78307 ECA Regional Gender Action Plan FY13-FY15 The World Bank Group June 2013 Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ................................................................................................................ 5 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................... 7 A. Motivation..................................................................................................................... 7 B. Gender issues in the ECA Region .................................................................................. 9 The Regional Gender Action Plan ............................................................................................. 11 A. Objective ..................................................................................................................... 11 B. Organization of the RGAP ........................................................................................... 11 C. Pillar I: Gender informed country policy dialogue ...................................................... 12 D. Pillar II: Gender Informed Operations ........................................................................ 15 E. Pillar III: Knowledge creation, data and innovation .................................................... 18 Implementation: Roles and Responsibilities............................................................................ 22 RGAP Progress Monitoring ....................................................................................................... 24 Figure 1: Gender inclusion success rates (ECA and The World Bank) FY2012 ............................... 8 Figure 2: Three pillars of the RGAP ............................................................................................... 12 Figure 3: Integrating Gender into the DPL process ...................................................................... 17 Table 1: Roles and Responsibilities for RGAP implementation .................................................... 23 Table 2: A results framework for the RGAP .................................................................................. 24 Table 3: ECA Sector-level gender priorities .................................................................................. 27 Cover Image: Shynar Jetpissova, World Bank (Image of Dispatcher Manager at the Energy Transmission Control Center of KEGOK, Kazakhstan) 2|Page 3|Page EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The World Bank is committed to addressing gender-specific challenges and to ensuring that a gender lens is included in its activities in order to reduce inequalities between women and men. ECA’s Regional Gender Action Plan (RGAP) is a component of the World Bank’s institutional commitment to gender, and all regions in the Bank have designed and implemented a gender action plan. The RGAP’s core motivation is to address prevailing gender inequalities in ECA countries. Including gender in the operational and analytical work of the ECA region will reflect in more effective project design and implementation. It will also increase the region’s capacity to understand how to better serve women and men. ECA countries are heterogeneous and while overall they have closed large gender gaps in human development, women continue to lag behind men in economic opportunities in most countries. While some countries have become more equal, women in certain communities face barriers which reduce welfare and growth. This is most evident when it comes to women’s economic and leadership opportunities. Notably, although women have higher human capital than men on average, they lag behind in the labor market with lower activity rates and incomes and in entrepreneurship with smaller businesses. Selected countries also have high sex imbalances at birth, which reflect strong son preference—and discrimination against girls. In some countries in the region men face specific challenges and disadvantages. Men lag in the acquisition of human capital and health, with increasing rates of unemployment at all ages, barriers to make the school to work transition, and poor health and early mortality rates, which also hinders progress for the region as a whole. The objective of the RGAP is to set out commitments and specific actions to improve the inclusion of gender in ECA activities and deepen understanding of gender issues in the region. The region’s goals on gender inclusion are consistent with the gender indicators in the corporate scorecard and The IDA16 Replenishment Implementation Framework Report. These goals will allow the region to not only mainstream gender in the portfolio but also create new knowledge on how to better address the region’s challenges. This will provide for a more inclusive and sustainable development agenda. The RGAP will act at three levels: country level policies and dialogue, operations and lending, and innovation and knowledge creation. These three pillars are designed both to help the region improve its performance and to begin filling knowledge gaps. The first pillar seeks to ensure that all country dialogue and country strategies are gender informed. The Bank’s policy (as noted in OP/BP 4.20) is that (i) a gender assessment should inform the Bank’s policy dialogue with the member country and (ii) the Bank’s CAS draws on and discusses the findings of the gender assessment (whether carried out by the Bank or other stakeholder). Additionally, when the integration of gender issues into the country strategy translates the policy dialogue into targets and indicators that can be monitored, this increases the robustness of the strategy from the gender equality perspective. Furthermore, analytical work is an important vehicle for understanding gender issues at the regional, country, and sector levels. Some key knowledge products are the gender diagnostic notes and analysis of gender issues as part of poverty assessments, country economic memoranda, and public expenditure reviews. The second pillar of the RGAP focuses on ensuring that all lending is gender informed. The definition of a project being “gender informed� is that gender is taken into consideration in at least one of the following areas: (i) the analysis or consultation process, (ii) the design of the project with specific gender actions, or (iii) the monitoring and evaluation framework takes into account the potential for 5|Page differing impacts on men and women. In some sectors, there are already core indicators which are gender disaggregated and will automatically ensure that the M&E framework is gender informed. The reason for adopting a gender lens is that many times women’s—more than men’s—specific needs or roles are overlooked. Thus, by incorporating gender into multiple stages of the project cycle the developmental impact of the project can be improved. The third pillar focuses on data, knowledge generation and innovation products which have a public goods aspect to them—increasing overall information of important issues affecting the region either in part or whole. In order to further understanding of gender inequality issues in ECA, the inclusion of gender components in projects is an important first step. In addition, an emphasis on increasing the availability of gender relevant data and conducting more innovative work will allow us to better understand men’s and women’s preferences and roles. Selected activities will therefore take place that will expand the availability of and access to country level gender disaggregated data. Additionally, studies on specific regional challenges will be conducted to close the knowledge gaps and better inform dialogue and identify potential policy responses. Lastly, new approaches to innovative gender activities will be undertaken in two ways—in Bank projects and new stand-alone initiatives via impact evaluations and pilot programs. Implementation of the RGAP will be carried out jointly by CMUs, sectors and the gender team. The gender team includes Country Gender Focal Points, Sector Gender Focal Points, a Portfolio Monitoring Group, and a Regional Gender Coordinator. Senior management and country directors are ultimately accountable for the inclusion of gender in ECA’s portfolio, yet the responsibility of mainstreaming gender lies at all levels. They depend upon the sectors as well as the quality assurance groups within the region to design and implement activities—projects and AAA—in order to ensure greater developmental impact. The gender team can play an important role in facilitating the transfer of knowledge from other regions and from the network. In cooperation with the gender anchor and the SMUs, the gender team can also help to track whether the region is meeting the corporate targets and providing targeted support especially in terms of obtaining additional assistance. Two major projects on gender inequality in Turkey and the Western Balkans are already being conducted in coordination with key external partners. Further knowledge creation and innovation activities will be conducted in partnership with bilateral donors such as the Swiss Cooperation Agency, SIDA, and the European Union, among others. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been a standing partner for the Life in Transition Survey (LiTS), which is a key data source on gender differences for the region. Within the World Bank Group, the RGAP will be implemented in partnership with the Gender and Development Unit and other regional and sector specific central units. The financing of the RGAP activities will come from a range of sources. The Region funds four key aspects: (i) the mainstreaming of gender in its lending and analytical activities, (ii) training of staff, (iii) regional gender coordination activities, and (iv) specific AAA geared towards improving the portfolio and producing new knowledge. In addition to the region’s own contribution, there are block grants obtained from the Umbrella Facility of Gender Equality (UFGE) and bilateral donor assistance (sometimes channeled through the UFGE as well). These additional funds will be used to expand gender related activities in the field with a focus on more innovative work and knowledge creation. The allocation of UFGE will be approved by a committee with cross-sector regional representation to ensure knowledge creation across a broad range of areas. 6|Page INTRODUCTION 1. This Action Plan presents the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region’s priorities to improve the Bank’s inclusion of gender in its activities. The Regional Gender Action Plan’s (RGAP) core motivation is to address prevailing gender inequalities in ECA countries as part of a focus on inclusive and sustainable development—while providing guidance and prescriptions on how to better inform World Bank operations and country-level dialogue. Addressing gender in the operational and analytical work of the ECA Region will reflect in more effective project design and implementation. It will also increase the region’s capacity to understand how to better serve women and men. The successful implementation of the RGAP will not only reflect the increased attention to gender issues by the Bank, but also will secure more equal and inclusive development for the countries in the ECA region. 2. The RGAP document is organized as follows: The World Bank institutional commitments to gender equality and addressing prevailing and new gender inequalities in the ECA region serve as the motivation for the design of the RGAP. The relevant actions to be implemented are organized around three pillars –country dialogue, operations, and knowledge creation. To successfully implement the plan, roles and responsibilities have been allocated across sectors, and a monitoring mechanism has been set in place. Each of these topics will be covered in the forthcoming sections. A. Motivation 3. The message of the World Development Report 2012: on Gender Equality and Development (WDR) that gender equality is both an intrinsic facet of development and instrumental for achieving development is relevant for ECA. While progress in this area is visible, there are remaining challenges that require action. The ECA region has broadly eliminated glaring gender gaps, but significant inequities remain that reduce welfare and growth. In the majority of ECA countries, women and men have equal rights under the law, equal access to social services, and face social mores which encourage women to work. Many countries have achieved favourable outcomes, though in some communities (i.e., in Turkey and the Roma minority) women are lagging behind men in the critical areas of education and employment. And despite the overall favourable outcomes seen, women continue to lag behind men in access to economic opportunities, especially wages and leadership opportunities. In a group of countries, gender inequalities affecting men are becoming prominent, including access to economic opportunities and employment –particularly for young men and men from some specific population groups, and health problems related to lifestyle choices leading to premature death among men in Eastern Europe. 4. The World Bank has strengthened its institutional commitment to addressing gender-specific challenges and inequalities, and to better including a gender dimension in all its activities at the country level. The Bank’s commitment to addressing gender inequality in its country assistance strategy can be seen in OP/BP 4.20 on Gender and Development.1 In recent years, this has been complemented by additional initiatives such as the inclusion of gender as a special theme in IDA16; the corporate scorecard which sets specific targets for the lending portfolio; the operationalization of the WDR 2012; and the inclusion of a new ‘gender flag’ for all operations (see Box 3). This ECA Regional Gender Action Plan (RGAP) is part of these new institutional commitments, and all regions in the Bank have designed 1 The Bank’s gender strategy “Integrating Gender into the World Bank's Work: A Strategy for Action� (2002) was the basis for the Bank’s new operational policy on gender and development in 2003. 7|Page and implemented a gender action plan. Action plans are helpful in identifying the main areas of focus as well as how the regions will achieve these goals. 5. The RGAP represents the region’s commitment to improving its performance in terms of addressing gender inequality. However, since the gender gaps of ECA countries differ from those in other regions, the region will ensure that its activities reflect the gender-specific challenges of the countries in ECA. Though ECA has nearly achieved the institutional targets, it lags behind other regions of the Bank in terms of inclusion of gender in its projects (see Figure 1). In FY2012, ECA achieved the institutional target of including gender in at least 55 percent of all projects, but this result is well below the Bank average—which is close to 80 percent.2 The ECA Region faces a clear challenge to improve its performance by being more systematic in addressing gender appropriately and systematically in its activities. Figure 1: Gender inclusion success rates (ECA and The World Bank) FY2012 Inclusion of Gender in CPSs and Projects Projects with gender in one or more dimensions / a in percent of Bank activities in percent of projects, by region 120 50 100 40 80 30 60 20 40 10 20 0 ECA World Bank 0 CAS All Projects IDA Projects One Dimension Two Dimensions Three Dimensions ECA WB Average Corporate Target Source: PRMGE Source: PRMGE Note: “WB� is World Bank. a/ The three dimensions are analysis, design, and M&E framework. 6. The RGAP has as its ultimate goal to visibly contribute to gender equality in all countries of the region. To achieve this goal the RGAP, in line with the WDR 2012 and the ECA Regional Gender Study, seeks to specifically make progress on two fronts: (a) those gender issues that threaten to cause the region or specific countries in the region to move backward or to stagnate in their social development; and (b) gender inequalities and barriers that have direct implications for productivity and the health of labor markets. Increasing women’s opportunities and agency and reducing gender inequalities in ECA are at the core of the RGAP. 2 The region included gender in 58 percent of the total lending portfolio (34 projects in total), an increase from the 40 percent gender inclusion in FY11, and the 25 percent in FY10. 8|Page B. Gender issues in the ECA Region 7. The WDR 2012 on Gender Equality and Development provides a useful conceptual framework for understanding the factors leading to changes in gender equality. The WDR analysis focuses on the roles of households, markets, and institutions in determining gender differences in endowments, access to economic opportunities, and agency.3 This framework helps to explain the potential factors behind the outcomes observed. It is relevant to the ECA region since it helps to broaden the discussion of gender inequality beyond human capital and participation in labor markets and takes into account institutions. Furthermore, the report helps to focus on issues such as inequality of wages, asset ownership, and access to inputs – which are relevant issues for ECA countries. 8. Gender gaps in ECA countries, whether low or middle-income, appear limited when compared to other regions, but the relative advantage started to disappear in the 1999–2009 period. The Region has, in fact, benefited from the socialist emphasis on gender equality, especially in the labor market, and large investments in human capital. However, ECA countries still face important gender challenges which need to be adequately addressed and aligned with the regional priorities of the ECA strategy (see Box 1). The companion regional report to the WDR, “Opportunities for Men and Women in Emerging Europe and Central Asia� highlights a few of these challenges for the ECA region.4 Four stand out:  The acquisition of human capital varies by gender, and men are lagging behind. Men are far less likely to attend universities, while women are much less likely to pursue science and engineering. For example, average female and male gross enrollment rates in tertiary education are 65 and 45 percent respectively. Therefore, there is a quantitative and qualitative difference in women and men’s education acquisition across the region—which sets the stage for differences in the labor market.  Though the ECA region shines in terms of low infant and maternal mortality rates, it has yet to address the high male mortality and low female births in selected countries. In seven ECA countries,5 male life expectancy lags women’s by an astounding 10 years or more, compared to the OECD difference of 5 years, due to factors related to poor health and life style choices. At the other end of the life spectrum, the South Caucasus all suffer from the highest sex imbalance at birth in the world after China—significantly fewer girls are born than boys. This phenomenon of “missing girls� at birth reflects strong son preference—and discrimination against girls.  Though women have higher human capital than men on average, they lag behind in the labor market with lower activity rates and incomes and in entrepreneurship with smaller businesses. In the labor market, relatively few women work, and those who do work are paid less, work fewer hours, and pursue different occupations than men. Discrimination against women may play a role as well. While in business, women concentrate in traditional and highly competitive businesses (e.g., garments), have smaller firms, and are less likely to reach the top managerial levels. The lack of child care and elder care institutions makes it difficult for women to balance career and family especially since women continue to do the majority of housework and are the 3 Agency is defined as the ability to take actions and make choices that impact the individual, household, or public spheres. 4 Recent challenges to achieving gender equality are also discussed in a qualitative global report on voice and agency which looks at key factors determining women’s capacity to alter traditional roles, duties, and responsibilities. On Norms and Agen cy: Conversations about gender equality in 20 countries [not final publication title], World Bank 2012. Moldova, Poland and Serbia are included as case studies in this report. 5 The countries are Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, Lithuania, Ukraine, Estonia and Latvia. 9|Page primary care givers. As a result, in ECA women’s earnings are about 30 percent lower than men’s and one in three entrepreneurs is a woman.  The adverse economic impact of aging populations and shrinking labor forces can be lessened by helping women stay in the labor market. Women are likely to not only be the main caregivers in the prime years of their lives, but will also comprise the majority of the elderly. By helping women to join and stay in the labor force, pressures can be reduced on the labor market, the pension system, and the social safety net. Women who work pay taxes and will receive a pension in old age, thus warding off old age poverty. However, the government will need to invest in the future by finding ways to improve elder care so that women don’t need to stay at home as care givers. Box 1. Gender inclusion in the regional ECA strategy and priorities The ECA region strategy has three strategic pillars: deepened reforms for improved competitiveness, social sector reforms for inclusive growth, and climate action for sustainable growth. The 2012 update highlights how highly relevant these pillars are, with the addition of a renewed emphasis on governance. Gender issues are included under the second pillar of inclusion and equity. The update notes that social inclusion and equity issues will be tougher to address in a period of fiscal consolidation, hence more attention needs to be paid to issues including:  Increasing employment and reforming labor markets  Ensuring access to quality public services in health and education  Modernizing safety nets through better coverage of the poor and stronger monitoring and control  Closing gender gaps in access to economic opportunities  Helping countries meet remaining MDGs (health MDGs most at risk) The ECA Strategy uses four instruments to support the region in addressing short-term and long-term challenges: sub-regional approaches, development of closer regional partnerships, customization of knowledge services, and the scaling up and diversification of financial products. The channels identify in the RGAP are aligned with these ones. Gender inclusion at all levels will support a more successful implementation of the regional strategy. Specific commitments for FY13 are reflected in a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the MDs/CFO and the Region. The ECA Region has committed to significantly enhance its attention to gender mainstreaming. Specific commitments for FY13 include:  Complete the regional gender action plan, which will highlight specific gender-related topics for additional analysis and investment, and identify concrete opportunities for improving gender sensitivity within the portfolio.  Achieve FY13 target of 100 percent gender-informed CAS/CPS products.  Raise the percentage of ECA’s gender-informed projects to at least 75 percent for FY13 projects.  Complete a comprehensive review of all SDN projects and AAA in the pipeline for FY13 and FY14 to identify clear and ready opportunities for increased gender sensitivity. 10 | P a g e The Regional Gender Action Plan A. Objective 9. The objective of the RGAP is to set out commitments and specific actions to improve the inclusion of gender in ECA activities and deepen understanding of gender issues in the region. This goal will allow the region to not only mainstream gender in the portfolio but also create new knowledge on how to better address the region’s challenges. The RGAP will act at three levels: country level policies and dialogue, operations and lending, and innovation and knowledge creation.  At the country-level, the objective is for a gender informed country strategy and dialogue. The goal is for all Country Partnership Strategies (CPSs) to be gender informed and for the Bank’s country dialogue to include the issue of gender where appropriate.6 This dialogue will benefit from evidence that shows how addressing gender improves outcomes—underlining the importance of data, analysis, and knowledge creation.  At the level of operations and economic and sector work (ESW), the objective is twofold. First, the region aims at meeting and surpassing corporate commitments on gender informed projects7. Second, and more importantly, the goal is to enhance the impact of the Bank’s work by applying a gender lens to its interventions and analyses. This includes adopting measures that address gender differences resulting in increasing the project’s developmental impact, as well as designing targeted actions to reduce persisting gender gaps.  Knowledge creation and innovation are critical to expanding our understanding of how to address gender issues in post socialist societies. Availability of gender-relevant data is central to expanding knowledge on gender issues as well as increasing integration of gender dimensions in projects and country dialogue. The objective is to continue expanding data sources as well as to develop key products to expand our knowledge on selected priority gender issues. B. Organization of the RGAP 10. In order to meet its objective, ECA’s action plan is built on three pillars: building a gender informed country/policy dialogue by deepening attention to gender in CPSs and CASs as well as country- level analytical and advisory activities (Pillar I); ensuring that all operations (Investment Lending) are gender informed, including DPOs (Pillar II); and knowledge creation and innovation by expanding availability of gender-relevant data and research and innovation in priority areas (Pillar III). The pillars are designed to help the region improve its performance but also to begin filling knowledge gaps, and will thus feed into each other (Figure 2). 6 As committed by the Bank in OP/BP 4.20 and the Corporate Scorecard. See Word Bank Corporate Scorecard 2011, page 11. The specific wording of the indicator is “CAS/CPS that draw on and discuss gender assessment findings�. 7 One of the commitments is for “60 percent of IDA projects to be gender informed� as agreed in the IDA16 Results Measurement System. ECA has only two IDA-only countries (Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan) and six countries that are either blend or borrowing on blend terms (Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Moldova and Uzbekistan). The second commitment of “55 percent of all (IDA and IBRD) projects to be gender informed� is in the Corporate Scorecard. See World Bank Corporate Scorecard 2011, page 11. The specific wording of the indicator is “projects with gender informed design�. 11 | P a g e Figure 2: Three pillars of the RGAP Pillar I: Gender informed country policy dialogue • Gender informed CAS/CPS • Country level analytical and advisory activities Pillar III: Knowledge Pillar II: Gender informed creation, data and operations innovation • Gender informed lending • Expand availability of gender- • Gender informed DPOs relevant data • Research and innovation C. Pillar I: Gender informed country policy dialogue Gender informed CPS 11. The first pillar seeks to ensure that all country dialogue and country strategies are gender informed8. The CPS will be the main platform for the identification of persistent areas of gender disparities. The integration of gender issues into the CPS can translate the policy dialogue into targets and indicators which can be monitored through the framework established for the implementation of the CPS program. Ensuring that CPSs satisfactorily include gender requires (i) building a dialogue around gender issues at the country level, (ii) upfront investment in analysis and identification of key gender gaps, (iii) inclusion of gender analysis and priorities in the CPS document, and (iv) identification of gender targets and (v) setting up a monitoring and evaluation framework for the CPS. Including gender issues at an early stage in the dialogue with the government is central to increase awareness and ownership of the issue and for resources to be allocated to pressing gender problems. 8 According to OP/BP 4.20 all CAS are to draw on a gender assessment. The policy states that such gender assessments may be stand-alone assessments or may be carried out as part of other Bank economic and sector work, such as poverty assessments (see OP 1.00, Poverty Reduction), country economic memoranda, public expenditure reviews, development policy reviews, poverty and social impact assessments, or institutional analyses. Alternatively, they may be assessments that have been carried out by the country or an organization other than the Bank, if the Bank finds the assessments to be satisfactory. 12 | P a g e 12. The Regional Gender Coordination will lead the efforts to ensure the CPSs are gender informed by helping country teams to better identify how best to include gender in the country strategy. This will be done by familiarizing all country management unit (CMU) teams with upcoming CPSs the tools available for them—from data to analysis, to hands-on support, and CPS gender clinics. Among the analytical tools available to the country team to better understand the key gender gaps in the country are:  Analysis of gender issues in the country: Gender snapshots, gender diagnostics (or country gender assessments), and gender reports (produced by the Bank or carried out by donors or stakeholders within the country itself) are all useful analyses on which to build the CPS. The Regional Gender Coordination will support CMUs to identify staff or consultants to take stock of recent country-level gender analytical work and other gender-informed diagnostics, and to produce gender specific analysis if needed.9  Portfolio reviews: A review of projects prepared under the previous CPS (or the current CPS if a CPSPR is being drafted) can provide a snapshot of whether the Bank’s projects were successful in considering and addressing gender. CMUs will be supported to conduct a thorough review of the Bank’s country portfolio of operations and AAA to identify existing and planned activities that address gender issues as well as to make appropriate adjustments going forward.  Training and clinics: can be helpful for the country team since they could help the team identify whether the main gender inequalities could be addressed through a Bank activity and how proposed projects could be strengthened by including a gender lens. These can be especially helpful given that most country teams are unfamiliar with gender issues in the context of middle income countries. 13. The CPS document is expected to offer a roadmap for introducing gender-informed actions to improve Bank operations in each client country. Based on (i) the analytical work on gender, (ii) the review of lending and non-lending gender-responsive activities, (iii) an internal discussion with TTLs, and (iv) the dialogue with the client, gender-responsive actions would be clearly identified and incorporated into the next CPS. The identification of gender-informed operations will flow from the gender policy priorities articulated in the CPS, which, in turn, will stem from sustained policy dialogue, country and region-level gender analytical work, and existing knowledge (e.g., sex-disaggregated data, policy- relevant AAA and ESW, academic research) on “what works for gender� in each particular sector and context. This gender operational lens will apply to the range of the region’s investment and development policy instruments, and will target both IDA and IBRD client countries. 14. The discussion of gender should be included in all CPS and CPS Progress Report (CPSPR) documents. It is important that the CPS discusses the main gender inequalities in the country, the progress over the recent past, and how the country compares with its comparator income group. 10 These findings should be based upon a country gender assessment or other similar document—and a reference to the specific document should be included in the CPS. The CPS must include a discussion of 9 Among existing resources PRMGE has a gender consultant roster accessible to all Bank staff (https://gender.worldbank.org) 10 This discussion can take place in the text (usually the poverty section) and be combined with more information placed in a box or even an annex. 13 | P a g e gender even if gender is not among the most lagging CPIA indicators.11 Gender issues identified in the diagnostics should be reflected in the description of the proposed lending (where and how gender will be considered). In CPSPRs gender should still be included. Preferably, the results of a gender portfolio review should be referred to. 15. Progress in gender mainstreaming in the country program is expected to be monitored and evaluated alongside progress in other areas. A gender informed CPS is to include measurable targets and goals in terms of gender equality – whether this means increasing gender responsive projects or adding gender-specific indicators. Monitoring efforts are to be specified and agreed. CPSPRs and preparation of new CPSs are expected to report on the status of gender equality targets. Box 2: Regional best practices on gender in CPS The Kosovo CPS (FY12-FY15) is a good practice example of a gender-informed CPS in ECA. Gender inclusion was based on outputs from several simultaneous activities carried out to ensure that gender was relevantly incorporated in the CPS. These included the following: (i) A gender diagnostic was undertaken to provide a fundamental knowledge base on gender inequalities in the country and help identify existing knowledge gaps. The results from the diagnostic were a key input to the CPS. (ii) A gender portfolio review was conducted to assess the integration of gender in selected active projects in Kosovo and to identify areas that could be better gender-informed during implementation. (iii) As a result of the portfolio review and follow up brainstorming sessions with project teams, concrete actions were taken by the teams to enhance the inclusion of gender in these active projects, both in terms of gender-focused actions as well as in terms of monitoring outcomes. (iv) Gender was mainstreamed in key lending operations in the pipeline. Analytical and Advisory Activities (AAA) 16. Analytical work is an important vehicle for understanding gender issues at the regional, country, and sector levels. Analysis at the country level could help identify solutions to tackling gender inequalities as countries share similar economic and social traits and much of the economic policy work is conducted at this level. It can also ensure strategic allocations of efforts and budget to key gender inequalities or to close relevant gender gaps. Understanding the gender dimension of sectoral work is also critical to gender mainstreaming of operations. The main economic and sector work vehicles through which gender can be analyzed and discussed are: regional ESW, gender diagnostics, and country and sector specific analysis. 17. The ECA region has devoted significant resources to gender work at the regional level in order to inform our understanding of gender equality. Although the region has achieved much progress in 11 The CPIA gender indicators used to evaluate gender equality in the country are limited to gender MDGs. Consequently, they are not especially relevant to the ECA region since they exclude important indicators on adult mortality, wage gap, and occupational segregation. 14 | P a g e addressing gender disparities in human capital, gender inequalities remain in terms of access to economic opportunities. The regional gender report (a companion study to the WDR) and the forthcoming regional report on jobs provide region-wide relevant insights into gender issues. Other regional reports that have the opportunity to address gender issues include the skills and pensions reports. Nevertheless, the heterogeneity of countries across the region makes it important to carry out country specific diagnostic work to ensure greater relevance to the country’s development strategy. 18. Gender diagnostics (or country gender assessments) consolidate information on men and women’s progress and continuing gaps in a specific country. The Bank and the region have a wide variety of data and information sources to inform these diagnostics, including databases, reports, and data collected by other institutions (See Pillar III for more details). Teams are expected to tap into these sources as well as local ones to inform the design of CPSs by highlighting the key gender gaps in the country. The gender reports underpinning the CPS do not have to be carried out by the Bank so long as they are useful for informing Bank activities. 19. An analysis of gender issues is also to be included in core diagnostics and other country specific documents. The core ESW (e.g., Poverty Assessments, Country Economic Memorandums, and Public Expenditure Reviews) should usefully address gender in the discussions on labor markets, social sectors, social protection systems, and welfare. Other country specific studies—in such key areas as taxation, private sector development, and infrastructure—provide an opportunity to expand our understanding of gender issues, especially in middle income countries. PSIAs and Social Assessments are also to be used to gather information about gender issues that could inform not only the specific lending operation, but also the overall country dialogue in a specific sector or theme. D. Pillar II: Gender Informed Operations 20. The second pillar of the RGAP focusses on improving performance of the region’s portfolio in terms of gender inclusion. With a relatively low level of gender informed projects in FY2012 compared to other regions (58 percent of total ECA projects), ECA is determined to improve its results, as it has shown in FY2013 with almost 100% gender informed projects between Q1 and Q3. It aims firstly to widen the inclusion of a gender lens to cover more than one stage of the project cycle, and secondly, to ensure all kinds of activities and products are gender informed. A stronger performance in terms of gender inclusion is envisaged in particular for Development Policy Operations (DPOs). 21. The inclusion of gender in the portfolio means taking into account men and women’s different roles, responsibilities, and preferences explicitly in lending operations. During their preparation, all lending operations are expected to assess: (i) whether there are any country level and/or sectoral gender issues that relate to the project’s objective (ii) who are the beneficiaries of the project and the persons using the services, and assess potential differences by gender, (iii) have men and women been consulted (separately) and gender issues addressed in those consultations, (iv) would the inclusion of a gender lens improve the project’s implementation and outcome, and (v) is there a need for gender - specific actions to be included in the project. Addressing these questions is what makes a project ‘gender informed’. 22. Mainstreaming gender in projects should begin with having a clear understanding of who the direct beneficiaries are or the potential impacts on existing gender gaps. The reason for adopting a 15 | P a g e gender lens is that many times women’s—more than men’s—specific needs or roles are overlooked. In many cases, the analysis will indicate if gender specific actions need to be designed, or modifications need to be included to ensure men and women benefit comparably. The goal is to improve the developmental impact of the project. However, some projects do not have direct beneficiaries but rather support systemic improvements—yet, the planned reform may have different impacts that can be linked to the reproduction or shrinking of existing gender differences (such as business regulation reforms, fiscal budget adjustment, and others). These projects, while not directly targeting gender issues, can and should be gender aware and assess if gender is a useful lens (or not) for its design and implementation. 23. A “gender informed� project includes gender in its analysis, design and/or monitoring and evaluation (M&E) framework. Task Team Leaders (TTLs) have significant flexibility to ensure that it is done meaningfully in each operation. A gender informed project is one where gender has been discussed and, where appropriate, included in the context of the project’s analysis, design, or M&E framework. Gender can therefore be included in one or more of these three project dimensions. Some projects do not lend themselves to including gender disaggregation in the design or M&E framework; hence they will only include gender in one dimension—analysis. 24. The RGAP aims to improve the ECA region’s performance in the inclusion of a gender perspective in all three project dimensions. Though a project that includes gender in any one dimension is considered gender informed, this does not suggest that the project has systematically integrated gender throughout. Thus, the priority of the region will be including a gender lens more thoroughly by ensuring gender disaggregation across all dimensions, especially in the design and the M&E components. Projects with direct individual beneficiaries are relatively easy to engender in all three dimensions. But, all projects should at least conduct an assessment of potential gender implications of the planned activities. 25. In terms of diagnostics, the main tools available for TTLs range from country-level diagnostics to project-level ones. The gender dimensions of a project can arise from an explicit government strategy, policy or legislation. Country diagnostics—including poverty and gender assessments—also identify key constraints and opportunities relevant to the operation. Sector or locality specific ESW work can also be instrumental to the consideration of gender for a specific lending activity. At the project- level, social assessments and Poverty and Social Impact Assessments (PSIA) for the case of DPOs should be used as sources for identification of issues that may affect one sex more than the other. They can support evidence-based decision-making regarding the project design, enhance the quality of the policy dialogue, and serve to build support for specific actions. Where relevant—and possible based upon resource availability—consultations with a gender expert at the project identification stage would also be advisable. 26. There are four ways in which actions in investment loans and DPOs could be gender informed: (i) by directly targeting existing gender inequalities; (ii) by including actions to narrow existing or expected inequalities in the face of a reform, (iii) by including actions to reduce and eliminate adverse impacts identified in the PSIA or social assessment12, and (iv) by supporting institutional and policy reforms. Development of a targeted stand-alone component within the project or integrating gender 12 For example, the Serbia programmatic public expenditure DPLs (2009 and 2011) support a new pension law (triggers for the second DPL), which raises the minimum pension and protects women on survivor‘s pensions, building on PSIA results 16 | P a g e within the existing project components would be expected for all projects identifying relevant issues during the diagnostics and analysis phase. 27. Gender informed result indicators in operations (ILs and DPOs) could be at the implementation or results level. Program related indicators for monitoring gender informed actions may also include indicators to track impacts, as well as program related results against a baseline. When Core Sector Indicators are identified and they include specific gender indicators at the output or outcome level, they should be measured and monitored at the project level. The RGAP will aim for projects to go beyond tracking numbers of direct beneficiaries disaggregated by gender. For a subset of projects, progress monitoring that collects and analyzes gender disaggregated data during project implementation, and/or develops a gender action plan to help inform future lending or existing operations will be encouraged. Figure 3: Integrating Gender into the DPL process Source: Good Practice Note. Integrating Gender into Development Policy Loans. PRMGE/OPCS 28. Regional targets in terms of gender informed projects are to be periodically monitored and reported upon. As the below section on monitoring the progress of the RGAP details, there are several regional targets in terms of gender informed lending. There is a target to gender inform 100 percent of CAS/CPS products. Additionally, for FY13 the region aims to a minimum of 75% of its portfolio to be gender informed, and a similar commitment can be found for the SDN network. These targets will be monitored and periodically reported to the Regional VPU. Monitoring tools will include the Bank’s gender flag (box 3) as well as the regional portfolio monitoring group inputs. Box 3: The World Bank’s monitoring framework and ‘gender flag’ The World Bank has recently introduced a ‘gender flag’ in the operations portal. This flag will be the main monitoring of gender inclusion in all projects. The flag requests TTLs to identify whether the project has a gender informed analysis, includes specific gender actions in its implementation, and/or has a gender informed monitoring and evaluation framework. The presence of a gender flag does not mean that all projects must include gender- specific actions. For example, if a project has taken the necessary steps to identify potential gender implications of the project implementation, has addressed the issue in its design, and or looked at potential negative impacts, and no relevant gender issues can be identified, that project is ‘gender informed’. The gender flag for analysis is the appropriate one in this case. 17 | P a g e This self-reporting (using the gender flag) will be the basis by which regions’ portfolios will be monitored with only a sample of all projects checked by the anchor for accuracy of reporting. Based on the gender flag monitoring, reports will be produced quarterly by OPCS and PRMGE and a selection of projects will be surveyed in more detail to ensure consistency between the flag and the project’s documents and implementation reports. Addressing the gender flag is a mandatory step before submitting PADs to the Board and it is required to be reported upon at each ICS. E. Pillar III: Knowledge creation, data and innovation 29. The Region has already begun to develop key products to expand knowledge on some important gender issues. This pillar focuses on data, knowledge generation and innovation products which have a public goods aspect to them—increasing overall information of important issues affecting the region either in part or whole. Also, focus on specific innovations and research will feed into a better informed country level dialogue and project design. This pillar is in line with the operationalization of the WDR 2012 which showed the variety of factors affecting gender inequality but noted the lack of sufficient data and knowledge. 30. For efforts to integrate gender in projects’ results frameworks, however, an additional challenge is to identify gender-relevant indicators and associated data collection needs. Through the RGAP, efforts to identify sector-specific gender indicators will be facilitated. A list of sector specific gender indicators will be created that task team leaders can access and use to integrate gender considerations in results frameworks in line with gender informed core sector indicators. For some sectors, such as transport and agriculture and rural development, resources and guidance available from networks will be tapped to meet regional needs. Clinics, lunch-time seminars, and other formats of training will be offered to familiarize staff with gender indicators and available data sources. Increasing availability of gender-relevant data 31. Availability of gender-relevant data is central to expanding knowledge on gender issues as well as increasing integration of gender dimensions in project results frameworks. Data needs include not only measures of human development but also measures of dimensions such as economic opportunities and voice—areas where gender-relevant data are less commonly available. Some obvious gaps that exist are in the areas of asset ownership and control, infrastructure utilization, and differential impact of policy reforms. The lack of adequate data and evidence about gender gaps is one of the key factors behind the difficulty of integrating gender in projects in middle income countries. Data availability and dissemination is central for a better and more informed dialogue around gender issues. 32. The World Bank Group already has several data sources available to identify regional and country specific gaps and priorities in the areas of human development, economic opportunities, and legal rights. These sources include World Development Indicators, the Gender Law Library, the Gender Data Portal, Global Findex, and BEEPS (see Box 4). In addition, resources such as ADePT—automated economic analysis software—now include a module on gender to profile a country in terms of gender 18 | P a g e equality.13 These data are especially useful in identifying the broad gender gaps in countries and when combined with analysis of household and labor force surveys and UNECE gender statistics to provide a relatively nuanced understanding of the major gender gaps in the country. 33. The RGAP efforts will focus on two data products, the first is the ECAPOV-Gender Module. A new ECAPOV-Gender module (ECAGEN) will be created. While almost all countries in the region produce statistical information that can be disaggregated by gender, not all of them publish, analyze or disseminate that data. In addition, the available gender disaggregated indicators continue to be quite limited especially on topics such as- poverty, household income and consumption, wages, access to finance, firm ownership and management. ECAGEN, will attempt to fill in this gap by providing convenient access to gender-relevant data extracted from the household level data used for regional poverty monitoring. This module will draw on the extensive ECAPOV database of household and labor force surveys to construct a database of gender-relevant indicators of employment, human development, and demographic outcomes. The ECAGEN module will also provide data on the extent to which gender differences explain inequality of opportunities in the region (based on ongoing work on Human Opportunities Index using ECAPOV data). 34. The second data effort in the region will be a pilot investment climate survey for Turkey with a strong gender focus. This is part of the BEEPS initiative (covering 29 ECA countries) which provides data on gender disaggregated indicators on firms’ ownership, top management, permanent full time workers, and permanent full time non-production workers. A module will be added to the regular BEEPS for Turkey in order to better understand the issues that hinder women’s employment and entrepreneurship activities. Specifically, it will (i) explore the differences in the state and quality of the business environment faced by men and women entrepreneurs; (ii) identify the key constraints, potentially different for men and women, to increasing firm productivity; (iii) identify gender-sensitive policies to alleviate obstacles and improve firm productivity and competitiveness. This pilot could potentially be expanded to other countries as well in the future. Box 4. Open data and other data sources from the Bank The Bank has several data sources that can be used for analysis to inform projects, gender diagnostics, or AAA. Some of the main sources to exploit are: - The Gender Data Portal is an online source which provides both visual and numeric sex disaggregated information on education, health, and economic structure for multiple years by country. The portal draws upon data from the WDI. - BEEPS is a firm-level survey of a representative sample of an economy's private sector. The surveys cover a broad range of business environment topics including access to finance, corruption, infrastructure, crime, competition, and performance measures. These data can be disaggregated by the gender of owner or top manager. The data are collected every three years with the latest for 2012. 13 ADePT Gender produces tables and graphs using household surveys to help diagnose and analyze gender inequalities. ADePT Gender is organized around the framework proposed by the World Development Report 2012 on Gender Equality and Development. The Module covers gender differences in outcomes in the three primary dimensions of gender equality: human capital (or endowments), economic opportunities and voice and agency. Outcomes are disaggregated by gender and by population groups such as sex of household head, age groups, place of residence, and income. 19 | P a g e - The Global Financial Inclusion (Global Findex) Database has data on how people in 148 countries - including the poor, women, and rural residents - save, borrow, make payments and manage risk. - The Life in Transition Survey (LiTS) II, conducted jointly by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and the World Bank in late 2010, surveyed almost 39,000 households in 34 countries to assess public attitudes, well-being and the impacts of economic and political change. The Survey provides vivid evidence of precisely how lives have been affected by the global economic crisis and its aftermath and can be disaggregated by sex. - Gender Law Library is a collection of national legal provisions impacting women's economic status in 183 economies. The database facilitates comparative analysis of legislation, serves as a resource for research, and contributes to reforms that can enhance women’s full economic participation. These data sources cover a good number of ECA countries, or are specific to the region (LiTS) and are good sources of information for project design, monitoring and planning. Specific thematic research 35. In order to address selected sub-regional- and country-specific challenges, new research and knowledge creation are necessary. Studies on specific regional challenges will be conducted to close the knowledge gaps and better inform dialogue and identify potential policy responses. The RGAP will support a set of studies on specific topics. Research themes will be chosen based on regional needs and resource availability. 36. Two research priorities have already been identified:  A three-year project, "Measuring and Reducing Regulatory Uncertainty and Discretion for Female Entrepreneurs in Central Asia", will determine whether de jure reforms are having a differential impact on male and female entrepreneurs in Central Asia, with a specific focus on the Kyrgyz Republic and Tajikistan. The project will not only identify and seek to explain the gaps between laws and implementation, but will also implement policy recommendations to address these gaps followed by an evaluation of the success of these policies.14  A research study on “missing girls� in selected countries—especially in the South Caucasus—is planned given their high sex imbalance with more men than women, second only to Asia.15 Thus far, research on this issue is limited. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be adopted to (i) determine the severity of the issue, (ii) identify which population subgroups exhibit this outcome, (iii) quantify and understand why these outcomes may be occurring, and (iv) determine what policy options may be available to governments to address them.16 37. Additional research on priority areas will be conducted via a call for proposals to allocate funding from the UFGE. A portion of the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality funds provided to the region by the Gender Anchor will be allocated to specific research and innovation on 14 This is being carried out by ECSPF. 15 A phenomenon of sex ratio distortion initially highlighted in the case of China by Amartya Sen in “More than 100 million women are missing�, New York Review of Books 37(20):61-66, 1990. The other countries in the Region that may suffer from this are Albania and Uzbekistan. 16 This is being led by ECSPE. 20 | P a g e relevant areas for the ECA region. For the first call priority will be given to issues related to men’s disadvantage in labor markets, school to work transition, and health and early mortality. Innovation and experimentation 38. The benefits of innovation and experimentation could be substantial, especially in the context of ECA countries which have different types of gender issues than most other regions. New approaches to the inclusion of gender will be undertaken in two ways—in Bank projects and new stand-alone initiatives. In line with other regional initiatives like the Africa Gender Lab, the ECA region will seek to start rigorous impact evaluations and pilots to understand what works (or not) in terms of reducing gender gap. This will serve as the basis for a more evidence based project and policy design in some key sectors. During this Action Plan, resources will be explored as well as potential project intervention opportunities. Experimentation in terms of project implementation –in Bank projects- will be carried out by project teams with the support of the gender focal points in the sector. 39. The stand-alone initiatives will be broad based, either at the country or sectoral level. These initiatives will seek to expand knowledge on areas where it is still limited, to innovate in the approach to a specific gender issue, or to promote innovative ways to share and create knowledge. There are currently two stand alone activities in the early stages of development or implementation:  In Turkey, a proposed program of activities aims to support ongoing efforts to improve women’s access to economic opportunities. This will be carried out by (i) strengthening evidence-based policy making by conducting a series of studies including on female entrepreneurship and barriers to formal employment; (ii) facilitating knowledge sharing (including Turkey’s experience with other countries) and raising awareness; and (iii) supporting a limited number of pilot women cooperatives. These activities will be monitored primarily by a Policy Advisory Committee (comprised of government officials, experts from civil society, and representatives from the private sector) which will advise the government based upon the evidence produced.  In the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia) a proposed program of activities aims at promoting gender equality by strengthening the knowledge base and evidence on gender disparities in these countries. The program will have a particular focus on the market-, institution- and household-level constraints that limit women’s access to economic opportunities. This will be carried out by (i) knowledge creation via analytical work on regional and country-specific gender issues for a better diagnostic and understanding of gender gaps to strengthen the policy-making process. (ii) Innovations that push the knowledge frontier on gender issues in the region through new data collection and piloting and/or evaluation of gender-related interventions. And (iii) facilitating knowledge sharing with a focus on raising awareness and building and strengthening partnerships, networks and forums of discussion.  In the Western Balkans, a multi-country leadership workshop will be held for local land reform teams to help them confront the challenge of how to include gender in a meaningful way in projects and reforms. The workshop will integrate technical content of land projects and reforms from a gender perspective, with leadership skills building sessions on addressing adaptive challenges, joint problem solving, coalition-building, the use of a 21 | P a g e results-based approach for addressing the most pressing technical and adaptive challenges, and self-mastery. The aim is for these actors to become catalysts for change for gender mainstreaming by creating and sustaining coalitions and moving gender-informed land programs forward. Results from this activity will be monitored in various ways, including a follow up survey administered to participants six months after the training to (i) assess the attainment of learning objectives, and (ii) to track progress in the goals outlined upon completion of the workshop. 40. Additional innovation and experimentation will be conducted via a call for proposals to allocate funding from the UFGE. A portion of the Umbrella Facility for Gender Equality funds provided to the region by the Gender Anchor will be allocated to specific innovative approaches to alter behaviors that gender biases, with a focus on social norms and discrimination in labor markets and finance. Implementation: Roles and Responsibilities 41. Implementation of the RGAP will be carried out jointly by CMUs, sectors and the gender team. Senior management and country directors are ultimately accountable for the inclusion of gender in ECA’s portfolio. Yet they depend upon the sectors as well as the quality assurance groups within the region to design and implement activities—projects and AAA—in order to ensure the highest developmental impact. The gender team can play an important role in facilitating the transfer of knowledge from other regions and from the network. In cooperation with the CMUs and SMUs, the gender team can also help to track whether the region is meeting the corporate targets and providing targeted support especially in terms of obtaining additional assistance. 42. The financing of the RGAP activities will come from a range of sources. The Region funds four key aspects: (i) the mainstreaming of gender in its lending and analytical activities, (ii) training of staff, (iii) regional gender coordination activities, and (iv) specific AAA geared towards improving the portfolio and producing new knowledge. In addition to the region’s own contribution, there are block grants obtained from the Umbrella Facility of Gender Equality (UFGE) and bilateral donor assistance (sometimes channeled through the UFGE as well). These additional funds will be used to expand gender related activities in the field with a focus on more innovative work and knowledge creation. The allocation of UFGE will be approved by a committee with cross-sector regional representation to ensure knowledge creation across a broad range of areas. 43. Table 1 summarizes the roles of all actors involved for a successful implementation of the RGAP. However, the responsibility of mainstreaming gender lies at all levels. While sector units ensure that project design is gender informed, the monitoring of activities is more dispersed and carried out both within the sector units, but also by the CMU and ECSOQ. The Regional Gender Coordinator will support and oversee all steps of the process. 44. The work on a more gender-informed and aware regional work will be conducted in coordination with key external partners at the national and regional level. Knowledge creation and innovation activities in particular will be conducted in partnership with bilateral donors such as the Swiss Cooperation Agency, SIDA, and the European Union, among others. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has been a standing partner for the Life in Transition Survey 22 | P a g e (LiTS), which is a key data source on gender differences for the region. Within the World Bank Group, the RGAP will be implemented in partnership with the Gender and Development Unit and other regional and sector specific central units as well as with the IFC. Table 1: Roles and Responsibilities for RGAP implementation Who Responsibilities ECA PREM • Strategic oversight of gender mainstreaming in the region • Responsible for the budget earmarked for gender coordination • Gender resources point for the region Regional Gender Coordinator • Work with teams to ensure the successful implementation of the RGAP • Represent the region at the Gender Board • Respond to institutional requests related to gender issues in the region • Work with sector, portfolio, and country gender focal points to enhance the developmental impact of Bank activities by taking into account gender Sector Gender Focal Points • Implementation of the RGAP in their respective sectors • Identify needs for training and technical advice—whether to individual teams and clusters • Act as main contact on sector specific gender issues and for helping TTLs to access resources from the networks and the regional gender coordination Portfolio Monitoring Gender  Include representatives from sectors and ECSOQ Group  Monitor the portfolio for inclusion of gender  Report periodically to the group (monthly) on gender in the sector portfolio  Identify project teams that may need assistance to gender inform a project. Country Gender Focal Points  Maintain strong contacts with country-based partners (Government, civil society, donor partners)  Ensure that the CPS process pays attention to gender issues and women’s groups are consulted  Contribute to the gender equality rating for the CPIA  Support visiting missions with contacts on gender-related issues (when requested) Country Management Units  Keep an active gender dialogue at the country level (CMUs)  Ensure that country partnership strategies address gender issues  Monitor that lending and AAA is gender informed and implemented successfully 23 | P a g e RGAP Progress Monitoring 45. The region will periodically monitor progress in meeting the RGAP overarching goals as well as specific commitments for each Fiscal Year. Table 2 presents the results matrix for the RGAP. For FY13, for example, the objectives to be monitored include:  A target of 100 percent gender-informed CAS/CPS products.  An increase in the percentage of ECA’s gender-informed projects to at least 75 percent for FY13 projects.  75% of all SDN projects to be gender-informed  The completion of a comprehensive review of all SDN projects and AAA in the pipeline for FY13 and FY14 to identify clear and ready opportunities for increased gender sensitivity. Table 2: A results framework for the RGAP Pillar Objectives Priority Areas Indicators and Targets Pillar 1. Gender Informed Country Policy Dialogue Ensure that all country CAS, CPS, CPSPR - Percentage of CAS/CPS that have been dialogue and country informed by country specific gender analysis strategies are gender (target: 100%) informed - Identification of gender targets for CAS/CPS - M&E framework of CAS includes gender Gender informed AAA Policy dialogue - Number of gender informed and gender at country level specific ESW and AAA - 100% gender-informed PSIA Pillar 2. Gender informed Operations Gender informed Total portfolio - Percentage of investment lending operations investment lending Sustainable that are gender informed (target: 75%) Development - Percentage of SDV operations that are gender informed (target: 75%) Gender informed DPOs Total portfolio - Percentage of DPOs that are gender informed (target: 75%) Pillar III. Knowledge creation, data and innovation Increase the availability Development of new - Creation and dissemination of ECAGEN with and use of gender- data sources for the gender-relevant data for regional poverty relevant data region monitoring - Pilot investment climate survey for Turkey as part of BEEPS Build team capacity to - Increase the number of operations with integrate gender gender-sensitive indicators in their results indicators in project’s framework or M&E framework (Target: 50%) results framework In-depth research and Specific regional - Completion of pre-identified studies for 24 | P a g e knowledge creation and challenges Central Asia and the South Caucasus. transfer Specific sector learning - Training on gender issues in the region for needs Country Gender Focal Points - SDN Training on EU gender equality requirements Invest in innovation and Impact evaluation - Successful implementation of pre-identified experimentation for designs and pilots of stand-alone initiatives on Female Labor Force evidence based policy new interventions Participation (Turkey) and Gender Equality in design general (Western Balkans) Innovations in - Successful implementation of Western knowledge sharing Balkans multi-country leadership workshop on gender in operations 46. To ensure effective implementation of the RGAP, the ECA region has multiple levels of oversight—beginning with the SMUs, ECSOQ, and OPCS. ECA has decentralized responsibility to the first level of oversight to the SMUs—which monitor the inclusion of gender at every stage of the project beginning from the concept level stage, but also provide support to the TTL in terms of the appropriate way to score the project’s ‘gender flag’ in the operations portal. ECSOQ provides an important second level oversight at the regional level at the ROC stage for lending projects (see paragraph 46 below). These efforts complement the review provided by PRMGE/OPCS. 47. Where appropriate, reviewing the ongoing portfolio can shed light on how to mainstream gender in ongoing projects more effectively, thus enhancing the developmental outcomes of ECA’s work, and ensuring that gender is included at all stages of project implementation. This approach would have two additional benefits. First, it will help generate results stories and lessons learnt, as well as more gender-specific data—providing much needed information to TTLs working on similar projects in the region. Second, improving the portfolio allows for CPSs and CPSPRs to highlight the Bank’s commitment to integrating gender in the portfolio. 48. The Operations Services and Quality Department (ECSOQ) will contribute to the RGAP monitoring and implementation agenda through the following actions:  Attention to gender issues in Country Partnership Strategies. ECSOQ will advise teams, through its reviews, to adequately address gender issues in CPSs and CPSPRs. This covers both the analysis offered by the strategy paper and the content of the program with respect to both lending and AAA;  Gender dimensions in safeguards work. Through its work in the areas of environmental and social issues, ECSOQ will step up the attention to gender equity aspects at both analytical and operational levels;  Advice in the design of gender-sensitive indicators for DPLs and IL operations. ECSOQ will assist sector units in the design of gender-sensitive indicators that can be monitored in DPLs and Investment Lending operations, particularly at the concept stage. In this regard, collaboration with sectoral experts would allow the identification of measurable 25 | P a g e results indicators17 that are easy to document as often as needed. To ensure high relevance of gender-related indicators, it is advisable that task teams design and inform them in a participatory manner, so that they address the real needs of the intended beneficiaries over time. While the primary focus is on new operations, retrofitting of existing ones could be considered on a CPS-by-CPS basis, particularly for investment loans in areas where gender equity in capabilities and opportunities can be enhanced;  Learning. By leveraging the wide range of knowledge and learning mechanisms in which ECSOQ is involved, ECSOQ will play an active role in facilitating regional staff’s learning about gender issues. Clinics and learning sessions can be facilitated to enhance staff’s design and implementation of gender-related actions as well as related results indicators. Institutional learning events include the core operational curriculum and fundamentals of Bank operations. Moreover, peer-to-peer knowledge exchange activities, based primarily on actual programs and/or operations, can be organized to allow cross-fertilization with other parts of the Bank. Knowledge exchange with other institutions and client countries around the world can also be supported by leveraging a number of tools including the Global Development Learning Network and other South- South Knowledge Exchange mechanisms;  Reporting and dissemination. ECSOQ will monitor the quality of reporting on gender- related indicators in ISRs. In this regard, results being achieved in the area of gender will be tracked and periodically used for stories on portfolio developmental impact (“Results Stories�). 49. Each sector unit is responsible for ensuring that their own projects and AAA address gender adequately. In order to deliver on this commitment, the sectors have identified the quality assurance mechanism, resources persons, and priority activities (Table 3). This decentralized arrangement allows for sectors to provide more focused and timely assistance to teams in meeting the objectives of the RGAP. 17 These indicators would cover the three core dimensions commonly assessed for gender equality: (i) endowments/capabilities; (ii) opportunities; and (iii) agency. They encompass social, economic and political equality aspects. 26 | P a g e Table 3: ECA Sector-level gender priorities Sector Portfolio Lending priorities Target/objectives Gender-informed Core Sector indicators Other gender specific indicators Monitoring/Quality (gender focus) and process goals Assurance ECSHD ECSHD’s operational core - Direct project beneficiaries (number), of team ensures that new which female (percentage) projects include at least gender analysis Health An operations officer or - Maternal and - Improved delivery of - Pregnant women receiving antenatal - Development of treatment specialist will monitor all reproductive antenatal care care during a visit to a health provider protocols on reproductive new lending. health - Reduce anemia among (number) health, - Non- women - Births (deliveries) attended by skilled - Percentage of ante-natal care communicable - Facilitate screening for health personnel (number) (ANC) attendees screened for disease cervical cancer - Pregnant/lactating women, adolescent glycosuria, hypertension and prevention and girls and/or children under age five proteinuria during each control among reached by basic nutrition services antenatal visit; women and men. (number) - Percentage of women ages 30-60 screened for cervical cancer at least once in the last 3 years. Education The Sector Manager will - Enrollment of - Conduct further - Gender parity index in education (GPI) - Offering scholarships to ensure that all new projects females research on any gender (MDG3) (Tier 1) females in targeted areas include at least an analysis - Completion rates issues that are found - Trying to minimize of gender differences in of females and address these in stereotyping and bias in terms of education - Assessment projects textbooks in basic education indicators results of females - Discouraging tracking in secondary education - Sensitizing teachers to gender issues Social New projects will be - Targeting social - Reach women in - Beneficiaries of Safety Nets programs Protection screened to ensure that benefits that tend to poverty with benefits (number) disaggregated by gender they include analysis of pre- have more impact - Services for those who - Beneficiaries of Labor Market programs existing gender differences on women, such as wish to combine family (number) disaggregated by gender in the receipt of social those related to and a career benefits and analysis of the child rearing, to -Increase female labor potential impact of any those that need it force participation reforms on gender most 27 | P a g e Sector Portfolio Lending priorities Target/objectives Gender-informed Core Sector indicators Other gender specific indicators Monitoring/Quality (gender focus) and process goals Assurance ECSPE Support mainstreaming of - Collection of sex - Ensure availability of - Create the ECAGEN data gender in CPSs disaggregated data updated gender module and organize seminars on beneficiaries of diagnostics to familiarize staff with the public services - Include gender in type of gender-relevant data ECSPE’s portfolio available - The Poverty and Gender team will organize a clinic for all TTLs to familiarize them with approaches to effectively integrate gender into their operations ECSPF Upon reviewing project - Promote access to - Based on gender - Percentage of active loans to women- documents, the Operations finance for both men analysis, introduce Microfinance Officer will recommend and women and design features in - Percentage of active micro-savings that the project include a monitor differential projects to address accounts held by women gender analysis and/or impacts on men and gender issues - Percentage of active micro-insurance gender-based indicators in women accounts held by women the results framework 28 | P a g e