Gender Inclusive WASH Strategic Plan

Prepared by Lakech Haile

Gender, Equity and Inclusion Specialist
September 2018.

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 Gender Inclusive WASH Strategic plan

I. Background

Gender, Equity and Inclusion is a process of being fair to women and men and persons
with disability. It also refers to the practice of insuring fairness and justice in the
distribution of benefits, access to resources, services and the promotion of equal rights.
Ensuring universal access to safe and affordable drinking water for all by 2030 requires
that we invest adequate and accessible infrastructure, provide accessible sanitation
facilities and encourage hygiene at every level. To sustain these water, sanitation and
hygiene (WASH) services the full participation of women, girls and persons with
disabilities is needed in decision making process, planning ,design and implementation of
WASH programs and management of WASH systems.
Women, girls and persons with disability bear a disproportionate burden for a lack of
access to safe water and sanitation. Most often women and girls are responsible for water
related WASH, including the collection and management of household water supply. In
some cases travelling long distances to collect and carry heavy loads of water several
times in a day.
Women, girls and persons with disability are risking personal safety and missing out on
opportunities to go to school or participate in other economic activities. The lack of safe,
private sanitation facilities too makes it impossible for girls and especially for persons
with disability to attend school especially during menstruation
Sustainable development goal 6 calls for the special attention to the needs of women,
girls and persons with disability in realizing universal access to WASH and ending open
defecation. The government of Ethiopia has put in place the One WASH National
Programme to respond to the challenges of improving water sanitation and hygiene
throughout the country. It has also enacted water resource management policy (1999) that
specifically promotes the participation of all stakeholders including women. Similarly
water sector strategies have incorporated the gender issues, despite these positive
initiatives women are still left out from many of the opportunities and the persons with
disability are not even recognized in these initiatives although it is estimated that 17 %
from total population has some kind of disability or impairment.
Addressing gender inequality and disability right is critical to a rights based approach to
Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) programming. Rights based WASH should
reflect all human rights principles, including equality and non-discrimination, and

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participation and inclusion. Approach of WASH with an inclusive lens is essential for
achieving universal access. WASH program should be conscious of designing and
promoting appropriate technology to meet different needs of the WASH beneficiaries
including provision of Menstrual Hygiene Management (MHM) and disability access;
child friendly taps; urinals; conveniently located hand Washing facilities; and adequate
light and ventilation in school latrines.

II. Major key barriers in OWNP in relation to Gender Inclusive WASH

- Policy documents states that WASH services for all but what all means
needs to be unpacked and qualified. It also fails to present clear statements
on what equity, Inclusion and marginalized groups are. The absence of
equity and inclusion related provisions in the policy means there is no
mandatory requirements for service providers to address the specific needs
disabled and marginalized groups in OWNP.
- Existing Monitoring and Evaluation systems not sufficiently disaggregated
to track changes on the gender, equity and inclusion issues.
- There are no clear gender sensitive indicators which can measure progress.
- Institutional WASH programs design and guideline does not fully address
the gender, equity and disability inclusion issues.
- There is no uniform and shared understanding among stakeholders from
federal level down to woreda and kebele levels on the equity and inclusion
and therefore the messages and implementation intentions may differ at
different levels.

Achieving universal and equitable access to WASH will not come about without explicit
attention to the specific gendered ways in which women and girls and especially women
and girls with disabilities experience and access WASH. Understanding how social
factors, including but not limited to gender and disability, act as barriers to WASH and
designing policies and programs to overcome those barriers is essential to effective
interventions grounded in human rights. In addition WASH practitioners have a
responsibility to ensure that changes in gender roles and relations as well as on how to
include persons with disabilities into the WASH implementation and management will
result from all interventions and do reinforce the inclusion.

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Gender mainstreaming is a concept clearly established as a global strategy for promoting
gender equality .Gender mainstreaming is also a strategy or process that aims to achieve
gender equality. It means, on the one hand, that policies, programs and institutional
structures are in place to redress existing inequalities and to preserve equality between
women and men. On the other hand, it means that measures to address the specific needs
and priorities of women and men, either separately or together are adopted.

Its implementation modality is multi-sectoral and WASH coordination offices at different

level ( health, education ,MOFEC),urban water boards and water utilities ,Women Affairs
Directorate/Office at federal and regional level, Development partners, NGO’s are
participating in the implementation. At community level, WASH Committees
(WASHCOs) consisting of elected community members will be formed to undertake
planning, O&M and in some cases construction of improved water supply and sanitation
facilities. It is important that women are well-represented and are elected to serve as
officers in WASHCOs committed towards working gender balanced membership of 50%
women participation in WASHCO at Kebele or Woreda level.
Mainstreaming includes gender-specific activities and affirmative action, whenever
women or men are in a particularly disadvantageous position. Gender-specific
interventions can target women exclusively, men and women together, or only men, to
enable them to participate in and benefit equally from water development and
management efforts. These are necessary temporary measures designed to combat the
direct and indirect consequences of past discrimination. Mainstreaming is not about
adding a ‘woman’s component’ or even a ‘gender equality’ component into existing

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activities or projects. It goes beyond increasing women’s participation; it means bringing
the experiences, knowledge, and interests of women and men, disabled persons to bear on
the water development agenda.
There is even greater potential for achieving equitable and inclusive access to WASH
through interventions that explicitly aim to promote gender equality, empower women
and girls with disability and challenge the gendered roles and responsibilities around
WASH that underpin unequal access and the gendered division of labour.
The following are proposed strategic activities to address the gender inclusive WASH at
different level by all WASH stakeholders.

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 IV. Proposed Gender Related Strategic Plan
Project Gender Related Strategic Plan Responsibility Remarks
Components
• Design user friendly and disability friendly water supply and
sanitation (public toilets) and create awareness on the use.
• Provide general awareness creation of the decision makers in PIU at federal,
the municipalities and utility leaders in gender and disability regional and towns,
Urban WASH inclusive WASH all participating
towns water
• Gather information In any project cycle activity to ensure all utilities, town
voices and interests of women, girls and disabled people are water boards,
inclusive (50% women) Gender Directorate
• Encourage women employment as experts and managerial from federal to
Positions ( 30% for women) towns, consultants,
• Provide capacity building ( both skill trainings and financial contractors, and so
support) for women and youth led groups organized in MSE’s on
to ( at least 50% women)
• Involve 25% women in town water boards and strengthen their
capacity.
• Involve 50% of women in water users associations /user
committees or user organizations to voice the water users

• Build capacity of WASHCOs, men, women and youth

artisans, HEWs and HDA including follow-up activities PIU at federal and
• Strengthen actions to ensure that people with disabilities regional bureaus
Rural WASH benefit from WaSH services WASH coordination
• Provide finances and trainings to women and youth led offices federal and
groups organized in MSE’s ( 50% women) regional level
• Include 50% women in WASHCO and ensure the (health water
leadership position is shared by women education, BOFEC),
• Develop clear implementation framework of policies for the women affairs
needs and rights of women and marginalized groups to machineries at
WASH regional ,woreda
• Develop a guidelines and training for One WASH level,NGOs
stakeholders to facilitate the inclusion of persons with ,consultants etc..
disabilities and other people with special needs as well as
increasing the women leadership in WASH undertakings

• Improve barriers on gender, equity and inclusion situation in

the policy documents during their review and updating. PIU,WASH
• Review and improve /prepare clear gender data collection Coordination Offices
Institutional and reporting formats. at different level
Strengthening • Introduce formats to the regional PMUs for implementation ,women affairs
and Project • Make the equity and inclusion mandatory to all WASH directorate, NGOS,
Management Programs in Ethiopia under the umbrella of One WASH Development
• Establish standards for construction of school latrines and partner’s.
hand washing facilities taking the gender aspect and physical consultants etc…

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 disabilities into consideration
• Emphasize the need for capacitating adolescent girls on
Menstrual Hygiene Management in both rural and urban
settings by developing IEC materials, providing trainings
and preparing workshops.
• Construct or rehabilitate of water supply facilities and girls
friendly and disability friendly latrines in all primary and
secondary schools,
• Establish health clubs in schools with 50% women
• Strengthen actions to ensure that people with disabilities
benefit from WaSH services under OWNP.
• Strengthen gender mainstreaming in the sector, and other
capacity building activities.
• Develop gender inclusive questions (points) to make a
gender sensitive assessment in program development studies,
appraisal, Monitoring and Evaluation.
• Develop and use gender sensitive indicators in WASH to
monitor progress by all WASH stakeholders
• Develop sex disaggregated data, report etc..
• Provide gender awareness raising in capacity building
trainings for staff and other WASH partners
• Develop mechanisms where the understanding of the equity
and inclusive WASH implementation is understood same
way at all levels.
• Develop the equity and inclusion framework for One WASH
• Include in the on going National Water Inventory
questionnaires on equity and inclusion in order to establish
baseline data for proper monitoring of the progress.
• Establish yearly appropriate coordination, networking and
experience/knowledge sharing platforms to address gender
inclusive WASH.