Creating organizational change: a case study

1. Creating organizational change: a case study

2. Sarhad Rural Support Program (SRSP) • An integrated rural development programme with the goal of poverty alleviation • Operates in 10 districts of the North West Frontier Province of Pakistan • 200 staff divided between head office and district units Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

3. SRSP • Main strategy: mobilizing the rural poor, and supporting them to undertake development activities of their own • Programme components: • micro-finance, supporting small enterprises • capacity building (particularly in natural resource management) • human resource and physical infrastructure development Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

4. SRSP • Context for gender equality: • Strict sex segregation and rigid gender roles • Women observe ‘purdah’ limiting their mobility and public presence • Women have very limited involvement in decision-making in public or private Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

5. SRSP • initially had a WID programme: • parallel structure with its own staff and programme • promoted organization building, income generation and workload reduction for women • In 1996 moved to a more integrated approach to gender and joined initiative on gender and organizational change Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

6. Change strategies Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

7. Broad-basing responsibility for gender-equitable development • Structural change: GAD infrastructure • Head office: a gender unit supported by a ‘Gender core group’ (involving the GU, district GMOs and heads of Human Resources and PME) • Districts: Gender Mainstreaming Officers supported by Regional Gender Groups • Roles to facilitate gender mainstreaming, train people, and monitor integration of gender concerns Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

8. Broad basing strategies • Focusing on political and cultural systems • Explaining the shift from WID to GAD • Sector specific gender awareness training also gave space for staff to discuss concerns / opposition • Internal networking among GMO and GU for support • Built strategic alliances with key managers Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

9. Making the workplace habitable for women & men • Getting more women into the field • Equal opportunity strategy • Also affirmative action: Some technical and sector-specific posts open only to women; in open postings qualifications relaxed for women and provided on-the-job training • Began women’s internship program • Providing travel facilities and hostel services for women in the regions (and maintained these despite other budget cuts) Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

10. Making the workplace habitable for women & men • Recognising women’s reproductive role • Maternity and paternity leave provisions (with limits) • Placing married women near their home station • Separate transport for women field staff to facilitate community work and enable them to return home at reasonable hours • Providing affordable child care facilities for women and men staff with pre-school children • Reducing the intensity of community visits for pregnant women staff Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl

11. Making the workplace habitable for women & men • Getting women into leadership/ management • Invited women from the general public, with related expertise, to sit on the board (rather than drawing only from membership) • Result: from an all male board to one where 5 of 19 members were women • Despite an increase of women at the professional level, only one woman moved into management Amsterdam, The Netherlands www.kit.nl