Message-ID: <Pine.OSF.3.91.970508153758.27320E-100000@cpca6.uea.ac.uk> Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 15:38:13 +0100 From: "K.Schermbrucker" <mailto:K.Schermbrucker@UEA.AC.UK> Subject: ALERT! World Bank and Gender (fwd) To: mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU
---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 14:02:19 PDT From: Eurostep <mailto:V.Tyler@uea.ac.uk> To: development <mailto:development-gender@mailbase.ac.uk> Subject: ALERT! World Bank and Gender
Forwarded Message: From: <mailto:eurostep@knooppunt.be> Date: Thu, 8 May 1997 11:04:10 +0100 (BST) Subject:
>URGENT ATTENTION REQUESTED!!
>
>SIGN ON TO LETTER CONCERNING GENDER & WORLD BANK POLICY
>
>
>May 6, 1997
>
>Dear friends and colleagues,
>
>The following letter is being circulated worldwide, and will be sent
>to World Bank President James Wolfensohn on May 16. On that day,
>Women's Eyes on the World Bank - US Chapter, in collaboration
>with Women's Eyes Latin America, will be launching "Gender Equity
>and the World Bank Group: A Post-Beijing Assessment". The
>report is being launched prior to the second annual meeting of
>the 14-member World Bank External Gender Consultative Group taking
>place in Washington May 20-21.
>
>The letter outlines the main recommendations of the report.
>A large international response will show that gender advocates around
>the world really are keeping their eyes on the World Bank to
>ensure that promises made in Beijing are kept.
>
>If you would like to sign on to this letter, please fax or e-mail your
>reply stating your name, organization and that you wish to be
>listed, and country by May 12 to the attention of
>Lydia Williams, Oxfam America, at fax: (202) 783-8739 or
>e-mail <mailto:lydiaw@igc.apc.org> Also let us know if you would like
>to receive information about the campaign.
>
>Please distribute this letter to other NGOs and your networks!
>Thanks for your support.
>
>Women's Eyes on the World Bank - US Chapter
>
>***********************************
>
>Dear President Wolfensohn,
>
>We would like to congratulate you for the strong commitment to gender
>equity and popular participation you have demonstrated in the year and a
>half since the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. We
>appreciate the promising evidence of the World Bank's increased
>attention to these issues. We are particularly encouraged by
>the initiation of Regional Gender Action Plans, the increase
>in Bank-NGO dialogue in some countries, and the impending launch
>of the joint NGO-World Bank-government Structural Adjustment
>Participatory Review Initiative (SAPRI).
>
>These and other initiatives represent important steps forward,
>gender concerns have still not been fully mainstreamed into Bank
>operations. Women's Eyes on the World Bank - US Chapter, in
>collaboration with Women's Eyes Latin America, has conducted a
>review of Bank initiatives over the last year. Their report,
>"Gender Equity and the World Bank Group: A Post-Beijing
>Assessment", demonstrates that the admirable commitment from
>the top has yet to be translated into concrete action in the
>majority of Bank programs and operations, where there remains a
>lack of understanding among many Bank staff of gender inequities
>and their implications for development.
>
>Therefore, we, the undersigned, would like to express our strong
>support for the main recommendations of Women's Eyes report. These
>recommendations build on the four demands contained in a
>petition submitted to you in Beijing, and are critical steps toward
>mainstreaming gender at the Bank:
>
>1. Increase participation of grassroots women in the Bank's projects
>and economic policy decision-making.
>. Institute mandatory procedures for consultation which ensure that
>women and other sectors of civil society are key decision-makers
>in Country Assistance Strategies (CAS), project, sectoral, and
>structural adjustment loans.
>
>. Make the CAS public and distribute it in local languages throughout
>the affected country at least one month before it goes to the Board for
>final approval. Ideally, consultation should be taking place from the
>earliest stages of development of the CAS.
>
>. Require task managers to report on specific steps to be taken to
>consult with these groups and to seek their engagement throughout
>the life of the initiative and report publicly on the outcome of these
>consultations.
>
>2. Institutionalize a gender perspective in all Bank policies and
>programs. Mainstreaming gender throughout the Bank requires specific
>measures on several levels:
>. Resources. Dedicate a large portion of funds available under the
>new Strategic Compact to improve and fully fund Gender Action Plans,
>and allocate additional funds from the Bank's operating budget as
>necessary to ensure full funding for gender mainstreaming.
>
>. Analysis. Utilize gender analysis as a basis for policy and
>program formulation. This includes collecting and using gender
>disaggregated data, developing "checklists" for planners to refer to
>throughout the design process, developing and implementing strong gender
>evaluation criteria, and increasing and integrating the use of
>Social Assessments. Additionally, build capacity within borrower countries
>to analyze and address
>gender equity issues; provide support for in-country data collection and
>analysis.
>
>. Benchmarks. Working with a broad cross-section of women's groups
>and representatives from borrower countries, define clear gender equity
>and empowerment goals, benchmarks, and regular reporting mechanisms on
>the Bank's progress toward achieving its gender objectives and
>implementing its Gender Action Plans.
>
>. Staff development, accountability and oversight. Increase the
>number and authority of gender experts on staff. Provide all staff with
>incentives and training to build gender expertise throughout the
>Bank - not simply within the social sectors. Develop accountability
>procedures that ensure that senior management, Board Members, and staff
>are held accountable to the Bank's gender goals. Provide the new Gender
>Sector Board with adequate resources, authority and staff to oversee the
>implementation of Bank gender policies across the four networks.
>
>Increase Bank investments in women's health services, education,
>agriculture, land ownership, employment, and financial services.
>
>. Invest in sectors - productive and reproductive - that women in
>borrower countries have identified as their priorities. This is
>critical because in the past, women have too often been hurt by
>World Bank policy reforms and projects in the health, education,
>agricultural, labor, and financial services sectors.
>
>Increase the number and racial diversity of women in senior management
>positions within the World Bank.
>
>. Pay greater attention to balance in terms of diversity of nationality.
>
>. Improve the gender balance within the staff of sectors outside of
>the social sectors and in all members of the World Bank Group,
>particularly those parts of the Bank dealing with the private sector.
>
>We look forward to continuing dialogue with you on ways to expedite
>these critical changes within the Bank. We would like to have a
>response to these recommendations in light of the current changes
>at the Bank. We thank you again for your continued leadership on
>these important issues.
>
>Yours sincerely,
>
>Name:_______________________________________
>Organization:__________________________________
>Address:_____________________________________
>____________________________________________
>____________________________________________
>Country:_____________________________________
>Fax:________________________________________
>E-mail:______________________________________
>Telephone:___________________________________
>Lydia Williams
>Advocacy Coordinator
>Oxfam America
>1511 K Street, NW, #640
>Washington, DC 20005
>phone: 202-783-7305
>fax: 202-783-8739
>
>
>
>