Unless women are consulted and the participation of women of all socio-economic classes is facilitated, the impact of a project will be minimal. This list is intended to provide useful questions to address:
Assessing needs and priorities
1. What baseline data have been collected? Has a picture of environmental health needs been collected from all sectors of the community? Have current patterns of water collection been fully understood?2. What measures have been taken to ensure women's participation in the project? Do women participate in setting priorities and objectives? Do men and women identify needs and priorities differently? Who makes the final decisions? Are there mechanisms for representing the views of women?
3. Are women specifically mentioned in the objectives? Are targets gender-specific?
4. What are the requirements for sanitary privacy?
5. What will women do with the additional facilities and with any free time released by the project, particularly if it results in a substantial reduction in workload and working hours? Will there be any negative impact?
Accessibility and acceptance of water/sanitation facilities
1. Have women participated in decisions such as:
- design and location of water points?- selection of latrine designs and sites?
- design of additional provisions for washing, bathing, livestock watering, waste disposal and waste water drainage?
- timing of operations?
- timing and content of hygiene promotion activities?
- timing, location and content of training activities?
- selection of local people for maintenance/management of the project? (Are women themselves encouraged to play this role?)
2. Are the technologies used suitable for women? Is the engineering design appropriate for women's use? Does the structure of latrines ensure privacy and conform to cultural rules? Can women repair the facilities? Can women afford to maintain them?3. Are women's attitudes and beliefs taken into account in devising hygiene promotion? Are hygiene activities geared towards 'mothers' only? Are fathers and other women taking care of children also included?
Project personnel
1. What is the proportion of women staff in the programme?2. Is there special recruitment of women as programme managers, water and sanitation engineers, extension workers and programme promoters?
3. Are women represented in decision-making positions?
4. Are the staff on the programme sensitive to implementing programmes with a gender perspective?
Programme training
1. Do programme training activities give equal opportunities to women?2. What is the proportion of women in training activities? What special efforts are being made to involve more women?
3. Do educational and promotional materials show women as sanitation engineers, as programme workers? Are men shown using the facilities?
Community involvement
1. Have women's organisations been identified, notified and involved in the programme?
2. Do plans of work exist for the involvement of women's organisations?
3. What kind of support is being given directly to women's organisations?
Programme effects, monitoring and evaluation
1. How will the programme affect women's workload, hygiene, health or other benefits? To what extent do women attribute changes in these areas to the project?2. How will the programme affect women's access to water and use of water? How will it affect women's work in cleaning the house, clothes, children, food preparation and cooking?
3. What changes are expected or have occurred in women's use of time (e.g. number of hours worked) and what were the hours saved for?
4. How will the programme affect women's income? Do changes cost women more or less money than before? Do women use time saved to make more money?
Adapted from Checklist for Gender Planning (J Cleeves Morse 'Gender and Health': comments arising from NGO proposals and reports, paper at JFS/NGO workshop on gender and development. University of Wales, Swansea July 1993; The Tribune Development Quarterly, International Women's Tribune, Newsletter 43 1989).