RAP PUBLICATION 2001/05

	Workshop on gender-sensitive local planning
	TABLE OF CONTENTS

27–29 June 2000

Bangkok

Thailand

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Technical support:

Ms Revathi Balakrishnan, PhD
Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development Officer
FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok

Ms Mary Rhodes, PhD
Oregon State University
Corvallis OR USA

Cover credit:
Apinya Petcharat
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok

For copies, contact:
Ms Revathi Balakrishnan, PhD
Regional Rural Sociologist and Women in Development Officer
FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok 10200

Email: [email protected]
Fax: 66-2-697-4445

ISBN No: 974-7946-15-7

Foreword

Food and Agriculture Organization aims to achieve elimination of hunger and sustainable food security for all. The technical expertise across the organization is deployed to a singular purpose of elimination of hunger and poverty reduction among the marginal groups and disadvantaged populations across the globe. As globalization proceeds in accelerated phase, bringing prosperity to the already advantaged communities of people, those who began their lives with fewer options may face persistent barriers to keep pace with changes. The rural communities would face greater risk for livelihood if the local solutions were not put in place.

Asian countries recognize this challenge and support the efforts to devise local strategies in the context of globalization. Hence, the trend in these countries is to develop local governance institutions and foster stronger local leadership to assist communities to face the social threats and economic risks. Countries in Asian region have a long tradition of local governance and now they are being formalized in structures promoted by national governments. The past and new governance structures and processes have to fit together to improve governance at the local level. The current social equity concerns and complex financial transactions can pose stress on the local governance system. The planning structure could become increasingly formal and the new leaders may lack the awareness and capacity to deal with new norms of equity including gender equity and accountability for equity. Hence, FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific organized a workshop as a capacity building effort to foster the local planning perspectives to be gender sensitive.

During the FAO workshop on “Gender Sensitive Local Planning” officers responsible for local planning administrations explored the issue of integrating gender considerations in local planning. The workshop deliberations examined the current local administrative structures and planning processes to determine current status and constraints to promote gender sensitive approaches in local planning. The workshop activities resulted in developing a framework for gender sensitive local planning. The information shared and the recommendations generated by the participants are presented in the publication. The recommendations are addressed to both FAO as well as members countries who participated in the meeting.

I sincerely hope that the publication will serve as guide to improve the local planning efforts to be increasingly sensitive to gender considerations. There is much work yet to be done to improve the planning process to be gender responsive and address the women's concerns in the local planning strategies. But, I believe we have made a good beginning in the workshop and will continue to strengthen our joint efforts to achieve gender equality through appropriate local planning approaches and participation of all stakeholders.

R.B.Singh
Assistant Director General and
Regional Representative
FAO regional office for Asia and the Pacific
Bangkok, Thailand

November 1, 2001

FAO REGIONAL OFFICE FOR ASIA AND THE PACIFIC, BANGKOK

© FAO 2001

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This electronic document has been scanned using optical character recognition (OCR) software. FAO declines all responsibility for any discrepancies that may exist between the present document and its original printed version.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Glossary

1.0.   BACKGROUND

1.1.   Gender-responsive planning

1.2.   Participatory information for local planning

2.0.   PURPOSES AND OBJECTIVES

3.0.   VENUE AND DURATION

4.0.   COUNTRIES REPRESENTED AND PARTICIPANTS

4.1.   Selection of office bearers

5.0.   PROGRAMME

6.0.   SUMMARY OF PRESENTATIONS

6.1.   Opening remarks

6.2.   Sharing experiences: organizations involved in gender-sensitive local planning

6.3.   Country presentations and related discussions

6.3.1.   Bangladesh

6.3.2.   Cambodia

6.3.3.   China

6.3.4.   India

6.3.5.   Nepal

6.3.6.   Pakistan

6.3.7.   Thailand

6.3.8.   Sri Lanka

6.3.9.   Viet Nam

6.4.   Secretariat papers

6.4.1.   Women-inclusive local planning: cultivating a new planning culture

6.4.2.   Institution building for participatory gender-sensitive local planning

7.0.   REGIONAL REVIEW: COMMONALTIES AND SHARED CONCERNS

8.0.   RECOMMENDATIONS

8.1.   Country-specific recommendations

8.1.1.   Bangladesh

8.1.2.   Cambodia

8.1.3.   China

8.1.4.   Nepal

8.1.5.   Pakistan

8.1.6.   Sri Lanka

8.1.7.   Thailand

8.1.8.   Viet Nam

8.2.   Common framework for recommendations

8.2.1.   Overall policy framework for gender-sensitive local planning

8.2.2.   Information generation

8.2.3.   Human resource development

8.2.4.   Workable institutional setup

8.2.5.   Monitoring mechanism: how to implement workshop recommendations

8.3.   Actions for FAO

8.4.   FAO RAP suggestion

9.0.   NOTE OF THANKS

REFERENCES

ATTACHMENT 1   LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

ATTACHMENT 2   PROGRAMME

GLOSSARY