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Memorandum submitted by Womankind Worldwide
This submission specifically addresses the theme outlined in the IDC's call for evidence: How do donors ensure that humanitarian assistance is delivered equitably (in terms of gender, ethnicity, age, caste)? What can be done to ensure that humanitarian assistance is pro-poor and does not exacerbate inequalities. It is based on WOMANKIND Worldwide's experience of working with women and communities following natural disasters in India and in countries experiencing and emerging from conflict such as Afghanistan, Somalia and Peru. Specifically, following the Indian Ocean Tsunami, in March 2005 WOMANKIND conducted research among the coastal villages and communities where we were working to look at the gender dimension of the disaster.
The submission also builds on the findings of successive evaluations of different humanitarian responses that highlight the insufficient attention that is paid to gender and women's specific needs and their active participation in humanitarian responses. It also reflects a more general concern that in recent years, there has been a weakening of the consistency with which gender equality objectives are integrated and implemented within DFID policies and practices.[1]
We welcome the commitment by DFID to taking a lead role in developing and translating into policy and practice strong principles of humanitarian donorship. DFID needs to continue to strengthen efforts to translate into practice existing international agreements and instruments on gender in humanitarian work in its humanitarian policy and practice.
In particular DFID should build on the lessons learnt from successive evaluations of humanitarian response, integrate a clear gender focus into its humanitarian work, develop and maintain consistency in its approach to gender, and confirm its' overall commitment to gender equality objectives and their implementation through the setting of clear and measurable benchmarks to monitor implementation.
Summary of Key Recommendations:
1.1 Over the last decade, the persistence of humanitarian crises and in particular the prevalence of complex emergencies, have challenged the traditional divisions between relief, rehabilitation and development. An emergency can no longer be seen as solely 'natural'. The analyses of successive natural disasters highlight the insidious role that poverty plays in triggering and prolonging the effects of disaster. Disasters often expose underlying inequalities, injustices and violations of rights on the grounds of gender, caste and ethnicity.
1.2 Our experience and research into the effects of the Tsunami in coastal South India emphasise the fact that disasters are not gender neutral in their effects. In Tamil Nadu, women and girls were less likely to survive, because of differences in clothing worn, their inability to swim or climb trees, their greater tendency to remain in situ with children and assets and crucially the gender division of labour in coastal fishing. Unlike men who engage in deep sea fishing, women's livelihoods meant that they waited along the coast in the morning (when the tsunami struck) to collect fish from boats and take them for sale.
1.3 Relief and rehabilitation measures following the tsunami were not gender neutral either, but were mediated by not only the differences in gender roles of men and women, but also the unequal power relations between men and women in the affected communities. Male community leaders of the fisher folk played a key role in relief collection and distribution. Most of the traditional Panchayats (village councils) visited in the course of our research, distributed cash relief to men and rations to women. Around a half of 200 women interviewed said that part of the cash relief was used by men on liquor. Similarly rehabilitation of livelihoods focussed on men and boats and nets, often ignoring women's livelihoods in the areas of cleaning and marketing fish.
1.4 The level of solidarity and mobilisation of local public support in India following the Tsunami was tremendous and received little attention amidst the focus on the international response. Indian civil society organisations were a crucial part of the humanitarian response. Amongst them WOMANKIND's local partners all responded and were involved in relief efforts in the immediate aftermath - both directly and indirectly - raising funds and relief items locally and distributing them as volunteers, counselling affected communities and helping them get back on their feet.
1.5 Our partners had been working with local women's groups long before the tsunami struck, and were able to respond quickly and appropriately to the specific needs of affected communities and women, in both relief and rehabilitation. They played an important role in representing the most marginalised communities excluded in the majority of the immediate humanitarian response. In their long term rehabilitation work they have been able to challenge existing gender relations through alternative livelihood programmes that put women at the centre e.g. women's self help groups that jointly manage fishing nets and boats. They have tried to ensure that title deeds are in the joint name of men and women, and wherever land is purchased for resettlement, it is owned by women's collectives.
1.6 Where gender intersects with caste and ethnicity, women are doubly discriminated. A particularly significant element of WOMANKIND's work following the tsunami has focussed on work with communities other than the traditional fishing community. Not dependent on coastal fishing, these communities, who were living and fishing in backwater areas, were largely invisible. As a result of their lower caste and status in the community, these groups were also subjected to harassment and intimidation and overlooked in the majority of relief and rehabilitation efforts. The Irula tribal community - amongst the poorest tribal groups in the country, was one such group. Traditionally a forest based community, the Irulas have been involved in backwater and onshore fishing in Tamil Nadu. Approximately 2,000 Irula families were affected by the tsunami but faced discrimination in access to compensation, water and shelter.
Recommendations:
2.1 Disasters can present opportunities to redress pre-existing inequalities. Women's empowerment can and should be a key part of post-disaster planning and opens up opportunities for women to be involved in local governance.
2.2 The capacity to undertake effective delivery will be determined by the choice of partners who understand the local culture and context and have relevant experience and knowledge of the affected region. Locally based civil society organisations should therefore be natural partners for DFID. Humanitarian response should always support and develop local approaches and systems for organisation, recovery etc., rather than undermine them. Where local capacities are overlooked, this has compromised reaching the most vulnerable, and the ultimate effectiveness and sustainability of the aid delivered.
2.3 Although the term disaster implies an aberration from the norm, the fact remains that gender inequality predates any disaster and is therefore very likely to be exacerbated by it. Therefore a thorough analysis and understanding of pre-disaster responsibilities of women (in terms of production, reproduction and community management) is crucial to planning response.
2.4 Disasters are times of disempowerment and loss for both men and women and it is important not to further erode their positions. So not only is it important not to undermine women's traditional areas of authority, but it is also important that men are also able to make constructive use of their time.
2.5 Successive evaluations of humanitarian response have identified the need to identify women and other marginalised groups as those most vulnerable to humanitarian crises and those most often neglected. Improving effectiveness will depend on a clearer articulation of who the vulnerable are, how they are affected and what is required for them to cope. A gender analysis of the effects of a humanitarian disaster is not simply recognising that both men and women are affected, but that they are affected in different ways and have different capacities to cope.
2.6 Needs assessment should incorporate as standard, the specific needs of women and other vulnerable groups post-disaster. Agreed standards for data collection and analysis need to include as a priority gender disaggregated statistics. Gender specific outcomes need to be amongst the agreed benchmarks. The Sphere Project sets out clearly agreed minimum standards on the integration of gender in all aspects of humanitarian assistance.
2.7 It should be more explicitly recognised that humanitarian concerns and development concerns are interdependent and that gender equality is central to both. This approach will ensure the sustainability of any humanitarian interventions.
2.8 There is a need to understand better and incorporate the views and attitudes of the beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance. This should be done at all stages from the design of programmes to evaluating the effectiveness of that assistance.
2.9 Building a framework of political and social protection must go beyond existing institutions in order to develop understanding, methodologies, and concepts specifically related to providing humanitarian assistance to particular vulnerable groups of people - whether these are women, children, the elderly, disabled. Institutions with a history and mandate to work with these groups should be included in a process of learning and developing approaches, systems and good practice.
2.10 The wider international commitment to "predictable, harmonised and coherent approaches to official development assistance" which is reflected in the principles of Good Humanitarian Donorship, must be predicated on principles of gender equality. If the allocation of resources is to be truly coherent and if men and women are to benefit equally from these new forms of development cooperation, these policies need to translate into equal representation of women and men in decision-making processes and greater civil society involvement in resource allocation, monitoring of results, budgetary allocations and programming.
2.11 There is a need to define more clearly with whom and what kind of partnerships will be prioritised and what role civil society organisations play. We believe that civil society partnerships are a key part of making good DFID's intentions of working on the basis of accurate information, analysis and needs assessment.
2.12 The greater emphasis on decision-making power to donors in the South has to be accompanied by adequate mechanisms for accountability in the South itself and must re-prioritise gender through dedicated financial resources and stronger political commitment. The provision of aid to all partners should be linked to minimum standards on inclusion in the design of programmes.
2.13 Where third-part military intervention has become linked to humanitarian operations there is again a strong need to take a gender perspective. UN Security Council Resolution 1325, to which the UK Government has a strong commitment can offer practical guidelines for the inclusion of women in all stages of conflict prevention and post-conflict reconstruction.
MAY 2006
[1] Macdonald M, Gender Equality and Mainstreaming in policy and practice of the UK Department for International Development - A briefing from the UK Gender and Development Network, March 2003 |