Unit 3: How to mainstream gender in ILO operations

International Labour Organization
SEAPAT
South-East Asia and the Pacific Multidisciplinary Advisory Team
ILO/SEAPAT's OnLine Gender Learning & Information Module

Unit 3: How to mainstream gender in ILO operations

Gender-responsive monitoring and evaluation

Tool: ILO’s Checklist of Gender Considerations in Progress Review Reports

Outputs and activities
Unforeseen events
Follow-up actions

[Note: This checklist is adapted from ILO’s "Guidelines for the Integration of Gender Issues into the Design, Monitoring and Evaluation of ILO Programmes and Projects", PROG/EVAL, ILO, January 1995, Geneva.]

Outputs and activities

Specify how many men and women have participated in the programme and in what way.
If the proportion of women who participated in and benefited from the programme is low, identify the reasons and take remedial action. In such cases one or more of the following constraints may have to be addressed:
- a low level of gender awareness among the staff of the programme and/or the partner organisations at the policy making and/or implementation levels. This results in incorrect assumptions on women’s roles and needs which are not based on factual information, make women’s work invisible and neglect women’s potential to participate in and benefit from the programme.
- lack of gender specificity in the programme document.
- insufficient representation of women and women’s organisations in the programme’s steering or advisory committee(s).
- a low level of gender awareness among the target population.
- existence of socio-cultural norms or legal barriers which may prohibit or inhibit women’s participation in the programme.
- low commitment or interest among women because the programme does not address their needs or increases their workload.
- lower educational levels of women.
- organisational arrangements such as the timing, location or duration of programme activities which may form a barrier to women’s participation.
- use of communication channels which are not accessible to women.

Unforeseen events

Did any unforeseen event(s) occur which have affected the participation of women in the programme in a positive or negative way? describe those events, their consequences for the programme, if any, and the action(s) undertaken.

Follow-up actions

If constraints have been identified regarding women’s participation in the programme, remedial action has to be undertaken. A cost-effective measure which usually can be carried out immediately within a programme is to undertake a gender analysis of the programme with the direct recipients and/or intended beneficiaries.
This will provide factual information on women’s roles, needs, and constraints and at the same time raise the awareness and increase the capacity of those responsible for implementation in addressing gender and equality issues. On the basis of such an inventory, more detailed gender specific measures can be designed and implemented.
Indicate the recommended actions resulting from the gender assessment, including any possible revisions to (parts of) the programme and the workplan. Specify the type of action, the names of responsible persons or institutions/organisations and the deadline.

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For further information, please contact the South-East Asia and the Pacific Multidisciplinary
Advisory Team (SEAPAT) at Tel: +63.2.815.2354 or Fax: +63.2.812.6143
E-mail: seapat@ilo.org

This page was revised by SF. It was approved by WRB. It was last updated on 2 November 1998.