Addressing Gender Disparities through Organization Development

1. LOCAL PARTNERS
CAPACITY BUILDING PROGRAM
Addressing Gender Disparities through Organization Development

2. Local Partners Capacity Building Program
• LPCB is an organization development and
competitive grants program for HIV and
AIDS organizations in Zambia
• Funded by PEPFAR through USAID-Zambia
• Aims to improve the capacity of local NGOs,
FBOs and CBOs to ensure efficient and
effective expansion of HIV and AIDS
programs
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3. Gender and HIV and AIDS
• Gender disparities impact the spread of HIV
and AIDS through unequal power relations
and their affect sexual behaviour
• Among LPCB partners,
the majority of senior staff
positions were held by
males while the majority of
beneficiaries were female
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4. Key Interventions
1. Gender and Leadership training for 107
Partner Organizations (POs)
2. Training in Gender Analysis for 107 POs
3. Gender Framework (guidelines)
developed
4. LPCB funded community gender
initiatives
5. Mentoring/backstopping of POs
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5. Gender and Leadership Training
• General introduction to Gender and how it is
relevant to Organization Leadership
– Governance (board, mission, autonomy)
– Management & leadership style (barriers to
women’s advancement in organization)
– Organizational culture (attitudes/behaviour that
influence decision-making,)
– Day-to-day interaction between men and women
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6. Gender Analysis Training
• Practical gender analysis using Harvard
Analytical Framework
• Integrating results from gender analysis into
development programming
– Internal (within the organization)
– External (in relation to programs)
• Social, cultural norms (attitudes/behaviour that
influence decision-making, etc., in society)
• Day-to-day interaction between men and
women in communities with whom POs work
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7. Gender Framework
• Numbers of women and men at every level of
organization (Board & decision making roles )
• Policies to promote gender equality in
governance, strategy, programs, and HR
• Organizational culture that promotes
inclusion, diversity, safety
• Practices to implement policies effectively
• Reference to National plans and frameworks
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8. Community Gender Initiatives
• Grants encouraged gender initiatives
• Examples of activities selected for funding:
– Awareness-raising on
gender-based violence(GBV)
– Increasing male involvement
in PMTCT
– Sensitization on how unequal
power relations impact HIV/AIDS
– Couples counselling using
“RESPECT” model
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9. Mentoring of POs
• On-site follow-up by LPCB HIV and AIDS
Technical Team
• Similar support provided from Capacity Leaders
and Organization Development Facilitators
(ODFs) trained by LPCB
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10. Resources Required & Challenges
• To date a total of approx. USD 105,000 was spent
on gender trainings and USD 321,561provided in
direct funding to POs focusing on gender activities
• Specific gender activities were initiated later in
LPCB’s period of performance
• Changing deeply-entrenched cultural norms
cannot happen overnight
• Women and victims of GBV do not feel
empowered to challenge the status quo
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11. Achievements
• LPCB successfully:
– Incorporated gender into its OD approach
– Funded 9 community-level initiatives addressing
harmful gender norms and behaviors
• In 2012, 54% of partner organizations enrolled
were woman-led or women-focused, an increase
of 32% from 2007-2011
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12. Lessons Learnt
• Focus on Gender should be built into project
design from the beginning
• Require gender training & gender analysis as
part of grant funding
• Gender analysis findings must inform
programming
• Data collection efforts should focus on the
impact of gender interventions on HIV
• Evaluate changes in gender norms as a
result of programming
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13. Conclusion
• Increasing awareness of and response to gender
equity issues is a critical component of HIV
programming and OD
• Behaviour change communication activities to
transform deeply entrenched gender norms need to
be on going
• Addressing gender disparities requires commitment at
all levels: funder, organization, and community
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