Japan's Official Development Assistance White Paper 2005
Next PageBox II-4. Initiative on GAD (Gender and Development) (Outline)
1. Objectives
- Sectoral assistance policy under the ODA Charter and the Medium-term Policy on ODA
- The policy paper to integrate the gender perspective into every phase of Japan's ODA implementation
- Support for developing countries' self-help efforts to achieve gender equality
- Announced on the occasion of Beijing+10, the 49th session of UN Commission on the Status of Women
2. Basic principles
- Importance of paying due attention to gender equality as stated in the ODA Charter and the Mid-term Policy
- Overall revision of the "Initiative on WID," which gave the impression that support for raising the status of women would be given only for the three priority areas: health, education and economic participation
- Aim to formulate and implement ODA activities at large from the gender perspective, including policy that does not focus on women's benefit as the main purpose
- Importance of understanding differences between women and men in their condition of lives and needs, and considering them in the implementation of ODA
- Enforcing Japan's support for efforts of developing countries toward the promotion of gender equality and women's empowerment
3. Basic approaches to gender mainstreaming
For integrating the gender perspective into every phase of Japan's ODA implementation
(1) Strengthening integration of the gender equality perspective in ODA policies
- To reflect on Country Assistance Programs and policies for priority issues and specific sectors
- To share issues concerned with developing countries on occasions such as policy consultation
(2) Strengthening gender analysis and promoting women's participation
- To enhance ex-ante evaluation with the gender perspective
- To support women's participation in decision-making processes of policy development and planning and implementation of projects
- Monitoring and evaluation of mid-term and ex-post stages of projects and their effective feedback
(3) Assistance for policies and institutions that promote gender equality
- To support efforts of developing countries such as capacity building of national machineries and development of laws and systems
(4) Strengthening cooperation with the international community and NGOs
- To enhance support for areas in which Japan's accumulation of knowledge and experience is insufficient
- Information sharing about gender issues and statistics in the country
(5) Organizational and institutional capacity building
- To enhance gender training for offers and people engaged in projects
- System development to promote gender mainstreaming
4. Sector specific actions from the gender equality perspective
To present examples of specific actions to integrate the gender perspective in Japan's assistance through multilateral and bilateral cooperation in four priority areas stipulated in the ODA Charter
(1) Poverty reduction: education, health, rural development, and agriculture
(2) Sustainable growth: infrastructure, economy, and labor
(3) Addressing global issues: environment, human rights, and violence
(4) Peace-building: emergency humanitarian assistance, post-conflict reconstruction and development, and prevention of conflict and its recurrence
Note: Refer to Part 2, Chapter 3, "Main References Concerning ODA," for the full text of the Initiative on GAD (Gender and Development).