Gender Mainstreaming Case Studies

India

• Publisher: Asian Development Bank
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9789290923893
• Topic: Economía
• Subtopic: Economía del desarrollo

This publication is part of the commitment of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to document gender equality results in its operations. It presents case studies in ADB priority sectors: urban development, rural infrastructure, and education. The case studies provide an overview of gender issues, design features, and implementation arrangements that contributed to achieving gender-related targets in six ADB projects.

Kolkata Environmental Improvement Project

Key Points

Development Aims and Impacts:

• Involving women and other vulnerable groups in planning and implementation results in a resettlement program that is gender- and socially inclusive.

• Awarding titles to new flats to women and prioritizing them and other vulnerable groups in awarding ground floor flats that have opportunities for small businesses, empowers these vulnerable groups and stresses their importance in poverty alleviation.

• Establishing mechanisms for women’s participation in neighborhood committees and housing cooperative societies leads to more sustainable practices in maintaining the buildings and other assets in the resettlement sites.

• Providing livelihood training and opportunities to women and men is a crucial aspect of resettlement, as it empowers them to address their poverty and sustain development initiatives.

• Encouraging women’s participation in decision-making mechanisms, such as self-help groups, neighborhood committees, housing cooperative societies, and wards, results in more inclusive and sustainable development practices.

ADB Processes:

• Poverty reduction through targeted and gender- and socially inclusive programs

• Community empowerment through participatory and transparent processes

Project Basic Facts

Loan number: 1813-IND

Loan approval: December 2000

Loan effectiveness: April 2002

Closing date: 30 June 2012

Executing agency: Kolkata Municipal Corporation and Irrigation and Waterways Department of the Government of West Bengal

Overall project cost: $250 million

Financing: ADB loan

Sector: Urban Infrastructure

Gender classification: Some Gender Benefits

What were the main project aims and elements?

Kolkata Municipality, with a population of 4.5 million people, is the most densely populated inner core area of the Kolkata Metropolitan Area. The project aimed to enhance the quality of life of the people of Kolkata Municipality by improving the urban environment and providing equitable access to municipal services, especially by the poor. The objectives of the project were to (i) improve the environment in the outer areas of Kolkata, (ii) reduce poverty in the low-income areas through access to basic urban services, (iii) facilitate community empowerment through participatory processes, (iv) protect the environment from adverse development, and (v) help develop Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) into a proficient and autonomous municipality. Specifically, the project sought to improve sewerage and drainage, solid waste management, the slums, and the canals. The non-technical development processes employed to achieve these results included stakeholder consultations, implementation assistance for and capacity building of the KMC, and the development of a policy and institutional framework to sustain project investments.

While women were deemed to benefit from the project equally with men, it was only in the resettlement plan that women were specifically targeted. This gender mainstreaming account focuses only on the resettlement plan and its implementation which was required for the project’s Component E: Canal Improvements.¹ Implementation of this component necessitated the relocation of families living on the banks of the canals. It illustrates how gender concerns were mainstreamed in the resettlement plan and describes its direct results on the status and situation of women in the affected families.

What were the key gender equality issues related to resettlement?

The settlement areas that were affected by the project lay along five canal segments, where a total of 16,317 individuals had settled, some for more than 15 years. Of this number, 45%, or 7,361, were females, 62% of whom were of productive age (15–50 years old). There were 3,626 households along these canal segments, 11.2% of which were women-headed households.² A large majority of these women-headed households had incomes of less than 2,300 rupees (Rs) per month which was below the poverty line. Together with households whose heads were elderly or disabled, women-headed households were considered the most marginalized because of their limited earning potential.

Prior to resettlement, about 56% of the population of two canal settlements was found to be working, of which the proportions of men and women workers were roughly equal. Men worked as day laborers, masons, carpenters, or rickshaw pullers. Women worked as domestic maids or rag pickers, with a very few working as midwives. Ten percent of the families—usually those relying on the income of rag pickers—lived below the poverty line. Living conditions along the canals impacted on the dwellers’ health. Gastroenteric disorders were the most common illnesses, together with influenza and colds. Water was sourced from four tube wells in the vicinity, but very few inhabitants were aware of the need to purify drinking water, and this resulted in waterborne diseases. The primary school was within 10–15 minutes’ walking distance and 98% of primary-aged children of both sexes went to school.³

At the start of the project in 2000, the households along the canal banks were organized into canal resettlement groups (CRGs), based on a household survey conducted by the project. During initial preparations, it was expected that all 3,000 or more households would be granted land plots where small houses would be built for each family. This approach was proposed in the initial awareness-raising activities. However, as plans were developed by each CRG, the KMC had to abandon the approach because it did not have sufficient land for individual plots. Instead, it proposed that family units move into blocks of low-rise (three to four story) one-room flats, allocated by lottery, with an approximate floor area of 195 square feet, running water, and balcony space suitable for kitchen functions.⁴ A total of five resettlement sites had been established by the project, each of which contains six buildings with 24–32 flats per building.

The resettlement process began in 2006. Once occupied, the new buildings were to be managed through a housing cooperative society, registered under KMC statutes. Communal space, such as corridors, water tanks, and surrounding land, were to be managed through such groups.

When families started relocating to their new flats, a number of issues presented themselves. There was a noticeable change in the proportion of working men and women. In four occupied resettlement sites 25.6% of men worked, compared to only 12.3% of women. The drop in the number of working women, most of whom were household workers, was due to the increased distance of their resettlement site to the houses of their employers, which would have required them to bear additional transport costs. These women expressed the hope that they would find similar houseworking jobs near their new homes. Despite this, average household income increased in the resettlement sites, with only 23% of households earning less than Rs2,000 per month, compared to 36% of households in the canal settlements that earned less than Rs2,000 a month.⁵

Water for all types of uses was available in the resettlement sites, but the water that was pumped from the ground and stored in overhead tanks was too heavy in iron content. Women demanded quality piped drinking water, which the KMC addressed by installing submersible pumps and additional tube wel...