Gender Audit of WSP South-Asia

GWA was contracted by WSP to implement a gender audit of the organisation in three South Asian countries: India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The overall objective of the Gender Audit of WSP SA is to find out how the practice of gender mainstreaming within the programme can be improved best, based on information which is to be gathered during the audit. A monitoring methodology and a Gender Mainstreaming Capacity Building Plan (GMCBP) have been developed by the GWA team on the basis of the findings made in the audit.

The gender audit is an internal exercise, which was requested by the management of the organisation itself. It differs from an evaluation by having a more forward looking perspective instead of judging the work done in the past.

The gender audit process had the following objectives:

To find out the strengths and weaknesses in the WSP with respect to gender, based on an analysis of documents, work in the past, outreach and current practices.
To examine WSP’s gender practice from an operational as well as institutional perspective.
To understand WSP’s current situation and practice regarding gender. The aim being that this will lead the organization to develop a plan of action to mainstream gender in their work.
Current gender issues and problems within the WSP organization and in the work of WSP with other organizations, partners, target groups, etc., will be identified. These challenges were addressed during the Gender Audit, by including the suggestions, opinions and solutions of the staff in the Gender Mainstreaming Capacity Building Plan (GMCBP), as well as in other outputs.
To ensure that gender sensitive practices become routine in all aspects of WSP’s work, within the organization as well as towards the client and target groups.

The methodology used for the Gender Audit was inclusive and participatory and was split up in two phases: the Inception Phase and the Implementation Phase.

The Inception Phase was intended to identify and position personnel for the Gender Audit in the three countries, to develop a common understanding among the WSP Team and the Gender Audit facilitators regarding the process and terminologies to be used during the Gender Audit, to evolve the methodology for the Gender Audit process in consultation with the respective WSP country team, to prepare an inventory of various policies, documents and materials emphasizing Gender Mainstreaming process within WSP and to design appropriate tools for data generation and compilation.

The Implementation Phase was characterized by review of various WSP documents, interviews with the WSP staff, meeting with the WSP partners, field visits (interaction with the water users and other identified stakeholders), data analysis and preparation of the report.

As the Gender Audit was an internal exercise, the reports, GMCBP and the Monitoring Methodology are not available for the wider public.