In addition to including gender criteria in each project, it is important that governments promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the legal and institutional framework that governs infrastructure investment. Most countries with successful PPP programs have solid PPP frameworks in place that provide opportunities for targeted capacity building and can facilitate systematic integration of social considerations in PPP programs and projects.
a. Gender Focus in PPP Laws
Many countries have adopted specific PPP policies or legislation to support PPP implementation (often referred to as PPP laws, concession laws, or build-operate-transfer [BOT] laws) or have set out details regarding PPPs in other legal instruments, such as procurement, sector-specific or public-finance laws.
One way to ensure that government entities implementing PPP projects consistently consider gender during the project cycle is to integrate minimum standards into respective PPP policies and legislation,69 as described above with respect to single projects (for example, regarding stakeholder communication and engagement, project selection, appraisal, tendering, drafting of the contract, and implementation). This would also ensure a consistent approach for all PPPs in a country, regardless of whether international lenders, or advisors adhering to social standards, are involved in the financing or not.
So far, few countries have developed PPP policies or legislation incorporating gender standards systematically across the project cycle.70 However, with an increasing global focus on delivering sustainable infrastructure, this could change in the near future. At a minimum, the political commitment to PPPs in a given country, as expressed in these instruments, should be aligned with the respective gender policies and political commitments regarding gender equality and women's empowerment.
Box 21: Example of PPP Institutional Guidance that Incorporates Gender " "Annex 4: Guidelines for Gender Mainstreaming in PPP Projects" in the draft National Government Public-Private Partnership Manual of the Philippines (as of August 4, 2014), recommends gender interventions across the project cycle. The guidelines lay out the process for integrating gender considerations in the identification, structuring and evaluation of PPP transactions. These guidelines are consistent with national guidelines and strategies, as well as gender-integration strategies and guidelines of other international-lending institutions, such as the ADB and the World Bank." |
b. Enabling Environment
A reliable, well-functioning, and transparent legal and regulatory framework is helpful for facilitating successful PPPs. The PPP legal and regulatory framework includes PPP-specific laws, regulations, sector-specific laws, and all other legislation affecting PPP contracts, decision processes, and implementation procedures. A PPP legal and regulatory framework assessment can determine if an existing framework is adequate for preparing and implementing the envisaged types of projects.
Consequently, a gender-sensitive PPP regulatory and legal framework assessment can determine if existing laws and regulations:
• Promote gender equality and women's empowerment;
• Discriminate against women directly, or contain indirect biases that may hinder the project from achieving the intended results; and
• Require additional features to ensure that PPP projects achieve better results in narrowing gender gaps.
Below are some key questions that a gender-responsive legal and regulatory PPP framework assessment could consider:
• Does the enabling PPP and procurement legislation address gender differences?
• Do general or sector-specific policies and/or legislation exist that support gender equality and women's empowerment?
• Do policies and legislation related to employment take women's and men's concerns into account (for example, mandated labor standards, equal pay for equal work, safety provisions, anti-sexual-harassment policies, mandated child-care provisions,71 and the prioritized hiring or promotion of women)?
• Do policies and legislation related to local content exist, and do these instruments contain provisions that focus on women (for example, prioritization of women-owned businesses)?
• Do policies and legislation related to land ownership, resettlement, displacement and compensation take women's and men's different needs, concerns and priorities into account?
• Do exclusivity clauses exist that do not allow the provision of infrastructure services by cheaper alternative service providers? Does this disadvantage specific groups of men or women?72
• Do regulatory licensing and tariff-setting schemes in sector-specific legislation (for example, related to tariff setting) disadvantage specific groups of men or women?
• Do policies and legislation allow the delivery of infrastructure services to informal settlements? If not, does this affect women disproportionately?
• Do other relevant policies or legislation discriminate against women or contain indirect gender biases that may prevent women from benefiting equally from the PPP program, or have unintended side effects on women?
Box 22: Examples of Gender Biases in Legislation Legislation that could hinder/disadvantage women to benefit equally from PPP projects are laws or regulations that: • Allocate rights or entitlements only to heads of households, landowners, full-time registered workers, members of particular user groups or decision-making bodies, who are more likely to be men; • Condition rights or entitlements on a certain educational level, or on basic literacy or numeracy; • Require an identity card or other documentation to access services that are more difficult to obtain for women; • Require collateral to obtain credit; • Establish connection charges, registration fees, user fees, or other financial requirements to access services; • Do not allow women to open a bank account, sign a contract or register a business in the same way as men; • Do not allow women to legally get a job or pursue a trade or profession in the same way as men; • Do not allow women to work in the same industries, in the same jobs, perform the same tasks, or work at the same hours as men. Sources: Guidelines and Checklists for Gender Public-Private Partnerships in Lao PDR, ADB, 2014; PPP in Infrastructure Resource Center (PPPIRC); Women, Business and the Law, 2018. |
c. Institutional Framework
Although the legal and regulatory framework enables PPPs, the institutions and processes that facilitate the implementation of PPP policies and legislation are equally important. Many governments have created dedicated governmental bodies-often referred to as PPP units-under competent ministry or public agencies and with specific knowledge of PPPs, to facilitate and manage private-sector investment in infrastructure. In projects related to infrastructure, regulatory authorities and local institutions are also typically involved in areas such as licensing, setting of tariffs, and quality standards.
If these entities are to integrate gender considerations systematically in the project cycle-for example, identifying gender issues and potential opportunities for women; developing communication and community-engagement strategies that engage men and women; or monitoring compliance of PPP projects that seek to close gender gaps-they may need to adjust internal structures and processes and enhance their institutional capacities, particularly their skills and resources.
To achieve this, the following measures can be considered:
• Hiring of gender equality specialists by PPP units, or integrating gender equality specialists in the contracting authority's dedicated project teams that develop, implement and monitor each project to ensure that gender issues are considered at all stages of the PPP project cycle;
• Providing specific gender equality training, including awareness raising on sexual harassment and GBV to the respective staff members of the PPP unit, the relevant members of line ministries preparing proposals and managing contracts, regulatory authorities, or relevant bodies at the local level;73
• Offering capacity-building measures, such as training, awareness raising or advisory services for parts of the private sector (including women-owned local companies) that need to understand any new policy changes, bidding or delivery requirements;
• Ensuring that PPP communication and stakeholder engagement strategies are gender-sensitive and tailored to the specific needs of men and women; and
• Ensuring that women are represented in institutions involved in the PPP process, by increasing the number of women employed at different skill levels in the national PPP unit and other authorities or bodies at the national or sub-national level relevant for the preparation, design, implementation and evaluation of PPP projects.
Box 23: Example of Integrating Gender Equality in a PPP Framework - Nam Theun 2 Hydropower Project Includes Male and Female Project Staff The institutional component of the gender-resettlement strategy for the Nam Theun 2 Hydro-power Project ensured that male and female resettlers were assisted and trained by male and female project staff, and that opportunities for women to take up positions of authority and decision-making were increased. This included the following measures: • Setting a target number of women as members of the Resettlement Committee' • Setting a target number of women as staff of the Resettlement Management Unit, especially for mid-level technical positions and all sub-offices; • Setting a target number of women as staff for the Resettlement Office; • Adding (at least one, and preferably two) women as cabinet members in each District Re-settlement Working Group; and • Setting targets for monitoring gender equity within institutions. Source: Appendix A.1: Concession Agreement-Schedule 4: Part 1 |
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Box 24: Checklist: Key Questions for Gender Inclusion Related to the PPP Institutional and Legal Framework PPP Policies and Legislation □ Do PPP policies and legislation include gender assessments (for example, requirements for gender analysis) systematically across the project cycle? □ Do PPP policies and legislation include some minimum gender standards (for example, commitment to gender equality and women's empowerment, and guidelines for gender-sensitive ESIA)? If not, can (minimum) standards regarding gender be included in PPP policies and legislation? □ Are PPP policies and legislation aligned with gender policies? Enabling Environment □ Do policies or legislation supporting gender equality and women's empowerment exist? Do they influence the planning, design and implementation of PPP projects? □ Do gaps in legislation exist that may hinder women to benefit equally from PPP projects or programs? Are there missing features that would need to be incorporated into the framework to ensure that PPP projects achieve better results for men and women? □ Does existing project-relevant legislation discriminate against women directly, or contain indirect gender biases that may restrict women in accessing services or otherwise benefiting from PPP projects? Is there a plan to address these barriers? Institutional Framework □ Do the PPP units or other institutions involved in the PPP process have the skill set, capacity and resources to manage the preparation, design and implementation of gender-sensitive PPP projects? □ Are gender specialists integrated in the project team that develops, implements and monitors projects? □ Is gender training provided to all relevant staff members of the PPP unit, and in the line ministries and all other relevant public authorities and private-sector participants? □ Does the PPP communication and stakeholder-engagement strategy take differences between men and women into account? □ Are an equal number of women and men employed by PPP units and other institutions involved in the PPP process at different skill levels? Are there measures in place to increase the number of women in these institutions? □ Raise priority issues for women. |
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69 Including implementing instruments, such as regulations or guidelines, that can be adjusted easily to changing circumstances and would typically be used to set out details on how gender considerations can be integrated in the PPP project cycle.
70 Examples are available on the website of the PPP in Infrastructure Resource Center (PPPIRC): https://ppp.worldbank.org/public-private-partnership/ppp-sector/gender-impacts-ppps/gender-responsive-ppp-legal-framework/gender-responsive-ppp-legal-fra/.
71 For examples, see Women, Business and the Law, 2018.
72 Further analysis is needed to determine whether exclusivity leads to adverse effects. Even if alternative service providers are cheaper, they may pose safety or health risks and may lock people into alternative services with no incentive for the operator to reach out to new users.
73 Ideally, one member of the PPP unit and one PPP team member closely involved in project preparation would be responsible for gender issues.