Gender and the MDGs
Moving up the food chain: lessons from gender mainstreaming at the World Food Programme
Examining gender mainstreaming approaches in the World Food Programme
Authors:
; Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Publisher:
Women's Refugee Commission, 2006
The paper focuses on the existence and implementation of policies and tools used for mainstreaming gender in WFP, including targeting programmes and guidelines. It reviews how mainstreaming is monitored, evaluated and assessed and the degree to which gender impact analysis is incorporated in those processes.
The authors note that the World Food Programme (WFP) has been at the forefront of the UN-wide gender equality initiative and it continues to be a leader in gender-related policy development and implementation. They comment that WFP has made significant strides in the implementation of its gender policy and in gender mainstreaming; however, there are several areas that need further attention in order to meet WFP-stated goals and to improve internal gender equality and gender sensitivity.
The points that still need addressing are:
- WFP needs to increase its efforts to retain qualified staff with gender expertise at all levels, as this will improve individual and institutional accountability for gender mainstreaming while also supporting the momentum of the initiative
- WFP staff need to be more aware of the gender policy and the agency’s eight Enhanced Commitments to Women in order to fully understand the importance of gender mainstreaming
- more male staff need to be involved in the gender mainstreaming process, and – in part reflective of the tendency for WFP’s gender mainstreaming efforts to equate “gender” with “women”
- WFP needs to include age in its gender mainstreaming initiative in order to ensure appropriate measures are taken to provide for the needs of vulnerable groups at every stage of life.
Some of the key recommendations and conclusions are:
- policy guidance on specific age-related issues needs to be created and disseminated throughout WFP
- accountability for implementing the gender policy, Enhanced Commitments to Women (ECW) and gender mainstreaming within WFP needs to be clear and must be reflected at every institutional level
- WFP’s budget needs to improve tracking and delineation of gender-related funds
- accountability for gender mainstreaming should be reflected in the UNHCR-WFP MOU and Joint Assessment Guidelines
- WFP should continue to build on its study and strategy on the protection of women and girls.
