 0 Manager Operational staff Support Staff Consultant So how integrated is gender in investment projects through PMU/PPMUs survey? Survey results of from 16 projects indicated that these projects were responsive to gender mainstreaming in the following ways: 38 percent collected sex-disaggregated data; 25 percent carried out gender training; 31 percent integrated gender in supervision reports; 38 percent of projects carried out studies with a gender dimension (Chart 2). This modest percentage is not surprising: the TORs for technical experts of these projects seldom were attentive to 13 gender considerations. None of the TORs of projects related to natural resources, irrigation, disaster mitigation, water resources assistance were attentive to gender issues despite the fact that some of these projects (i.e. the Natural Disaster Project and VWRAP) have clear gender implications. In VWRAP, there was inconsistency between PMU reporting of gender mainstreaming compared to PPMU reporting gender mainstreaming. The PMU reported that they collected sex-disaggregated data and they supervised gender impacts, and they carried out a study with gender impacts which the PPMU was unaware of. Chart 2. Gender integration activities in the Bank’s projects (% projects) 80 75 62.5 60 56.2 56.2 yes 40 37.5 37.5 no 31.3 yes/no(differ am ong subprojects) 25 20 6.2 6.2 6.2 0 2.6 Sectoral findings Rural Development: The rural development sector was assessed as highly gender sensitive: of the nine rural projects examined, seven incorporated gender in project design, and two others (FRDP and Northern Mountains) did well in implementation. Of the 12 PIMS reviewed, 4 addressed gender (Northern Mountains Poverty Reduction and Community Based Infrastructure Development, Natural Disaster Risk Management and Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children). Thus four of the 12 PIMs examined were from the rural sector. In these projects, women were explicitly included as target beneficiaries. Our survey results indicated that between 30-50 percent of all project beneficiaries of CBRIP, ADP, Rural Finance 2 and FPRDP projects are women. RD project beneficiaries are more gender aware: the women in Chau Binh Commune (Nghe An province) and Dao Nghia Commune (DakNong province) expressed positive lifestyle outcomes resulting from better roads and transportation which has brought health centers, markets, and schools to their lives. These improvements appear to have increased the opportunities for women to enjoy more leisure time: women during household interviews said they have increased time for commune activities, WU meetings, and sporting and cinema events with increased access to services including markets. While there appears positive anecdotal evidence suggesting that projects impact women positively, it is not possible to make assessment regarding whether these benefits are fundamental, sustainable and truly attributable to Bank supported interventions. 14 Finally, of the sectors examined, RD appears to most directly support government goals regarding gender initiatives. RD’s support of POA2 objectives is evident in the Agricultural Diversification project which facilitates job creation through rubber plantations, husbandry, and diversification of agricultural production. This would directly support POA2 goals of employment creation for women. RD has also promoted issuance of LTCs which has increased credit opportunities for women and a gender responsive land administration system. RD has also contributed to increasing women’s access to credit. For additional information on the linkages between the Bank’s work, and support for POA2 goals see Annex II. The Urban Sector projects have a micro-finance component which typically impact women positively. While neither the Three Cities, Coastal Cities Sanitation or Water Supply Development projects explicitly address gender issues, they draw on the WUs for micro- finance management. One could argue that the revolving funds help to realize Target 4 (Objective 1 of POA2) on women’s access to loans since almost all borrowers are women but this is not a conclusive statement. There are indirect positive health on both women and men via improvement of sanitation and reduction of environmental pollution as reported by the PPMU in Danang City. Urban Upgrading project is an exception, where both men and women have actively participated in the community based component of the project. The Human Development sector projects (HIV/AIDs, Mekong Health, Primary Teacher Development and Primary Education for Disadvantaged Children) target beneficiaries neutrally with the exception of HIV/AIDs which has activities designed for sex workers, and a mother to child prevention program. There are some efforts to integrate gender in the project design of the Primary Education for Disadvantaged. The health and education sectors both involve large numbers of women, and are a concern for women, hence regardless of the gender focus, women benefit from these projects. Projects such as Rural Transport II, Road safety, ICT Development had negligible attention to gender. Typically the social analysis carried out by these projects focused on ethnic minority issues, resettlement, poverty or access to information. Short “Gender notes� were developed for the TTLs during project preparation for the ICT Development and Road Safety Projects in FY04 to identify how gender issues should be addressed by these projects. Yet no follow up was made in terms of addressing gender in the project documents of both design and implementation stages. 2.7 Gender and the Bank’s ESW in Vietnam Select analytical work has high gender content. The review of select ESWs indicated that gender is mainstreamed in certain sectors, but is absent in others. A review of some key analytical work during the last CAS period (seventeen studies – see Annex VIII) shows high gender content for some sectors. Some sectors (EASPR and EASRD) had very high gender content in their AAA work. EASRD and EASPR’s analytic work typically had very good gender analysis which included concerted efforts to understand how social diversity (including gender) affects access to assets and opportunities, and whether gender is a significant category around which a particular sector or activity is organized (i.e., whether male/female differences matter etc). The Vietnam Rural Strategy (2005) has gender sensitive indicators of exclusion, vulnerability in the context of rural development (i.e. their constraints on acquiring work skills, capital, and issues of poverty). 15 EASPR’s poverty analysis work tends to effectively integrate gender through gender sensitive analysis of the VHLSS, and through gender disaggregated data pointing out to problem areas, directions, and well as areas of success. Of the documents reviewed, the VDR 2004 on Poverty had very high gender content: it disentangles the characteristics of the poor, especially women and children; it provides “voices� of the poor, especially women through vignettes; it provides data on within household aspects of poverty which has strong gender content. The 2006 VDR on Business also delivers gender relevant analyses in its attention to the disparities of earnings by sex, in its data on female household entrepreneurs; and interestingly in a section devoted to gender equality women in the private sector (their share in managerial positions, job satisfaction, status as migrant workers and the nature of labor contracts). The 2006 VDR’s results at least for female business owners is largely positive: 54 percent of surveyed women felt there were no gender differences in “being taken seriously as a business owner.�25 The 2004 Primary Education Quality report on a reading and mathematics assessment study provides clear sex-disaggregated data (reading scores of boys and girls by region, enrollments rates by sex, teachers and pupil achievement by sex and school location etc) as a means to inform education policy development. Gender is either absent or dealt with superficially in other sectors. Even in instances where much closer attention would have been expected, some reports reviewing impacts of participatory aspects of development (2002 Participatory Provincial study, jointly with OXFAM) omits how gender concerns were taken into account, despite project objectives being to share information related to poverty alleviation among beneficiaries. A 2005 forest study examines the overall policy framework for state forest enterprise reform but the impacts on women (both positive and negative) of SFEs are not addressed. A 2006 Private Higher Education frames its issues around the private financing of higher education and the regulatory/legislative framework in the absence of gender considerations although the report recommends improving transparency and information to beneficiaries with data including on job placements which omit gender differences. Elsewhere, attention to gender is uneven or heterogeneous. A 2004 report on public administration reform (Citizen’s Report Card in Vietnam) leaves out gender considerations entirely despite its subject matter having to do with gender issues of known relevance: generating specific citizen/user feedback on services dealing with issues of women’s participation, demand for services, and collective action. Other reports (2005 Agricultural Diversification report) mention gender in passing reference (i.e. that agricultural diversification will improve gender equality; that livestock is a key generator of income for women; the importance of WUs, etc). In somewhat of a contrast to the later VDRs, the 2003 report Delivering on its Promise does not cover gender issues comprehensively or in depth compared to later similar reports. In its next steps section, the importance of accessing and controlling land for gender equality is mentioned; and women are mentioned alongside other disadvantaged groups (ethnic minorities, unregistered migrants etc). 25 VDR 2006:29. 16 2.8 Task Team Leader Survey on Gender To complement the ESW review and field assessment, a short survey was carried out among Bank sector staff in June 2006 which indicated that sector staff believes gender is adequately addressed in Vietnam but more could be done. Of a potential sample size of 132,26 28 (or 21 percent) responded from the human development, infrastructure, PREM sectors including one response from the Hanoi front office). There were five questions regarding: how staff factor gender into their work; motivations for including gender; and ideas for facilitating gender work. The area of focus of each Task Team Leader/Bank staff was also requested. Respondents were also asked whether the Vietnam Country Team sufficiently addressed gender concerns. The final question provided an opportunity for comments (see Annex V). For the first question, 33 percent responded that gender ranked very highly in their work, 59 percent responded neutrally; whereas 7 percent felt gender did not factor into their work program in Vietnam. For the second question on the factors that lead the TTL to include gender, the three primary reasons in descending order were (i) sector interest in gender, (ii) personal view point on gender and (iii) WB corporate interest in gender. Regarding what would make the TTL include gender work more in their program, 50 percent said they would do it if they had more resources, 40 percent said they would do it if they had more time, 36 percent said they would do it if easy, practical and relevant guidance were given to them and 40 percent agreed that all of the above mentioned factors would make them include gender more in their program while another 11 percent said none of these factors would work for them. Most of the respondents work on both operations and AAA (50 percent), while 43 percent work solely on operation and another 7 percent engaged exclusively in AAA. A majority of the TTLs (57 percent) felt that the Vietnam office currently pays sufficient attention to gender. A mere 4 percent felt that too much attention was paid. Seven staff members provided open-ended comments. These set of comments essentially affirmed the importance of the gender agenda to the Bank: • “need to be aware of/look at reproductive risks/morbidity….for poor and non-poor women�; • “we don’t really have a gender agenda in the energy sector, especially not working on the power sector….we are now working on the impacts of rural electrification which will disaggregate gender impacts to some extent�; • “Gender consideration should be taken into account on all project cycles and identify clear and simple indicators to follow up.� 2.9 Partnerships The Bank has a good relationship with the National Committee for the Advancement of Women (NCFAW) and Ministry of Planning and Investment (MPI) - the main government bodies in charge of implementation of the National Strategy for the Advancement of Women 26 Not all from the sample survey were expected to respond as the survey was intended for Task Team Leader. The email distribution group included procurement, financial, social, environmental staff and others whose area of work is not impacted by gender or who are cross support staff. 17 in Vietnam. These are the channels by which dialogue with the government on gender issues is carried out. This is also the important channel by which significant government documents such as CPRGS, SEDP and POA2, POA3 are discussed. Workshops on gender and SEDP and on VGA and POA2, POA3 were held in close collaboration with NCFAW and MPI to discuss on how best to integrate gender into five year SEDP for 2006-2010 and what are priority gender issues to be addressed in the upcoming five years. The Bank remains in close dialogue with NCFAW, and attempts are made to harmonize efforts in gender. To date, there have been no capacity building efforts to strengthen the government machinery on gender issues with the exception of regional workshops, and analytical work. The Bank’s comparative advantage at present is viewed to reside in analytical and lending work with other bi-lateral and multi-lateral partners to provide specific support to institutions mandated to address gender issues or women’s equality. Gender -specific dialogue has also been carried out with MONRE on the Land Titling Certificates. This dialogue contributed to a change in the law which will have long term impacts. This is a good lesson of working directly with the line ministries to address specific sector gender issues With other agencies, the dialogue on gender, where this has existed, has been within the context of specific projects. Donor harmonization on gender issues, especially with the ADB, DFID, and CIDA has been exceptionally strong and has resulted in the joint Vietnam Gender Assessment to establish a common framework for addressing gender issues in Vietnam. The Bank is an active member of the Gender Action Partnership group (GAP), chaired by NCFAW and comprised mostly of donors, NGOs and some government organizations. The GAP contributes to CG meeting’s partnership notes, which reflect the main gender related activities during previous six months. There has been concern expressed by donors and others that gender has not received sufficient attention in the PRSC credits. This review echoes that concern and the need to recognize the challenge of using the PRSC as a vehicle for addressing gender issues. 2.10 How the Bank is internally organized to address gender issues in Vietnam There are several positions which entail direct and indirect responsibilities on the gender agenda in Vietnam. The Bank country gender coordinator (CGC) has responsibility for leading most of the in-country gender efforts including on policy dialogue, input to lending projects, development of AAAs among other activities. During the CAS period under review, the following activities were undertaken: ƒ Promoting policy dialogue with the government and donors, NGOs and others regarding gender equality issues, by maintaining an on-going relationship and dialogue with NCFAW, and by representing the Bank on the GAP Group. ƒ Managing specific activities to address priority issues and support mainstreaming in the Bank’s program such as the pilot projects on Land Titling Certificates, a gender- mainstreaming fund (one year only), Capacity building on gender sensitive implementation of CPRGS and the current gender assessment; ƒ Helping to mainstream gender through identifying priority projects and AAA that are of strategic importance and providing advice to TTLs; ƒ Providing cross support to Task Teams as requested to provide gender-related inputs; 18 ƒ Carrying out periodic monitoring and reviews of progress and reporting on this to the Country Director.27 The CGC works part time on gender, and is required to focus where there are either identified budgets for specific activities, or else upon the request of the Task Team Leaders. Previously, when flexible budget was provided for “gender mainstreaming�, monitoring and provision of advice to TTLs was carried out systematically and strategically, focusing on those activities identified as being priorities from a gender perspective. However, when separate budgets to be used at the CGCs discretion are not provided, the CGC provides advice or input as requested by TTLs i.e. opportunistically, rather than strategically. With so many competing institutional requirements and compliance issues, TTLs rarely place a priority or allocate their scarce resources on gender. More usually, safeguards is the entry point for the CGC involvement on a task team, allowing her to also look at the gender aspects - usually of her own volition, and often, in her own time. The Regional Gender Coordinator provides back-up support as required, and organizes the regional activities to which Vietnam teams are invited such as the Gender and PRSP, and Gender and Economic Policy, workshops. Finally, the Country Director ensures identification of issues to be undertaken and helps ensure that Country Assistance or Partnership strategies respond to issues identified. Sector Managers who are typically Washington based are responsible for ensuring relevant sector activities respond appropriately. 27 This reporting is manifested in part via desk reviews which are carried out and to report on future directions. Examples of montoring includes two desk reviews for 11 selected projects for FY04 and 17 projects for FY05 (see Annex 1) were conducted to assess the level of gender integration into project activities to recommend measures to enhance gender impact of the projects. Six policy notes on gender equality for six concept notes of the pipeline projects (four for FY04 and two for FY05) were sent to TTLs to suggest areas, where gender could be integrated into project design. 19 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 3.1 Conclusions After reviewing the different aspects of the Bank’s work in Vietnam, the analysis of issues carried out in preparation of the last CAS, and the responses to the priorities identified in the following conclusions can be drawn: The Bank has supported and contributed to the Government efforts to reduce gender inequalities, by (i) helping to identify priority gender issues (SEDP, POA3, CGA); (ii) continuing to support institutions (capacity building for gender sensitive implementation of CPRGS, gender sensitive planning manual, regional workshops on PRSP and on Gender and Economic Policies); (iii) contributing to the knowledge bank on gender in the country by analytical work (2005 Forward-looking Strategies to promote Gender equity in Vietnam; 2006 Gender analysis of 2004 Vietnam Household Living Standard Survey; 2004 VDR on Poverty and 2006 VDR on Business; 2006 IFC-MPDF survey on women business owners; Country Gender Assessment…); and (iv) helping reach POA2’s goals through investment projects (Rural Development , Human Development and Infrastructure projects) and specific gender related activities (Land Tenure Certificates with joint title). The Bank worked mostly through its sectoral activities and AAA in doing this, and did little to help develop the institutions or frameworks in the country for promoting gender equality. Also there was some lack of consistency with which the gender issues were addressed and much was done on an opportunistic rather than a strategic basis. The Bank was reasonably successful in implementing the OP/BP: The Country Director provided leadership as required in the BP and the skills were available in-country to help. There was more variable response from the sectors. Regular monitoring was undertaken and the dialogue with the government and other partners was maintained throughout the period. Improvements could still be made in providing a more systematic response for which some additional resources would need to be provided. PRSC has been a useful lending instrument for policy dialogue on gender issues but with limitations: The policy dialogue on Land Use Certificates was reflected in the PRSC, but overall, the gender issues were not as well represented in PRSC as they might have been. However, to use it effectively as an instrument, good data and analysis is required, and agreement on key priorities. There is also an issue in that the main counterpart for PRSCs lacks the necessary time and capacity to work on the government side to identify appropriate gender priority issues to be put into PRSCs, and the state institutions promoting gender equality have not been included in the discussions and lack the experience of using policy based instruments to achieve their goals. Finally, it is not clear how the impact of the PRSC in reducing gender disparities will be monitored. Implementing agencies are more responsive than before: The responsiveness of the implementing agencies varies, but they are more receptive than before. However, implementing agencies are still, to a large extent, responding to Bank encouragement, rather than to the Government’s policies and programs. TTLs play an important role and some have proved exemplary in their attention to gender, which has had an impact on the way the implementing agency approaches it. Integration of gender in design has improved, but there 20 is a lack of consistency in the way this carries through to implementation and is reported. Monitoring indicators are critical for successful and more consistent gender mainstreaming. Management support is necessary to provide more funds and incentives for promoting gender equality. Analytical work had made good progress but needs greater consistency and better targets: Some good pieces of gender-responsive analytical work have been carried out. However, the integration of gender has once again been inconsistent, and depends more on the commitment of the TTL to the issue rather than a response to an identified strategic priority. Internal processes do not provide a set of incentives that are conducive to supporting gender mainstreaming. Resources have been provided for analytical work, and trust funds can be usefully leveraged to support gender work. However, there are limited incentives in the Bank for cross-sectoral work for non-mandated activities. Thus even though gender skills are in the country office, they are supposed to respond to demand from TTLs who are also expected to pay out of their own budgets. There is little demand for gender-specific skills from another sector except from a few dedicated TTLs. Responding to demand from TTLs in this way makes it difficult to take a strategic approach as proposed in the Bank’s policies. One way around this has been to link the skills with safeguards functions which are mandated to give better “value-added�. Several factors have contributed to making the progress that has been made since the last review of gender in the portfolio: these include strong Country Management leadership, role of the country gender coordinator, and the existence of a good country policy and institutional framework on gender equality. In addition, where the Sector management has sent clear signals on their commitment to gender mainstreaming, as has been the case in rural development, this has had a major impact on the task teams – and is, arguably, the most important factor. However, after a good start and progress early in the last CAS period progress dropped off during 2005-06. Some years after the joint gender assessment progress, cohesion among donors on the priorities was reduced, and it became increasingly difficult to get consensus for example on the priority gender policy issues for inclusion in the PRCS. Moreover, some donors were disappointed with the lead being taken by NCFAW despite significant resources spent on increasing their capacity. NCFAWs main challenge was that without sufficient resources of their own they needed to respond opportunistically to get money from wherever they could. In many ways, this reflected the challenges faced in many of the donor agencies, including the Bank, whereby decreasing resources for gender mainstreaming per se resulted in those whose responsibility it was acting less strategically and more opportunistically. Responding to the donors’ criticism of the Bank’s efforts in gender mainstreaming, the country management asked for a second gender assessment to be prepared, together with this evaluation. 3.2 Recommendations PRSC gender-specific targets should link with priority gender issues identified by the recent CGA and to be in line with SEDP and POA3. A stand alone program of analyses with potential operational support would help to implement PRSC targets more effectively. The potential topics should be identified in the CAS and agreed with management and task team so that a program of action can be prepared. 21 Priority investment projects and analytical work should be identified and agreed with Country Director and TTLs. Systematic review of PCNs, PADs, DPOs, KPIs, ISRs and ICRs and periodical summary of the findings of these reviews should be conducted to ensure gender issues to be well addressed in the identified projects/work. Annual meeting with PMUs and key counterparts to share the experiences in gender related activities should be considered as a capacity building activity to promote gender integration in the priority projects Analytical work on gender issues should be identified based on the priorities defined by the CGA and the Country Social Analysis study (currently underway). It should be linked very closely with the PRSCs and operations. Experience in Vietnam and elsewhere points the need to undertake a gender analysis jointly with other donors and the government in line with the five yearly national planning process to ensure evidence based identification of priorities and consensus building around these. Budgets for Gender Mainstreaming: While significant amount of gender work can be done through integration in mainstream budgets, a separate budget is still required to identify the most strategic entry points, and monitor that resources are used efficiently and in response to identified priorities, for example through regular reviews of upstream documents and periodic monitoring of outcomes and impacts. Without this while good work may be done, the incremental impacts on promotion of gender equality are reduced and often unnoticed. Also, the coordination required to work across sectors internally, with donor agencies, and with different agencies in government requires staff time, and should be recognized with budgets and in performance monitoring so it does not become an unfunded mandate. Counterparts: The Bank’s main counterpart for promoting gender equality is the NCFAW. In this respect, we have an obligation to support the work of NCFAW according to our comparative advantage. Our comparative advantage lies in the fact that we have strong and somewhat influential relationships with other counterpart agencies in government with whom NCFAW tries to work with and influence, and we can use these relationships to support NCFAW, ensure entry points for NCFAW, and reinforce the government’s own messages on gender equality with them. We do not have a comparative advantage in institutional strengthening of national machineries for women or gender and therefore no specific direct support to NCFAW is recommended. 22 Annex I List of reviewed projects in June 2004 and June 2005 Reviewed documents Sector No. Project name June 2004 June 2005 Rural 1 VN Agriculture Diversification PAD and latest AMs of 10.02, 03.03 and Supervision Mission AM of 03.05 and 10.04 and Project 1 05.04 Report on Inspecting, Monitoring of Land Allocation 2 VN Forest Protection and Rural Based on AM of 10.03, 04.03 and 12.02. Supervision Mission Aide-Memoire of 11.04 and 06.04 Development Project 3 Community Based Rural PAD, Interim Report 05.04, Supervision AMs Supervision Mission Aide-Memoire of 04.05 and 11.04 Infrastructure Project of 05.04, 02.04 and 05.03 4 Natural Disaster Risk Management PAD, Pre-appraisal Follow up Mission AM of 14.03.05 Project & A practical guide for CBDRM 5 VN Water Resource Assistance PAD and Gender Mainstreaming into Water Supervision mission Aide-Memoire of 03.05,10.04 and Project Resources Assistance Project Report Project monitoring report of March 05 6 VN Coastal Wetland Protection and Interim Review AM of 04.04, Mid-term Supervision Mission AM of 02.05 and of 07.04 Development Project Review AM of 06.03, and Review mission AM of 12.02 7 NMPR PAD, Mid-term Review AM of 04.04, Interim Supervision Aide Memoire at 05.05 and 11.04 Supervision AM of 12.03, and Third Supervision AM of 10.03 8 Rural Finance II Project PAD and latest AMs of 01.04, 07.03 and Review Mission Aide-Memoire at 11.04 09.02 9 VN Forest Sector Development PAD Not yet Supervision Mission Project 10 VN Poor commune Infrastructure & PCN Livelihood 11 VN Agriculture Diversification PCN Project 2 HD 1 National EFA Plan Implementation PAD, Feasibility Report Review of 01.05 and Pre- Appraisal Mission Aide-Memoire of 10.04 2 VN Primary Education for PAD and Supervision Aide Memoire at 06.04 Joint Supervision Missions AM of 05.05 and 11.04 Disadvantaged children Project and at 12.03 3 Mekong Delta Health Support PAD (First draft); Pre-appraisal Mission AM of 04.05 Project and Advance Preparation Mission AM of 09.04 4 Primary Teacher Development PAD and Supervision AMs of 03.04, 12.03 Mid-Term Review AM of 12.04 and Supervision Project and 05.03 Mission AM of 06.04. 5 VN Second Higher Education First Higher Education Project: Supervision Mission Second Higher Education Project: Preparation Mission AM of 05.05 6 HIV/AIDS PCN PAD of March 2005 Others 1 VN Urban Upgrading Project PAD and Gender Mainstreaming into Urban First Supervision Mission AM Upgrading Project Report 2 Road Safety PCN PAD at May 05 3 ICT Project PCN PAD of April 05, Appraisal Mission AM of 05.05 & Pre-Appraisal II Mission AM of 03.05 Total 20 24 Annex II POA2 Objectives and Bank’s Contribution POA2 Objectives Targets Planned Achievement Bank’s contribution WOMEN’S EQUAL RIGHT IN Increase ratio of women 40% 46.50% Agricultural diversification; NMPRP (employment and poverty LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT labor/total newly created reduction, access to irrigation, agricultural inputs, extension, market); jobs. Positive gender VN - Marine Protected Area Pilot; PRSC; Study on the impact of trade structure movement in liberalization on the poor including women. employment Increased the amount of 75% 80.20% NMPRP (employment and poverty reduction, access to irrigation, labor time for women in agricultural inputs, extension, market); Rural transport 1,2,3 (women’s rural agricultural sector access to markets…); Forestry Protection and Rural Development (land allocation, access to small infrastructure under SSG, access to agricultural support services such as extension, technology transfer and credit, access to rural infrastructure such as irrigation, road upgrading); Agricultural Diversification Project (LUCs in joint names, access to agricultural extension and training, access to credit); Coastal wetlands protection and development; CBRIP; PCLIP; VN-Marine Protected Area Pilot; Forest Sector Development Project; Water Resource Assistance Project; Rural energy 1, 2; Mekong Transport and Flood Protection; Inland Waterway and Port Rehabilitation; Mekong Water Resources Management project (access to irrigation, water supply and sanitation); Land joint titling project. VUUP (revolving fund for production development); ICT project; Decrease unemployment from 6.98 % in rate of women in urban 5-6% 2001 to 6.14% in area 2005 80% 70% Coastal Wetlands Conservation (credit, extension/technology transfer for Poor women headed women in buffer zones); VN-Marine Protected Area Pilot; Rural Finance households got loans 2 project (women’s access to credit and financial services);- VUUP, from poverty reduction Three cities sanitation, Urban water supply development, Land joint program titling. POA2 Objectives Targets Planned Achievement Bank’s contribution 50% NA Percentage of women in total credit borrowers by 2005 Poor women headed 50% 44-45% households got loans from the policy bank (as an example) Illiteracy elimination rate 95% 96.87% Education for all project WOMEN’S EQUAL RIGHT IN for women under 40 EDUCATION years old Percentage of women in 30% 30.10% Primary Teacher Development Project; Higher Education total post graduate students 30% 20.45% Primary Teacher Development; Primary education for disadvantage Increase percentage of children; Education for All project women labor to be trained Percentage of women 20% 15.46% labor receiving vocational and skill training Ratio of women officials 30% 30% Primary Teacher Development; Primary education for disadvantage got political, children; Education for All project administrative, computer and foreign language training 71 71 National Health Support project; Population and Family Health project; Average life expectancy Health Fund for the Poor WOMEN’S EQUAL RIGHT IN for women HEALTH CARE 26 POA2 Objectives Targets Planned Achievement Bank’s contribution Pregnant getting 3 times 55% 53.40% Increased quality and quantity of the health care services and family of prenatal health checks planning services for women, improve state administration for health care activities for women (Health Fund for the Poor, NMPRP, Population and Family Health, CBRIP, Mekong Regional Health Support). Implementation of recommendations from the PER, Three Reduce mother mortality 80/100.000 80/100.000 Cities Sanitation rate Female access to 90% 90% healthcare services Health stations have 100% 93% midwife ENHANCE THE ROLE AND Women participation in 15% upwards 7.6% (central), Enhance women’s participation and empowerment of women (CBRIP, POSITION AND INCREASE Executive Party 11.01% VWRAP, NDMP, VUUP, PCLIP, ADP, FPRDP) THE PARTICIPATION OF Committees at all level (provincial), WOMEN IN LEADERSHIP 12.59% (district) AND DECISION MAKING and 11.35% (commune) Female representative at 30% 27.30% National Assembly Female participation in 28% 23.8% People Council (provincial/city), (provincial/city), Committee 23% (district), 23.01 and 18% (district/town) and (commune) 19.53% (commune/ward) CAPACITY BUILDING FOR Cadres working for the 100% 56.50% Capacity building for gender sensitive implementation of CPRGS. THE MACHINERY FOR THE advancement of women ADVANCEMENT OF WOMEN were trained on operation skills 27 POA2 Objectives Targets Planned Achievement Bank’s contribution Leaders at ministries, 100% 58.2 Gender training (CBRIP, VUUP, VWRAP…) departments, sectors and mass organizations at central level are educated with gender knowledge 28 ANNEX III Gender ranking criteria of gender portfolio analysis of WB selected projects FY 04- FY 06 Gender ranking criteria of gender portfolio analysis of World Bank selected projects A B C Project design28 Both key documents (PAD and Only one key documents (PAD or PIM) takes 1. None of the key documents refer to PIM/PIP or OM) mention gender/women issues consideration and gender/women issues women/gender issues and outline develops specific activities for gender concrete action plans or activities to integration in the project components 2. Gender is mentioned in only one of the key address the identified gender issues. documents but in the general way without Link between the PADs and PIM is Women/ Gender aspect may be presented in having evident efforts to develop activities seen in terms of gender concern. both key documents but in the general manner and usually without specific actions/measures to address it Implementation & Supervision29 Women/Gender issues are addressed in Gender is integrated in some project activities 1. Gender is not concerned in all the reviewed all reviewed documents for the period and several specific gender /women related documents of FY 04, 05 and 06, i.e. consistence of activities are implemented. But gender concerns is reflected. A plan gender/women issues are addressed only in 2. Gender is mentioned in only one among the for gender activities is developed and one or few among the reviewed documents. reviewed documents but without evident efforts implemented. (e.g. Sex-disaggregated The project missed good opportunities for to develop activities data collection, gender training, gender integration in certain components i.e. mechanism development to mobilize inconsistence of gender attention. women’s participation, etc.). Gender aspect is realized by only one side The positive change is recognized in (Bank or Borrower) terms of gender relations and women’s roles/empowerment. 28 Key documents reviewed are all PADs and selected PIM/PIP/OM. Not all PIM were reviewed due to time and document availability constraints 29 Key documents reviewed are supervisor mission, (pre-) appraisal and midterm review aide memoires produced in the FY 04, 05 and 06. It means mostly Bank’s documents. Additional the Borrower’s documents of the projects the team have field work with were also reviewed. 29 ANNEX IV Summary on Gender Portfolio Analysis of the Bank’s Selected Projects Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Community PAD, OM volume Gender is mentioned in all project A A Based Rural 1&4 documentation. • In PAD, a number of performance Infrastructure indicators do not include gender Project AMs of PAD and Operational Manual : disaggregated data and gender (CBRIP May 03 sensitive indicators PO 62748) May 04, Specific actions to involve women in CPCC • Number of women community Interim report May (e.g. one man and one woman in CPCC, facilitators, monitoring and 04, sub-project selection meeting hold maintenance group for construction Nov 04, separately for men and women, key PI is limited Apr 05, include % of W and EM in CPCC, WU • The reviewed AMs do not provide Oct 05 representation in meetings for preparation information on women of ethnic of representatives in CPCC and sub- minority (as in some project sites projects, village meeting should have at 100% of population are ethnic least 30% women participants. EM Action minority or characterized by Plan refers to Social structure and extremely high ethnic diversity). relationship in matriarchal system of some Therefore, gender issues may also ethnic minorities). be differing among ethnic minorities AMs are also attentive to gender issues as analyzing information of women’s participation in selection of sub-projects and emphasizes that women’s priorities often more weight than men’s. • Ratio of women participate in village meetings are reported at 50- 60% 30 • Specific activities to enhance gender awareness (e.g. gender training, development of modules on gender integration into CBRIP) • Sex- disaggregated data collected regularly in all project activities 31 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Agriculture PAD, PIP PAD: emphasizes on a number of gender • No gender included into the project B A Diversificatio AMs of Oct.02, issues (e.g., role of W in agric activities, performance indicators in PAD n Project 1 Mar.03, May.04, employment opportunities for W created by • Slow progress in preparation of Oct 04, the introduction of cultivation of rubber gender action plan 2005/2006. ADP Mar 05, and strengthening extension service for Gender activities often carried out Cr.3099-VN Nov 05, livestock). with delay or pending Report on • No information on participation of inspecting, PIP: gender is not mentioned in the PIP ethnic minority women monitoring of land • No information on women’s allocation AMs reveal a great attention to gender into participation as key farmers and in project activities: small rubber teams • No information on how Women’s - Project developed specific actions for Union works as implementing gender mainstreaming (e.g. development of partner of the livestock component. gender action plan, appointment of gender focal points, gender assessment of smallholder rubber component); formal arrangement with WU as implementing partner of the livestock component, usage of indicative “participation targets� for women in livestock component - Gender disaggregated data are presented in AMs (36% of participants in crop extension training are women, 28 % of borrowers (for crop credit) and 49% of borrowers (for livestock credit) are women; 30% of the participants in demonstration are women. 32 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision VN Forest PAD PAD: Gender is not reflected • Gender is not included into the C∗ A Protection project performance indicators in and Rural AMs of AMs provided information on PAD (except for one sex - Development Dec 02, gender/women related issues and activities: disaggregated data on farm forestry Project Oct 03, • LTCs have been issued in both groups) Apr. 03, names of husband and wife • No information on how women FPRDP June 04, • Women’s active participation in participating in demonstration as PO04839 Nov. 04, developing Commune Action Plan host farmers and visitors and in Sept 05, (CAP) and priority setting monitoring and supervision of the Mar 06 consultation and annual planning construction work workshop • Sex-disaggregated data (e.g, in • A gender action plan has been access to credit, training course and developed training workshop on an agriculture • Gender training organized and some extension and forest management) gender –disaggregated data was are not always provided. provided (e.g Women accounted for • ICR should include an analysis of 14% of participants of training for women’s contribution to realization leading farmers) and there is an of the project objectives. increase of women’s participation in training courses on agricultural extension and forest management) ∗ Based on PAD only 33 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Primary PAD, Operational In PAD: • No sex-disaggregated data in A B Education for Manual Gender quality is addressed in the Project EMIS, AMs (e.g. data on women Disadvantage AMs of development objectives. Technical Notes on and men teacher and head teacher d Children Dec 03, girl Education (annex 13) was prepared take part in training activities) PEDC June 04, analyzing analysis gender issues and • Information on women and men PO 44830 Nov 04 provided measures to address . The log in communes participating in May 05, frame provided for sex-disaggregated data project activities (e.g. in RNA and Nov 05, collection CPHVC) and in Parent Association; Operational Manual: and as enable community workers Manual has incorporated gender in (e.g in to identify the educational needs of the objective to improve access to primary children was not provided. school and the quality of education for • Though both men and women disadvantaged girls and boys, extra are beneficiaries, since teachers of curricular activities to encourage the the primary education level are attendance of girls and ethnic minority) about 90% of women30, issues to be AMs: A number of gender issues raised by addressed , e.g. quality of women’s the mission: Gender need to receive participation at higher level of attention in the PIP, explicit attention to management or leadership and in gender in decision making about policy development; lacking of appointment and assignment, training gender knowledge of teachers, sessions should be designed to take gender issues; a note that district audit are broken down by gender and EM and to merge with EMIS; the design of sanitary units has separate sections for girls and boys 30 This percentage is given by the CPMU of the PEDC 34 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Vietnam PAD, Ho Chi Minh PAD is attentive to gender: Gender is not included into the project B B Urban City project performance indicators. Upgrading Implementation Gender issues are raised in PAD (e.g. Project Plan edition 4, involving women equally in Planning Sex- disaggregated data are not AMs of process, specific focus on women’s available (e.g number of women in VUUP Dec 05 Nam dinh participation in community meetings and training and access to credit) PO 70197 City information dissemination, Women Union Dec 05 Haiphong is a partner in Housing Improvement Loan No information on women’s and men’s City Program, To ensure that women’s name participation in monitoring the Dec 05Cantho included into LUC) collecting and accounting their Dec 05 HCM City contribution under component 1; PIP (HUUP): Gender issues are almost not raised in the PIP, except for one sentence Tertiary Infrastructure Upgrading as mentioning WU as Implementing Partner well as in supervision of construction for Housing Improvement Loan Program and the Capacity Building component Component, including training activities) . AMs/Project implementation Gender should be seen as • Gender mainstreaming into the integrated/crosscutting issues in all project was developed project activities • AMs mentioned that women and men actively take part in project activities but no concrete data. WU has launched housing improvement loan The mission reminds the PMU on the agreement to include gender issues and sex-disaggregated data into every progress report 35 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Natural PAD, PIM PAD takes gender considerations: • Sex-disaggregated data not A B Disaster Risk Pre-Appraisal included in MIS/Performance Management Mission AM of - Gender consideration have been included Indicators Project Mar 05, in component 2 on CBDRM and in other • Not clear how gender is integrated NDRMP Proposed NDRMP components and projects, especially in in Capacity building and May 05, component 4, to ensure that women and Institutional Strengthening 1st supervision AM men have equal opportunities as Activities Nov 05, participants and beneficiaries of the project. • Gender training is not an integral A practical Guide part of the training program and for CBDRM - Implementations Arrangement institutional strengthening (component 2, annex 6) identified each activities. commune will nominate one man and one • Few women in CCCC if it is only woman as CFs based on the formal structure • Gender responsibility is not - PIM and CBDRM Operations Manual included in TOR of the project of is a good example of gender Consultants, CBDRM Advisers, integration, which indicated a very specific Specialist guidelines for promoting gender equality in CBDRM activities as: Participatory Risk, Capacity and Vulnerability assessment will include gender analysis and highlight any differences between men’s and women’s priorities in sub-project selection; WU will be consulted about proposed sub-projects; in all activities related to community consultation, information sharing , training, a target will equally be set for 50% women’s participation, baseline data will ensure sex-disaggregated data, set 36 measurable targets, and identify expected results and indicators. AMs Gender is planned to be integrated into different components, especially component 2 “ Community based Disaster Risk Management� and Component 4 “Project Management and Institutional Strengthening�; selecting one man and one woman as community facilitators. 37 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision PAD: Vietnam PAD, PIP, • PAD is shown to be attentive to Sex disaggregated data are not included in B B Water Gender gender issues the project performance indicators Resource mainstreaming (e.g. emphasize on women’s participation in Assistance report, AMs of construction , water use groups; gender Project monitoring report has not mentioned Project Oct 04, training for project management staff) how gender issues have been integrated in Mar 05, the project VWRAP Oct 05, PIP: Gender is not an area of concern Cr.3880-VN Project monitoring • During project planning, a study on Not clear of how gender would be report of Sept05 gender issues was carried out and integrated in training and capacity building report on Gender mainstreaming activities as a draft TOR for training, into WRAP was prepared participation irrigation management and • The mission emphasized the need to monitoring and evaluation have not ensure and document, and active mentioned gender issues. participation of women in all training and PIM-related activities and consultation with local authorities and water users, including women in determining appropriate WUA models. • In one AM, it is mentioned that Indicative TOR for Japan Social Development Fund Grant Management for VN Participatory Irrigation Management Project have included a post for gender specialist The last AMs of 05 did not mention gender 38 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Vietnam PAD, PIP PAD raised a number of gender issues • There is no centralized sex- A B Forest Sector AMs of disaggregated data (e.g, on training Development Oct 2005, LUC will be issued in the names of both for provincial and district VBSP Project Dec 2005, husband and wife; staff, training for farmers, number (VFSDP) Field reports of of women registered for Quang Nam Feb Gender disparities will be reduced through participation in the plantation 2006, Thua Thien access to secure land tenure and extension program, information on women Hue Dec 2005 services; member in CWG). &Quang Ngai Jan . 2006 Women Union will be involved in . consultation process with land allocation and Planning of small holder production forestry arrangements. PIP: Mentioning women’s participation in community meeting and training courses; WU representative in CWG, Gender is mentioned in the functions of CPCU, PPMU, DIU in terms of guidance for safeguard policies implementation M & E chapter identified a number of cross cutting issues including gender. One indicator (Farm Forestry Group) required to be gender break down. AMs: The supervision mission aide 39 memoires mentioned gender issues and recommended that especially on credit management, separate training courses are organized for women, with female trainers, wherever possible. 40 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Vietnam PAD: A number of Social assessments • The AMs do not mention women’s B∗ B Coastal PAD, were carried out as part of project participation in the project activities Wetland preparation but no women/gender issue is (e.g. technical training, Protection Interim Review mentioned demonstration sites) and and AM of Apr 04, Annex 2: project description and project development of Action Plans (CAP, Development Midterm Review implementation (component 2): WU as loan VAP, Commune Land Use Plan, Jun 03, guarantor for farmer to get credit Resettlement Agri Social (Credit 3292 Review mission Development Action Plan) VN) Dec02, Project implementation: • Ethnic Minority Development Plan Jul 04, • Gender course conducted for PPMU do not mention issues of EM AMs of Feb 05, Jul and CPO staff, pilot gender women 05, awareness building program carried • Gender indicators are not presented Jan 06 out, partnership with WU for in M & E system ( e.g no gender Revolving Funds activities; aspect mentioned in the Outline • Some data are sex-disaggregated Contents of the ICR, unclear on (1542 women out of 3078 people how the socio-economic analysis (50%) took part in illiteracy study has focused on gender issues) Eradication Program) • Contribution of land on the part of the beneficiaries for small construction should be well documented with signatures of both husband and wife) 41 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision PAD has not mentioned gender/women • The Project design principle and Vietnam PAD, PIM issues important components do not B B Northern AMs of consider gender aspect and women Mountainous Apr 04, Dec 03, PIM refer to assistance to enroll minority participation (e.g HRD, Institutional Poverty Oct 03, girls in school and women’s for community capacity building, irrigation, Reduction Nov 04, assessment) Drinking water and agriculture, Project May 05, community development budget, ) Nov 05 Operational Manual of the Component 3 NMPR (PO Community Development Budget (CDB) AMs mentions that 59936 ) has addressed a number of gender issues as • Selection of sub-projects did not well as some specific activities: appear to reflect very well the choices of women and poorer • Specific actions are developed to groups which, on balance, tend to involve women in CDB (invite both prefer production/livelihood – husband and wife to the meeting, related sub-project or support for separate discussion for men and children education women for sub-project selection. • Few women participating in One of the principle for the CDB training activities and few are planning is that men and women, member of CDB EM and disadvantage groups are • Information on women’s involved equally in the decision involvement in community making process) supervision boards, maintenance group, water use group, community There is an increase in attention to development budget are not gender in AMs (between FY 04-05-06) as: provided. Database • In the most recent AM of 2005 • No sex- disaggregated data, there is a part of gender reporting gender(e.g data on CF and women that women’s participation in in training) 42 village meeting for CDBC • Data on “participating households implementation is always reported “ do not reflect (or measure) high (but ratio was not given); difference in men’s and women’s women’s reportedly participate participation in the project most actively in Applied Agri. activities) Demonstration • Recommendation was given to engage women representative from each village in training activities for the CDBC) and as CF. The AM has realized a number of gender issues relating training (e.g men attend training, women do job) and to selection of sub-project that did not appear to reflect very well the choices of women and poorer groups which, on balance, tend to prefer production/livelihood –related sub- project or support for children education. A study on gender impacts of the project, including attempting to describe women’s and girls’ access to benefits and participation in project activities is being conducted. 43 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Vietnam PAD, Operational PAD: PAD and OM does not mention the specific B B HIV/AIDS Manual, gender issues in project components and Prevention AMs of Jul 05, Nov Refers to equal rights for ethnic minority activities. Gender is also not included into Project 05, women and men in participating and the performance indicators (except Action Plan of achieving benefits from project, increasing indicators related to female sex workers or Nghe An participation of young ethnic girls in sex mother to child transmission prevention trade and EM women suffer from high rate program) of reproductive tract infections Project implementation and action plans Though the PAD does not develop specific development may face challenges as: actions to address the gender issues, it finds • Project staff, especially provincial, that women somehow benefit from the may lack of gender analytical skill project since there are activities/components in HIV/AIDS prevention designed specifically for women (relating to • The provincial Action Plans may female sex workers, mother to child not address gender issues in transmission prevention program) HIV/AID prevention activities • Unclear of gender issue integration Operational Manual: No gender is in training and capacity building mentioned activities at the central and provincial levels and in Campaign AM: Population Survey on HIV/AID was on Stigma and Discrimination conducted and provided data on women • Gender is not mentioned in the and men HID infected and Audience principle for making provincial Segmentation Study has highlighted BCC action plans issues including gender sensitive concerns All report forms do not include sex- but not clear of how the project would take disaggregated data. No gender indicators for into account these gender issues. The M & E (except for the part on prevention of survey provided some sex-disaggregated mother to child HIV transmission program) data on HIV infection rate. 44 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Mekong PAD, OM (draft) Gender is raised in PAD: • Gender is not included in the B NA31 Health Delta Apr 05 and The mechanism for ensuring that project indicators (in PAD) Support June 05 AMs men and women participate in and • Gender is not mentioned in the Project benefit from the projects equally, reviewed AMs. No specific gender especially in participatory, training issues related to the health sector and monitoring processes, will be are presented in the project addressed in the operational documents (e.g economic, social manual and in the EMDP. and cultural factors may affect women and men differently in Operational Manual: gender is not a accessing to health care,) concern • Reporting data not always include sex-disaggregated data • No information on how the project develops specific activities to integrate gender as cross cutting theme in all project components and activities (Health Care Funds for the poor including IEC campaigns, HR development, training for local health workers, piloting of non- training HR initiatives, etc) 31 NA to the projects that have just started 45 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision PAD, AMs of PAD has a social analysis • No information on addressing Vietnam ICT Appraisal Mission gender issues provided in Gender C∗ C Development May 05, None of the reviewed documents (PAD, notes on VN ICT Development Project Pre-Appraisal Mar AMs) mentioned gender • Special attention to be paid to o5, ensure equal participation in and AM of Jun 05, benefit from training and awareness Nov 05, Feb 06 raising training activities in ICT skills/Human Resource, ICT usage in government and ICT industry and ICT-enable private sector development • The project needs to develop measure to ensure that the project would contribute to reduce gender gaps in ICT development including gender indicators formulation. 46 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Road Safety PAD, PAD: C NA Cr.2073- VN PIP, Women are one of the vulnerable road Project planning of specific activities: AM of Dec 05 user groups with children and elderly, • No information on taking into but no gender integration into project account Gender notes on the project components and activities (that was prepared in June 2004) in project documents including PIP PIP does not mention gender • A number of gender issues provided in Gender notes may be passed • There is a risk of by passing all important gender issues in capacity building, safety education and road safety monitoring as women are seen just as a vulnerable group • As road safety is seen as cross- cutting issues and based on multidisciplinary approach , gender issues should not be neglected especially at community based activities of the project (Components: Capacity building and implementation support, road safety user education and awareness, Blackspot treatment program) 47 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision VN Primary PAD, AMs of PAD mentioned that: • There are no specific and relevant B∗ B Teacher Dec 03, to the project gender issues Development May 03, Investing in the education of girls has mentioned in PAD (e.g how the (Credit 3594 Mar 04, especially powerful benefits in terms of Profiles could help to address VN, PO Jun 04, Midterm improving family health and nutrition, gender stereotype in teacher’s 51838) Review Dec04, civic participation and family welfare. behaviors and attitudes that affect Jun 05, their students access to and Dec 05 - Though PAD and reviewed supervisor performance at the schools; how mission aide memoires do not show the Modules Development takes into mention of gender issues in the project account gender issues in teacher activities, about 90% of the teachers at training, etc) the primary education level are female. • AMs did not mention women’s and It means that women are main men’s participation in the project beneficiaries of the project. activities • No sex-disaggregated data on teachers attending training including upgrading training an MA degree training, domestic and oversea training for key teacher, principals, education managers 48 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Second Rural PADs, Work Plan Gender issues presented in PAD • AMs do not mention gender issues B B Finance AMs of as well as gender data including Project (Cr. Sept 02, Jul 03, Jan • PFIs and MFIs to keep the training for VBARD, BIDV or PFI 3648-VN) 04, Nov 04, Feb 06 record of women borrowers, to staff obtain gender disaggregated • The accreditation process has not data for project monitoring and taken into consideration the evaluation performance of PFIs in terms of • Encourage coordination outreach to and access of women to between Women Union and their loan. VBARD to strengthen the • The gap is found between Bank’s outreach to women and increase (AMs) and Borrower’s documents, their access to credit for example, AMs do not provide data on men and women borrowers Comprehensive Work Plan: gender is not but BIDV keep record on these presented in the document data 49 Gender/Women addressing Gender Ranking Project Reviewed in the Documents Design Implementation Missed Opportunities/ Challenges Names ID Documents & Supervision Second Rural PAD PAD : • The AMs do not provide sex- B∗ C Transport Supervision • Women Union and Center for disaggregated data on training at all Project Mission Aug-Sep Gender, Environment and levels Cr. 3306 2005 AM, Sustainable Development were • Women’s involvement in project AMs of Jan 2005, represented at the workshop on the activities are not shown in the June 2004, road selection methodology. reviewed documents • Women may not be involved in • WU representatives in commune consultation because meeting is meeting in consultation process organized at commune level • Key performance and impact The AM mentioned that local authorities indicators (e.g increase of number of district and commune carried out of people who have off farm jobs consultation with and encourage and increase in high school participation of the PAHs, ethnic attendance, etc are not sex- minority people and women union disaggregated break down Annex V TTL Survey – Questionnaires As a very important step towards contributing to understanding the gender dimensions of the Bank’s work in Vietnam, we request your support in filling this 6 question survey. Please tick the options which best reflect your opinion 1. To what extent does gender factor into your work in Vietnam (0 = none, 5= very high): 2. What factors influence you most to include gender in your work. Rank from 1- 6. 1= "influences me the most" ....... The Corporate interest gender ....... Your sector’s interest in gender ....... External pressures or influences (NGOs, media, other donors) ....... Your viewpoints on this topic ....... Your client’s agenda ....... Others? Please specify .............................................................................................................................. 3. What would make you address gender issues in your work. Rank from 1-5. 1= most important ....... If easy, practical, relevant guidance were given to me ....... If I had more resources ....... If I had more time ....... All of the above ....... None of the above. I don’t see its relevance to my work 4. You work on ...... Operations ....... AAA ....... Both For which Sector? ............................. 5. In your view, the Vietnam country team: ....... Could and should pay more attention to gender ....... Is doing a good enough job at mainstreaming gender ....... As is, places to much emphasis on gender 6. Anything to add? Annex VI PMU Survey – Questionnaires World Bank’s Country Gender Portfolio Review Questionnaires Please help to fill in the following questionnaires and return it to the World Bank by April 12, 2006 Attention: M s. Kieu Phuong Hoa, email: hkieu@worldbank.org or by fax (No. 04 9346597). Thank you very much for your cooperation. 1 Project Name: 2 Central/Provincial Project Management Unit (Name of the province PPMU/Regional Project Management Unit): A. Staff Project staff Operational Support Consultant Manager officers staff Total Female staff % of female staff/total B. Training and Capacity Building 9 Gender equality training: (please list all the trainings on gender equality organized under the project) Name of the Training No. of courses No. of days participant No. of female participants % 10 General technical capacity building for staff (please list all the trainings of this type organized under the project) Name of the Training No. of courses No. of days participant No. of female participants % 11 Training for project’s beneficiaries Name of the Training No. of courses No. of days participant No. of female participants % C. Project Activities 12 Women at local community involvement in overall project’s activities (%): 13 Percentage of women beneficiaries of the entire project (%) 14 Is there any project component which significantly involves the participation of women or was especially designed for women’s participants? Yes No If yes, what are they? Activities and major results from this component? D. Monitoring and Evaluation: 15 Is there any study and report produced under the project that have gender dimension? Yes No If yes, please list them: 16 Do you maintain a project’s monitoring database with gender disaggregated data? Yes No 17 Do you undertake supervision of gender aspects and impacts to gender equality under the project? Yes No Annex VII Meetings Held (April-May 2006) Name or Title Organization Location Project Coordinator, Finance Officer, M&E Project Management Unit (PMU) of Hanoi Specialist, Project Officers HIV/AIDS Project, Ministry of Health Project Director, Manager of Appraisal PMU of Rural Finance Project, Bank Hanoi Division, Project Officers for Investment and Development of Vietnam Mr. Pham Hai, Project Director PMU of Community Based Rural Hanoi Infrastructure Project, Ministry of Planning and Investment Project Director, Finance and Project PPMU of CBRIP project, Nghe An province Officers Department of Planning and Investment Project Deputy Director and Appraisal PPMU of Rural Transport project, Nghe An province Officer Department of Transport Beneficiaries Rural Transport project Nghi Thach commune, Nghi Xuan district, Nghe An province Pham Van Thanh, Deputy Director of DOH PPMU of HIV/AIDS project, Nghe An province and Tran Tu Suu, Project Coordinator Ministry of Health Beneficiaries CBRIP project Chau Binh commune, Quy Chau district, Nghe An province Deputy Director and Head of transaction Vietnam Bank for Agricultural and Nam Dinh city department Rural Development, a financial institution working for Rural Finance project Representatives Nam Dinh women’s unions, Hai Hau Nam Dinh city district VBARD branch Beneficiaries Rural Finance Project Hai Quang commune, Hai Hau district, Nam Dinh city Project Director PPMU of Priority Infrastructure Danang city Investment Project, Department of Planning and Investment Vice Chairwoman, experts Women’s Union Danang city Deputy Director, Project Officers PPMU of Primary Education for Dak Nong province Disadvantage Children, Department of Education and Training Director, Project Officers PMU of PEDC project Dak Mil district, Dak Nong province Headmaster Dak N K Jot primary school and Dak Mil district, Dak some other pilot schools in the area Nong province Project Director, Deputy Director, Project PPMU of Forest Protection and Rural Dak Nong province Officers Development Project Chairman Commune People’s Committee, Dao Nghia commune, FPRD project Dak Rot district, Dak Nong province Chairwoman, officer Commune Women’s Union Dao Nghia commune, Dak Rot district, Dak Nong province Beneficiaries FPRD project Dao Nghia commune, Dak Rot district, Dak Nong province ANNEX VIII Reviewed ESW list Project ID Full ESW Name Closing date Keyword Keyword Total number ‘Gender’ ‘women’ of times both frequency frequency keywords appear in the document P079765 Community Driven Development project 06/02/2003 3 58 61 3/17 = 18% P082294 Vietnam Poverty Assessment (VDR04) 11/17/2003 3 70 73 P084898 VN – Update 1998 Rural Strategy 06/22/2005 9 44 53 P079855 Vietnam Development Report 2003 11/15/2002 14 10 24 5/17 = 29% P079857 CPRGS Monitoring and Progress Report 10/30/2003 12 20 32 P075180 VN-Primary education quality sector report 06/30/2004 16 1 17 P098303 Vietnam Development Report 2006 11/30/2005 14 2 16 P091765 Vietnam Development Report 2005 12/01/2004 12 3 15 P079917 Public Administration Reform 06/15/2004 0 0 0 9/17 = 53% P080193 VN – Cost of social services for the poor June 2006 1 1 2 P083460 VN – Private Higher Education 06/27/2003 0 0 0 P084899 VN – Agricultural Diversification project 06/22/2005 2 6 8 P085056 VN – Poverty and Social Impact Assessment 12/06/2005 0 0 0 P085086 Capacity Building 06/16/2004 3 2 5 P090464 VN Forest Sector Support 11/28/2005 1 0 1 P060199 VN-Participatory Provincial Partnership 09/30/2002 3 3 project P069310 Poverty Analysis and Policy Advice project 06/01/2005 2 2 54 Annex IX Workshop participant list Contact No Name Title Organisation (phone/email) 1 Bui Thi Thu Thuy Officer CPMU, CBRIP project 0913593558 2 Nguyen Tien Dung Project Officer CBRIP Nghe An 0983847920 3 Le Ba Cuong Project Officer PEDC Dak Nong 0905011718 4 Tran Hoang Hiep Project Officer Coastal Wetland project 0912305020 5 Bui Hoang Duc Project Officer HIV/AIDS project 0913041116 6 Dang Thu Suong Deputy Director VUUP Can Tho 0903611823 7 Nguyen Thi Anh Nguyet Deputy Director VUUP HCMC 0908449178 8 Nguyen Mai Khanh Officer BIDV – SRFP 0913091389 9 Nguyen Minh Quy Permanent Secretary NCFAW 10 Nguyen Ngoc Hanh Vice Chairwoman Women Union HCMC 0903004164 11 Do Thi Kim Linh Vice Chairwoman Women Union Danang 0905123688 Three cities sanitation, 12 Phan Thi Tuyet Nhung Expert Danang 0914031601 Agricultural Diversification 13 Hoang Tuyet Mai Officer project 0989122790 14 Le Thi Thu Dinh Consultant PEDC 0913381562 15 Nghiem Thi Luong Project Officer Road Safety 0912049854 16 Le Minh Chau Director Road Safety 0989555979 17 Vu Manh Loi Principal Researcher Institute of Sociology Women's Union of 18 Le Thu Cuc Vice Chairwoman Haiphong city Women's Union of 19 Nguyen Kim Anh Accountant Haiphong city Regional Gender 20 Gillian Brown Coordinator WB, Bangkok Social Analyst, 21 Lan Thi Thu Nguyen Social Development WB, Hanoi Sr. Operations Officer, 22 Binh Thanh Vu Education WB, Hanoi Task Assistant, 23 Hoa Phuong Kieu Social Development WB, Hanoi Gender and Development Faculty, Ho Chi Minh 24 Pham Thu Hien WB Consultant National Political Academy 55 Operations Officer, 25 Nguyen Duy Son Portfolio WB, Hanoi Operations Officer, 26 Nguyen The Dung Rural Development WB, Hanoi 27 Nina Bhatt Social Specialist WB, Washington DC Operations Officer, 28 Hoa Thi Mong Pham Social Development WB, Hanoi 29 Phan Thi Xuan Quynh Finance Analyst WB, Hanoi 56 Annex X The gender checklist of the project cycle32 Gender analysis in project preparation • Are data collected sex-disaggregated? • Is a specialist with gender expertise involved in Project Preparation stage? • Have both men’s and women’s needs in the project sector been defined? • How might the project affect women? Is the project likely to have same positive and negative effects on women and men? (e.g. patterns of gender division of labor or access to and control over the project resources, etc.) • Have cultural, social, religious, and other constraints on women’s potential participation been identified? • Have strategies been formulated to address the constraints? • Does the executing/implementing agency have the capacity to deliver benefits to or involve women? • Have local women’s organizations been consulted? • Will women directly benefit from all project components? Gender consideration in Project design • Does the project apply the information and analysis from the social and gender analysis to all phases of the project cycle? • What sector gender issues would be relevant to the project and how they could be addressed in the project? • What POA’ issues would be relevant and how they could be addressed in the project • Do the project objectives refer to both men and women? What are proportion of men and women as the target groups/beneficiaries? • Does the project design include components, strategies, design features, or targets to promote and facilitate women’s active involvement in the project? • Is there a budgetary allocation for these design features, strategies, and mechanisms? • Consider setting aside a separate budget for facilitating the participation of women. • Are the strategies and targets for women’s participation included in the logical framework of the project? • Does the project identify which institutions/ government and non- government agencies and organizations with a focus on women or an interest in gender and development might contribute to the project? 32 The checklist includes very basic questions which all sectors’ staff can use. However, it is recommended to compile a more comprehensive program manuals as practical guide on gender mainstreaming in project cycle including specific questions and sector and sub-sectors gender analysis skills, which is beyond this assignment due to time constraint. 57 Gender concern in Project implementation • Does the project consider using gender expertise during project implementation? Is someone of the team responsible for gender? • Is gender considered in the development of annual plans? • Are women well presented within the project team (including both the Bank’s and Borrower’s) • How is the implementing agency’s capacity and commitment to gender equality? • Is there accurate data on the number of men and women who participate in the project or particular project activities, i.e. sex-disaggregated data available? • Is gender included into the research/reviews conducted by the project? • Have incentives been identified to increase women’s active participation in certain areas and activities? • Do women have opportunities to make decisions within the activities? Gender Responsive Monitoring and Evaluation • Are there indicators to measure progress in achieving benefits for men and women? • Are gender- specific indicators developed that define the benefits to women and men? • Are sex-disaggregated data collected to monitor gender impact? • Is gender expertise on the evaluators or on the evaluation team required? (as the choice of an evaluator/evaluation team is essential for the quality of the evaluation) • Are both men and women involved in monitoring and evaluation? • Are both qualitative and quantitative data collected during monitoring and evaluation? • Have data been analyzed to uncover the different impacts on men and women? • Do women and men benefit from the project in the same way? • Have gender relations of women and men in the target groups changed as results of the project? Have gender gaps been reduced? • Are new gender issues emerging within the project? • Are there new external factors/actors affecting gender besides the project? 58 Annex XI Key Gender Strategies for Vietnam33 Government of Vietnam ¾ The Situation Analysis and Policy Recommendations to promote the Advancement of Women and Gender Equality in Vietnam (National Committee for the Advancement of Women) - 2000 ¾ The National Strategy for the Advancement of Women to 2010 follows on from the first National Strategy to 2000. It contains five objectives: Objective 1: Achieve women’s equal rights in labor and employment. Objective 2: Achieve women’s equal rights in education Objective 3: Achieve women’s equal rights in health care. Objective 4: Enhance quality and efficiency of women’s performance in the political, economic, cultural and social fields resulting in more women being recommended for and elected to leadership positions at all levels and in all sectors. Objective 5: Strengthen efforts to build the capacity of the machinery for the advancement of women. ¾ The current National Strategy is supported by the second Plan of Action for the Advancement of Women by 2005 (POA2) which sets out responsibilities of different ministries and government agencies. This is produced by the NCFAW. ¾ POA3 2006-2010 will be issued in the third quarter of 2006. To assist this process, the evaluation of the POA2 reported on progress made for each and every one of the action items set out under the POA2. ¾ Comprehensive Poverty Reduction and Growth Strategy (CPRGS) approved by the Prime Minister of Viet Nam in 2002. The CPRGS sets out three broad objectives: 1. Completing the transition to a market economy; 2. Enhancing equitable, socially inclusive, and sustainable development; and 3. Adopting a modern public administration, legal and governance system. The CPRGS also incorporates the Viet Nam Development Goals (VDGs) which targets: 33 Based on data from the ADB Situational Analysis Study (2005 draft). 59 • Increasing the number of women in elective bodies and in government bodies at all levels (national, provincial, district and commune); • Increasing the participation of women in agencies and sectors at all levels by an additional 3-5 percent in the next 10 years; • Ensuring that the names of both husband and wife appear on land-use right certificates by 2005; and • Reducing the vulnerability of women to family violence. Along with implementing the National Strategy for the Advancement of Women, the CPRGS specifies close to 30 measures to achieve gender equality. ¾ The Government of Viet Nam has prepared a draft Socio-Economic Development Plan for 2006-2010. In contrast to the Socio-economic Development Strategy to 2010, which does not give prominence to gender issues (ADB, 2002), the draft Socio-Economic Development Plan (SEDP) 2006-201034 contains explicit mention of gender equality and covers most of the objectives of the National Strategy for the Advancement of Women in Vietnam. 34 Analysis of the draft SEDP 2006-2010 is based on the MPI report of 20 June 2006 60 VIET NAM’S INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS TO GENDER EQUALITY Ratified, International Human Rights instruments acceded, succeeded International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Yes Racial Discrimination 1965 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966 Yes International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Yes 1966 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Yes Against Women (CEDAW) 1979 Optional Protocol to CEDAW No Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) 1989 Yes Optional Protocol to the CRC on the Sale of Children, Child Yes Prostitution and Child Pornography 1990 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or No Degrading Punishment or Treatment 1984 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons No 2000 Declarations on Women Declaration on Elimination of Violence Against Women 1993 Yes Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action 1995 Yes 23rd Special Session of the UN General Assembly 2000 (Beijing Yes +5) 48th Session of the UN Commission for the Status of Women Yes 2005 (Beijing +10) Source: Human Development Report 2004; NCFAW35 35 From the ADB Gender Situational Analysis Report (2005). 61