Scaling up gender mainstreaming in transport: policies, practices and monitoring processes

Abstract

Four rural transport programmes, one each in Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania, were reviewed in respect of gender mainstreaming. National gender frameworks and transport policies were analysed for each country. The four countries have constitutional, policy and legislative frameworks that underpin the principles of gender equality. Gender mainstreaming measures have further been cascaded downwards into sector policies, including transport. The programmes reviewed showed good practices in integration of gender across the project cycle. However, it is notable that the programmes reviewed were donor-funded and thus were significantly influenced by the gender policies of the funding mechanisms. While it was not ascertained if government-funded rural transport programmes had similarly embedded gender integration issues, there is undoubtedly a good foundation that has been laid through the programmes reviewed in this study. This practice needs to be replicated and institutionalised so that it becomes a common norm across all transport programmes. An important part of this is for national governments to ensure sector-wide enforcement of the constitutional and legislative gender precepts. The case study programmes reviewed have put in place some good gender performance assessment tools, which provide examples of the tools that could be made mandatory as part of gender accountability in the transport sector.