Towards Gender Sensitivity in Global Fund Programmes
Adressing the linked SRH and HIV needs of key populations
Context and Initiative
Gender equality means that all genders enjoy equal resources or benefits, or equal access to and use of services – this also applies to healthcare. However, gender-related barriers to health undermine the right to health for all. Due to biological factors, men and women have different health needs and problems. In addition, health is influenced by social determinants, of which gender is a central aspect. The access to food, education, employment or decision-making is often based on gender norms and values, with negative impacts on health; in particular in women and sexual minorities. Consequently, it is important to provide gender-sensitive health services which align with the needs of their beneficiaries. Since 2002, BACKUP Health has been supporting countries to access and efficiently use grants of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, and to promote gender equality within these programmes. This directly links to SDGs 3 and 5. Women, girls and sexual minorities, who are likely to benefit less from Global Fund programmes, are amongst the target group of BACKUP support. One example for this approach is the three-year “Shadows and Light” collaboration Project with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). It focused on men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who use drugs and transgender people, as these are at increased risk of HIV. Working in Cameroon, Uganda, Kenya and India, the project was set out to improve the linked sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV needs of these key populations.
Gender – A Quality Feature of Our Work
The BACKUP approach to integrate gender as a cross-cutting issue in all measures aligns with the Global Fund gender strategy and is welcomed and valued by partners. BACKUP integrates gender in its monitoring System and guides partners to follow a similar approach. The best evidence for the quality of our work is the satisfaction of our partners, who say that “BACKUP should continue to provide technical assistance where needed and allow for continued capacity building in cross cutting areas such as Gender and Human Rights, including capacity building for programming for Key Populations” (CCM, Zambia).
Gender Impact
Since its foundation, BACKUP has contributed to gender equality within Global Fund programmes. Between 2012 and 2015, BACKUP collaborated with 134 public and civil Society organisations in 57 countries, out of which 60% explicitly integrated gender in their projects. The collaboration with IPPF had a significant impact by sensitizing service Providers and building their capacity to reach out to key populations. The project established integrated, clinic-based and outreach services for HIV and SRH. Key populations’ capacity to engage with in-country Global Fund processes was also developed. This partnership has been key to strengthening the inclusion of SRH and HIV linkages within Global Fund programmes. As a result of BACKUP’s success, partners continue to request similar activities related to gender and the Global Fund.
Contact
Dr. Klaus Peter Schnellbach
BACKUP Health
E: klaus.schnellbach@giz.de
I: www.giz.de/backup
The new factsheet ‘Addressing sexual and reproductive health and HIV needs among key populations’ can be accessed here.
Pioneering Women´s Empowerment Through Sustainable Energy
Mainstreaming Gender: GIZ´s Sustainable Energy Program (PES) in Mexico
Context and Initiative
Energy is a crucial component to nearly all challenges and opportunities facing the world today, including the fight against climate change and the enabling of important rights, such as education, health and work. But energy is not gender- neutral: energy policies often have great impacts in terms of equality, since society attributes differentiated roles to women and men, which condition their relationship to energy. Mexico’s male-dominated energy sector is undergoing important changes in the context of the energy reform. Thus, it is an important opportunity to bring a gender perspective into the sector, and to ensure that the opening of new markets related to sustainable energy (SE) contributes to closing the gender gap instead of widening it. With this in mind, GIZ PES drafted a gender & energy analysis, which highlighted key challenges and served as a starting point for our gender-mainstreaming strategy.
Gender – A Quality Feature of Our Work
Women and girls are eager to have a more decisive role in the energy sector and were excited to take part in these initiatives. It’s worthwhile mentioning that we work closely with the Energy Ministry, and that organizations with great reach in the region, such as USAID, OLADE and IUCN are interested in replicating these activities.
Gender Impact
This strategy includes:
1. A massive awareness-raising campaign about energy efficiency (EE) with a gender perspective: In order to reach the low income sector, GIZ-PES partnered in a PPP scheme with Grupo Salinas (GS): A large group of companies that spans across many sectors, including mass media and appliances retail. This gender-sensitive initiative included 19 fairs reaching 7.000 people, the development of a best practices guide (7.000 copies distributed), online-courses (passed by 48.000 people), and a mass-media campaign reaching 13.000.000 people.
2. Supporting women’s vocational training for SE occupations: Since the energy reform requires 135.000 experts on SE, new opportunities should be created for the inclusion of women. Pilot courses were offered in two different subjects: installation of solar water heaters (SWH) and energy advisory. In order to ensure quality, all materials were gendermainstreamed, gender workshops were offered for both trainers and trainees, and scholarships were put in place to encourage women’s enrollment.
3. Developing a financial scheme for SWHs targeting women: A tailormade financial product to enable women to acquire SHWs was created for PROMUJER, a development organization providing financial services to low-income women willing to grow small businesses.
This strategy was designed with sustainability in mind, and it continues to yield impacts: The online-courses developed within the PPP are now mandatory for all new employees at GS; the vocational training courses are included in the permanent offer of an institution committed to supporting female students with reduced tariffs; and the financial scheme for SWHs is now part of PROMUJER’s portfolio.
Contact
Ernesto Feilbogen
Sustainable Energy Program
E: ernesto.feilbogen@giz.de
I: www.giz.de/en/worldwide/13919.html
Female Professionals in Electronics
Boosting the number of women in technical professions, Ghana
Context and Initiative
Girls Vocational Training Institutes in Ghana typically offer education and training in female dominated trades only, such as catering, tailoring or cosmetology. The project instead promotes future female professionals in sales, installation and servicing of electronic appliances by supplying them with a sound technical background and capacity through practical oriented vocational training. Young women gain the knowledge, technical capabilities, communication skills and the necessary selfconfidence to compete in the growing market and thus generate income for themselves and their families. It is not missing capabilities that prevents young women from entering a technical trade such as electronics but attitude which, of course, can be changed by means of education. With the idea and initial seed-funding of € 200.000 the GIZ regional program “‘Employment for Sustainable Development in Africa” (E4D) together with its Ghanaian partner the Council for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (COTVET) entered into a public-private- partnership with KOICA (Korean International Cooperation Agency) and SAMSUNG Electronics West Africa. KOICA invested US$ 500.000 and SAMSUNG equipped four selected vocational training centers with stateof- the-art electronics teaching labs worth US$ 500.000. Instructors involved received training on Competency Based Training (CBT) in electronics and generic subjects and the project compiled State-of-the-art teaching material.
Gender – A Quality Feature of Our Work
COTVET released its Four Year Corporate Gender Strategy in 2013 as a product of cooperation between the Council and GIZ / GSDI (Ghana Skills Development Initiative). The strategy bases on data showing that less than 2% of skilled workers in lucrative technical sectors are female and specifically calls for affirmative action in order to integrate more girls and young women through targeted vocational training into those trades. The girls-schools partnering with the project are the first in Ghana to install and operate electronic labs in order to offer specific technical training geared towards the needs of female students and thus enable them to reach the same level of proficiency as their male competitors. The project is accompanied by a comprehensive study that compares the learning environment in all-female groups (3 partner schools) to those in evenly mixed male-female classes (1 school) and tries to find out which model represents the most conducive one for female vocational students to engage in a technical sector.
Gender Impact
Through this Project we expect 100 female graduates in electronics per year. This will boost the female/male ratio among graduates from 2% in 2012 to 25% in 2016, when the first batch of 100 female students will leave the four institutes. Due to a growing urban middle class the demand for electronic appliances is on a constant rise. Besides a career in servicing and repair of electronic appliances, the young women will find employment in ‘after sales service’ or as ‘informed salespersons‘, where professionals capable of giving profound advice to consumers based on sound technical background are in demand. Following a similar concept E4D Ghana has also started an additional project: Female Motorcycle Mechanics and Solar Technicians for Northern Ghana.
Contact
Hartwig Michaelsen
Business Development Unit BDU
E: Hartwig.michaelsen@giz.de
Together We Are Responsible: Application of Smart Prevention
Regional Program ComVoMujer, Ecuador
Context and Initiative
In Ecuador, violence against women is a serious human rights issue which affects 6 out of 10 women (INEC, 2011), but also has impacts on society and public health. Its impunity and naturalization is deeply rooted in society and adversely affecting the development of individuals, companies and countries. The National Telecommunication Cooperation of Ecuador (CNT-EP) is a company with more than 7.000 employees. In one year and with technical support of the GIZ, through its regional Program “Fighting Violence against Women in Latin America” (ComVoMujer), the company converted into a leading business in preventing violence against women. CNT quickly understood the impacts of violence against women and implemented measures with all its stakeholders, which further positions them as a company taking its corporate social responsibility seriously and which generates comparative advantages for them in the market.
Gender – A Quality Feature of Our Work
CNT can count on
• almost 3.000 trained people who received the certification “Safe Company – leader in zero tolerance towards violence against women” within only three months. The first to do so was the general manager!
• 14 specialized persons as promoters and trainers. CNT implemented
• internal information campaigns using CNT magazines and broadcasting spots on harassment and bullying on the job site on its internal news channel.
• at the external level a special publication in the national newspaper The Telegraph and they produced the spot In Ecuador we have a problem that has been broadcasted since 2015 regularly in the 32 customer service centers. CNT developed
• Junt@s (together), a free and far reaching application, with the potential to quickly reach thousands of people, aimed at affected women or anyone close to any case of violence against women. The App combines gender specific and differentiated sensitization with help functions and emergency hotlines. The App is a standard feature of all new smart phones. To protect its user – mainly women, the use of its help or emergency function is not recorded and as such cannot be traced by the perpetrator.
The International Labour Organization (ILO) is replicating the certification through its SCORE project and has requested the App CNT to be adapted in other countries, for which the company gave its permission.
Gender Impact
Our counterparts, the BMZ, other development agencies as well as the IDB and the World Bank continue to ask for expertise and experiences of Com- VoMujer, recognizing the innovative strategies which are based on a human rights and gender equality approach. ComVoMujer has compiled an online catalogue with more than 300 publications and videos, which are disseminated through social media such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Today ComVoMujer cooperates with over 100 companies directly and about 400 indirectly.
Contact
Christine Brendel
Programa Regional ComVoMujer
E: Christine.Brendel@giz.de
I: www.mujereslibresdeviolencia.usmp.edu.pe
The TOP 10 contributions of the Gender Competition 2016 can be accessed soon here
New BACKUP Health factsheet ‘Addressing sexual and reproductive health and HIV needs among key populations’
The factsheet summarises the results of the past collaboration between BACKUP and the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) on the ‘Shadows and Light’ project. The factsheet and the documentation of four related webinars can be accessed here: https://www.giz.de/expertise/html/21632.html