The environmental and social assessment-particularly the more formalized environmental and social impact assessment (ESIA)-is a key mechanism to undertake a more in-depth analysis and assessment of the potentially positive and negative impacts of the PPP project's preliminary design on men and women living in affected communities throughout the different project stages.
A robust gender-impact assessment in an ESIA includes, inter alia, the following steps:
• Identification of risks for the local population as users of the infrastructure services, workers and residents (for example, loss of livelihood caused by resettlement; incidents of sexual harassment and GBV during construction; or loss of jobs), and how women and men would be differently impacted by these threats;
• Assessment of different mitigation and compensation measures that take differences between men and women into account;
• Identification of potential benefits of the project for the local community, disaggregated by sex (for example, through employment, skills development, local supplier development, community initiatives or benefit sharing), and ways to enhance benefits for women;
• Assessment of possibilities for women (and women's representatives) to get involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of gender-sensitive activities; and
• Assessment of the design of a gender-sensitive grievance and redress mechanism.
Although a full ESIA may not always be justified, a gender analysis to identify key social issues is vital and often required by governments, investors or advisors involved in PPPs, as part of their environmental and social due diligence.
Box 15: Environmental and Social Impact Assessment for Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Revealed Lack of Facilities for Women During the ESIA study undertaken in relation to the World Bank-supported Bangladesh Regional Waterway Transport Project 1 (P154511), in-depth consultation meetings with female and male stakeholders were conducted, including a socio-economic survey to establish the baseline data. The survey revealed that the river-transport systems did not have any specific facilities dedicated to women (for example, separate ticket counters, waiting rooms, or rest rooms for women at the project sites). This made it difficult for women to use the infrastructure services and to benefit from increased employment and entrepreneurship opportunities. The project has studied in more depth specific design features to maximize women's needs, comfort and safety in using inland water transport for river terminals and landings during the design and ESIA stage. As a result, the physical design of the facilities shall address safety-related issues for women as users and small traders in the design and incorporate, for example, separate toilet facilities for women and women-only waiting rooms. Source: Project Appraisal Document, dated May 20, 2016. |