Sector-Specific Materials

Integrating Gender Across the PPP Project Cycle

Multinational Development Banks (MDBs) as well as bilateral and national development banks and many other leading development organizations have a growing commitment to finance and support infrastructure projects and programs that incorporate gender considerations. They have developed a number of guidelines, practical tools, policies, and manuals that are based on best practice and aim to facilitate a gender-inclusive approach. Key recommendations for integrating gender considerations in infrastructure projects and programs are the following:

1. Analyze gender aspects during the preparation and appraisal stage, e.g. by collecting sex-disaggregated data, including women and men at an early stage in the community-wide consultations and by incorporating gender aspects into the various analyses and assessments;

2. Translate the results into the design of projects and programs, e.g. by designing gender-responsive policies, bidding documents and contracts;

3. Utilize meaningful performance indicators to monitor and evaluate actions designed to narrow gender gaps.

Following this approach gender commitments are increasingly integrated into PPP Legal and Regulatory Frameworks as well as across the PPP project cycle of individual PPP projects. Read more.

Key Topics Across Infrastructure Sectors

Click here to find out more about:

• Strengthen Engagement of Women in PPPs
• Target Women as Consumers, Beneficiaries, and Users of Services,
• Improve Safety and Prevent Gender-Based Violence
• Integrate Women-Owned Businesses in the Supply Chain
• Promote Female Employment and Corporate Leadership

Sector-Specific Legislation, Policies, Guidelines, Strategies

Lao PDR Policy Guidelines for the Implementation of Policy on Sustainable Hydropower Development contain gender-responsive resettlement provision (Article 5.8). In order to safeguard the statutory interests of the project affected people due to resettlement and compensation cases, the hydropower project developer shall provide various reports, assessments and plans, including a gender development plan before the construction and implementation of the project to ensure that any potential negative impacts to the people and other social related impacts are mitigated. The right of all project-affected people to sustainable livelihood options and services at least at the level previously enjoyed will be recognized, and achieved through the implementation of the social management and monitoring plan. The plan will consider distributional effects of development activities and the participation of vulnerable groups, including women and ethnic minorities.

Uganda - Renewable Energy Policy

Sector-Specific Project Documents

Solomon Islands

• Tina River Hydropower Development Project -  The main aim of the Tina River Hydropower Development Project (TRHDP) is to increase the generation of renewable energy, cut power costs and to move away from the reliance of imported diesel for power. To achieve this, a 15-megawatt hydropower plant will be developed on the Tina River, just outside the capital Honiara. The private partner will design, build, own, operate, and manage the hydropower facility through a build-operate-own-transfer scheme. 
  
  Being the first PPP project for the Solomon Islands it required careful coordination of the interests of many stakeholders, including land owners and local community members. The Community Benefit Sharing Program (CBSP) was designed to enhance the positive impacts of the project to the communities in the project area by promoting investment in basic services and infrastructure for the local communities and fostering support and cooperation by the communities towards the success of the project. The Water Supply and Sanitation Subcomponent is designed to fund community investments in water supply and electricity infrastructure as preliminary benefits to the communities before the hydropower operation actually starts generating benefit sharing revenues. It includes a Rural Electricity Program. The Human Resource Component of the CBSP aims to support the members of communities in the project area in accessing employment opportunities to be created by TRHDP during and after construction. A Gender Action Plan (GAP) has been prepared in support of the project. The GAP aims to help ensure that women will have equitable access to project benefits and equitable voice in project-related activities.
  
  The project is described in detail on a website published by the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification.  Among the project-related documents published on the site are the Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (2019), the Land Acquisition and Livelihood Restoration Plan (2017), the Gender Action Plan (2017), and the Community Benefit Share Plan (2017), as well as the Community Development Plan (2017). 

Lao PDR

• Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric power project: The project is governed by a concession agreement that sets out, among other things, social safeguards to mitigate the potential negative social impacts of the project including gender-specific actions to guarantee increased gender equity and expanded opportunities for women and girls, e.g. land titles are issued jointly to husband and wife (Concession Agreement, Schedule 4, Part 1, Social and Resettlement Component). See also summary of the concession agreement.

Vanuatu

• Improved Electricity Access Project: The objective of this project is to increase sustainable access to formal grid-based electricity services within Vanuatu’s electricity concession service areas for low-income customers through targeted subsidies. The project uses an output-based grant from the Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA). It includes gender issues in the project design and provides targeted consultation to reach vulnerable groups, including women. For details see Project Paper for Small RETF Grant (US $ 4.85 Million Equivalent) to the Republic of Vanuatu for a GPOBA Improved Electricity Access Project, 12 March 2014. 

Sector-Specific Tools

The extent to and way in which gender could be mainstreamed into the design and implementation of an infrastructure project depend at least to some degree on the specific infrastructure sector. Listed below are guidance materials, toolkits and other online resources that were developed by international organizations, national governments and non-government organizations to mainstream gender into energy projects:

• Getting to Gender Equality in Energy Infrastructure: Lessons from Electricity Generation, Transmission, and Distribution Projects Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) Technical Report, no. 012/18, World Bank Group 2018 - The report examines the social and gender footprint of large-scale electricity generation, transmission, and distribution projects to establish a foundation on which further research and replication of good practices can be built.

• Gender and Renewable Energy: Wind, Solar, Geothermal and Hydroelectric Energy, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) November 2014 - This publication focuses on how to incorporate a gender perspective in operations that support the construction, operation and maintenance of medium- and large-scale renewable wind, solar, geothermal and hydroelectric energy installations connected to the grid for purposes of power generation. It includes a section on rural energy that is applicable to small installations and mini-grids, or to exceptional cases where medium- and large-scale facilities provide electricity to a community.
• Integrating Gender Considerations into Energy Operations (Intégrer la dimension du genre dans les projets du secteur de l’énergie) World Bank, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) 2013 (English and French) - This briefing note discusses the key elements of the gender-energy topic and provides specific examples of how to integrate gender considerations in energy policy dialogue and the project cycle. It draws on recent experience within the World Bank and elsewhere in mainstreaming gender in energy projects, and looks at three key areas: assessment, action, and monitoring and evaluation. This note is complemented by an online compendium of gender resources.
• Gender Toolkit: Energy Going Beyond the Meter, Asian Development Bank (ADB) September 2012 - This toolkit aims to assist staff and consultants of the ADB in conceptualizing and designing gender-responsive projects in the energy sector. It guides users in key questions to be asked and data to be collected during project preparation and offers a menu of entry points in designing project outputs, activities, inputs, indicators, and targets that integrate key gender issues identified during the gender analysis. The toolkit is broken down into key subsectors - transmission and distribution, rural electrification, energy efficiency, and renewable energy. Case studies from ADB energy projects have been included to illustrate good practices in mainstreaming gender in energy sector.
• Gender Impacts of GPOBA Pilot Projects, Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) June 2011 -This note presents a summary of the expected gender impacts of output-based aid (OBA) projects by sector (water and sanitation, energy, health, information and communication technology (ICT), an overview of how gender impacts are estimated in the ongoing impact evaluations, and a list of the gender outcomes and impacts that are explicitly acknowledged in other OBA pilot projects.
• Mainstreaming Gender in Energy Projects – A Practical Handbook, ENERGIA 2011 - This Handbook seeks to provide guidance, practical tools and examples for energy projects that show how to undertake gender mainstreaming systematically. It draws on the experience with coaching energy projects in specific African and Asian countries and includes examples of good practice. ENERGIA provides links to many other training materials, resource packs and publications, including a free online course.
• Energy, Gender and Development – What are the Linkages? Where is the Evidence? Gunnar Köhlin, Erin O. Sills Subhrendu, K. Pattanayak and Christopher Wilfong, Word Bank 2011 - This report reviews the literature on the links between energy access, welfare, and gender in order to provide evidence on where gender considerations in the energy sector matter and how they might be addressed.
• Gender and Energy for Sustainable Development: A Toolkit and Resource Guide, joint publication by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and ENERGIA 2004 - This toolkit outlines gender issues in energy projects, women’s energy needs, and lessons from project experiences and contains tips for addressing gender equality issues in project planning, sample project outlines, and annotated guides to further resources.
• Gender: Social Inclusion in the Energy Sector - Online Resources - These resources have been developed by a number of organizations including the World Bank, Asian Development Bank (ADB), ENERGIA and the University of Twente, and are consolidated and published by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). They provide basic tools for mainstreaming gender considerations into energy sector activities. Included are sample questionnaires and checklists, examples of terms of references (TORs) and screening guidance, which can be downloaded.
• Gender and Energy - Online space for gender and energy developed by the World Bank, the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP) and the Africa Renewable Energy Access Program (AFREA) that brings together practitioners from around the world to share experiences, emerging tools, available resources, and knowledge on Gender Equality and Energy through an interactive platform.
• Gender - Social Inclusion in the Energy Sector -The World Bank’s ESMAP Social Inclusion and Gender Program is focused on building evidence and approaches on gender and energy. The program supports country level work through two regional programs in AFR and EAP as well as ongoing research in SAR and ECA. At the global level the program has developed a core training course on gender across energy topics and is producing a report focused on Gender and Electricity Infrastructure. To support teams, ESMAP has developed a developed a gender and energy library (link) – with all the recent publications and guidance.

Integrating Gender Across the PPP Project Cycle

Multinational Development Banks (MDBs) as well as bilateral and national development banks and many other leading development organizations have a growing commitment to finance and support infrastructure projects and programs that incorporate gender considerations. They have developed a number of guidelines, practical tools, policies, and manuals that are based on best practice and aim to facilitate a gender-inclusive approach. Key recommendations for integrating gender considerations in infrastructure projects and programs are the following:

1. Analyze gender aspects during the preparation and appraisal stage, e.g. by collecting sex-disaggregated data, including women and men at an early stage in the community-wide consultations and by incorporating gender aspects into the various analyses and assessments;

2. Translate the results into the design of projects and programs, e.g. by designing gender-responsive policies, bidding documents and contracts;

3. Utilize meaningful performance indicators to monitor and evaluate actions designed to narrow gender gaps.

Following this approach gender commitments are increasingly integrated into PPP Legal and Regulatory Frameworks as well as across the PPP project cycle of individual PPP projects. Read more.

Key Topics Across Infrastructure Sectors

Click here to find out more about:

• Strengthen Engagement of Women in PPPs
• Target Women as Consumers, Beneficiaries, and Users of Services,
• Improve Safety and Prevent Gender-Based Violence
• Integrate Women-Owned Businesses in the Supply Chain
• Promote Female Employment and Corporate Leadership

Sector-Specific Legislation, Policies, Guidelines, Strategies

Action on Equality: TfL’s commitments to 2020, published by Transport for London (TfL) - Initiative to ensure gender-responsive transport planning and operation as well as a more balanced workforce, including gender-equal recruitment, increase of female applicants for apprenticeship programs, and providing mentorship to women.

Sector-Specific Gender Tools

The extent to and way in which gender considerations could be incorporated into the design and implementation of an infrastructure project depend at least to some degree on the specific infrastructure sector. Listed below are guidance materials, toolkits and other online resources that were developed by international organizations, national governments and non-government organizations to mainstream gender into transport projects:

• Gender Analysis Toolkit for Transport, published by International Transport Forum, 2024.
• India - Toolkit for Enabling Gender Responsive Urban Mobility and Public Spaces, This toolkit is intended to be a practice guide towards introducing gender equality and women’s empowerment principles in designing urban mobility systems and public spaces so that they mitigate rather than reinforce gender inequalities. World Bank, 2022
• Violence against Women and Girls (VAWG) - Transport Brief, The Global Women’s Institute (GWI) at George Washington University, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the World Bank Group (WBG), and The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) October 2015.
• She Moves - Women's Issues in Transportation, European Commission Directorate General for Mobility and Transport (DG Move) 2014.
• Guía para la Integración de la Perspectiva de Género en los Sistemas de Transporte Urbano que Optimizan la Movilidad (Spanish), Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), November 2013, Synopsis - Mobility for All: the Link between Gender and Urban Mass Transit (English summary), IADB, September 2014 - Relying on international best practices, this guide offers recommendations and practical examples for the incorporation of measures to improve gender equality and women’s empowerment when designing and implementing urban transport projects including considerations related to the drafting of concession contracts.
• Gender Toolkit: Transport, Asian Development Bank (ADB) June 2013 - The toolkit provides guidance for transport sector specialists and gender specialists by drawing attention to the gender dimensions of transport, and how to mainstream gender equality issues into transport project design, implementation, and policy engagement. It guides users in designing project outputs, activities, inputs, indicators, and targets to respond to gender issues in transport sector operations. ADB staff and government counterparts can use the tool kit in identifying social and gender issues to be considered and integrated into project planning, design, and implementation.
• Mainstreaming Gender in Road Transport: Operational Guidance for World Bank Staff, Transport Sector Board, World Bank 2010 - This publication aims to provide guidance on how to mainstream gender-related considerations into road transport projects to improve development effectiveness, sustainability and to reduce gender inequality. The paper draws attention to the most basic ways in which gender affects and is affected by transport policies and projects and provides practical approaches to address gender-related problems in road transport projects. It provides examples of entry points for mainstreaming gender into various road project contexts in urban, peri-urban and rural areas, highlighting documented good practices in this area and identifies opportunities where women can play a role in the planning and implementation of road transport operations, particularly through participatory approaches and labor-based road construction. Included is an innovative table that presents examples of data and indicators to be collected for creating a baseline and for measuring results at the project level.
• Gender and Urban Transport: Smart and Affordable (Género y Transporte Urbano: Inteligente y Asequible), Module 7a Sustainable Transport: A Sourcebook for Policy-makers in Developing Cities, revised September 2007, German Technical Cooperation (Deutsche Gesellschaft fuer Technische Zusammenarbeit - GTZ) - This report provides guidance on how gender should be addressed in transport policy and planning to promote more sustainable and efficient transport systems (English and Spanish).
• Gender and Transport Resource Guide, Online Tool developed by SSATP (Sub-Saharan Africa Transport Program), 2006 - This Resource Guide provides gender mainstreaming tools and information for individuals and groups working on policy, design, implementation monitoring and evaluation, capacity building and research in the transport sector and sectors affected by transport.
• Gender and Transport, World Bank online site - provides links to selected publications, case studies and stories.
• Gender Action Plans (GAPs) in ADB Projects, online resource provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) - Transport Project Documents
• Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) - Resource Guide - Online resource provided by the Global Women’s Institute (GWI) at George Washington University, the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), the World Bank Group (WBG), and The International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

Sector-Specific Case Studies

• The Case Studies section in the International Transport Forum Gender Analysis Toolkit includes examples of existing gender analyses approaches in Transport Projects. 
• Making Transport Work for Women and Men: Challenges and Opportunities - In the Middle East and North Africa - Lessons from Case Studies, World Bank September 2011 - The four case studies conducted in Casablanca, Morocco, Sana’a and rural Yemen, and the northern part of the West Bank in Palestine aim to help fill the gender data gap by increasing understanding of the ways in which transport services are facilitating or constraining women’s access to resources, markets, training, information, and employment. The studies also identify priority areas for public action to improve women’s mobility and enhance their access to economic opportunities and empowerment.
• Socially Inclusive and Gender-Responsive Transport Projects, A Case Study of the Timor-Leste Road Sector Transport Project, Asian Development Bank (ADB) 2007 - This case study provides practitioners with effective analytical tools and methods that were used in the design of ADB's Timor-Leste Road Sector Improvement Project to specifically benefit traditionally excluded and disadvantaged groups, such as women and the poor.

Integrating Gender Across the PPP Project Cycle

Multinational Development Banks (MDBs) as well as bilateral and national development banks and many other leading development organizations have a growing commitment to finance and support infrastructure projects and programs that incorporate gender considerations. They have developed a number of guidelines, practical tools, policies, and manuals that are based on best practice and aim to facilitate a gender-inclusive approach. Key recommendations for integrating gender considerations in infrastructure projects and programs are the following:

1. Analyze gender aspects during the preparation and appraisal stage, e.g. by collecting sex-disaggregated data, including women and men at an early stage in the community-wide consultations and by incorporating gender aspects into the various analyses and assessments;

2. Translate the results into the design of projects and programs, e.g. by designing gender-responsive policies, bidding documents and contracts;

3. Utilize meaningful performance indicators to monitor and evaluate actions designed to narrow gender gaps.

Following this approach gender commitments are increasingly integrated into PPP Legal and Regulatory Frameworks as well as across the PPP project cycle of individual PPP projects. Read more.

Key Topics Across Infrastructure Sectors

Click here to find out more about:

• Strengthen Engagement of Women in PPPs
• Target Women as Consumers, Beneficiaries, and Users of Services,
• Improve Safety and Prevent Gender-Based Violence
• Integrate Women-Owned Businesses in the Supply Chain
• Promote Female Employment and Corporate Leadership

Sector-Specific Legislation, Policies, Guidelines, Strategies

Uganda

Water and Sanitation Gender Strategy (2018 - 2022), Government of Uganda, Ministry of Water and Environment. The revised Water and Sanitation Gender Strategy of Uganda re-echoes the water and environment sector's commitment towards the promotion of gender equality and women empowerment in the country.

Sector-Specific Gender Tools

The extent to and way in which gender could be mainstreamed into the design and implementation of an infrastructure project depend at least to some degree on the specific infrastructure sector. Listed below are guidance materials, toolkits and strategy papers that were developed by international organizations, national governments and non-government organizations to mainstream gender into water and sanitation projects:

• Addressing Gender Equality and Social Inclusion in Urban Sanitation Projects, ADB 2021 - This guidance note provides practical suggestions for addressing gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) in projects, and suggest five strategies to help deliver these suggestions and achieve sanitation for all.

• Toolkit for Mainstreaming Gender into Water Projects, WBG 2016 - This toolkit aims to provide task teams with guidance to improve gender mainstreaming in project design, implementation, and evaluation.

• Making Water Supply and Sanitation Work for Women and Men: Tools for Task Teams, World Bank December 2010 - The primary objective of this publication is to provide brief, relevant, and practical tools for World Bank task teams and their country counterparts to facilitate their work in addressing gender and other related social issues in water supply and sanitation (WSS) policies and projects. The term “tool” was selected to convey the notion that these materials are nuts and bolts resources to be used when needed, and to emphasize that they are not requirements or directives.

• Gender Impacts of GPOBA Pilot Projects, Global Partnership on Output-Based Aid (GPOBA) June 2011 - This note presents a summary of the expected gender impacts of output-based aid (OBA) projects by sector (water and sanitation, energy, health, information and communication technology (ICT), an overview of how gender impacts are estimated in the ongoing impact evaluations, and a list of the gender outcomes and impacts that are explicitly acknowledged in other OBA pilot projects.

• Checklist for Gender Mainstreaming in the Water and Sanitation Sector, The African Development Bank (AfDB), September 2009 - This checklist is intended to provide a tool for effective gender mainstreaming for drinking water supply and sanitation programs and projects, with a view to: (i) guiding project managers and implementation teams in identifying, preparing, appraising, implementing, monitoring and evaluating gender-sensitive programs and projects; and (ii) supporting member countries in analyzing and implementing the activities of programs and projects financed by the African Development Bank.

• Gender and Water - Securing Water for Improved Rural Livelihoods: The Multiple-Uses System Approach, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) 2007 - This review examines the impact of water-related projects on women, women’s role in managing water resources and the constraints women face in gaining access to water. It presents lessons learned in promoting women’s participation in decision-making for water management using experiences from several IFAD-supported water programs and projects. It highlights the innovative activities and catalysts that have helped to address gender issues in water programs and projects. It also offers recommendations on how to improve women’s access to water resources through equitable development and gender mainstreaming.
• Wash Post-2015 - Proposed Indicators for Drinking Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH), briefing note developed by the World Health Organization (WHO)/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP) summarizes proposed indicators for monitoring WASH elements of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) targets. It reflects extensive technical consultation with over 100 experts from over 60 organizations and pays special attention to the needs of women and girls.

Sector-Specific Case Studies and Project Documents

• Lao PDR - Nam Theun 2 hydroelectric power project: The project is governed by a concession agreement that sets out, among other things, social safeguards to mitigate the potential negative social impacts of the project including gender-specific actions to guarantee increased gender equity and expanded opportunities for women and girls, e.g. land titles are issued jointly to husband and wife (Concession Agreement Schedule 4, Part 1, Social and Resettlement Component draft Social Development Plan of November 2004). See also summary of the concession agreement.
• Gender Action Plans (GAPs) in ADB Projects, online resource provided by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) - Project Documents Water.
• PPP in Watershed Management - Does Watershed Development Implemented through Public Private Partnership Empower Women? A Case Review from Rajasthan, Western India, Journal of Cleaner Production, 2013 (fee for purchase) - This paper critically examines the impact of the ‘Guidelines for Hariyali’ – a rural watershed development policy launched in Rajasthan, Western India which has been implemented through a public-private partnership (PPP) for local communities.
• Water, Gender and Citizenship - Involving men and women in the management of water and sanitation services, Water and Sanitation Program (WSP), Latin America and the Caribbean, World Bank, 2007 - This document is based on the experience of the Small Town Pilot Project in Peru (STPP) in promoting inclusive citizen participation, involving both men and women, in decisions on the management of water and sanitation services in localities having between 2,000 and 30,000 inhabitants. The new model proposes an alliance between the municipality, a private operator and an overseeing neighborhood community board. A gender component assessed and deployed appropriate communication channels between males, females, the operator and the municipality. It also established a quota of 50% men and 50% women on the neighborhood community boards, institutionalized by a municipal order, and facilitated tariff setting through separate male and female consultations, arriving at a social agreement with the municipality and reconciling differing priorities. The project demonstrates how investing in communication and participatory approaches can facilitate gender mainstreaming and improve service delivery.
• Water, Sanitation and Gender, Gender and Development Briefing Notes, Gender and Development Group, The World Bank, March 2007 - The publication explores why gender issues are important in the water and sanitation sector, how the World Bank is integrating gender in water supply and sanitation (WSS) activities and gives three examples of innovative approaches to integrate gender. One example shows how the private sector engaged women to make bricks for latrines in South Africa.
• Social Republic of Vietnam - Project Appraisal Document (PAD), Red River Delta Rural Water Supply and Sanitation Project, Social Republic of Vietnam, 2005 - This project appraisal document provides for partnership and coordination between the various government agencies that are involved on the provincial and local level and the Women's Unions. One of its implementation covenants refers to the obligation of the Provincial People Committees to enter into arrangements with the Women’s Unions to establish and operate Household Water and Sanitation Revolving Funds at the provincial level.