Pakistan International Peace & Human Rights Organization
Nindo Shaher District Badin Sindh Pakistan

ACCESS

Definition Women and men's opportunities to obtain or use resources (food, credit, technology, etc.) or services (education, health, etc.). The ability and opportunity to acquire resources do not necessarily imply that people will have the power to command or control the benefits that derive from these activities. It is recommended to distinguish between " use of " and " control over" a resource. Often women have access to land, seeds and/or credit, but do not have the decision-making power over that resource. (Moser, C., 1989").

Example WFP accepts the challenge to improve women's access to longer-term assets, while recognizing the institutional and cultural constrains which slows down progress.

BENEFICIARY

Definition Person and/or group of persons who benefit from a specific project, Programme or other form of development and/or emergency intervention. In order for the project or intervention to target its beneficiary group successfully, it is recommended that the beneficiaries be classified in terms of gender (women, men; girls, boys) and age, as well as in terms of socio-economic class and cultural affinity, so as to affinity, so as to define better the characteristics of the group in question. Case-Load: Number of beneficiaries. In line with -WFP's people-centered approach, it is recommended that " number of beneficiaries" be used instead of caseload; the latter has a numerical and statistical connotation.

Example While emergency operations are directed to stricken populations as a whole, women and children tend to the major direct beneficiaries of WFP food assistance, not by design, but of necessity, because women and children have fewer options than men, viz., mobility, alternative sources of livelihood, tradable assets at their disposal or skills.

BOTTOM UP APPROACH

Definition A bottom-up approach means that interventions must always be planned and implemented with the participation of both women and men, and measured in terms of how such interventions will affect people's lives in ways that are meaningful to their priorities.

Example It is evident from the data that women, in many African countries are the main participants in food-for-work programs. There is a potential food-for-work program to increase the assets and resources of women if they are planned and implemented with their full participation.

CAPACITY-BUIDING

Definition A set of actions aimed at strengthening country offices, national counterparts and NGOs involved in the implementation of project in developing countries. It is expected that capacity building will help nation offices in developing countries to achieve self-reliance.

Example Capacity-building activities for gender include the following: the recruitment of local gender country offices to apply assessment tools and make recommendation for follow-up action, replication and subsequent training of staff and counterparts. The majority of country offices plan to revise the Monitoring and Evaluation system. The Gender Action Fund will be used to enhance the Training of Trainers capacity within WFP and counterparts, to conduct socio-economic and gender training workshop that will include national staff and counterparts, and to carry out nation and local training.

COMMUNITY

Definition People who live in local administrative unit, such as in a municipality; or are associated ethnically such as in a tribe; or belong to a local rural or urban ecosystem, such as people of a neighborhood; or individuals a common framework of interests. A community is not a homogeneous entity, and there are relationships of power within it .The member of a community have different needs, priorities and roles. It is common for women to have little influence over community organization and usually they do not take decisions, which affect the community as a whole.

Example Sometimes there are contradictions between involving the community and gender objectives. In Kenya community-based food distribution systems proved to be biased towards refugee leaders who are mostly men. WFP (World Food Programme) and UNHCR eventually abandoned this system in favor of a centralized food distribution where food is distributed under supervision to registered card-holders who are, in most cases, the senior member/head of household, thus giving women more chance to participate. All community members need to be able to play a role in decision-making that affects their livelihood, in particular over access to and management of common resources. This implies the right to set up community gatherings and organization. Women must be able to fully participate in these processes.

CONTROL

Definition In a development lexicon, control refers to the capacity to make decisions over a resources or situation. It is important to differentiate between access to and control over the use of resources, on the one hand, and access to and control over the benefits derived from the mobilization of resources on the other. Even where women have unrestrained use of resources, they are not always able to realize the gains from their use.

Example The principle of targeting food to families or groups of families has been applied in most of the free distribution in the Great Lakes region and has resulted in a more efficient and equitable system. Under these systems beneficiaries are well informed in advance of their entitlements, and are then responsible for dividing up food among themselves. Food distribution through women (heads of households or senior female members) and their participation as managers has been vigorously promoted. Several women's groups have been organized and trained for this purpose by NGOs. In Honduras gender analysis in this project will permit verification of whether women's access to and control over resources has improved and if they have gained decision-making positions in community organizations. Women are found to be the main collectors of food during the distribution process. However, this does not necessarily lead to the conclusion that women have full control over the food collected from the distribution sites.

DECISION-MAKING

Definition Control over a resource, including labor or development processes. It is necessary to separate various spheres of decision-making: one of production (of food or goods) where decisions are often taken by men, and the other of reproduction or human resource maintenance activities (including all the household tasks involved in caring for family members), where decisions are often taken by women; these are linked by a third sphere in the use of income, where decisions are often by men. The person in the household who has control over the resources is often the one who decides how to allocate intra-household resources, including food. Significant evidence shows that when women have decision-making power in their household, the trend is to convert more resources into food for family consumption. It is important to understand the decision-making process within household in order to address health and nutrition and household food security programs adequate.

Example In Angola committees were created to represent people affected, but representatives were normally selected from the traditional authority, the party and the administration and they are all male. Women were therefore also excluded from these committees. The situation in Goma and Bukavu was somewhat different as women were organized in associations on all camps and they have made efforts to penetrate the decision-making structures even though with difficulty. Most of the camp were male-dominated. In Nicaragua, women play an important role in the decision-making process, since they are involved in the establishment, management and administration of the centers as well as in day-to-day activities.

DEVELOPMENT

Definition A process through which men and women, with varying degrees of external support, increase their options for improving their quality of life. Development is based on women and men's mobilization, utilizing local resources to the utmost in a process in which their needs are met, their organizations are strengthened and the environment is preserved. Funds deployed in the development process have to be used in an efficient and cost-effective manner. WFP channels food aid with a view to increasing opportunities to improve the nutrition status of those most in need, enhancing their living conditions, supporting their access to water, health facilities, school enrolment and attendance, improving their access to credit and labor, and strengthening their participation in community organizations.

Example Women are involved in development everywhere and all the time. The point is to create conditions under which women can be involved in social and economic transformation on better terms. The involvement of women in the development process is not just a matter of ethics, but of good economics.

DISADVANTAGE GROUP

Definition Group within a society that is marginalized and has reduced access to resources and services such as education, health, credit and power. Some examples of disadvantaged groups are those affected by natural or man-made disasters (Such as refugees, returnees or internally displaced persons), some ethnic groups, older adults, children, and disabled persons. Women and/or girls in these groups tend to have fewer opportunities than their male counterparts.

DISCRIMINATION

Definition A difference in treatment based on age, sex, ethnicity, religion or other factors, rather than on individual merit (IPS; 1996). Discrimination reduces the opportunities to have access to resources, health, education, employment or power.

Example It is evident that women are marginalized in emergency and disaster situations as they are excluded from the decision-making structures, given the traditional nature of the committees that are established or utilized.

DISEMPOWERMENT

Definition Any action, policy, development and/or relief Program or process through which women's and men's priorities, needs and interests are further ignored, reducing their participation in decision-making and representing an obstacle to their economic, political and social improvement.

Example One problem has been identified as presenting a bottleneck to women's participation in elections. In many countries refugees are registered to participate in elections through their registration cards. Registration cards only hold the name of the heads of households who in the large majority of cases are men. Refugee women are not aware of these conditions for voting. They have underlined the fact that they do not participate in election committees and are not informed of the outcome of meetings. refugee women feel that this process is contributing to marginalized them.

EMPOWERMENT

Definition A process though which women and men in disadvantage position increase their access to knowledge, resources, decision-making power and raise their awareness of participation in their communities, in order to reach a level of control over their own environment. The process of integrating gender equality and empowerment of women in WFP has major implications for policies and programming, and for the development of human resources.

Example In India in a major move to empower women as a key structural measure for poverty alleviation, the 73rd and 74th Constitutional Amendments (Panchayat Raj Act) of 1993 ensured a minimum of seats for women in all elected offices of 250,000 local bodies. About one million women are emerging as decision-makers; 75,000 are expected to become chairpersons at the village, block and district level.

ENTITLEMENT

Definition The right to have command over resources. It can take the form of rights over resources. It can take the form of rights over labor, land, goods and cash, and includes rights of use and/or sale and purchase. Command over resources is not typically controlled by law as ownership is. Each member of a household is entitled to a certain quantity of commodities, including food, according to his/her sex and age. Therefore, food entitlements are determined by the endowments (land, labor, and livestock) of a person or family, and the amount of food they can acquire through trade and/or production (Sen, A; 1990 46, FAO;1990 16 ). Usually women and men, and girls and boys in a household have different entitlements over food, which is part of the customary practices.

Example Gender differences in entitlements exist in many patrilineal societies and bear much responsibility for intra-household welfare differentials and, hence, differences in opportunity set. In contemporary societies the distribution of resources occurs through a complex system of claims, which are in turn embedded within social relations and practices that govern possession, distribution and use patterns of those societies.

FAMILY

Definition A group of persons of common ancestry; living under the same roof and sharing domestic resources and/or responsibilities. There are many different types of families. These include: Extended family: a family comprised not only of parents and children, but also of relatives living in proximity; Biological family: a group consisting of two parents and their biological children; Nuclear family: group consisting of parents and their children (biological and/or adoptive) (IPS;1996 30 ). Family members have different roles, needs and priorities, based on sex and age. In planning development or relief interventions, it is necessary to examine family composition and the various roles of family members. Usually the terms family composition and household are used interchangeably. In a strict sense, the term family is use to refer to common ancestry, while the term household is used more for a socio-economic unit.

Example In a polygamous marriage co-wives will only share food when the husband instructs them to do so. It becomes important for staff then, to ensure that all wives in a family are registered and benefiting from the relief program. In Sankhari Malawi, it was discovered there were families where one wife was receiving aid and the other was not. While various concepts the family exists in different social, cultural, legal and political systems, the family is the basic unit of the society and as such is entitled to receive comprehensive protection and support. The process of rapid demographic and socio-economic change throughout the world has influenced patterns of family formation and family life, generating considerable change in family composition and structure. Traditional notions of gender-based division of parental and domestic functions and participation in the paid labour force do not reflect current realities and aspirations, as more and more women in all parts of the take up paid employment outside the home. At the same time, widespread migration, forced shifts of population caused by violent conflicts and wars, urbanization, poverty, natural disasters and other causes of displacement have placed greater strains on the family, since assistance from extended family support networks is often no longer available.

FEMALE

Definition The term female refers to biologically-based refers as to women. The term women or girls refers to biologically and socially or culturally based references to gender ( IPS; 1996). It is recommended that the term " women" used, when possible, since " female" has a more biological connotation.

FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY

Definition This concept refers to the fact that women and men experience poverty and its effects in different ways. Women are more negatively affected than men as a result of economic globalization are and more specifically, as a result of the macro-economic policies of many developing countries, which often include structural adjustment programs.

Example Women and men experience poverty in different ways and the feminization of poverty may be a question less of whether more women than men are poor than of the severity of poverty and the greater hardship women face in lifting themselves and their children out of the trap.

GENDER

Definition The differences between women and men within the same household and within and between cultures that are socially and culturally constructed and change over time. These differences are reflected in: roles, responsibilities, access to resources, constraints, opportunities, needs, perceptions, views, etc. held by both women and men. Thus, gender is not a synonym for women, but considers both women and men and their interdependent relationships. ( Moser, C. 1993).

Example WFP policies recognize that " gender" is a critical variable in project and overall development planning". Gender refers to socially acquired and culturally specific attributes distinguishing women and men. A focus on gender recognizes socially and culturally determined differences between women and men, primarily in relation to the household division of labor, and their access to and control over production resources and assets.

GENDER ANALYSIS

Definition Examination of a social process which considers the roles played by women and men, including issues such as the division of labor, productive and reproductive activities, access to and control over resources and benefits, and socio-economic and environmental factors that influence women and men. Gender analysis also refers to the systematic investigation of the differential impacts of development on women and men (OXFAM; 1994 40; IPS; 1996 30). Gender analysis is a tool that is applied in WFP throughout the project cycle (appraisal, monitoring and evaluation), as well as to any other assessment or analysis of benefits, beneficiaries or executing agencies. It is also applied in the design and implementation of policies, in the development of human resources, training, etc.

Example Gender analysis is project work seeks to organize information in such a way as to distinguish the resources, activities, potentials and constraints of women and men in a given beneficiary groups and to ensure maximum efficiency and sustainability in pursuing a development goal. Improving gender analysis and planning is another focus of training for WFP counterparts. National workshops are held to improve the capacity to work with partners on more equitable measures to select beneficiaries, design activities, manage food commodities and develop food aid programs in partnership with women's fliteracy and leadership development programs The construction of roads might have different effects in different socio-economic groups in the project area, for example, on the landless or on cash-crop producers and subsistence farmers (men and women). Gender analysis should form part of the analysis of the differential effects of the road on each of the major socio-economic groups.

GENDER AND DEVELOPMENT (GAD)

Definition An approach to development based on the premise that all policies, programmes and projects should reflect the needs, priorities, roles and the differential impact of development processes on men and women. The GAD approach strives for gender equality by seeking full recognition and understanding of the contributions that women make to development. It aims to increase women's access to and control over resources on equal terms with men, as gender analysis has repeatedly shown that women do not benefit equality. (UNRISD, UNDP; 1995 65). GAD represents a shift from the marginal position of "Women's issues" to the center of the development agenda, in both institutional and theoretical terms. This has led to the rethinking of institutional structures, rules, priorities and goals, and to a substantial redistribution of resources (Kaber, N., and Subrahmanian, R; 199632).

GENDER AWARENESS

Definition The recognition that the life experiences, expectations, and needs of women and men are different, that many times they involve inequity, and that they are subject to change. In development and relief work, gender awareness refers to the perception and realization of the ways in which women and men participate in the development process, how they are affected by it, and how they benefit from it. Experience has shown that without such awareness, not only will development and relief interventions fail to meet the needs and serve the interests of all people they are intended to help, but they may indeed hinder the situation of women.

Example A longitudinal study in rural Guatemala revealed through statistical analyses that the differences in weight and height between two groups of adolescents were due to differences established when they were three years old. The weight and height of boys was three times better than that of girls. The strength of the WFP Women's Training Centers in Bangladesh seems to be in the awareness building side, not exclusively through the process of formal training, but also through the informal regular 'get-togethers' during which women share achievements and problems.

GENDER BALANCE

Definition WFP refers to gender balance as the goal of having the same number of women and men staff in the different levels of the organizational structure. WFP is making special efforts to increase the number of women staff members in high-level positions.

Example Although much work remains to be done, the number of female staff has increased substantially at all levels and in all categories, through a proactive recruitment and promotion policy, and a better retention rate.

GENDER-BASED DIVISION OF LABOR

Definition The division of labor in societies is directly tied to socio-cultural patterns, which determine the tasks that women and men should perform. Generally speaking, societies use the different reproductive roles that stem from biological differences between women and men as the basis to divide their tasks both in the home and in the public sphere In public spheres male domination is well recognized, while in the household economy and in the domestic sphere, it is necessary to analyze the division of labor and power relation of women and men in order to understand their dynamics. In all societies there is a set of norms that demarcate responsibilities for the decades, in some societies the division of labor between women and men has changed.

Example Taking into account the account of work a person can do in four hours, an NGO in Malawi established work norms. The beneficiaries work in the project in the afternoon, after laboring in their fields. Generally women and men must fulfil same work norms before earning a day's food. However, women find it difficult to complete their household chores, as well as their field and project work. In this case the project norms had to be re-evaluated.

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