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Inquiry into the human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific region ACFID Response to Questions on Notice provided by the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade September 2014 Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission 1.

Are any ACFID member organisations doing innovative work with men and boys in the Pacific region?
In our submission to the inquiry, ACFID emphasised the importance of engaging men and boys to transforming gender inequalities.

ACFID’s submission recommended that in order to ensure the human rights of women and girls, a focus on women and girls should be complemented by “a focus on the gender relations, structures, institutions and norms that reproduce disparity and discrimination” (Recommendation 5).
Many of ACFID’s 136 member organisations work in the Pacific region, addressing human rights issues confronting women and girls.

Several of these members have made submissions to the inquiry which outline the innovative work they are undertaking to engage men and boys, particularly around the issue of gender based violence.
ACFID directs the Committee to the following examples contained in submissions made by our member organisations to the Inquiry, noting that this an illustrative, but not an exhaustive, sample.

International Women’s Development Agency (IWDA) Save the Children Childfund In their submission to the Inquiry, IWDA note that transforming gender inequality requires change at many levels.
IWDA’s work with partner organisations in diverse fields including intimate partner violence, water, sanitation and hygiene, and de-mining suggests that strategically linking gender-related work with women and men can strengthen gender equality outcomes.

Relationships between women and men matter for gender equality, and it is important to work with men and women together, as well as separately, in transforming the social norms and power structures that root gender inequality deep in all cultures.
This includes identifying productive spaces for change and ways of negotiating change as positive for both women and men.

In their submission to the inquiry, Save the Children emphasise that men and boys’ engagement should never come at the cost of interventions to support women and girls.
However, they list several examples of programs which demonstrate effective, low-cost, long term ways to engage men and boys in gender equality initiatives, whether through community level or private-sector interventions.

In 2013, a joint report by Childfund Australia and Childfund PNG found that one of the key components leading to the high incidence of family violence in Papua New Guinea was that there were too few programs working with men.
The report concluded that in order to change prevailing social norms in PNG, it is vital to engage men, as both the victims and perpetrators of violence.

Oaktree Oaktree’s New Life Skills Farm run by City Mission works with young boys who are at a high risk of joining gangs and leading violent lives.

A key aspect of this program is a gender-training module.

The boys learn how and why they should treat women and girls with respect and dignity.
Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission Oxfam Family Planning NSW World Vision Oxfam’s Ending Violence against Women Program in PNG program delivers community awareness sessions to men and boys in areas known to be violence ‘hot spots’.
The sessions are conducted by men for men and draw on a simple set of key messages focused on the criminal sanctions for violence against women and the new protection orders available to survivors.

In their submission to the Inquiry, Family Planning NSW details the work they are doing in the Pacific through their Men and Boys Behaviour Change programs.
These programs were in collaboration with national NGOs in both PNG and Timor Leste to develop and implement country programs utilising a peer education model in urban and remote communities with a strong focus on the impact on women and families of male decision making.

The aim of the project was to educate men and boys to work in partnership with women to improve health outcomes and relationships.
World Vision’s submission notes that in the Pacific context, faith-based responses are particularly well-placed to address pervasive masculinities and the devaluation of women perpetuated by cultural and faith leaders.

While faith leaders are amongst the most influential members in any given community, their interpretation and the resulting application of religious texts can be detrimental to gender relationships.
In some instances religious text has been used to validate cultural practices that perpetuate women’s marginalisation with families and communities.

World Vision’s Channels of Hope for Gender program methodology challenges faith leaders to acknowledge and act upon the gender injustices prevalent in the communities where World Vision works.
This model has been notably successful in exploring gender identities, norms and values from a faith perspective and mobilising faith leaders’ influence to challenge misconceptions and reduce violence against women.

Caritas Since 2006, Caritas Australia has supported a series of workshops for Catholic men in the Western Province of PNG, instituted and supported by the local Bishop.
The workshops are based on the findings of a report into the changing roles of men and masculinity in PNG, and focused primarily on gender relations, particularly violence against women and girls.

Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission 2.

Does the ACFID Code of Conduct specifically mention women and girls?

Is this a recent development, or has the Code of Conduct always addressed women and girls?
The ACFID Code of Conduct [Annex 1] is a voluntary, self-regulatory sector code of good practice that aims to improve international development outcomes and increase stakeholder trust by enhancing the transparency and accountability of signatory organisations.

Covering over 50 principles and 150 obligations, the Code sets good standards for program effectiveness, fundraising, governance and financial reporting.

Compliance includes annual reporting and checks.


The Code has an independent complaints handling process.

The ACFID Code of Conduct has been in operation since 1997.

The Code of Conduct was comprehensively reviewed in 2010, with the current Code effective since 1 January 2012.

In ACFID’s previous Code of Conduct the Preamble discussed the role of human rights and gender equity specifically, however, the overall focus was on Governance, Fundraising and Administration of organisations.
Organisations which are signatories to this Code aim to build creative and trusting relationships with people of developing countries and to meet program standards which … seek to enhance gender equity… (ACFID Code of Conduct, effective 5 October 2004) In 2012 the Code of Conduct was updated to include a set of Principle and Obligations around programing of organisations.
Gender is discussed explicitly in section B.1.4: Signatory organisations are committed to addressing the effect of gender inequalities and inequities as being fundamental to attainment of human rights for all and the effectiveness of their aid and development activity.

Obligation: 1.

Signatory organisations will ensure that an appropriate focus is given to understanding and addressing gender issues in their aid and development program design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation cycles.

2.
2.

Signatory organisations will also work to assist partners to become aware and supportive of signatory organisation’s commitment to deal with gender issues in their aid and development activity.
(ACFID Code of Conduct, effective 1 January 2012) Adherence to human rights principles is discussed in detail at point B.3.1 of the Code of Conduct, with the human rights of vulnerable and marginalised people, including women and children, mentioned explicitly at B.3.2: B.3.1 Human rights in aid and development Signatory organisations’ aid and development activity will be informed by and implemented with an understanding of the human rights dimensions of the activity.

Obligation: 1.
Obligation: 1.

Signatory organisations will ensure that they provide a commitment to internationally recognised human rights principles within their organisation.

2.

Signatory organisations will ensure that their aid and development activities are consistent with respecting and protecting internationally recognised human rights including civil and political, economic, social and cultural rights.
Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission B.3.2 Rights of vulnerable and marginalised people Signatory organisations are committed to including and addressing the needs and rights of vulnerable and marginalised people and their representatives in all aspects of their aid and development activity.
These groups may include women, children, people with a disability, Indigenous Peoples, minorities, refugees and displaced people, and those most at risk of HIV and HIV positive people.

Obligation: 1.

Signatory organisations will ensure that they respect and protect the human rights of people from vulnerable and marginalised groups and an appropriate focus is given to promoting these in their aid and development activities.
(ACFID Code of Conduct, effective 1 January 2012) Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission 3.

Can you provide the Committee with more detail as to why access to sexual and reproductive health rights for women and girls is a cost- effective intervention?
There is an extensive body of evidence demonstrating that providing access to sexual and reproductive health rights for women in the developing world is one of the most cost effective health interventions, and has a significant impact on poverty over the long term.

Each dollar invested in family planning can save up to four dollars in health expenditure - costs that would otherwise be used for pregnancy services, delivery care and treating complications from unsafe abortion.
At the global level, investments to meet the contraceptive needs of all women and men globally would save roughly AU$12 billion in maternal and newborn health services alone.

In this context, family planning is widely regarded as a key driver of equitable economic development and poverty reduction.
ACFID Submission to the Inquiry, pg 11 In their 2012 report, “Adding it Up: Costs and benefits of contraceptive use”, the Guttmacher Institute concluded that the cost of providing complete access to modern contraception for women in the developing world would be approximately AU$9.15 billion, but that this would generate a saving of roughly AU$12 billion in costs associated with maternal and newborn health services alone.1 The World Health Organisation puts the return at four dollars for every one dollar spent on family planning when the costs associated with treating complications arising from unplanned pregnancy are also considered.2 Extending current services to meet the unmet need for contraception would result in a drop in the number of unintended pregnancies by two thirds.
This investment would prevent an estimated 79,000 maternal deaths, 1.1 million infant deaths, and would lead to an estimated 26 million fewer abortions (including 16 million fewer unsafe abortions).3 A long term study of the delivery of family planning, maternal & child health services to communities in Bangladesh backs up these findings, and highlights the wider development benefits of investment in sexual and reproductive health services.
The study found that women who had access to comprehensive services had fewer children, better health, and were wealthier than their neighbours.4 After 20 years, those participating in the study had household assets significantly higher than the control group, and their children (both boys and girls) were more likely to have completed a higher level of education.
Spacing of births and increased access to immunisations resulted in a 20% drop in child mortality, and access to family planning resulted in a reduction of the number of maternal deaths.
1 Susheela Singh and Jacqueline E. Darroch (2012) ‘Adding it Up: Costs and benefits of contraceptive use’ Pg 15-16 2 World Health Organisation Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health, ‘Global Strategy for Women's and Children's health’ 2010 http://www.who.int/pmnch/activities/advocacy/fulldocument_globalstrategy/en/index2.html 3 Susheela Singh and Jacqueline E. Darroch (2012) ‘Adding it Up: Costs and benefits of contraceptive use’ Pg 1 4 James Gribble and Maj-Lis Voss (2009), ‘Family Planning and Economic Well-Being: New Evidence From Bangladesh,’ Population Reference Bureau Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission For further recommendations on the benefits of investment in access to sexual and reproductive health services, we direct the Committee to the submission by members of the International Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Consortium.
Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission 4.

Can you provide the Committee with more specific recommendations that give prescriptive, realistic advice that could be contained in a report and that will achieve outcomes?

We submit the following recommendations.


That the Australian Government should: Recommendation 1: Ensure that Australian Aid programs that seek to equip women to play leadership roles through participation in business, community, political and social institutions report on outcomes by utilising longitudinal tracking mechanisms to capture the extent to which the projects and programs are contributing to positive changes in the short, medium and long term.
Recommendation 2: Enhance support for civil society and non-government organisations by ensuring that the refreshed Civil Society Engagement Framework recognises the central role of civil society in working with governments to address common challenges by providing a structure in which development policy and programs can: a.

Account for the of voices of the poorest and most marginalised; b.
Facilitate the enabling environment for CSOs in developing countries, and; c. Foster leadership of Australian CSOs in International Development and Innovation.5 Recommendation 3: Ensure that country and regional aid investment plans are underpinned by the collection of gender-sensitive data about poverty, and use the new Individual Deprivation Measure (IDM), which assesses the poverty of individuals rather than households, and enables accurate, sex-disaggregated data that captures the nature and depth of deprivation.
The collection of this data should drive the creation of effective, targeted, development and growth interventions that address the different barriers and needs of men and women and focus programs on the poorest of the poor.6 Recommendation 4: Invest in research in gender equality to improve development effectiveness, by: a.

Committing to re-establish a dedicated aid and development research section within DFAT; and b.
Continuing to fund development research through open access competitive tenders, such as the Australian Development Research Awards Scheme (ADRAS).

Recommendation 5: Acknowledge that gender inequalities are based on attitudes, norms, structures and institutions that reinforce and reproduce gender inequality and, to 5 These objectives, along with a rationale and the international agreements that underpin them, have formed the basis for the Draft Canadian Civil Society Policy.
This draft policy can be viewed in full at: http://www.international.gc.ca/development-developpement/cs-policy-politique-sc.aspx?lang=eng last accessed 10/10/14.

6 There are currently plans to undertake the IDM in Fiji and it could be further piloted in the Pacific where available sex-disaggregated data is generally very limited.
Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission address this, draw on the strengths of an integrated Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in order to: a.

Take a coherent policy approach across diplomatic, trade, growth and poverty reduction areas focused on the systems, structures and institutions that contribute to the persistence of gender inequality; and b.
Fund programs that address both behavioural change and attitude change and measure and track progress against both areas in the short, medium and long term.
Recommendation 6: Ensure that Australian Aid supports quality education by investing in and tracking recognised and measureable learning outcomes including literacy, numeracy and essential life skills.7 Recommendation 7: Measure and track the percentage of Australia aid for education that targets marginalised populations including indigenous and ethnic communities and people with a disability.
Recommendation 8: Measure and track the outcomes, and percentages, of Australian Aid that support women and girls at each point in the education lifecycle: early childhood development and education; primary education; transition to secondary education; secondary; transition to tertiary; tertiary; vocational and technical training, and; adult literacy.
Recommendation 9: Recognise the importance of reproductive rights to women’s empowerment by providing access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and services (including voluntary family planning and access to safe abortion) for women, men and adolescents as a component of support for women’s empowerment.
Recommendation 10: Invest in the recruitment; training, and; continual up-skilling of female community health workers to provide services related to safe motherhood, family planning and essential care for newborns and under-5s focusing particularly on increasing the numbers of female health workers in rural and disaster prone areas.
Recommendation 11: Allocate a minimum of 5% of Australia’s overall aid program to water, sanitation and hygiene with a particular focus on sanitation and hygiene, especially in schools and health systems.

Recommendation 12: Equip women to participate in the formal economy by addressing the barriers that prevent women from participating and succeeding in small-medium enterprise, including by: a.

Providing women with access to finance; b.
Increasing support for women to engage in formal networking opportunities (eg: business associations); 7 This is in line with the internationally agreed Education For All Goals (see: http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/leading-the-international-agenda/education-for-all/efa-goals/ last accessed 13/10/2014) and seeks to address the current problems in education wherein reports show that 250 million children are not learning basic skills despite time spent at school and 61% of illiterate youth are girls (see Education For All Global Monitoring Report 2013/4 http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0022/002256/225654e.pdf last accessed 10/10/2014) Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission c. Providing training for women the in hiring and management of employees; and d. Providing training for women in the use of business related technologies.8 Recommendation 13: Work to bring an end to family and sexual violence, through long- term multi-sectoral approaches that: a.
Strengthen women’s access to justice; b.

Ensure provision of accessible support services; and c. Engage all sections of the community in behaviour and attitude change.

Recommendation 14: Continue to invest in research capabilities to understand family and sexual violence and identify effective interventions.

(For more detail on research and data collection, see Recommendations 3 & 4.)

Recommendation 15: Operationalise the Protection in Humanitarian Action Framework.
Recommendation 16: Equip all relevant deployable Australian personnel with the skills needed to operationalise UNSCR 1820, UNSCR 1888, UNSCR 1960 and UNSCR 2106.

Recommendation 17: Ensure the provision of crises services for women involved in sexual violence in conflict through the Minimum Initial Service Package (MSIP).

Recommendation 18: Include the voice and experience of women in all areas of peace and security.
Recommendation 19: Ensure that the prevention and participation pillars are operationalised in the implementation of Australia’s National Action Plan (NAP) on Women, Peace and Security.
Recommendation 20: Prioritise support for policies and programs that close gender gaps in economic opportunity and pay, with a focus on strategies that increase women’s time for paid jobs and men’s time for caring.9 Recommendation 21: Invest in and track the outcomes of initiatives that target those women and girls who are hardest to reach, through remoteness, ethnicity or disability.
8 APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy, 2013 “Access to Trade and Growth of Women’s SMEs in APEC Developing Economies”, http://publications.apec.org/publication-detail.php?pub_id=1388 last accessed 10/10/2014 9 This is a key strategy recommended by the World Bank for addressing gender gaps between women and men during their productive years.
World Bank (2013) Gender at Work: A Companion to the World Development Report on Jobs, pg 60-61 available at http://www.worldbank.org/content/dam/Worldbank/Event/Gender/GenderAtWork_web2.pdf last accessed 10/10/2014 Human rights issues confronting women and girls in the Indian Ocean – Asia Pacific regionSubmission 25 - Supplementary Submission