GAD: Engendering Development
Peace Corps Rwanda is pleased to introduce their Gender and Development Committee (GAD). In our early stages in Rwanda, we are joining the forces of other Peace Corps countries in their mission to improve and integrate gender issues in the development process. Currently, we are an interim committee of seven PCVs and DPO Gordie Mengel and are establishing our bylaws and functions before formal elections are conducted.
Mission Statement: To support and empower PCVs, Peace Corps staff, and host country nationals in their work towards gender equitable development by: Providing gender sensitive resources, training, and project ideas Facilitating partnerships with organizations that can help with gender sensitive projects Supporting regional GLOW/BE camps and school based GLOW/BE clubs
Interim GAD Committee
National Coordinator: Mackenzie Drutowski
Vice National Coordinator: Caitlyn Griffth
Media and Resource Manager: Lucy Sung
Program Development Coordinators: Sarah Doyle and Hope Lewis
Members: Alma Aldrich, Joel Atwood, and Andrew Udelsman, Jeff Monsma
Future members of GAD will be elected by sitage during their IST (three members per training group). A position is also open for the National GLOW/BE Coordinator who will oversee all regional GLOW/BE camps and all schoolbased GLOW/BE clubs.
Through SOMA, we will provide information and tools for integrating gender sensitive perspective into projects. For this inaugural column, we start at the beginning with the history of GAD and why it is essential for development work. The following text was taken from “The Exchange: Peace Corps’ Women in Development Newsletter,” October 2003.
History of WID and GAD Internationally
International development interventions historically focused on community development, which involved working with or through traditional leaders to design projects. Traditional leaders were often elite and male, therefore projects focused on their needs rather than the needs of the larger community, the majority of whom were poor and female. As a result, many of these projects failed. In response to this, development practitioners surmised that in order to achieve effective, sustainable development, women needed to be included in the process. In the 1970s, Women In Development (WID) approaches emerged as a way of addressing the needs and concerns of women. Women’s exclusion from the development process was highlighted in Ester Boserup’s book, Women’s Role in Economic Development, as well as at the UN’s First World Conference on Women and Declaration of International Year of the Woman in 1975. The rationale behind WID approaches was that development would proceed much better if women were more fully incorporated into it.
WID approaches tended to focus on women’s productive role in society, and special projects were designed to improve women’s economic situation. Critiques of WID concluded that activities failed to take into consideration the multiple roles that women play in society and the various demands on their time. As a result, GAD approaches emerged in the 1980s. GAD emphasized the relationships between women and men. Rather than treat women as a homogeneous group, GAD recognizes that women are a diverse group and that their needs may vary according to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.
Central to GAD is an understanding of the gender division of labor and gender needs. The rationale behind GAD is that it is women’s socially determined roles that limit their ability to be full partners in the development process, not just their economic status. When all this was happening on the “outside,” what was going on in the Peace Corps?
History of WID and GAD at Peace Corps
As part of the emergence of WID approaches in the 1970s, the Peace Corps Act of 1961 was amended when the Percy Amendment was passed by Congress in 1978. The amendment stated: “In recognition of the fact that women in developing countries play a significant role in economic production, family support, and the overall development process, the Peace Corps shall be administered so as to give particular attention to those programs, projects, and activities which tend to integrate women into the national economics of developing countries, thus improving their status and assisting the total development effort.” Peace Corps Act Section 2502(d)
As a result of the Percy Amendment, the WID Office was established at Peace Corps headquarters. The WID coordinator position was created in the 1980s to ensure that the agency fulfills the mandate of the Percy Amendment. In accordance with prevailing thought at the time, the Peace Corps had WID projects and WID Volunteers who initiated separate projects for women. This would later change, however, with the recognition that all Volunteers need to incorporate WID and GAD into their work. When WID projects began to disappear, Volunteer WID committees emerged. In 1991 the Peace Corps authorized a WID policy to ensure that women have access to the skills and technologies offered in all Peace Corps activities. This is accomplished through overseas staff development, preservice training, project plans, the integrated planning and budget system, and the program and training framework, as well as through written and visual materials produced by the agency and documented in all sectors. In the 1990s the Peace Corps embraced GAD as well as WID. In support of this effort the Peace Corps entered into the Women’s Organization and Participation agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Beginning in the InterAmerica and the Pacific region, a number of workshops were held. A major outcome of these workshops was the formalization of a gendersensitive approach to participatory activities called participatory analysis for community action (PACA). Communitycontent based instruction (CCBI) was an application of PACA to the educational process. The final product of these efforts was the Gender and Development Training/Girls’ Education manual. This manual provides modules for training staff and Volunteers in GAD and PACA. In 1999 the Peace Corps formally changed from WID to WID/GAD to reflect the inclusion of both approaches in the Peace Corps’ work. Since that time, regional GAD teams have been formed. The teams are made up of male and female host country national staff from all sectors to ensure
sustainability and sociocultural relevance. The purpose of the teams is to serve as mentors and trainers in GAD and gender analysis for posts in their regions.
Mission Statement: To support and empower PCVs, Peace Corps staff, and host country nationals in their work towards gender equitable development by: Providing gender sensitive resources, training, and project ideas Facilitating partnerships with organizations that can help with gender sensitive projects Supporting regional GLOW/BE camps and school based GLOW/BE clubs
Interim GAD Committee
National Coordinator: Mackenzie Drutowski
Vice National Coordinator: Caitlyn Griffth
Media and Resource Manager: Lucy Sung
Program Development Coordinators: Sarah Doyle and Hope Lewis
Members: Alma Aldrich, Joel Atwood, and Andrew Udelsman, Jeff Monsma
Future members of GAD will be elected by sitage during their IST (three members per training group). A position is also open for the National GLOW/BE Coordinator who will oversee all regional GLOW/BE camps and all schoolbased GLOW/BE clubs.
Through SOMA, we will provide information and tools for integrating gender sensitive perspective into projects. For this inaugural column, we start at the beginning with the history of GAD and why it is essential for development work. The following text was taken from “The Exchange: Peace Corps’ Women in Development Newsletter,” October 2003.
History of WID and GAD Internationally
International development interventions historically focused on community development, which involved working with or through traditional leaders to design projects. Traditional leaders were often elite and male, therefore projects focused on their needs rather than the needs of the larger community, the majority of whom were poor and female. As a result, many of these projects failed. In response to this, development practitioners surmised that in order to achieve effective, sustainable development, women needed to be included in the process. In the 1970s, Women In Development (WID) approaches emerged as a way of addressing the needs and concerns of women. Women’s exclusion from the development process was highlighted in Ester Boserup’s book, Women’s Role in Economic Development, as well as at the UN’s First World Conference on Women and Declaration of International Year of the Woman in 1975. The rationale behind WID approaches was that development would proceed much better if women were more fully incorporated into it.
WID approaches tended to focus on women’s productive role in society, and special projects were designed to improve women’s economic situation. Critiques of WID concluded that activities failed to take into consideration the multiple roles that women play in society and the various demands on their time. As a result, GAD approaches emerged in the 1980s. GAD emphasized the relationships between women and men. Rather than treat women as a homogeneous group, GAD recognizes that women are a diverse group and that their needs may vary according to age, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, etc.
Central to GAD is an understanding of the gender division of labor and gender needs. The rationale behind GAD is that it is women’s socially determined roles that limit their ability to be full partners in the development process, not just their economic status. When all this was happening on the “outside,” what was going on in the Peace Corps?
History of WID and GAD at Peace Corps
As part of the emergence of WID approaches in the 1970s, the Peace Corps Act of 1961 was amended when the Percy Amendment was passed by Congress in 1978. The amendment stated: “In recognition of the fact that women in developing countries play a significant role in economic production, family support, and the overall development process, the Peace Corps shall be administered so as to give particular attention to those programs, projects, and activities which tend to integrate women into the national economics of developing countries, thus improving their status and assisting the total development effort.” Peace Corps Act Section 2502(d)
As a result of the Percy Amendment, the WID Office was established at Peace Corps headquarters. The WID coordinator position was created in the 1980s to ensure that the agency fulfills the mandate of the Percy Amendment. In accordance with prevailing thought at the time, the Peace Corps had WID projects and WID Volunteers who initiated separate projects for women. This would later change, however, with the recognition that all Volunteers need to incorporate WID and GAD into their work. When WID projects began to disappear, Volunteer WID committees emerged. In 1991 the Peace Corps authorized a WID policy to ensure that women have access to the skills and technologies offered in all Peace Corps activities. This is accomplished through overseas staff development, preservice training, project plans, the integrated planning and budget system, and the program and training framework, as well as through written and visual materials produced by the agency and documented in all sectors. In the 1990s the Peace Corps embraced GAD as well as WID. In support of this effort the Peace Corps entered into the Women’s Organization and Participation agreement with the U.S. Agency for International Development.
Beginning in the InterAmerica and the Pacific region, a number of workshops were held. A major outcome of these workshops was the formalization of a gendersensitive approach to participatory activities called participatory analysis for community action (PACA). Communitycontent based instruction (CCBI) was an application of PACA to the educational process. The final product of these efforts was the Gender and Development Training/Girls’ Education manual. This manual provides modules for training staff and Volunteers in GAD and PACA. In 1999 the Peace Corps formally changed from WID to WID/GAD to reflect the inclusion of both approaches in the Peace Corps’ work. Since that time, regional GAD teams have been formed. The teams are made up of male and female host country national staff from all sectors to ensure
sustainability and sociocultural relevance. The purpose of the teams is to serve as mentors and trainers in GAD and gender analysis for posts in their regions.