WHAT WORKS TO ACHIEVE GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN’S AND GIRL’S EMPOWERMENT?

AN EVIDENCE PAPER TO ACCOMPANY THE DFID LEARNING PARTNERSHIP ON GENDER’S THEORY OF CHANGE ON GENDER EQUALITY AND WOMEN AND GIRL’S EMPOWERMENT.

CONTENTS

1 1. INTRODUCTION

‘For me empowerment is the ability to create a new situation, a new condition, a new act, a new story for women in society. This gives us power…’ Cristina Buarque, Secretary for Women’s Policies, Pernambuco State, Brazil1

This discussion paper examines interventions which have been successful in bringing about change on gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment and should be read in conjunction with the theory of change. It is guided by examples of effective interventions provided by members of the DFID PPA Learning Group on Gender together with recent evidence on what works to achieve gender equality, women’s empowerment and rights such as the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment (‘Pathways’) programme2, the World Bank’s Voice and Agency report3 and recent reviews of evidence of effective interventions in areas such as education, violence against women and girls (VAWG) and economic empowerment.4

The following key definitions inform the Theory of Change and this evidence paper:

Definitions

Empowerment: “A process whereby people (a) become aware of the power dynamics at work in their life context b) develop the skills, sense of confidence and capacity for gaining some reasonable control over their lives c) exercise this control without infringing upon the rights of others and d) support the empowerment of others in the community.”5 Empowerment involves the ability of a woman to control her own life and encompasses social, economic and political empowerment.

Voice: Full and equal empowerment requires that all people have voice – meaning the capacity to speak up and be heard in public and private spheres and the agency to shape and share in discussions, discourse and decisions that affect them.6

Social empowerment: involves changing society so that women are respected and recognised on the terms by which they want to live, not on terms dictated by others and so that women have a sense of autonomy and self-worth.7

Economic empowerment: is women’s capacity to contribute to and benefit from economic activities on terms which recognise the value of their contribution, respect their dignity and make it possible for them to negotiate a fairer distribution of returns.8

Political empowerment: is about equity of representation in political institutions and enhanced voice of marginalised women so that women engage in making the decisions that affect their lives and the lives of others like them.9

Gender equality: is the situation where women and men are recognised as equal and are treated equally with the same status, power, resources, responsibilities and opportunities for fulfilling their potential.10

Women’s Rights: are entitlements and freedoms claimed for women and girls of all ages, although not yet recognised in all societies. This includes objectives which are not necessarily

2 covered by the term gender equality such as promoting women’s rights to live free from fear of gender based violence, or to have control over their reproductive lives. 11

Gender Mainstreaming: [I]s a strategy for recognising women's as well as men's differing concerns and experiences and ensuring these are an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated.12

Transformative approach: Interventions that seek to target the structural causes as well as the symptoms of gender inequality leading to a lasting change in the power and choices women have over their own lives, rather than just a temporary increase in opportunities.

Women’s rights organisations: Women-led organisations working to advance gender equality and women’s rights.13

Case studies included in each section are illustrative examples of promising approaches and are not intended to suggest that other interventions are necessarily ineffective. It is also important to note that interventions should always be guided by the following principles:

Women’s rights are Women’s rights are integral to human rights enshrined in human rights international and regional human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as well as to a rights-based approach to development. Interventions must recognise the fulfilment of women’s and girls’ rights as an important end in itself. Affirmative action is Affirmative action, enshrined in the Constitutions of many countries, required set out in Article 4 of CEDAW, is a legitimate short- term strategy for redressing gender imbalances. However, care must be taken that affirmative action measures do not simply result in the token inclusion of women and girls or replace gender-transformative interventions. Focus on transformative To create real and sustainable change for women and girls, change interventions must be gender- transformative. This means that they must transform power relations between women and men by addressing root causes to reflect a lasting change in the choices and power women and girls have over their own lives. This involves taking into account the multi-dimensional structural barriers to women’s social, political and economic empowerment in each context including often overlooked forms of insecurity such as sexual harassment, gender and sexuality norms and control of women’s mobility.14 Addressing Interventions must acknowledge the multiple discrimination which Intersectionality women and girls can face and respond to the different ways in which gender inequality intersects with other inequalities such as race, disability, caste, age and sexuality to further marginalise particular groups of women. These intersecting identities contribute to unique experiences of oppression and impact on access to rights and opportunities so that each woman and girl experiences discrimination differently. Interventions should meet the needs of marginalised

3 women including disabled, rural, indigenous, elderly, ethnic minority and widowed women. Women’s voice and Understanding what works to empower women must begin with influence listening to local women and be generated from women’s own experiences. There is no one size fits all approach. Women and girls should be supported to articulate what will transform their lives in the long term and to become the agents of their own empowerment. Supporting and partnering with women’s rights organisations is essential for external actors to understand the most effective ways to navigate existing local power structures and the challenges and risks facing women. Context matters Interventions must be designed according to each specific context. What works in one country or community context to transform the lives of women will not necessarily have the same impact in another context. For example, the Pathways research found that the success of interventions such as primary education and microcredit initiatives are contingent on time as well as location.15 While a recent review of girls’ education research studies concluded that an understanding of local, national and global context is key to the success of interventions.16 Protection against Efforts to advance gender equality and women and girls Backlash empowerment must ensure that those involved are not placed at additional risks - either to their personal safety and wellbeing or those of their families. Any possible backlash as a result of women’s empowerment programming must be identified and steps should be taken to mitigate any potential risks for women.

The evidence base in relation to women’s empowerment is still evolving and there are a number of existing gaps and limitations which impact on an assessment of effective interventions: a) Evidence is limited in relation to some intervention types. For instance, a review by ODI of evaluations of women’s economic empowerment interventions found that the majority of empirical evidence was focussed on financial service products with limited evaluation of projects working on legal and regulatory frameworks, unions, and fair employment and asset provision.17 There were also a limited number of evaluations looking at the economic empowerment of adolescent girls. The World Bank’s Voice and Agency report notes that more rigorous evaluations are needed of interventions, particularly around collective voice, normative change, and program design.18 b) Evaluations tend to measure short term change (one year or less) which limits analysis of longer term impacts such as changes to social norms. For example, a World Health Organisation review of 58 interventions to engage men and boys in achieving gender equality in health found that relatively few projects with men and boys go beyond the pilot stage or a short term timeframe;19 c) Evaluation of interventions have tended to focus on the individual level and overlook impacts at the household, community and societal levels; and d) Data collection, indicators and the quality of evaluations differ widely making comparison between different interventions challenging. For example, a recent review found that out of 254

4 empirical evaluations analysing the economic empowerment of women and girls, only 28 per cent were of a high enough quality to be included in the review stage.20

2. WOMEN’S EMPOWERMENT AND PROGRAMMING APPROACHES

The core of empowerment involves the ability of a woman to control her own life. Kabeer defines empowerment as ‘a process of change during which those who have been denied the ability to make choices acquire such an ability.’21 Women’s empowerment is a multi-dimensional process that involves many aspects of life including economic power, safety and security, education, health and well-being, family relationships and political participation and influence. Each of these dimensions may impact on the other. Interventions to achieve gender equality, women’s empowerment and rights must be situated within a gender analysis to understand each specific context which covers social, political and economic empowerment and which considers the continuum of inequality in both private and public spheres.

The various approaches to gender programming interventions are set out in Figure One. To create real and sustainable change for women and girls, interventions must be gender-transformative. This means that they must reflect a lasting change in the power women and girls have to exercise choices and agency over their own lives by addressing the underlying structural causes of gender discrimination. The need for transformative programming is supported by the Pathways research programme which found that ‘a broader transformative model that addresses the structural constraints that women face in their everyday lives is the most effective framework for women’s empowerment in the long term.’22 Similarly, a recent review for DFID into the evidence to support various interventions targeting VAWG concluded that multi-component gender transformative approaches are more effective than interventions which simply focus on individual attitude and behaviour change without addressing broader discriminatory social norms.23 At the other end of the spectrum, it is important to ensure that interventions do not reinforce or take advantage of gender inequalities and stereotypes in pursuit of a project outcome. Programmes which take an ‘instrumentalist’ approach to gender equality – presenting women’s rights as a route towards achieving other development goals, rather than as an end in itself – run the risk of being gender exploitative if they ignore or reinforce the root causes of gender inequality. For example, increasing the participation of women in economic and political spheres is often associated with a drive to increase economic growth which can mean that the underlying social norms that create and perpetuate the exclusion of women are not addressed.

Fig 1. Gender Programming Continuum24

As set out in the Theory of Change, it is useful to consider four different levels of intervention:

1. Individual level (the intimate realm of power) – interventions which focus on influencing an individual’s self-confidence, self-esteem, knowledge or self-awareness.

2. Household level (the private realm of power) – interventions which target relationships within the domestic sphere including within the family, within marriage or within sexual relationships.

5 3. Community level (the community realm of power) – interventions which aim to change social and cultural norms, values and practices which condone or reinforce gender inequality at the community level.

4. Societal level (the public realm of power) – interventions which seek to influence formal institutions, laws, policies and practices to support and promote women’s rights and empowerment as well as strengthening institutional capacity and accountability.

This paper considers each of these levels of intervention in turn but it is important to note that change is rarely confined to one level. Interventions may target more than one level or changes in one level may inadvertently contribute to change in another. Further, if programmes are designed carefully supporting empowerment in one domain – economic, social or political – they can have wider positive effects across different kinds of empowerment. For instance, in a cash transfer programme through a mobile banking system in Malawi, Pathways researchers noted women beneficiaries receiving identity documents to access their economic entitlements under the transfer scheme felt strongly politically empowered by the legal recognition of these documents.25

Measuring Empowerment

What is empowering to one woman is not necessarily empowering to another. This can make evaluating programme impact challenging. However, the following overarching principles have been found to increase the effectiveness of evaluation approaches seeking to measure transformative change for women and girls:26

 Contextual gender analysis which considers gender-related norms and behaviours should form part of evaluation design.  Monitoring and evaluation systems should be developed and agreed with partners and women’s rights organisations.  Mixed method evaluations, using both qualitative and quantitative indicators to complement each other, and multidimensional indicators, have been proven to most effectively capture transformative change.  Tackling gender discrimination which involves changing social norms can be a very slow process and requires measurement of long term impact.  Participatory approaches to evaluation can provide a forum for women to voice their concerns and articulate their needs and experiences. The process of defining women’s rights issues in order to select indicators can itself be empowering - generating increased awareness and impacting on attitudes in the community.27

A growing body of evidence suggests that multi-level holistic approaches which combine a number of interventions are the most effective for achieving women’s empowerment. For example, a recent review of 169 girls’ education research studies suggested that a mixture of combined interventions is most effective for improving gender equality and enhancing girls’ education.28 Similarly, a rapid review for DFID into the evidence on the effectiveness of VAWG interventions concluded that multi-component interventions are more effective than single component interventions to prevent VAWG.29 A long term approach is also necessary for sustainable change. Five years should be the minimum period in order for programmes to deliver longer lasting effects

6 on gender inequality and a project length of ten years would enable more sustainable interventions and the development of a knowledge base about processes of change.

Plan International’s PRAAC programme (see below) provides insight into the interrelated processes of change that can contribute to increased gender equality. These include interventions which target the individual level including women’s and men’s consciousness, and women’s access to resources, together with changes at a broader level such as informal cultural and social norms and exclusionary practices and formal institutions.

Multi-level approach to Gender equality strategies in the PRAAC Zimbabwe program30

Promoting Rights and Accountabilities in African Communities (PRAAC) is a five-year (2011-2016), multi-country program implemented by Plan International Kenya, Uganda and Zimbabwe. Gender equality strategies form a core component of PRAAC and the programme has taken a multi-level approach.

For example, in the Zimbabwe programme, participatory learning and action activities formed the starting point for understanding the perspectives and experiences of diverse groups of women and men in the communities. Further work included rights awareness sessions on discrimination against women and girls including the right to live free from violence, sexual and reproductive health rights, and women’s economic and farming rights. The program has also delivered training and ongoing mentoring for community volunteers, traditional leaders and public servants on anti- domestic violence laws, other relevant laws (such as divorce and inheritance laws), gender-based violence and counselling methods. A key strategy of the program is to engage with men around gender equity issues: as well as training for male community leaders which included identifying and supporting male gender equality advocates in the communities and facilitating community dialogues. At the same time, PRAAC worked with local service-provider partners and community volunteers to support marginalised women’s and girls’ access to mediation and counselling services, to traditional village courts or police and the legal system. At the national level, policy- influence work has involved media monitoring of GBV in the press, briefing parliamentarians and heads of department, facilitating civil society-government stakeholder forums and other engagement (in coalition with civil society partners) around gaps in the implementation of the Domestic Violence Act. Project experience in the first two years is beginning to show evidence of changes in gender attitudes, norms and practices. Project participants have reported a reduction in domestic violence, changing attitudes among leaders and community members around VAWG, shifts in gender relations within the household, and a broader acceptance of, and increase in, women in community leadership roles.

It is also essential that programming which is focussed on women’s empowerment identifies and mitigates any potential risks to women which may occur, particularly in the initial stages of empowerment initiatives. For example, in the short to medium term, violence against women may not be reduced and may in fact be exacerbated when women’s control over economic assets, including paid work, increases.31 Similarly, women can be specifically targeted for violence as they increase their participation in public life and politics such as voting in elections or standing as candidates.32 Women human rights defenders and women’s rights organisations also frequently face backlash, particularly in a context of growing political and social conservatism and a resurgence of fundamentalisms.33 Appropriate steps must be put in place to mitigate and respond to these risks

7 such as support for network building and coordination between groups so that no one group or individual is targeted and protection mechanisms for women human rights defenders.34

3. THE IMPORTANCE OF SUPPORTING WOMEN’S COLLECTIVE ORGANISING

Supporting collective action and women’s rights organisations is integral to a transformative approach. The Pathways research found that interventions aimed at supporting women’s capacities to act together and creating supportive relationships among women are much more likely to have a transformative effect than interventions aimed at individual women.35 The World Bank’s voice and agency research also concluded that women’s movements are crucial to build the necessary consensus for progressive policy and legal reform.36 Similarly, a growing evidence base demonstrates the reach and transformation that is possible when long term and serious investment is made in women’s organisations working to build women’s collective power for change.37

Women’s organising is critical to identify and challenge the patriarchal structures which prevent women and girls from enjoying and exercising their full human rights. It is an intensely political and long-term process which must be led by women and girls themselves.38 Women’s rights organisations focus on women -led solutions that are firmly rooted in local communities, contexts and needs and are expert at delivering programmes that are appropriate to women’s multiple needs. They also provide a unique gateway to reach marginalised women (including disabled, rural, indigenous, elderly, ethnic minority and widowed women) and understand the challenges facing women at the household and community level, such as childcare, household responsibilities and community attitudes towards women’s rights.

Women’s rights organisations often work as part of diverse and far-reaching networks and movements to advocate for change at the local, national and international levels. This builds individual and collective forms of empowerment which span grassroots, local, national, regional and transnational levels.39 This leads to sustainable change at multiple levels.40 However, it should be remembered that women’s movements are themselves made up of organisations which represent different groups of women with different priorities, access to power and resources. Therefore, it is important to consider the intersectional politics of movement actors and the extent to which identities based on gender, ethnicity, caste, age, class, sexual orientation and disability form part of the approach.41

The importance of working with women’s rights organisations and supporting women’s collective organising is discussed through this paper under each of the levels of intervention. External actors must ensure they respect the space and agenda of women’s rights organisations and movements and should be guided by the key principles set out in Figure One below.

Fig 2. Supporting women’s organising42

4. INDIVIDUAL LEVEL INTERVENTIONS

‘I’ve learnt how to carry myself as a person and how to make choices because of the group. I’ve learnt not to doubt and look down on myself’ Clementina Mwanza, aged 15, participant Girls’ Leadership Club, Zambia

8 Individual level interventions are concerned with the intimate realm of power and focus on influencing an individual’s self-confidence, self-esteem, knowledge or self-awareness. Women and girls should be supported to articulate what will transform their lives in the long term and to become the agents of their own empowerment. A seemingly small step can represent a significant and complex change in a woman’s life. For example, improved self-esteem and increased social interaction can be a crucial first step in enabling women to re-build their lives after violence. This has important implications for the design of programming evaluations and indicators as the value of outcomes such as these are often hidden in quantitative data.43

The concept of women’s practical needs and strategic interests can be a useful approach for considering whether programmes will deliver transformative change for individual women.44 Practical gender interests are immediate needs such as access to food, water and shelter. Strategic interests are the longer-term changes needed to transform women's status in society and dismantle the social relations and power which underpin gender inequality. This will differ in each context and women themselves, with the support of women’s rights organisations, should identify what this means for them. a) Individual women’s access to knowledge and skills Fostering women’s individual knowledge and skills can lead to an increased consciousness and understanding of their rights and increased confidence to claim those rights. For instance, as demonstrated by the examples below, gaining skills in literacy can empower women in other aspects of their life, knowledge of laws in support of equality can provide women with the confidence to demand justice when these rights are violated and education can be a powerful tool in changing individual attitudes and behaviour towards gender equality.

A recent review of evidence in the area of education, gender equality and social norms commissioned by Christian Aid found that legal awareness campaigns have been effective in empowering women on an individual level.45 Evidence has also demonstrated that higher levels of education are closely associated with the empowerment of women and that education and awareness raising media campaigns have proven to have an impact on both the individual and the societal level. 46 The World Bank voice and agency research found that interventions which promote more equitable communication and decision-making and access to information and health services have also been shown to expand women’s sexual autonomy and control over their reproductive health thereby enhancing their choices at the individual and household level.47

Empowerment through literacy – the Reflect approach

ActionAid utilises a Reflect approach which seeks to empower women and girls through literacy. This approach uses participatory methods such as calendars, maps, matrices, drama, storytelling and songs which enable participants to gain a critical consciousness of normalised (therefore invisible) structural issues driving gender inequality without being restricted by literacy and language barriers and to challenge and analyse these issues. In this process the development of literacy and other communication skills are closely linked to the collective engagement of women in wider processes of social change.48 For example, ActionAid Bangladesh initiated an occupational health rights forum after completing a Reflect circle with community members, including workers. Various issues were discussed in the forum to mobilise and raise employee awareness about their rights including maternity leave benefits. This resulted in a member of the forum making a claim for maternity leave after being initially denied this by her employer.49

9 Strengthening women’s knowledge, skills and ability to claim rights – FEDO, Nepal

In Nepal, Womankind’s partner, FEDO (Feminist Dalit Organisation of Nepal), implemented a four year project which aimed to increase the skills of Dalit women in the Districts of Nepal to participate in decision making and peacebuilding processes. Central to this was the formation of Dalit Women’s Groups who were supported to access information on local budgetary allocations and policies for Dalit women, advocate for services for Dalit women and justice for individual cases of discrimination. FEDO also conducted it’s own advocacy with local government bodies and political parties to support the Dalit women’s activities, and provided support to 50 individual cases of Dalit women who had experienced violence, discrimination, trafficking or child marriage. Field monitoring reports from FEDO and an independent evaluation demonstrate that following training and the formation of the women’s groups, women had an increased understanding and consciousness of their rights. Dialogue was also fostered between group members as to different actions they could take with this new knowledge such as how they could ensure that a quota for 50% representation of women in all levels of government would be included in the new constitution. Case studies collected with individual women throughout the project period also suggest the importance of the training sessions and regular support from other group members in increasing individual women’s confidence and subsequent ability to take action.

Education to transform gender norms: CHOICES Curriculum in Nepal

The CHOICES curriculum was first developed by Save the Children in Nepal in 2009, has since been adapted for use in Egypt and in Ethiopia. An evaluation, conducted in partnership with the Institute for Reproductive Health at Georgetown University, demonstrated that CHOICES was effective in contributing to more gender-equitable attitudes and behaviours among boys and girls. For example, significantly fewer CHOICES participants felt it was acceptable for a man to beat his wife if she disagreed with him and significantly more participants felt that daughters should have the same chance to go to school or work outside the home as sons. These findings were reinforced by qualitative results with boys in the experimental group said they were making small changes in their own behaviour—helping their sisters and mothers with household chores, advocating for their sisters’ education and against early marriage and encouraging family members, friends and neighbours to do the same. More girls in the experimental group also stated that their brothers and other boys in their communities were making small changes toward gender equality. Photovoice results show young people in the experimental group tended to take more images of gender-equitable actions, while the control group photographed more traditional gender roles. In focus group discussions, parents in the experimental area reported that their sons had started to help their daughters with schoolwork and chores, and their households were more peaceful and harmonious as a result.50 b) Individual women’s access to resources Expanding women’s economic opportunities, through increases in women’s access to and control over economic assets and economic opportunities such as jobs, productive assets, skill development and financial services, can impact on women’s agency and transform social norms. This, in turn, can provide women with greater freedom of choice and action. 51 The Pathways programme concluded that women’s ability to exercise voice and strategic forms of control over their lives is linked to being able to generate regular and independent sources of income. 52 The

10 World Bank’s research on voice and agency also noted the potential for promoting agency through expanding economic opportunities. Women’s economic empowerment gives women greater status both within households and the wider community and provides a platform from which to tackle social norms which are restricting other areas of women’s empowerment. Importantly, research has shown that empowerment does not automatically result from entry into paid work, rather it is the opportunities, knowledge, confidence and capacities for agency which can come from employment which result in change for women.53 It has also been argued that women’s participation in the economic sphere can challenge gender inequalities embedded in the functioning of economic systems, by, for example, challenging concepts of the male breadwinner that are used to justify lower pay for women.54

However, it is important to remember that improved economic status for women may also lead to a backlash against them, such as increased violence in the household. Interventions also need to take account of often overlooked barriers to women’s participation and empowerment in the economic sphere such as unpaid care responsibilities, unpaid work on family farms and businesses and the high proportion of women engaged in jobs in the informal sector which lack security or entitlements to employment protection.

Pathways research concluded that conventional strategies such as microfinance, skills training and job creation should be combined with social policy instruments such as conditional cash transfers and an approach which treats women as citizens rather than beneficiaries.55 The World Bank’s research also determined that promising interventions combined training in vocational business or trade- related skills with efforts to increase confidence, social networks and healthy gender dynamics in the household such as self-help groups.56 This finding was also supported in a review by ODI of interventions on women’s economic empowerment which found that joint or integrated interventions which provided economic skills and services alongside life skills and other training services appeared to be the most effective for women’s economic empowerment. 57 For example, an intervention focussed on vocational skills to enable adolescent girls to start small-scale income generating activities alongside life skills to build knowledge enabling girls to make informed choices about sex, reproduction and marriage was delivered through adolescent development clubs established in Uganda by BRAC. An evaluation of this initiative, found that relative to adolescents in control communities, after two years the intervention raises the likelihood that girls engage in income generating activities by 72% (mainly driven by increased participation in self-employment), teen pregnancy decreased by 26%, and early marriage/cohabitation fell by 58%. Significantly, the share of girls reporting sex without their consent decreased from 14% to almost half that level.58

Integrating social and economic support – Savings and loans built into self-help groups

In Ethiopia, Siiqqee Women’s Development Association (SWDA), with the support of Womankind, established Self-Help Groups (SHGs) consisting of 15-20 women in the communities where they work. Between 2010 and 2013 80 SHGs were established.59 Community facilitators trained by Siiqqee provide information on the SHG concept to women and introduce the savings and credit scheme. Group leaders also receive training in leadership and business development skills and record keeping.60 SHG members save a fixed amount each month and are able to take loans from the group. Leadership of the weekly meetings rotates amongst individual members with the assistance of the community. SHGs share information on different topics and receive information on women’s rights, economic rights and opportunities and violence against women. Women undertake different economic activities to raise funds to contribute to the common fund and

11 support each other in income generation. Siiqqee also supports them with income generation skill training such as silkworm production training, vegetable production training, poultry farming training, fuel saving stove production training and business skill development training and the self-help group operates as a forum to discuss and seek assistance. Interviews conducted as part of the 2012 external evaluation reveal that the women involved in savings and credit groups report an increased amount of respect accorded to them from their spouse and the wider community61 For example, women members of savings and credit groups in Kachabirra have sought and obtained permission from the Council to maintain and manage garbage collection in their locality.

Women’s economic empowerment - Women’s Savings Groups in Tajikistan

Save the Children (SC) is working on women’s economic empowerment in Tajikistan by setting up women’s savings groups that encourage participants to discover and utilise the assets and abilities available to them in order to improve their social and economic wellbeing. These groups equip poor women to make independent decisions and create group consensus around priorities for the well-being of the family. Instead of creating the risks of credit, the project creates financial equity. At this early stage of the project, the groups are showing some positive results. Successful projects are being implemented such as a garment workshop, skill sharing, learning handicrafts and household skills. Although these activities are women’s traditional domain, the project also aims to increase women’s self- confidence and enable them to undertake group selected community projects and income generating activities. By giving women increased access to funds and the power of their savings groups, the aim is that women will be able to achieve a higher socio-economic status and greater involvement in local decision making that affects their lives. The objective is to increase economic wellbeing by allowing women to both invest in small enterprises and reduce household consumer debt. At the end of the project an estimated 65,000 women will have come together in approximately 3,000 self- directed groups and SC is documenting how membership in the groups and management of their groups will have empowered women to make decisions essential to the wellbeing of their families.62 c) Increasing women’s influence in decision-making Interventions which improve women’s representation and participation in politics and public life, their voting rights and basic citizenship rights such as providing women with documents like birth certificates are critical for individual empowerment. Many interventions focus on the introduction of quotas or other measures to increase women’s representation, particularly in national parliaments. However, whilst quotas and other policy measures are important in increasing female representation, this does not always translate into meaningful participation. For example, an analytical survey of political representation in Latin America found that once women were in office their political activity was often limited by patriarchal political structures. This points again to the need for interventions that seek transformative change. It also found that there was no guarantee that female politicians will advocate for women’s rights once in office. 63 In addition, women are not a homogenous group and it should be considered whether interventions are increasing the participation and influence of poor and excluded women. Interventions should also include a focus on women’s influence in local decision making at community, village and district levels where it often has the most direct impact on women’s lives64 and take into account constraints on women’s time such as childcare responsibilities.

12 It is important that interventions take a long term context-specific approach to provide women with the skills, confidence and networks to participate and lead in different decision making fora, based on their distinct, intersecting identities and their particular experiences of privilege and discrimination. In Southwest Bangladesh, for example, a VSO volunteer is providing mentoring support to women and girls involved in local youth clubs and citizen committees which has resulted in girls gaining confidence to speak up in public meetings, stand for senior roles and challenge men when they talk over them in meetings.65 The approach of the Malawi National Women’s Lobby (MNWL) is another example of how an intervention can create a ‘pipeline’ of interested and capable women leaders to participate and lead in formal and informal decision-making spaces.

Fostering Women’s Leadership – the Malawi National Women’s Lobby

In Malawi, Womankind Worldwide’s partner, the Malawi National Women’s Lobby (MNWL), identified 37 aspiring women counsellors from four districts through Radio Listener Clubs. These women were trained in assertiveness, planning and prioritisation, communication skills, and advocacy, campaigning, negotiating and handling of the media. They were identified based upon having some leadership experience, such as through participating in local committees or village development projects. Subsequently, of the 37 aspiring grassroots women candidates identified and trained by MNWL in 2009, 34 candidates prepared to stand in 2014 Local Government Elections. Significantly, 32 of these women reported never having spoken in public in their communities prior to the project. Many of the individual women not specifically targeted for candidature in the Local Government Elections also went on to take up positions in local school boards, water management committees, local courts and victim support units.66

Interventions also need to support women’s organising and women’s rights social movements. A wide range of research studies reveal how women’s rights organisations and associations not only enable women to advance their rights collectively, but also provide women with the space and security to develop the skills, confidence and supportive relationships necessary for political empowerment at an individual level. For example, in Dhaka, Bangladesh, women participating in local advocacy networks have reported improved mobility outside of the household and influence over community affairs and in Kenya and Namibia, women in leadership roles in local networks of community caregivers have been elected to sit on government decision making bodies.67

Women’s representation in leadership roles can also help to shift discriminatory attitudes and perceptions of women at household and community levels, particularly if interventions tackle negative attitudes towards women’s leadership.68 Research suggests that strategies should combine training and education approaches with increasing the positive profile of women leaders through the media and popular culture.69 For example, in Cambodia, public concerts to showcase stories of the impact of female leadership resulted in positive changes in men's attitudes. 70 It is also critical that the structural barriers to women’s meaningful participation within institutions are identified and tackled. For instance, the attitudes of male political leaders towards women’s ability to lead or make decisions or the location or timing of meetings which may make it impossible for women to attend without childcare being provided.

Challenging negative stereotypes about women’s leadership

Association Najdeh and CAFOD have been working together in three Palestinian refugee camps

13 and one gathering in Lebanon to implement leadership training courses for women, particularly young women. This three-year programme helps women develop the skills and confidence they need to take on decision-making roles in their communities. Through innovative initiatives such as interactive theatre, the programme challenges negative stereotypes about women’s roles and encourages discussion about taboo subjects such as domestic violence. It also aims to reduce the levels of domestic violence, and provides counselling and legal support for women and girls who are affected. New-found skills and confidence resulting from the training has meant that some women were able to make a change in their personal lives, such as overcoming family resistance to getting a job.71 d) The importance of safe spaces and support mechanisms Research by the Pathways Programme shows that relationships fostered in the spaces created by women’s rights organisations often bring about the kind of changes associated with empowerment such as self-confidence, the acquisition of new capabilities and consciousness about rights violations, and the capacity to act collectively to demand gender equality.72 Solidarity fostered between women can also result in greater security and the ability to respond to threats and backlash.73 Research carried out by the Institute of Development Studies for ActionAid and Womankind Worldwide also shows that women’s rights organisations at the grassroots level play a crucial role in mitigating conflict and building sustainable, inclusive peace. This collective action results not only in a greater impact in building peace at the community level but also offers a degree of support and protection for women themselves.74

Safe spaces such as girls’ clubs or activity groups can provide a secure environment for girls and women to build social networks. They have been shown to help girls gain confidence, remain in school, delay the age at which they are married and provide them with the opportunity to learn marketable skills.75 Plan International research found that girls who participated in school clubs were more likely to confide in someone if they experienced or witnessed sexual abuse. 76 Research by ActionAid into their Stop Violence against Girls in Schools multi-country programme also found that girls in clubs have significantly more knowledge of laws, policies and mechanisms for reporting violence.77

Empowerment is not only an individual experience, but also a collective process. By coming together in safe spaces, women can often identify barriers to opportunities or choices or shared gender-based challenges. Discussion can lead them to develop strategies for change and can sometimes give them the confidence in themselves and these strategies to advocate for change. For example, women participating in the ActionAid unpaid care programme (see example below) in Banburi, Kenya acted collectively to identify childcare needs, seek out the local authority with responsibility for provision of these services and successfully advocate for the funding and construction of an early childhood development centre.78

Providing new opportunities – activity programme for girls in Egypt

Israq Israhi, an activity programme for girls, was set up by Save the Children and the Population Council to provide new opportunities for adolescent girls in conservative rural areas of Upper Egypt. The curriculum focused on education and health. As a result, 92% of those who were out of school when they entered the programme went on to pass the government literacy exam and 68.5% of participants entered or re-entered school. Another positive outcome was that the proportion of participants, who believed that FGM/FGC was necessary, decreased from 71% to

14 18% from baseline to end-line evaluation.79

Transforming education for girls – Girls Clubs in Nigeria and Tanzania

ActionAid’s Transforming Education for Girls in Nigeria and Tanzania (TEGINT) project ran from January 2008 to December 2012 and intended to achieve a transformation in the education of girls in Nigeria and Tanzania by addressing key challenges and obstacles that hinder their participation in education and increase their vulnerability to HIV and AIDS. One of the interventions utilised by this project was establishing girls’ clubs to provide girls with understanding about gender and education rights and the confidence and skills to challenge obstacles to their schooling. Each club consists of 40 girls and 20 boys facilitated by two teachers. An end-line evaluation of this project in Tanzania revealed that girls’ empowerment is very strongly related to membership of girls’ clubs. Girls in clubs were found to be more aspirational, have better knowledge HIV/AIDS and gender and hold attitudes and behaviours that are more challenging of inequalities and violence. The research also found that there is a strong and highly significant correlation between being a member of the girls’ club and having a better class position.80 Similarly, an evaluation of the project in Nigeria revealed that Girls who are members of clubs demonstrate better knowledge of gender equality and HIV/AIDS and greater levels of confidence to challenge violence.81

Support services are crucial for women and require specialised expertise and programming that is dedicated to meeting women and girls’ unique needs. For example, survivors of VAWG must have access to holistic multi-sectoral support including health care, psychosocial support, and information and support navigating a referral system linking them to available services.82 The availability of social protection programmes such as child support and maternity benefits will also impact on women’s economic opportunities.

5. HOUSEHOLD LEVEL INTERVENTIONS

‘ [The participation of men is significant] because as community volunteers we had challenges in trying to fight GBV, because only women came to the meetings and, when they went back home to tell their husbands, it created more violence. Now the men come and hear for themselves, they participate in meetings and are aware of the consequences of their behaviour, leading to a decrease in domestic violence.’ Remina Zimhira, PRAAC community legal volunteer facilitator, Zimbabwe83

Interventions which target the household level are focussed on the private realm of power which includes relationships within the family, within marriage or within sexual relationships. Household decision-making around issues such as income, assets, the division of household tasks, freedom of movement and access to education can all impact on women’s empowerment both within the home and the public sphere.

Evidence indicates that achieving change at the household level can be difficult and that changes at the individual or community levels may not necessarily translate into positive changes in household gender relations.84 Interventions which target the household level can also be limited by reluctance on the part of development practitioners to interfere with what is viewed as the ‘private’ sphere of

15 the household. This distinction between public and private sphere is unhelpful as it fails to recognise the reality of women’s lives and the impact that power imbalances in the household can have on the effectiveness of initiatives to empower women. For example, an intervention which focusses on women’s ownership of land needs to take into account that power imbalances in the family may mean that despite formally owning the land, decision-making power over the land and any income generated remains with the woman’s father or husband. a) Targeting all members of a household to influence family dynamics Evidence suggests that interventions which target all members of a household can have a valuable impact on the success of a project. For example, Plan Egypt concluded through its work on harmful practices such as child marriage that addressing programme participants as a family unit is an important strategy to ensure that a consistent message is delivered to all family members.85 ActionAid’s Stop Violence Against Girls in Schools project found that creating dialogues with parents and carers through Reflect circles, home-school discussions and home visits assisted parents to reflect on and re-negotiate gender dynamics and violence in the family. There was persuasive evidence that the project had an influence on family dynamics in the project communities such as shifting the gendered divisions of labour for children and increasing awareness of girls’ right to schooling.86

Creating change at the household level therefore requires working with both male and female household members. Plan International’s PRAAC programme involves promoting the participation of women in community and family decision making. This includes both focused work with women and girls to facilitate their empowerment, as well as engaging and promoting changes in the attitudes and practices of men and boys.87 In Ghana, Womankind Worldwide’s partner, the Gender Centre, supported the establishment of community-based COMBAT teams to work to prevent VAWG in the community. As a component of this programme, the COMBAT teams carried out community-based reflection sessions which involved women and men as well as intervening in potentially violent situations in households. Female participants in the programme indicated improved relationships with their husbands and an increase in the women’s decision making roles in the household.88 b) Recognising and redefining gender roles within the household The gendered division of labour frequently means that women bear the burden of household tasks and caring work which consumes time and energy and can be a form of physical hardship. Interventions which are designed to encourage recognition and redefinition of gender roles within the household can be an effective mechanism for women’s empowerment through the valuing of women’s contribution, the reduction of the burden on individual woman and a redistribution of caring work and household chores to other members of the household.

Redistributing household responsibilities - Timor-Leste WASH programme

WASH programmes can result in practical outcomes for women including reducing the time and labour burden of performing household tasks but these programmes also have the potential to influence gender roles in the household if deliberate efforts are made in programme design and implementation to encourage routine sharing between men and women of household tasks (such as water collection) and caring work. For example, an evaluation of a WaterAid WASH program in Timor-Leste revealed that the most significant change identified by women was increased harmony in their relationships with their husbands as a result of reduced time

16 collecting water and greater assistance by men with tasks such as water collection, childcare and general domestic tasks. As a result of the programme, women also demanded greater recognition for their contribution to the household and its value and also reported increased voice and being listened to in the home. The project also resulted in community-level changes with opportunities and greater freedom (as a result of more discretionary time) for women to participate in community decision-making processes (including WASH management), literacy classes and women’s organisations and activities.89

Challenging gender roles in the community – Women’s Unpaid Care Work

ActionAid’s multi-country programme on women’s unpaid care work aims to change perceptions and beliefs that unpaid care work is only women’s work. The use of time diaries as a tool for women to consider how much of their time was spent on care work and the use of Reflect circles as a space for discussion about women’s workload in the household led the women involved to question their primary responsibility for unpaid care work. The initial empowerment that women spoke of, as a result of these interventions, came from the recognition that their unpaid care work was valuable and that they should not bear this responsibility alone. Some women used community discussions to push for men and leaders to recognise their unpaid care work and to demand that men become more involved in this work. In other communities women organised and took collective action to demand that local government allocate increased budgets for more public services that would support them in their unpaid care work. A further comparative dimension was added by asking men to complete diaries to allow comparison of how women and men used their time in the different sites, and to help raise awareness and understanding among men. 90 c) Women’s economic empowerment Women’s economic empowerment has been found to improve women’s decision-making in the household.91 Notably, evidence suggests that microfinance or cash transfers as a single intervention is likely to have minimal effect on women’s bargaining power in the household. However, when these approaches are combined with other interventions, such as empowerment and educational strategies, such programmes can improve power imbalances in the home.92 The WORTH programme in Nepal combined business development, banking and literacy and the programme evaluation noted increases in the size of village banks, improvements in women’s self-confidence, a decrease in gender-based violence and an increase in social capital.93

A recent review of the evidence base to assess interventions on VAWG identified microfinance combined with gender transformative approaches as a recommended approach.94 For instance, in South Africa, the IMAGE programme, which was a joint effort between Small Enterprise Foundation (SEF), the School of Public Health, University of the Witwatersrand, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Anglo-Platinum Mines, combined group-based microfinance with a 12- month gender and HIV training curriculum delivered to women at fortnightly loan repayment meetings. The evaluation found that the intervention led to women having greater autonomy in decision-making and a 55 per cent reduction in physical and/or sexual violence in the previous 12 months.95

17 d) Utilising existing positive opportunities Examining existing dynamics in the household can also enable programmes to build on positive opportunities for women and girls which, in turn, may impact on the success of interventions at the community and societal levels. For example, research carried out by Womankind Worldwide and ActionAid in five fragile and conflict-affected countries revealed that women play an important role building peace within their homes and communities. This research found that interventions which build on the skills of women as mediators, decision makers within the home and their experiences building trust and dialogue in their families can have an important impact on community and societal level peacebuilding initiatives.96

6. COMMUNITY LEVEL INTERVENTIONS

“When we were by ourselves, there was no unity. Now everyone is together. There are 20 members here: can anyone’s husband come here to beat her?” Jamuna, a member of Sagtagram, a landless women’s organisation in rural Bangladesh97

Community level interventions focus on achieving change in the community realm of power such as in workplaces, traditional and religious institutions, local government and decision-making bodies and community-based organisations. Communities may be a defined according to a geographical location or on the basis of various self-ascribed sociocultural characteristics, but they are by no means homogenous. Community level interventions aim to change social and cultural norms, values and practices which condone or reinforce gender inequality at the community level. Evidence suggests that interventions which focus on the individual or household levels are unlikely to have significant community-level effects unless they also include community-level interventions, particularly those targeting discriminatory social norms.98 This highlights again the importance of women’s collective agency in achieving transformative social change.

The long term effect of interventions that seek to challenge social and cultural norms which condone or reinforce gender inequality remains under-researched. A recent review of evidence in the area of education, gender equality and social norms commissioned by Christian Aid concluded that there was a lack of robust evaluations measuring long term impacts such as changes to social norms.99 Evidence which is available suggests that localised approaches to educate, mobilise the community and raise awareness about discriminatory practices can be effective in reducing gender inequalities through tackling myths and social norms which condone violence.100 These interventions are particularly important when discriminatory social norms and practices are hampering the enforcement of gender equality laws (discussed in more detail below).101 Other promising approaches identified by a recent review of girls’ education interventions include girls’ clubs, engaging faith communities, working with boys, and the involvement of marginalised women in decision-making. 102 Community mobilisation interventions to change social norms have been identified as an effective intervention to prevent VAWG as has targeting men and boys (as well as women and girls) through group education and community mobilisation programmes.103

Community mobilisation entails moving away from ad hoc programming interventions to consider a holistic approach with individual interventions slowly coming together to create social change. It involves working with the whole community, or specific sectors of the community, to build a critical mass of individuals supportive of women’s rights. It can combine a variety of strategies, including

18 community education, capacity building, media campaigns, relationship interventions, policy review and reform, and service delivery. This section will briefly consider some of these strategies.

A Model of Community Mobilisation – Women for Change, Zambia

In Zambia, Womankind’s partner, Women for Change (WfC), have developed an innovative model of community mobilisation. Using popular education methodologies, gender analysis and human rights education, WfC’s animators live and work with rural communities over many years to promote critical reflection on traditional norms and practices. To ensure the sustainability of the work and to build women’s leadership from the local level, WfC support communities to organise themselves into associations, led by women, with resources that are managed by women (the treasurer is always a woman). Recognising the influential role of traditional leaders as ‘custodians of culture’, WfC has also established a Traditional Leaders Programme that works with Chiefs and Village Headpersons to re-examine and abolish customs that discriminate against women including sexual cleansing, wife inheritance, early marriage, and trafficking. What started as a regional initiative within Zambia led to the launch of the Southern African Development Community Council for Traditional Leaders in 2007 across all of southern Africa.104 a) Community education Community education can take many forms, including dance, drama, song, discussion groups or more traditional education methods. It is concerned with increasing awareness of the causes of violations of women’s rights and the negative consequences of gender inequality for women, men, families, and the community.

Educating the community on the rights of older women

HelpAge International has worked with its partners to use traditional dance, drama and song in communities in Sukumaland, Tanzania to educate community members to prevent witchcraft accusations and attacks against older women. This has been coupled with efforts to influence the behaviour and practices of groups such as traditional healers and local militia, as well as with local government officials, religious leaders, civil society organisations and the Tanzanian media.105 The training of community-based paralegals in inheritance and land law by HelpAge International in both Tanzania and Mozambique is a step towards achieving change for widows. Disputing parties are encouraged to consult village paralegals rather than traditional healers in order to promote the rights of older women rather than traditional practices such as witchcraft accusations and the murder of older women.106 b) Relationship interventions A recent rapid review of the evidence on the effectiveness of interventions to prevent VAWG for DFID concluded that there is evidence to support the effectiveness of relationship interventions, such as Stepping Stones.107 Stepping Stones is a training package in gender, HIV, communication and relationship skills which involves working with people over a period of 12 to 18 weeks in order to develop the ability to look critically at the societal norms and values influencing their own attitudes and behaviours.108 For instance, this methodology was used by Save the Children in the Amhara region of Ethiopia to provide training led by peer groups of married and unmarried boys and girls in order to make discussion of family planning and sexuality less taboo in the community.

19 Research by the Pathways Programme shows that relationships fostered in the spaces created by women’s rights organisations often bring about the kind of changes associated with empowerment such as self-confidence, the acquisition of new capabilities and consciousness about rights violations, and the capacity to act collectively to demand gender equality. 109 For example, Plan Egypt in its work on child marriage also found that forming support groups of women and girls was crucial to help build a social movement in the community and to reduce the social pressure that encourages the practice of early marriage.110 The value of safe spaces, such as girls clubs, for providing a secure environment for building social networks has been discussed earlier in this paper. c) Working with traditional leaders and faith communities Working with faith organisations and traditional leaders, who are often gatekeepers to the local community, can strengthen community ownership and support for programmes and may have an impact on changing discriminatory community perceptions. For example, Womankind Worldwide worked with the Gender Centre in Ghana on a National Anti-Violence Programme which resulted in 90% of community members who participated in an evaluation perceiving there to have been a reduction in VAWG. A major part of the success was attributed to building response teams within the villages that included traditional leaders, who were trained on issues of VAWG and played an important role in changing the communities’ perception. Research by VSO explored the burden of HIV and AIDS care on women in the Southern African Development Community. Targeting traditional leadership was identified as an important factor in order to mobilise men and boys and to change attitudes, beliefs and practices relating to care in the community such as the cultural perception that care work is a woman’s role.111

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, in a program engaging male community leaders in the prevention of rape as a weapon of war, participants showed improvement in both attitudes and behaviours, with this confirmed by women’s groups.112 In Uganda, the Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA-Uganda) initiated dialogue with local community elders in the Acholi districts of northern Uganda to address sexual and gender-based violence, engaging with a legal-cultural institution made up of traditional leaders. This led to the drafting of human rights principles to guide the elders in their future judgements.113

Addressing cultural and religious barriers to change – gender sensitivity training

In 2010–11, an external gender audit was carried out by VSO Indonesia with 18 partner organisations, including non-government organisations (NGOs), district-level government and credit unions. This audit found deeply held cultural and religious beliefs that were proving to be barriers to these organisations’ ability to address gender equality. As a result, VSO Indonesia delivered gender sensitivity training to its partners, focusing on culture and religion. Partners had the chance to speak out about gender equality from their personal perspective and to reflect on their own ingrained attitudes towards gender relations. The training with Muslim partners was facilitated by a high-level university lecturer, a woman experienced in interpreting the Koran from a gender perspective with an emphasis on how the script could support gender mainstreaming. A similar workshop was held with Christian partner organisations.114

Working with Church partners to promote gender equality

20 In recognition that Church partners have a key role to play in positively influencing community behaviour and attitudes, CAFOD developed a programme to engage church leadership, clergy and parishes to promote gender equality within church structures. The programme worked with the National Caritas and selected diocesan offices in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Mozambique and the Diocesan Partner Sabakan in the Philippines. Key activities included conducting gender audits at the diocesan level, which led to the appointment of gender focal points in each diocese; gender sensitisation sessions for all staff, selected clergy and community members including potential female leaders and a learning exchange and peer review which brought together partners from all the participating countries. In Kenya, the programme resulted in the appointment of women to positions formerly preserved for men as well as the greater involvement of women by community leaders in decision making processes.115

Engaging traditional community leaders – women’s peacebuilding in Zimbabwe

In Zimbabwe , as part of a wider integrated 3 year peacebuilding project, the Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe (WCoZ), a partner of Womankind Worldwide, trained 6 member organisations and 3 Provincial Chapters on human rights, peace building techniques, national and international frameworks, mobilisation and advocacy. In turn, those trained went onto train and provided on- going support to 4,200 women across 21 districts with the aim of developing a movement of women’s rights activists. In parallel, WCoZ conducted training and on-going engagement with 126 traditional community leaders (6 per District) on both their own and women’s role in peacebuilding. The women and community leaders were subsequently supported to develop local peacebuilding plans. Women interviewed as part of the final evaluation noted that local and traditional leaders now consult them on development issues in the communities, which did not happen previously, and they are now also included in the Chief’s Courts. In Masvingo rural district, women have been asked to act as mediators in the traditional leaders’ courts when a conflict arises, and in Bindura, the evaluation notes that more women are now working together with the police and traditional leaders in promoting peace, and furthermore, more traditional leaders are inviting trained women to talk about peace prevention of violence in the local courts.116 d) Engaging men and boys Working with men and boys to transform beliefs and behaviours that under-pin gender inequality is an important intervention in order to achieve transformative change for women. For example, in Brazil and Mexico, young men exposed to weekly educational workshops and a social marketing campaign showed improved attitudes towards violence against women and other issues.117 VSO partner, the Zambia National Women’s Lobby, runs community workshops and drama performances as part of its civic education programme, providing an invaluable forum for communities in remote areas to challenge negative attitudes and consider the role of men in bringing about change.118

Notably, although working with men and boys may have the potential to contribute to wider changes in social norms (such as influencing community and women’s attitudes towards acceptance of violence), work in this field is currently too new and lacking in reliable evaluation to make any accurate assessment. An extensive review by the World Health Organisation notes that although some programmes in its review were assessed as being gender transformative, the transformation

21 is limited as programmes generally focus on small groups of men and boys and only a small number of programmes sought to change institutional cultures.119

Engaging men to transform gender roles - male involvement in home based care in Zimbabwe120

FACT Rusape’s home based care programme in Marondera started in 2007 with 15 care givers, 9 women and 6 men, who were caring for 200 clients. VSO RAISA supported FACT to develop and implement a strategy to increase male involvement in care giving. Training on HIV and AIDS as well as income generation support was provided to all care givers such as training in bee keeping, poultry rearing and horticulture as well as small capital to start the projects. This strategy was designed to economically empower female care givers while also counteracting the view that male involvement in voluntary care work conflicted with men’s traditional role as the bread winner. FACT and VSO RAISA also targeted local male community and church leaders and traditional healers to raise awareness about the acceptability and importance of male involvement in care giving.

As a result of this initiative, many care givers are now able to generate an income to look after their families. Most devote 2 to 3 days a week to their home based care work and 4 to 5 days to income generating projects. Several are now able to employ other carers in the projects they have started as a result of their involvement in the FACT programme. By 2013, the programme had 120 care givers, 70 males and 50 females, reaching out to 1,055 clients of which 512 were male and 543 female. The programme has also improved information dissemination by men and resulted in positive changes in men’s attitude towards health, child protection issues and HIV and AIDS.

Alongside this programme work, VSO RAISA and its partners, engaged in advocacy work which resulted in the introduction of the Community and Home Based Care Policy for Zimbabwe in May 2012. Significantly, this policy challenges gender stereotypes around the allocation of caring roles within households and communities and acknowledges the importance of the increased participation of men in community and home based care and other health related activities. e) Working with and supporting women’s rights organisations Evidence suggests that for community mobilisation efforts to achieve transformative change for women they should work with and support women’s rights organisations.

Women’s rights organisations are expert at providing programmes that are appropriate to women’s multiple needs and which are grounded in an understanding of the community context such as local social, religious and political structures. Supporting and partnering with women’s rights organisations is essential for external actors to understand the most effective ways to navigate existing power structures and the challenges and risks facing women at the community level. For example, ActionAid research into change resulting from its Stop Violence Against Girls in Schools multi-country project highlighted the importance of partnerships with community based organisations, particularly local women’s groups and child rights organisations, in order to secure community support, enhance the effects of interventions, and increase their sustainability. It was found that these relationships were particularly important when dealing with sensitive issues such as sexual rights.121 Women’s rights organisations also usually have existing relationships and have

22 built trust within the community which increases the likely success of community receptiveness to development interventions.

KMG, Ethiopia: Female genital mutilation

Since 1999 WOMANKIND’s partner KMG has been working in Kembatta to empower women and their communities to defend their right to be free of harmful customary practices and other forms of abuse. KMG was the first major organisation to start mobilising residents in the Kembatta to abandon deep rooted harmful practices by providing information to increase knowledge about FGM, delivering integrated community development projects (e.g. school based adolescent reproductive health programmes, services for HIV/AIDS etc), mobilising and organising social forces through Community Conversations, creating public pressure against FGM through community events and rallies, creating legal clinics for female victims of violence, and enforcing abandonment of FGM by strengthening alliances between government and CBOs. “Uncut Girls Associations” were also introduced and 238 such groups with over 7300 girls have been established in the project areas since 2007 and now act as watchdogs – reporting violators to the police while at the same time providing security and social support for peers at risk of experiencing violence. KMG reduced the number of people who thought FGM was acceptable from 97% to just 5%. An independent UNICEF study concluded that a large reason for the success of the project was that it was implemented by a local organisation trusted by the community.122

The involvement of women’s rights organisations in the design and implementation of interventions can increase effectiveness. For example, research by WaterAid shows that women’s participation in the planning of where water and sanitation resources are located decreases the distances women have to walk for services in communities and schools improving safety and privacy and reducing the time burden disproportionately borne by women and girls. 123 Save the Children has noted that in its project areas in India and Nepal, women’s groups have had a positive impact on reducing neonatal mortality by approximately 30 percent through supporting improvements in antenatal care, the training of birth attendants and community learning about hygienic care practices.124

Women’s organising can also provide a platform for women’s political empowerment. In Afghanistan, Womankind’s partner, the Afghan Women’s Resource Centre (AWRC), has been supporting the creation of women’s committees in local communities where it is still rare to encounter women in decision-making positions. AWRC supported a number of women to be involved in committees, two of whom became committee leaders at the district level. Following their experience and the increased access to politics this gave them, they ran for election in parliament and both won seats.125

Increasing women’s role in local decision making: Peace Committees in Afghanistan

In Afghanistan, ActionAid and its partners have worked with local jirgas and supported the creation of Peace Committees. The men’s Peace Committee includes members from the jirga. They have also created a separate women’s Peace Committee which works closely with the men’s Peace Committee. ActionAid and its partners have provided training and support to the committees – including training on conflict mediation, legislation, rights awareness, gender equality and the formal justice system. The men and women’s Peace Committees have also been

23 supported to work together in decision making. These committees are now the forum for the community to take their grievances to and have the authority to mediate conflict without taking it to the jirga, which often discriminate against women and in some cases condone and promote violence against women. Across four provinces in Afghanistan, ActionAid and its partners supported the establishment of 180 Peace Committees, and nearly 40% of the members are women.126

7. SOCIETAL LEVEL INTERVENTIONS

Societal level interventions are concerned with the public realm of power such as political and legal institutions and the media. They seek to influence formal institutions, laws, policies and practices to support and promote women’s rights and empowerment as well as strengthening political will and institutional capacity and accountability. a) The implementation and enforcement of laws The implementation and enforcement of laws to ensure equality before the law and to criminalise violence against women has been identified as critical for transforming discriminatory norms and social practices.127 Laws provide a set of standards for acceptable behaviour in a society and law reform in relation to marriage and family law, inheritance law, property law, employment law and criminal law can have an important impact for women’s empowerment.128 For example, in countries with legislation against domestic violence women’s acceptance of wife beating is lower. 129 Promoting awareness of gender equality laws can stimulate changes in behaviour. Evidence across eight countries found that men who were aware of laws addressing VAWG were nearly 50 per cent more likely to prevent a stranger’s act of violence.130 However, legislation will only be effective if backed by political will and accompanied by mechanisms for enforcement, and interventions to improve women’s access to justice including gender responsive police and judicial systems. For instance, in Venezuela a law prohibiting rape, domestic violence and sexual harassment was introduced in 2007. Significantly, this law also created special courts for violence against women as well as stipulating that authorities must implement programmes to raise awareness and change attitudes towards violence against women.131 There is also need for civil society space (such as freedom of association and freedom of the press) and mechanisms for holding government to account on its policies.

Impact of legal reform on attitudes and behaviour – the Revised Family Code, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia, the Revised Family Code (2000), no longer allowed husbands to deny their wives the ability to work outside the home, raised the minimum age of marriage for women, required the consent of both spouses in marital property administration and the equal division of all assets between the husband and wife upon divorce. Although the law has not been uniformly adopted across all regions, research on the impact of this law demonstrated that the perceptions about the division of assets upon divorce shifted to an equal division between wife and husband after the code’s passing and that in places where the code was ratified, women were more likely to work in full-time and (higher) paid jobs and to work in occupations that required work outside of the home.132

24 b) Large scale media and education campaigns Pathways research concluded that the role played by the media in fostering public debate is essential to creating effective policies for women’s empowerment.133 For example, Government advertisements on television in support of the Lady Health Workers programme, a public sector initiative to provide reproductive healthcare to women in Pakistan, were critical in helping the female community health workers gain credibility in the community.134

Promoting women’s rights through the media – training of journalists in Liberia

In Liberia, Womankind Worldwide’s partner has trained 35 journalists in analytical reporting, script writing and program production with emphasis on gender sensitive reporting, legal frameworks and policies on women’s rights with the aim of encouraging journalists to report appropriately on cases of VAWG, and to promote women’s rights through their reporting more widely. New ideas in designing and presenting programs that were acquired by staff through the training led to the development of an all-women’s news program on access to justice for women.135 The training of staff at LWDR FM 91.1 resulted in two major editorial review meetings being held to restructure broadcasts, establish a written mandate for programming and develop new contents geared towards the promotion of women’s rights and political participation. 136 LIWOMAC report that there has been marked improvement in the volume and quality of coverage on issues related to women’s rights and findings from the independent monitoring of the Liberia Media Centre Content Analysis, shows a 10% improvement from the last MCAT assessment conducted in December 2012.

Large scale media and education campaigns are a useful tool for reaching broad audiences in order to tackle discriminatory social norms, such as through radio and television. 137 However, evidence suggests these are most effective when combined with locally targeted outreach efforts and interventions such as training workshops.138 For instance, a campaign by Save the Children in Southern Sudan programme areas to raise awareness about the importance of girls’ education in the community resulted in the female enrolment rate doubling from 19,740 in 2007 to 30,196 in 2008 in those areas.139 Social media, such as twitter and Facebook, is also an important tool which can be utilised in both the local and the national context and can play a vital role linking local and national actions. Campaigns which have successfully utilised social media include the 16 Days of Activism to End VAWG and One Billion Rising.140

Using the media to change attitudes to VAWG – the Bell Bajao! Campaign, India

In 2008, Breakthrough launched the Bell Bajao! (‘Ring the Bell’) campaign in India which involved a series of powerful print, radio, and TV advertisements telling true stories of men and boys stopping violence with one ring of a bell. The campaign aimed to reduce domestic violence and the stigma and discrimination faced by women living with HIV/AIDS while highlighting the role that men and boys can play in reducing violence against women. Evaluations show that Bell Bajao! has reached more than 130 million people and has increased knowledge, influenced public discussion and changed individual and community attitudes towards domestic violence.141 This campaign was adapted to other countries and evolved into a global campaign, which was launched in March 2013.142

25 c) Supporting women’s organising The Pathways research programme found that women’s organising is critical for holding states to account against their commitments and monitoring gender-related laws and policies. Significantly, this research found that in order to be effective policy changes must be accompanied by interventions which support women to engage politically (such as support for women’s organisations) together with interventions which improve the capacity and willingness of institutions to respond to women’s demands.143 This finding is supported by research in 70 countries across four decades which found that the mobilisation of autonomous feminist organisations and movements in domestic and transnational contexts is more important for tackling VAWG than a nation’s income, left-wing political parties, or the representation of women in politics. Furthermore, the influence of global norms on national-levels policies is contingent upon the presence of domestic feminist movements. 144 A recent review into girls’ education interventions found that the active participation of women and women’s rights organisations in policy-making combined with legal reforms which promote women’s equality and enhanced state capacity to implement agreed gender equality commitments is essential for successful initiatives to enhance education for girls.145

Women’s Task Forces – influencing the Peace Recovery And Development Plan

In Uganda, ISIS WICCEE have supported the establishment of Women’s Task Forces with women elected as representatives by their communities. The Task Force members are trained by ISIS WICCE in planning and budgeting processes and to advocate for the inclusion of women’s rights in the National Peace Recovery and Development Plan (PRDP) and to monitor its implementation. The task force has been involved in high level dialogues and meetings with decision makers and has influenced the political agenda. For example, the gaps identified by the Women’s Task Force Groups to the PRDP Monitoring Committee were taken up and formed part of the recommendations taken forward to parliament.146 Women task force members have subsequently been asked to participate in district planning meetings and are now members of relevant committees where they are in a position to ensure that the needs of women are taken into consideration.147 The committees were the women are represented include the District Education Board; the Sub County Education Committee and the Health Centre Procurement Committee148

8. IMPLICATIONS FOR PROGRAMMING

‘Women’s empowerment is often treated by international agencies as something that can be designed as a policy blueprint, rolled out and scaled up. What actually happens when policy is conceived, negotiated and shaped may be altogether different.’ Hania Sholkamy, Pathways Middle East Hub Convenor149

Based on the evidence examined in this paper in support of interventions which work to bring about transformative change on gender equality and women and girls’ empowerment, a number of important implications for programming are set out below. There is no blueprint for the ‘correct approach’ because, as discussed at the outset, interventions to empower women must be developed in consultation with local women and designed according to each specific context. However, the following principles provide useful guidance:

26 Conceptualising empowerment

 Interventions should be based on a theory of change that prioritises transformative change in the lives of women and girls.  Women and girls should be supported to articulate what will transform their lives in the long term and to become the agents of their own empowerment.  Detailed gender analysis must be undertaken to understand each specific context which covers social, political and economic empowerment. What works in one country or community context to transform the lives of a particular group of women will not necessarily have the same impact in another, or even for a different group of women in the same context.  Interventions must acknowledge the multiple discriminations which women and girls can face and respond to the different ways in which gender inequality intersects with other inequalities such as race, disability, caste, age and sexuality to further marginalise particular groups of women.  Any possible backlash against women and women’s rights organisations as a result of women’s empowerment programming must be identified and steps should be taken to mitigate any potential risks.

Multi-level integrated approaches

 Approaches which combine a number of interventions aimed at multiple levels - individual, household, community and societal - are the most effective for achieving women’s empowerment in the long term, particularly where these place emphasis on women’s collective agency.

Working with and learning from women’s rights organisations

 Relationships fostered in the spaces created by women’s rights organisations frequently result in the kind of changes associated with empowerment such as self-confidence, new capabilities and consciousness about rights, and the capacity to act collectively to demand gender equality.  Women’s rights organisations are expert at providing programmes that are appropriate to women’s multiple needs and which are grounded in an understanding of the community context. Supporting and partnering with women’s rights organisations is essential for external actors to understand the most effective ways to navigate existing local power structures and the challenges and risks facing women.  Interventions aimed at supporting women’s capacities to act together and creating supportive relationships among women are much more likely to have a transformative effect than interventions aimed at individual women.  Women’s rights organisations should be empowered to own the agenda and should be given long term technical and financial support in a way that respects and promotes their autonomy.

Long term approach

27  Long term projects are essential to achieve changes in discriminatory norms and social practices.  A long term approach is crucial to build a critical mass of women with the skills, confidence and networks to participate and lead in different decision making fora.

Lessons Learned

Individual level:  Fostering women’s individual knowledge and skills can lead to an increased consciousness and understanding of their rights and increased confidence to claim those rights.  Interventions should strengthen women’s leadership capacity and include a focus on women’s influence in local decision making at community, village and district levels where it often has the most direct impact on women’s lives.  Joint or integrated interventions which provided economic skills and services alongside life skills and other training services appear to be the most effective for women’s economic empowerment.

Household level:  Evidence suggests that interventions which target all members of a household can have a valuable impact on the success of a project.  Interventions which are designed to encourage recognition and redefinition of gender roles within the household can be an effective mechanism for women’s empowerment.  Women’s economic empowerment has been found to improve women’s decision-making in the household when traditional approaches such as microfinance or cash transfers are combined with other interventions, such as empowerment and educational strategies.

Community level:  Interventions which focus on the individual or household levels are unlikely to have significant community-level effects unless they also include community-level interventions, particularly those targeting discriminatory social norms.  Localised approaches to educate, mobilise the community and raise awareness about discriminatory practices can be effective in reducing gender inequalities through tackling myths and social norms which condone violence.  Working with faith organisations, traditional leaders and men and boys is important to transform beliefs and behaviours that reinforce and condone gender inequality. However, these interventions must form part of broader community-wide approaches which prioritise the empowerment of women and girls.

Societal level:  The implementation and enforcement of laws to ensure equality before the law has been identified as critical for transforming discriminatory norms and social practices but will only be effective if also accompanied by mechanisms for enforcement, interventions to improve women’s access to justice and gender responsive police and judicial systems.  Large scale media and education campaigns are a useful tool for reaching broad audiences. However, evidence suggests these are most effective when combined with locally targeted outreach efforts.

28 Measuring change

 Rigorous and carefully planned research is needed to strengthen knowledge about what works. This should include monitoring and evaluation systems developed and agreed with partners and women’s rights organisations.  Contextual gender analysis which considers gender-related norms and behaviours should form part of evaluation design.  Mixed methods (qualitative and quantitative) and multidimensional indicators should be used to ensure evaluation captures transformative change. For example, significant change in a woman’s life such as improved self-esteem and increased social interaction may not be captured by quantitative data.  Tackling gender discrimination which involves changing social norms can be a very slow process and requires measurement of long term impact.Participatory approaches to evaluation can provide a forum for women to voice their concerns and articulate their needs and experiences. The process of defining women’s rights issues in order to select indicators can itself be empowering. Sharing Learning

 The evidence base in relation to what works to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment and rights is constantly evolving. While there have been great strides in evaluating interventions there remains a way to go.  Encouraging knowledge exchange, sharing good practices and supporting locally driven and innovative programmes should form part of any programme.

29 1 Cristina Buarque cited in Sardenberg, C. (2010) ‘Women’s Empowerment in Brazil: Tensions in Discourse and Practice’, Development 53.2: 232–8 quoted in Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

2This is an international research and communications programme coordinated by the Institute of Development Studies (IDS) in the UK and involving approximately 60 academic-activists and four regional research hubs focussed on researching and influencing efforts to empower women see: http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org. Key findings from the Pathways research, derived from analysis of around 825 outputs from 55 projects in 15 countries, inform this evidence paper.

3 Klugman, J. et al. (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity. Washington, DC: World Bank Group, available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/19036

4 See for example, G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275-review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic- empowerment; E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 2014, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf; E. Unterhalter et al.(2014) Interventions to enhance girls’ education and gender equality. Education Rigorous Literature Review. Department for International Development; M. Froio et al. (2014), How to achieve gender equality: an empirical review of interventions effective in changing social norms to promote women’s empowerment, Christian Aid & London School of Economics and Political Science.

5 Rowlands, J, 2005,

6 World Bank Group (2014) Voice and Agency Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, available at http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/document/Gender/Voice_and_agency_LOWRES.pdf

7 R. Eyben (2011) Supporting Pathways of Women’s Empowerment: A Brief Guide for International Development Organisations, Pathways Policy Paper.

8 Ibid.

9 Ibid.

10 J. Woodroffe et al. (2011) Women’s Rights Advocacy Toolkit, Womankind Worldwide

11 Adapted from J. Woodroffe et al. (2011) Women’s Rights Advocacy Toolkit, Womankind Worldwide

12 According to the ECOSOC Agreed Conclusions 1997/2

13 E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf

14 N. Hossain (2012), Security and the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment: Findings from a Thematic Synthesis of the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research, IDS Working Paper, Volume 2012, No. 406.

15 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, p.9, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

16 Unterhalter E, North A, Arnot M, Lloyd C, Moletsane L, Murphy-Graham E, Parkes J, Saito M (2014) Interventions to enhance girls’ education and gender equality. Education Rigorous Literature Review. Department for International Development

17 G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275- review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic-empowerment

18 World Bank (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, available at: https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/19036

19 World Health Organisation (2007). Engaging men and boys in changing gender-based inequity in health: Evidence from programme interventions. Geneva, p.27.

20 G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275- review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic-empowerment

21 N. Kabeer (2001) ‘Resources, agency, achievements: reflections on the measurement of women’s Empowerment in Discussing women’s empowerment – theory and practice, B. Sevefjord et al. SIDA Study No. 2, 2001. Available at: http://www.sida.se/Sida/articles/10200-10299/10273/studies3_.pdf

22 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

23 E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 204, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf

24 Adapted from UNFPA (2013), Engaging Men and Boys: A Brief Summary of UNFPA Experience and Lessons Learned, Integrating work with men and boys into core areas of the UNFPA mandate at country, regional and global levels, p.5, available at: http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2013/UNFPA%20Engaging%20men%20and %20boys_web-2.pdf

25 R. Ebden et al (2008), ‘Conceptualising Empowerment and the Implications for Pro Poor Growth,’ A paper for the DAC Poverty Network

26 For further analysis see G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275-review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic- empowerment; S. Walby (2005), ‘Measuring Women’s Progress in a Global Era,’ International Social Science Journal, Vol. 57, June 2005, Issue 184, pp. 371-387

27 Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Programme, Empowerment: A Journey not a destination op cit.

28 E. Unterhalter et al.(2014) Interventions to enhance girls’ education and gender equality. Education Rigorous Literature Review. Department for International Development

29 E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 204, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf

30 Plan International, Promoting Rights and Accountabilities in African Communities (PRAAC): Project Summary.

31 N. Hossain (2012), Security and the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment: Findings from a Thematic Synthesis of the Pathways of Women’s Empowerment Research, IDS Working Paper, Volume 2012, No. 406.

32 ActionAid (2011), Destined to Fail: How violence against women is undoing development, available at: https://www.actionaid.org.uk/sites/default/files/doc_lib/destined_to_fail.pdf

33 See discussion in E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf; Association of Women in Development (AWID) (2009) New Insights on Religious Fundamentalisms: Research Highlights, September 2009.

34 E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change, op cit.

35 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, p.10 available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

36 World Bank (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, p.169

37 See for example, AWID (2014), Women Moving Mountains: The Collective Impact of the Dutch MDG3 Fund, available at: http://www.awid.org/Library/Women-Moving-Mountains3; H. O’Connell (2012) What added-value do organisations that are led and managed by women and girls bring to work addressing the rights, needs and priorities of women and girls?, Comic Relief Review, available at: http://www.gadnetwork.org/storage/Comic%20Relief%20Review%20of%20Value%20Add%20of%20Women- led%20Organisations.pdf

38 H. O’Connell (2012) What added-value do organisations that are led and managed by women and girls bring to work addressing the rights, needs and priorities of women and girls?, Comic Relief Review, available at: http://www.gadnetwork.org/storage/Comic%20Relief%20Review%20of%20Value%20Add%20of%20Women-led %20Organisations.pdf 39 Arutyunova, A. (2011) The Gender Factor: How women’s organizations further sustainable social change, Effect Magazine, European Foundation Center, Vol.5, Issue 1, Spring 2011.

40 L. Alpizar-Duran (2012), Executive Director AWID, ‘Strengthening Financing for Gender Equality and Women’s Organisations,’ Interactive Expert Panel Paper, Panel 4: Progress in financing for gender equality from the perspective of international organizations and multilateral development partners, United Nations Commission on the Status of Women Fifty-sixth session, 27 February – 9 March 2012, New York, available at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/csw56/panels/panel-4-Alpizar.pdf, p.3; Batliwala, S. (2008), “Changing Their World: Concepts and Practices of Women’s Movements,” AWID, p.13.

41 J. Horn (2013), Gender and Social Movements Overview report, BRIDGE.

42 Adapted from M. Mukhopadhyay et al. (2011) ‘Rights and Resources: The Effects of Financing on Organising for Women’s Rights,’ Pathways and the Royal Tropical Institute cited in R. Eyben (2011) Supporting Pathways of Women’s Empowerment: A Brief Guide for International Development Organisations, Pathways Policy Paper.

43 Women’s Resource Centre, Hidden Value: Demonstrating the extraordinary impact of women’s voluntary and community organisations, November 2011, available at: http://www.wrc.org.uk/includes/documents/cm_docs/2011/h/hidden_value_wrc_sroi_report_2011_2.pdf

44 A distinction first coined by Maxine Molyneux in Mobilization without Emancipation? Women's Interests, the State, and Revolution in Nicaragua, Feminist Studies Vol. 11, No. 2 (Summer 1985), pp. 227-254.

45 M. Froio et al. (2014), How to achieve gender equality: an empirical review of interventions effective in changing social norms to promote women’s empowerment, Christian Aid & London School of Economics and Political Science

46 A. Malhotra et al. (2003) Impact of investments in female education on gender equality, International Centre for Research on Women: Washington, DC.

47 World Bank (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, p.8

48 For more information on the reflect approach see http://www.reflect-action.org/ see also M. Duffy (2009) Review of 16 Reflect Evaluations, available at: http://www.actionaid.org/main.aspx?PageID=175

49 See http://www.reflect-action.org/womensrights

50 The Institute for Reproductive Health (IRH) at Georgetown University (2009), Utilizing Participatory Data Collection Methods to Evaluate Programs for Very Young Adolescents: An Evaluation of Save the Children’s Choices Curriculum in Nepal. See also Save the Children (2012) Choices: Empowering boys and girls to transform gender norms: A curriculum for 10 to 14 year olds in Egypt

51 See for example discussion in Tornqvist, A. and C. Schmitz (2009) Women’s economic empowerment: scope for Sida’s engagement Working Paper December. Stockholm: SIDA.

52 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

53 See for example, N. Kabeer (2008) ‘Paid Work,Women’s Empowerment and Gender Justice: Critical Pathways of Social Change’, Pathways Working Paper 3, Brighton: Institute of Development Studies; Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

54 Although inequalities and gender hierarchies can be redefined in response to a rise of the female breadwinner see N. Kabeer “The Rise of the Female Breadwinner” in New Frontiers in Feminist Political Economy S. Rai and G Waylen (eds) 2014

55 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

56 World Bank (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, p.48

57 G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275- review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic-empowerment

58 O. Bandiera et al. (2014) Women’s Empowerment in Action: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial in Africa, enGender Impact : the World Bank's Gender Impact Evaluation Database. Washington DC : World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/2013/08/18311034/empowering-adolescent-girls-evidence-randomized-control-trial- uganda

59 Siiqqee Annual Monitoring Report. 2010, p 2

60 Siiqqee Annual Monitoring Report 2012 p 4

61 End of Grant Evaluation of the Comic Relief Strategic Grant – Justice for Women and Girls in Ethiopia 2007-2012 p 30

62 E. Duflo,(2012). Women Empowerment and Economic Development. Journal of Economic Literature. 50(4), 1051–1079

63 A.A. Alcantara Costa (2010), ‘Quotas: A Pathway of Political Empowerment,’ IDS Bulletin 41.2:18-27.

64 L. Horner & R. Stokes (2012), Advancing Equality In Women's Participation And Influence In Public Life Through The Post‐2015 Framework, VSO.

65 L. Horner & R. Stokes (2012), Advancing Equality In Women's Participation And Influence In Public Life Through The Post‐2015 Framework, VSO.

66 MNWL Monitoring Records referenced in in Womankind Worldwide (2014) Learning and Evidence Review

67 N. Banks (2008) ‘A tale of two wards: political participation and the urban poor in Dhaka city’, Environment and Urbanization 20 (2) 361‐376 ; Asaki, B. and Hayes, S. ‘Leaders, not clients: grassroots women's groups transforming social protection’ Gender and Development 19(2) 241:253 ; Crone, T. (2010) ‘Transforming the National AIDS Response Advancing Women’s Leadership and Participation’ – examples cited in L. Horner & R. Stokes (2012), Advancing Equality In Women's Participation And Influence In Public Life Through The Post‐2015 Framework, VSO.

68 VSO (2013) Women in Power: Advancing women’s participation and influence in political and public life through the post-2015 framework, VSO Briefing Note, available at: http://www.post2015hlp.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/VSO-Briefing-Women-in- Power-Post2015.pdf

69 See discussion in L. Horner & R. Stokes (2012), Advancing Equality In Women's Participation And Influence In Public Life Through The Post‐2015 Framework, VSO.

70 Oxfam (2011) ‘Women leading change: Experiences Promoting Women’s Empowerment, Leadership, and Gender Justice’, available at: http://policy‐practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/women‐leading‐change‐experiences‐promoting‐womens‐ empowerment‐leadership‐and‐ge‐216290 Ahern, P. Nuti, P. and Masterson, J. (2000) ‘Promoting Gender Equity in the Democratic Process: Women’s Paths to Political Participation and Decision making’ International Center for Research on Women and The Centre for Development and Population Activities 35 Pathways of Women's Empowerment. Op cit.

71 CAFOD, Preparing for leadership: Experiences of Palestinian Women refugees.

72 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, p.9, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf; see also E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf

73 E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf

74 ActionAid, Institute of Development Studies, and Womankind Worldwide (2012), From the ground up: Women’s roles in peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sierra Leone, 2012

75 See for example, Population Council and Save the Children (2008) ‘Providing new opportunities to adolescent girls in socially conservative settings: The Ishraq program in rural Upper Egypt’

76 A. Reilly, Adolescent girls’ experiences of violence in school in Sierra Leone and the challenges to sustainable change, Plan International.

77 Action Aid/ Institute of Education (2013) Stop Violence Against Girls in School: Emerging Cross Country Research Findings

78 ActionAid (2013) Making Care Visible: Women’s unpaid care work in Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya 79 Population Council and Save the Children (2008) ‘Providing new opportunities to adolescent girls in socially conservative settings: The Ishraq program in rural Upper Egypt’

80 L. Wetheridge, (2012), Transforming Education for Girls in Tanzania: Endline research summary report, ActionAid & LSE , available at: http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/3351_ed4girlstanzaniaendfinal.pdf

81 L. Wetheridge and A. Mamedu (2012), Transforming Education for Girls in Nigeria: Endline research summary report, ActionAid & LSE , available at: http://www.actionaid.org/sites/files/actionaid/3351_ed4rgirlsnigeriaendfinal.pdf

82 See DFID (2012) Theory of Change for Tackling Violence against Women and Girls, Chase Guidance Note Series, Guidance Note 1, May 2012

83 Story collected 19 June 2013, published in Plan International, Promoting Rights and Accountabilities in African Communities (PRAAC): Project Summary.

84 For example, J. Hunt et al (2009) Breaking the shackles: Women’s empowerment in Oxfam Australia’s Sri Lanka program, Oxfam Occasional Paper 3 cited in D. Kilsby (2012) Now we feel like respected adults: Positive change in gender roles and relations in a Timor-Leste WASH program, ACFID Research in Development Series, Report No. 6, WaterAid & IWDA.

85 Evidence provided to the DFID PPA Learning Group on Gender by Plan International, 2014.

86 ActionAid International (2013) Stop Violence Against Girls in School: A cross-country analysis of change in Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique, available at: www.actionaid.org/what-we-do/education/stop-violence-against-girls-schools

87 Plan International, Promoting Rights and Accountabilities in African Communities (PRAAC): Project Summary.

88 Ampofo, A (2008) ‘Final External Evaluation of the Nkyinkyim Anti-Violence Programme Ghana’ Gender Studies and Human Rights Documentation Centre with Womankind Worldwide, p.33

89 D. Kilsby (2012) Now we feel like respected adults: Positive change in gender roles and relations in a Timor-Leste WASH program, ACFID Research in Development Series, Report No. 6, WaterAid & IWDA

90 D. Budlender & R. Moussie (2013), Making Care Visible: Women’s unpaid care work in Nepal, Nigeria, Uganda and Kenya, ActionAid, February 2013, available at: http://www.actionaid.org/publications/making-care-visible

91 E. Duflo (2012). Women Empowerment and Economic Development. Journal of Economic Literature. 50(4), 1051–1079

92 OECD Development Centre (2013), Transforming Social Institutions to prevent violence against women and girls and improve development outcomes, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/OECD_DEV_Policy%20Brief_March%202013.pdf

93 G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275- review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic-empowerment

94 E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 204, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf

95 Example from OECD Development Centre (2013), Transforming Social Institutions to prevent violence against women and girls and improve development outcomes, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/OECD_DEV_Policy%20Brief_March %202013.pdf

96 ActionAid, Institute of Development Studies, and Womankind Worldwide (2012), From the ground up: Women’s roles in peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sierra Leone, 2012

97 Kabeer, N. and Huq, L. (2010) The Power of Relationships: Love and Solidarity in a Landless Women's Organisation in Rural Bangladesh. IDS Bulletin, 41: 79–87

98 G. Taylor & P. Pereznieto (2014), Review of evaluation approaches and methods used by interventions on women and girls’ economic empowerment, ODI & Social Development Direct, March 2014. Available at: http://www.odi.org/publications/8275- review-evaluation-approaches-methods-used-by-interventions-women-girls-economic-empowerment

99 M. Froio et al. (2014), How to achieve gender equality: an empirical review of interventions effective in changing social norms to promote women’s empowerment, Christian Aid & London School of Economics and Political Science 100 OECD Development Centre (2013), Transforming Social Institutions to prevent violence against women and girls and improve development outcomes, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/OECD_DEV_Policy%20Brief_March%202013.pdf

101 Jones, N., Harper, C., Watson, C. et al. (2010). 'Stemming Girls' Chronic Poverty: Catalysing Development Change by Building Just Social Institutions', Chronic Poverty Research Centre, University of Manchester.

102 Unterhalter E, North A, Arnot M, Lloyd C, Moletsane L, Murphy-Graham E, Parkes J, Saito M (2014) Interventions to enhance girls’ education and gender equality. Education Rigorous Literature Review. Department for International Development

103 E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 204, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf

104 E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf

105 http://www.helpage.org/what-we-do/rights/womens-rights-in-tanzania/womens-rights-in-tanzania/

106 http://www.helpage.org/what-we-do/rights/what-we-do/newsroom/features/no-country-for-old-women/

107 E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 204, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf

108 Stepping Stones was developed between 1993 and 1995, mainly in Uganda – see A. Welbourn (1995) Stepping Stones: A training package in HIV/AIDS, communication and relationship skills, Strategies for Hope and for evaluations of this method see: http://www.steppingstonesfeedback.org

109 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, p.9, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf; see also E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf

110 Evidence provided to the DFID PPA Learning Group on Gender by Plan International, 2014.

111 E. Isaacs et al. (2010) Scaling Up HIV and AIDS Prevention, Treatment, Care and Support in Community and Home-Based Care Programmes by Reducing the Burden of HIV and AIDS Care on Women, Girls and Older Carers in SADC, VSO-RAISA, December 2010, available at: http://www.vsointernational.org/Images/VSO-RAISA-reducing-burden-of-care_tcm76-34986.pdf

112 IPPF (2010) Men are Changing: Case study evidence on work with men and boys to promote gender equality and positive masculinities. London: International Planned Parenthood Federation.

113 UN Women, 2011, Progress of the World’s Women 2011-2012: In Pursuit of Justice, New York: UN Women

114 VSO Indonesia, 27 June 2013 taken from P. Nath (2013), Women in Power: beyond access to influence in a post-2015 world, available at: http://www.vso.org.uk/sites/vso_uk/files/women_in_power_report_final_26feb2014_ic14008.pdf

115 CAFOD, CAFOD Programme: Promoting gender equality within the Church.

116 Moyo, B. Chipfupa, U (2013) Final Evaluation of the programme - Increasing women’s participation in the peacebuilding process in Zimbabwe Women’s Coalition of Zimbabwe with Womankind Worldwide.

117 J. Pulerwitz, et al. (2006) Promoting More Gender-equitable Norms and Behaviors Among Young Men as an HIV/AIDS Prevention Strategy. Horizons Final Report. Washington, DC: Population Council.

118 L. Horner & R. Stokes (2012), Advancing Equality In Women's Participation And Influence In Public Life Through The Post‐2015 Framework, VSO.

119 World Health Organisation (2007). Engaging men and boys in changing gender-based inequity in health, op cit. p.11.

120 Great Minds Consultancy Group (2013) Evaluation of the VSO Regional AIDS Initiative of Southern Africa (VSO RAISA); VSO (2013) ‘Implementation of a Care Giver Policy - Evidence of Successes in Zimbabwe’, Rapid Assessment.

121 ActionAid International (2013) Stop Violence Against Girls in School: A cross-country analysis of change in Ghana, Kenya and Mozambique, available at: www.actionaid.org/what-we-do/education/stop-violence-against-girls-schools 122 End Evaluation of the Comic Relief Strategic Grant – Justice for women and Girls in Ethiopia 2007-2012

123 B. Mengistu (2012), Empowering Women and Girls: How water, sanitation and hygiene deliver gender equality, WaterAid, February 2012, available at: INSERT

124 Save the Children (2010) The State of the World’s Mothers: Women on the Front Lines of Healthcare

125 Example taken from E. Esplen (2013), Leaders for change: why support women’s rights organisations? Womankind Worldwide, March 2013, available at: http://www.womankind.org.uk/wp- content/uploads/downloads/2013/03/LeadersForChange-FINAL.pdf

126 ActionAid, Institute of Development Studies, and Womankind Worldwide (2012), From the ground up: Women’s roles in peacebuilding in Afghanistan, Liberia, Nepal, Pakistan and Sierra Leone, 2012

127 OECD Development Centre (2013), Transforming Social Institutions to prevent violence against women and girls and improve development outcomes, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/OECD_DEV_Policy%20Brief_March%202013.pdf

128 For example, for an assessment of laws that impact women entrepreneurs and employees globally see World Bank (2013) Women, Business and the Law 2014: Removing Restrictions To Enhance Gender Equality

129 World Bank (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, p.2

130Ibid. , p.7.

131 Example taken from OECD Development Centre (2013), Transforming Social Institutions to prevent violence against women and girls and improve development outcomes, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/OECD_DEV_Policy %20Brief_March%202013.pdf

132 Kumar, N., and A. R. Quisumbing, A. R. (2012) Policy Reform toward Gender Equality in Ethiopia: Little by Little the Egg Begins to Walk. IFPRI Discussion Paper 01226. Washington, DC: International Food Policy Research Institute, Available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2184985; Hallward-Driemeier, M., and O. Gajigo. (2011) Strengthening Economic Rights and Women’ s Occupational Choice: The Impact of Reforming Ethiopia’ s Family Law. Centre for Study of African Economies 25th Anniversary Conference. Washington, DC: World Bank.

133 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, p.9, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

134 Khan, A. (2011) ‘Lady Health Workers and Social Change in Pakistan’, Economic and Political Weekly 46.30, 23–29 July: 28–31

135 LIWOMAC Quarterly Monitoring Report April-September 2012 p 4

136 LIWOMAC Annual Monitoring Report April 2012-March 2013 p 2

137 World Bank (2014) Voice and Agency: Empowering women and girls for shared prosperity, p.41

138 E. Fulu et al. (2014) Effectiveness of Interventions to prevent violence against women and girls: A Summary of the Evidence, June 204, available at: http://www.svri.org/InterventionsSummary.pdf

139 Save the Children (2008), Rewrite the Future: Annual Report Southern Sudan

140 See https://www.facebook.com/16DaysCampaign; http://www.onebillionrising.org/

141 OECD Development Centre (2013), Transforming Social Institutions to prevent violence against women and girls and improve development outcomes, available at: http://www.oecd.org/dev/poverty/OECD_DEV_Policy%20Brief_March%202013.pdf

142 http://www.bellbajao.org/

143 Pathways of Empowerment Research Consortium (2012), Empowerment a Journey not a Destination, p.9, available at http://www.pathwaysofempowerment.org/PathwaysSynthesisReport.pdf

144 M. Htun, M. and L. Weldon, (2012) ‘The Civic Origins of Progressive Policy Change: Combating Violence against Women in Global Perspective, 1975–2005’, American Political Science Review , Cambridge University Press and the American Political Science Association 145 E. Unterhalter et al.(2014) Interventions to enhance girls’ education and gender equality. Education Rigorous Literature Review. Department for International Development

146 ISIS WICCEE Quarterly Narrative Report April- July 2013 p 2

147 ISIS WICCEE Quarterly Report Jan-April 2013 p 8

148 Ibid.

149 Hania Sholkamy,Middle East Hub Convenor, Egypt, Pathways Consortium Advisory Group Meeting, June 2010