Asia Regional Overview for the Strategic Impact Inquiry on Women

1
Asia Regional Overview for the Strategic Impact
Inquiry on Womens Empowerment

• Bangladesh SII Synthesis Workshop
• 10-12 September 2006

2
The Strategic Impact Inquiry on Womens
Empowerment

• How did the SII come about?
• What is it?
• How will it contribute to CAREs work in
  Bangladesh and Asia?

3
Evolution of CAREs Programming Framework

• 1996 HLS
• 1998/9 Gender Equity
• 2000/1 RBA
• 2003 RBA programming principles
• 2004 Unifying Framework

• Outcomes
• Livelihood Conditions
• Womens Conditions
• ?
• Rating scale
• Human Conditions,
• Social Positions,
• Enabling Environment

4
CARE International Programming Principles

• Principle 1 Promote Empowerment
• We stand in solidarity with poor and marginalized
  people, and support their efforts to take control
  of their own lives and fulfil their rights,
  responsibilities and aspirations. We ensure that
  key participants and organisations representing
  affected people are partners in the design,
  implementation, monitoring and evaluation of our
  programmes.
• Principle 2 Work with partners
• We work with others to maximise the impact of our
  programs, building alliances and partnerships
  with those who offer complementary approaches,
  are able to adopt effective programming
  approaches on a larger scale, and/or who have
  responsibility to fulfil rights and reduce
  poverty through policy change and enforcement.
• Principle 3 Ensure Accountability and Promote
  Responsibility
• We seek ways to be held accountable to poor and
  marginalized people whose rights are denied. We
  identify individuals and institutions with an
  obligation toward poor and marginalized people,
  and support and encourage their efforts to fulfil
  their responsibilities.
• Principle 4 Address Discrimination
• In our programs and offices we address
  discrimination and the denial of rights based on
  sex, race, nationality, ethnicity, class,
  religion, age, physical ability, caste, opinion
  or sexual orientation.
• Principle 5 Promote the non-violent resolution
  of conflicts
• We promote just and non-violent means for
  preventing and resolving conflicts at all levels,
  noting that such conflicts contribute to poverty
  and the denial of rights.
• Principle 6 Seek Sustainable Results
• As we address underlying causes of poverty and
  rights denial, we develop and use approaches that
  ensure our programmes result in lasting and
  fundamental improvements in the lives of the poor
  and marginalized with whom we work.
•  We hold ourselves accountable for enacting
  behaviours consistent with these principles, and
  ask others to help us do so, not only in our
  programming, but in all that we do.

5
(No Transcript)
6
Unifying Framework for Poverty Eradication and
Social Justice
Social Positions (Improving Social Equity)
Human Conditions (Increasing Opportunity)
Enabling Environment (Improving Governance)
Outcome Areas
Program Areas
Underlying Causes of Poverty and Social Injustice
Unequal Rights of Access to Resources and
Services
Gender Inequity
Social Exclusion
Weak Governance Systems
7
Why the Strategic Impact Inquiry?

• Five years after adopting a rights based approach
  what kinds of (different impacts are we having
  as an organisation?
• Are we even clear HOW we are attempting to
  measure impact in terms of our efforts to address
  underlying causes of poverty and social
  injustice?
• How can we demonstrate the value of our work more
  effectively and reshape the image and reputation
  we have as an organisation, in the changing
  context in which we operate?

8
The Strategic Impact Inquiry
Goal Deepening a culture of learning and critical
inquiry through
Accountability
Improvement
Empowering Analysis
Offer stakeholders in and out of CARE evidence
good, bad, and ambiguous to assess our work
Use participatory, rights-based methods that are
empowering in themselves
Reseed findings into new program approaches and
policies. Aggressively share CARE successes and
challenges with the wider profession
9
The Strategic Impact Inquiry on
Womens Empowerment
Guiding Questions
What contributions are CARE programs making, if
any, to the empowerment of women and the
advancement of gender equity?
What internal, organizational variables are
associated with higher and lower levels of
impact on womens empowerment and improving
gender equity?
10
SII Framework
11
FY07 Questions for the Strategic Impact Inquiry
How can we embed critical inquiry and reflective
practice for impact assessment in our work in a
more organic, ongoing way?
How can we learn from such critical inquiry,
conducted across different countries, to improve
the approaches we use to facilitate the
empowerment of women?
Methods and Content Questions for FY 07
12
CARE in Asia Scenario Planning

• Rapidly changing operating environment China and
  India are rapidly emerging as global powers and
  the relationship between them has a huge
  determining effect on poverty in the region.
• Environmental and social problems are serious
  there are likely to be many crises over the next
  5-7 years
• Chinas growth model is unsustainable with a
  ticking time bomb of inequity and environmental
  neglect Indias slower but more democratic
  growth model emerges as potentially more robust
  than China
• Scenario work shows spheres of influence seem
  likely to be maintained within region Asian
  unity feasible, but tortuous process if occurs

13
Implications for CARE

• Wide range of programming options for CARE from
  supporting rights entitlements and civil society
  development to a much greater emphasis on dealing
  with conflict and disasters
• Some futures have significant donor constraints
  and limited operational space. China and India
  will emerge as new donors. Non-traditional donors
  such as the private sector may become more
  important
• The scenarios suggest new programming areas for
  example migration, environment, youth, political
  voice
• In futures with unitary Asia or spheres of
  influence it would be important to have a strong
  Asian identity for CARE or a strong sub-regional
  identity.
• CARE needs to be a global organization adapting
  to different contexts, rather than having a
  single international model

14
Gender Equity Exchange and Synthesis Meeting,
Hanoi, Dec 2005 Purpose Statement

• We, as CARE in Asia, will place gender equity and
  diversity at the centre of all that we do in
  applying the CI programming principles to address
  the underlying causes of poverty and social
  injustice.
• In so doing we will forge relationships with
  those who share the same values to challenge and
  confront inequity by
• Deepening and acting upon our analysis of the
  underlying causes of gender inequity and social
  exclusion
• Ensuring our staff profile mirrors diverse social
  identities
• Providing space for passion, dialogue and
  reflection
• Holding ourselves accountable to measuring our
  progress along the way

15
ARMU program framework
GED focus
Staff Capabilities
Structures Systems
CI Program Principles
Women Girls take Control of their Lives
High Quality, High Impact Programs during and in
between Emergencies
Accountability Learning
Mind-set and Organizational Culture
Operating Models
16
SII in Asia

• CARE India and Bangladesh decided to participate
  over 2005-06
• Range of programs involved innovative pilots
  like Nijera and VAW-PHL (Bdesh) and larger
  programs like CASHE and STEP (India) and RMP
  (Bdesh)
• CARE Bangladesh also looking at impact of
  internal organisational reforms on womens
  empowerment India yet to decide
• Synthesis process from two countries will be
  combined in a regional synthesis will
  contribute at country, regional and global levels

17
(No Transcript)
18
Synthesis Questions for Asia

• What have we learned about the relative
  effectiveness of different program approaches in
  contributing to womens empowerment?
• How do we use this learning?
• What organisational factors contribute to or
  constrain our ability to advance WE?
• How do we use the SII work to demonstrate the
  value we add to the facilitation of WE in Asia?
• How does this work contribute to our ongoing
  evolution as an organisation in Asia?