The e-Newsletter of the Gender Network December 2014 | Vol. 8, No. 3

Community-Driven Development Project leads to Increased Influence by

Women in Decision Making, Jobs and Time Savings By Imrana Jalal1

Jobs have no gender

Jemiyan, Sumarsih, Siswati, Sarmiyati and Saniken from Kelurahan Katerban, Kabupaten

Purworejo are construction workers who earn between Rp32,500 to 35,000 (about $3.5-4.0)

per day building sanitation facilities under an ADB funded project, the Urban Sanitation and

Rural Infrastructure Support to PNPM Mandiri Project (USRI, Loan 2768-INO)). They are

employed by the local Community Implementing Organization (CIO), which consists of five

women and seven men. They use their earnings for school expenses and food.

“We earn more as construction workers than as

contract farm workers. In that job we got approximately

Rp20,000 (about $2.2) a day. It is good to be able to get

off- season work.” One woman said that although she

was quite capable of working the machines e.g., the

cement mixer, the men did not allow her to. “I can use

the machines but they won’t let me try,” said one of the

women. Women mostly lifted and carried materials

from one spot to another. The segregation of jobs by

gender still persists in Indonesia, as they do elsewhere.

The USRI consists of two parts, the urban sanitation and rural infrastructure parts, and the

project is expected to complete in June 2015. Until the end of 2014, under the urban sanitation

part of the USRI, the project created more than 125,900 person-months of job opportunities to

construct sanitation facilities in 1,439 neighborhoods, of which about 25,180 person-months

were provided to women. On average, the workers earned about Rp60,000/day. However, the

average women’s pay (about Rp45,000) was lower than that of men’s. Women were employed

to work on very basic construction works such as carrying construction materials to

construction sites. More complicated work, with more pay, was allocated to men, as the CIO

management was of the view that women did not have the skills to do such work.

Under the rural infrastructure part, the project created about 90,000 person-months of

construction jobs, of which about 21,600 person-months (24%) were allocated to women. The

women earned wages of between Rp45,000 to Rp90,000 a day.

1 Imrana Jalal, Senior Social Development Specialist (Gender and Development), RSOD, ADB with inputs from Siti Hasanah,

Project Officer, Indonesian Resident Mission.

Photo 1. Women construction workers building urban sanitation facilities, Katerban

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Photo 3. Carrying construction materials to construction sites, village Tanjung Agung, Lampung

Photo 4. Women putting foundation rocks for rural roads, Tanjung Tirto Village, Jambi

Overall, until 31 December 2014, about 215,900 person-months of temporary job opportunities

were created, of which about 46,780 person-months construction jobs, or 22%, had gone to

women.

“I have been working for two days on this construction

site. We installed the rocks along this new road

location. We work in groups. The CIO head informed

us about this job opportunity, and we are very happy

to be able to work, as we can get additional income

for the family. I’m planning to use the money to buy

food and other daily needs, such as cooking oil, sugar,

etc., especially nowadays everything is expensive,”

said Ibu Sri of Sribusono village. “The working hours in

the construction site are longer than in the rice fields.

However, I’m happy as the pay is higher, and the work

is easy. The CIO men also taught us how to work

properly. I’m also happy that I can do something different, so that I can have different

experiences.”

Toilets and water improve time poverty and women’s sense of security

When children got sick with diarrhea, the time women spent

going back and forth to the fields and river also increased. The

project built sanitation and washing facilities in some 1,430

urban neighborhoods leading to valuable time savings. Women

residents said that having access to the new nearby community

toilets, and bathing and clothes washing facilities meant that

they and their children were saving over 1-2 hours a day from

not having to go back and forth to the river and fields.

Photo 2. Women constructing rural roads in village Sribusono, Central Lampung district, Lampung Province, 2013.

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The building of toilets close to homes also increased women’s

sense of security, and their dependency on men decreased, as

they no longer needed to be accompanied to the river or fields,

especially at night. Children were also able to go to the toilet by

themselves, and their parents worried less about their safety.

The provision of water supply and sanitation (coupled with

health and hygiene awareness training by the USRI Community

Facilitators (CFs) for the latter) helped reduce time spent on water collection by as much as

50%, and also lead to an 8% reduction in the incidence of water borne diseases. As women are

largely responsible for water collection and for caring of the sick, these facilities had a positive

impact on time savings and women’s domestic burden. Such time savings could potentially lead

to other productive activities.

Community empowerment with a special focus on women

The USRI project aimed to provide access to improved sanitation (and water supply) services

and rural infrastructure, with a community-driven development approach. Under ADB’s gender

categorization system it was a Gender Equity Theme (GEN) project with an accompanying

Gender Action Plan (GAP) aiming to involve women in all project activities.

The USRI was implemented in about 600 rural communities (the rural road component), and

1,439 poor urban neighborhoods (the urban water supply and sanitation component) in 34

cities. It also had a critical underpinning objective of community empowerment with a special

focus on women. The related advocacy and training programs aimed to institutionalize good

sanitation practices, the use of clean water, and proper hygiene and health practices through

the use of CIOs and Community Facilitators (CFs). The CF’s were to be the main mechanism

through which the USRI would involve the community, especially women. As of 31 December

2014, there were 818 female CFs, 31% of the total of 2,640 CFs, against a GAP target of 30%.

To enable community empowerment and engagement there were specific targets for women

to encourage female participation: at least 40% participants in consultation and socialization

forums and activities; and at least 40% of the elected members of each CIO. The participation of

women in all consultation activities to improve access to sanitation facilities (the planning and

decision making stages) ranged from 46% to 64%, which was well above the target of 40%.

Said Siti Hasanah, Project Officer, Indonesian Resident Mission, “Overall, the participation of

women in planning and decision making is encouraging. In most villages and urban

neighborhoods, women were actively involved in all stages of the project. About half of the

participants in planning and decision making meetings are women. Women’s membership at

CIOs was estimated at 43% (6,740 women of the total 15,673 CIO members) and 42% of

Kelompok Pengguna Dan Pemelihara (KPPs) (4,700 women of 11,200 KPP members) – exceeding

the target of 40%.”

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Gaining voice and confidence to shape opinion – making women’s voices count

One of the main challenges in involving women in decision making is making their voices count.

It is one matter to get women to attend meetings, it is quite another to get them to speak and

shape opinion.

The CFs played a significant role in improving the quality of women’s influence in decision

making. Their roles were clearly described in their terms of reference and included socialization

activities to build women’s confidence to speak at meetings. This clearly paid off.

Separate meetings for women were organized giving them the space and voice to shape how

funds from block grants were to be spent, and to choose the basic infrastructure that changed

their lives and that mattered to them. Women indicated that the training from the CFs and

others increased their confidence and ability to express their views without fear. The gender

audit required under the GAP revealed that about 10% of women participating in planning

claimed to not only be actively involved, but to also lead discussions in meetings. About 67%

said they actively provided inputs at meetings, whilst 23% attended the meetings and adopted

a more passive approach.

Women were also responsible for the overseeing of Operations and Maintenance (O&M)

arrangements. Of about 11,200 project village and urban neighborhoods, residents elected as

members of user groups, the community group responsible for the operation and maintenance

of community infrastructure or KPPs, approximately 4,700 women (42%). Women’s

involvement in KPPs improved the implementation of O&M, especially in financial tracking and

accountability.

Access to markets, schools and hospitals

The rural roads and transport facilities built under the project improved village residents’ lives

in 600 villages, by giving them access to nearby markets where they could sell their farm

produce. The improved transport facilities reduced transport costs by as much as 50%. The

Impact Report under the project revealed that visits to health clinics and hospitals had

increased and pre-natal checkups increased by 15%. The improved transport facilities led to an

increase in school attendance and a 9% decrease in dropout rates.

Seri Sutanti, a female resident from Batu Raden Village,

said that the new proper road from her village, built by

the project, had reduced her dependency on her

husband. “Before the road was built I needed my

husband’s help to take my rubber to the market. Now I

can do this by myself on a motorcycle.”

Photo 5. Women from Rejowinagun Utara, Magelang with their proposal for growing organic vegetables for sale.

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Time savings lead to the potential for organic farming

In Rejowinagun Utara, Magelang City, the women have developed the outline of a project they

are working on, to grow organic vegetables for sale and earn themselves an alternative

livelihood. They said that the organic farming project was possible as a consequence of the time

savings incurred, as a result of the project.

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The views expressed in this paper are the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Asian

Development Bank (ADB), or its Board of Governors, or the governments they represent. ADB does not guarantee the accuracy

of the data included in this paper and accepts no responsibility for any consequence of their use. The countries listed in this

paper do not imply any view on ADB's part as to sovereignty or independent status or necessarily conform to ADB's

terminology.