UNESCAP Gender Policy Data Integration Initiative: Inception Workshop April 2018, Bangkok, Thailand. Workshop Summary

Transcription

1 UNESCAP Gender Policy Data Integration Initiative: Inception Workshop April 2018, Bangkok, Thailand Workshop Summary A. Background The fifth session of the Committee on Statistics of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP) agreed on the establishment of the Regional Steering Group on Population and Social Statistics (RSG PSS) in Asia Pacific, to guide the implementation of the Regional Strategy to Improve Population and Social Statistics in Asia and the Pacific. The RSG PSS held its first meeting in Bangkok in 2017 and finalized a work plan to achieve three goals: (1) creating an enabling policy environment to maintain demand for population and social statistics (2) enhancing data production and (3) enhancing data analysis and use. The UNESCAP Gender Policy Data Integration Initiative (April 2018 March 2019) on strengthening data and statistics on women s economic empowerment (WEE) was formulated along the lines of the approach adopted by the RSG PSS and will mainly focus on advancing goals (1) and (3) stated above. The Inception Workshop for this Initiative was organized for project countries, Armenia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand, who are members of the RSG PSS and have expressed interest in this work. In line with goals (1) and (3) of the RSG PSS above, two sets of draft tools were made available during the workshop for hands on experimentation and recommendations for refinement: (i) the draft policy data integration tool (EPIC) 1 for identification of information needs for strengthening the responsiveness of national statistical systems to policy demands in SDG implementation; and (ii) the draft template and guidelines for progress assessment and gender analysis to enhance gender sensitive data dissemination, analysis and use in the context of WEE. At the Inception Workshop, each country team consisted of three members with a combination of representatives from the national statistical office, national women s machinery, department of planning or a relevant line ministry in the context of women s economic empowerment. The Inception Workshop marked the first step of the Gender Data Policy Integration Initiative, and will be followed by national implementation of the tools experimented by the country teams during the Workshop and the development of country reports. 1 This tool is being developed by UNESCAP in association with experts in response to the goal 1 on creating an enabling policy environment at the national level set by the Regional Steering Group on Population and Social Statistics at its first meeting in August

2 B. Outcomes of the Workshop 1. Identification of information and disaggregated data needs related to women s economic empowerment (WEE) at the national level Selection of relevant policy document: During the first four sessions of the Workshop, the four country teams (from Armenia, Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand) successfully applied the draft policy data integration tool (EPIC) on a section of a chosen national policy document linked to the topic of WEE. The tool was applied to sections of the following documents: Armenia: on the section on women s economic empowerment of the draft Strategy and the Programme of Activities for Implementation of Policy on Ensuring of Equal Rights and Equal Opportunities for Women and Men Philippines: on the Magna Carta of Women, a comprehensive national women s rights law; in particular, they analyzed the fifth chapter on rights and empowerment of women in the marginalized sector. Sri Lanka: examined two strategies on (i) economic development and employment and (ii) empowerment and prevention as part of the Sri Lankan National Plan of Action on Sexual and Gender Based Violence. Thailand: applied the tool on the national Women s Development Strategy, and focused on the strategy on Empowerment Measures. Identification of what s in and what s out : In the first stage, issues and target groups related to WEE as reflected in the section of the policy document that was scrutinized were identified. These were linked these with relevant core concepts under the economic, social and environment dimensions of development. As part of this exercise, WEE related issues and target groups not covered by the policy document were also identified. Identification of information needs : In the next stage, measurable variables were identified including information needed and disaggregation requirements, and these were mapped with existing national indicators. Identification of preliminary national indicator set for WEE : The final stage involved mapping of existing national indicators (identical or similar) against selected SDGs indicators and the Core Set of Gender Indicators for Asia and the Pacific relevant for WEE. Where no national indicators existed, participants selected/adapted indicators from the above mentioned global/regional frameworks. Discrepancies were also identified between information as needed by the policy and the indicator actually collected by the NSOs. Through the above mentioned stages country participants recognized some policy/data gaps and waste in relation to the section of the policy document that was examined. Armenia developed a preliminary national indicator set for WEE, while the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand refined/adapted their existing national set of indicators for WEErelated issues. This thorough analysis and initial assessment laid ground for progress assessment and gender analysis on women s economic empowerment issues covered in another session of the workshop. 2

3 2. (i) Recommendations for refining the draft policy data integration tool (EPIC) and process for applying the tool at the national level (ii) General support for the template and guidelines for progress assessment and gender analysis in the context of WEE (i) The hands on application of the EPIC tool by the four country teams led to the following observations/suggestions for improvement of the draft tool and the process of applying the tool: Replacement of the word topic with the word issues, so as not to confuse the term topic with broader domains. The need to clarify key questions guiding each core concept or include more detailed explanation/ definitions in the Guidelines for the tool, in order to facilitate better and more common understanding of the core concepts across various national settings. The need for further refinement of the core concepts and/or guiding questions especially for the economic and environment dimensions due to challenges experienced by most country teams in aligning issues identified with the core concepts corresponding to these two dimensions. Consensus that this process should ideally be undertaken at the national level to involve more stakeholders from the NSO and relevant Ministries, and that national legal and policy frameworks could possibly benefit from a broader analysis of all existing policy documents related to women s economic empowerment issues. The hands on application of the tool by country teams at the workshop initiated the process of enhancing coordination between national data producer and user groups. The tool s methodology aiming at identifying issues and target groups included and excluded by national policies enhanced awareness on the need for a system wide approach addressing the three dimensions of sustainable development for every issue and target group considered. (ii) For the template and guidelines for progress assessment and gender analysis in the context of WEE, there was general support for this tool and countries expressed willingness to provide inputs for finalizing the tool based on country experiences, and also to experiment the tool in their national context once it was available. 3. Country work plans Workplans for national implementation of the Gender Policy Data Integration Initiative were developed by all four country teams. The workplans involved plans for a national workshop; continued national level consultations to apply/use the two sets of tools (i) policy data integration tool (EPIC) and (ii) the template and guidelines for progress assessment and gender analysis in the context of WEE; and country report writing based on the application of the two sets of tools in the context of WEE. In specific, all four countries committed: i. To organize a national workshop (with support from ESCAP) involving a wider range of relevant national stakeholders, aiming at enhancing awareness and hands on 3

4 ii. iii. application of the two sets of tools. The tentative time period of the national workshops was identified as follows: in mid July (Philippines), July/August (Sri Lanka), August (Thailand) and September (Armenia) 2018; To continue national consultations to apply the EPIC tool on two to four relevant policy documents related to WEE and write up a country report (preferred timelines varied by country; between October December 2018 for completion of the country report); To conduct progress assessment on two to four women s economic empowerment issues as identified through the EPIC process and write up a country report (preferred timelines varied by country; between December 2018 February 2019 for completion of the report). Some potential shortcomings/risks for the above workplans to be successfully executed included language barriers ( translation for policy documents in national language, for report writing; and interpretation during the national workshop); coordination and agreement with other line ministries/national stakeholders; low level of national acceptance of the tools; competing priorities of relevant national agencies and frequent change in mandates; and barriers related to data/information sharing across national agencies C. Workshop proceedings The Workshop was designed to consist of six sessions. The first four sessions focused on the application of EPIC and culminated in the development of a national indicator set for women s economic empowerment for each of the four countries; the fifth session introduced the template and guidelines for progress assessment and gender analysis; while the last session focused on work planning for national activities under the Gender Policy Data Integration Initiative. The first session introduced the theme and main purposes of the Workshop. The first presentation outlined the interdependencies between data and policy in the context of women s economic empowerment, and presented the importance of national indicator frameworks. The four participant countries then reported on their existing national policies and indicators frameworks on women s economic empowerment. The session ended with a trigger presentation on the policydata integration process and the identification of policy/data gaps, waste and void. The second session focused on the presentation of the EPIC tool as the generic tool for policy data integration, adapted after its experimentation by Pacific Island States on education policies during a workshop (Fiji, March 2018). To illustrate the benefits of the tool in context, a country case study was presented, i.e. the application of the EquiFrame tool 2 (precursor to EPIC) in Mongolia on selected WEE policies. The session ended with a group/plenary exercise on experimentation of the EPIC tool on a sample women s economic empowerment policy from Cambodia. The third session was dedicated to hands on country project work, where the representatives of the four countries worked in their respective teams on a selected WEE policy document to identify issues and target groups covered and not covered, alignment with the core concepts in the EPIC tool; and identification of information and disaggregated data needs, including related national indicators. 2 health.tcd.ie/assets/doc/equiframe%20manual_may19_2011.pdf 4

5 The fourth session also consisted of country project work, involving mapping national indicators on WEE with relevant indicators from the SDGs and/or Core Set of Gender Indicators for Asia and the Pacific During the fifth session, participant countries presented examples of gender sensitive analysis and related data driven products produced at national level. The session also presented considerations, approaches and methods to conduct progress assessment and gender analysis in the context of WEE. During the last session, the sixth session, the four countries drafted a work plan for national uptake of the Gender Policy Data Integration Initiative, with due consideration to conducting a national workshop and national consultations for drafting two national reports (or possibly one consolidated report) on (1) the application of the policy data integration tool on selected a selected policy document/s related to WEE and (2) conducting progress assessment and gender analysis on selected women s economic empowerment issues. Other details about the workshop can be found at: genderpolicy data integration initiative inception workshop ************* 5