Back to Index

Gender Equality and Plan
Plan International Zimbabwe
February 22, 2005

Download this document
- Acrobat PDF version (631KB)
If you do not have the free Acrobat reader on your computer, download it from the Adobe website by clicking here.

Introduction
Plan believes that gender equality is central to achieving its Vision and Mission. Boys and girls have the same rights but face many different obstacles in accessing these rights as a result of their gender. Through our daily work, we see the negative impacts on boys and girls of gender-based discrimination, gender power relations and the denial of women's rights. Like many other international development organisations, Plan was inspired by the activities surrounding the Fourth World Conference on Women, held in Beijing in 1995, to take a closer look at the impact of gender inequality on its work with children. Ten years on, the Beijing+10 Review has encouraged us to reflect on our progress so far and to re-assess our strategies for promoting gender equality.

This document outlines Plan's journey over the past 10 years to institutionalise gender. It provides examples of institutional strategies that have been put in place as well as case studies from our program work to address gender-based inequalities. It describes our efforts to think about child poverty in relation to rights and to make the linkages between child rights and women's rights. It should be clear that Plan has recognised the cross-cutting nature of gender and has made progress towards reducing gender-based discrimination through its projects. Still, there is much more that could be done. This document highlights some of the recently launched initiatives to improve Plan's performance on gender, not least our protocol on gender equality.

Contents

• Gender equality in Plan
• Gender equality and child poverty
• Gender equality and child centred community development
• Gender equality and child rights
• Plan’s vision of ‘gender equality’
• Our journey so far
• Institutionalising gender
• Working from the inside out: organisational culture
• Gender analysis in the program/project cycle
• A gender audit tool
• Putting it into practice
• Child mortality
• Health and nutrition
• Reproductive health and maternal mortality
• HIV/AIDS
• Gender-based violence
• Education
• Microfinance
• Water and environmental sanitation
• Community awareness raising on gender equality
• Concluding remarks
• Annexes
• Annex 1: Child centred community development approach
• Annex 2: Gender equality protocol
• Annex 3: Abbreviations and glossary of terms
• Annex 4: Sources of information

Reproductive health and maternal mortality
Plan is aware of the profound impact of gender inequality on reproductive health and maternal morality. Because it is women and girls who get pregnant and give birth, the risk factors and exposures to ill health are gender-differentiated from the outset, with the burden being much greater for women. Many of the health issues related to sex and sexuality depend on the nature of men’s and women’s relationships with each other. Often, for economic, political and social reasons, women and girls have less power in relationships and are therefore not in a position to protect themselves against unwanted sex, from transmission of infections or from violence, or even to gain information about reproductive health and rights.

A woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth every minute, leaving an estimated one million or more children motherless each year. These children are up to 10 times more likely to die before their second birthday than children with both parents alive. Among the contributing reasons for poor maternal health are:

• inequality of control of household economic resources
• inequality in the right to make decisions
• inequality in freedom of movement outside the household
• poor quality or non-existent health services

There are many programs facilitated by Plan over the years that seek to improve community reproductive health services for women and girls. More recently, Plan has focused attention on strengthening community understanding of men’s and boys’ roles in enhancing women’s and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Uganda case study below demonstrates Plan’s efforts to look more holistically at the underlying causes of women’s and girls’ reproductive ill-health, moving away from a medical focus alone to explore the impact of gender power relations and discrimination. Another example is the ‘male motivation’ project in Zimbabwe which describes Plan’s efforts to engage men and boys to promote the equality and rights of women and girls.

Zimbabwe
The ‘male motivation’ project undertaken by Plan Zimbabwe in partnership with the Zimbabwe National Family Planning Council (ZNFPC) and others proved the positive impact male involvement can have on improving women’s lives and health.

A ZNFPC assessment in the Chiredzi area in 1992 showed that almost three-quarters (72 per cent) of men did not approve of family planning because they knew little about it and the methods available. Over half believed that family planning was a woman’s business because programs were targeted at them and women were trained as service providers.

"Men are pushed aside and made to feel like strangers," was a common reaction. At the same time, two-thirds (64 per cent) of the women said that the husbands decided on whether or not his wife used contraception and three-quarters of men and women said that they never discussed family planning with their spouses.

The aim of the ‘male motivation’ project, therefore, was to educate men and women about family planning and so increase the use of family planning methods. It deliberately set out to include men as well as women, not just to encourage more use of condoms or vasectomies but also in the wider sense of persuading them to encourage and support their partners and peers to use family planning.

Under the campaign theme ‘Endhla wanuna – longa ndangu wawena (Be a man – plan your family)’, the project employed a wide range of awareness-raising tools to get the messages across and promote joint family planning decision-making between men and women. These included talks for men, home visits, community theatre, awareness raising in schools and condom distribution. Posters and leaflets were produced, some aimed at men, some at women and some at couples. Campaign messages also appeared on banners, t-shirts and stickers, and a local music group even wrote a song reinforcing the theme of male involvement in family planning.

Equally important was to gain the support of community leaders, religious leaders and influential government figures, some of whom participated at some of the project activities, drawing large crowds and media attention. The campaign activities were led by a group of 30 specially trained male motivators chosen by the community.

An evaluation of the impact of the project on behaviour, knowledge and attitude among community members was conducted at the end. Among the main findings were that:

• up to 78 per cent of the targeted population had been reached
• contraceptive use, particularly of the pill and condom, had increased

• 80 per cent of men and 93 per cent of women discussed family planning issues and saw family planning decisions as a joint couple responsibility
• 84 per cent of married women said that their partners approved of their use of contraception
• 77 per cent of men and women said that they had made an informed choice on their current contraceptive method and 88 per cent were recommending their relatives and friends to use contraception
• 75 per cent of women believed that contraceptive use had improved their lifestyle

Download full document

Visit the Plan International Zimbabwe fact sheet

Please credit www.kubatana.net if you make use of material from this website. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License unless stated otherwise.

TOP