| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
|
|
First Phase: Planning and Policy Making (2001-2010):
- Given the specialization of SCW regarding the provision of consultations on legislations and laws ensuring non-discrimination against women, SCW undertook a series of studies with this regard.
- SCW also launched several initiatives and awards to encourage the institutions to take care of women employees according to certain standards.
- Similarly, SCW worked towards the integration of the culture of mainstreaming women’s needs and equal opportunities through a series of awareness programs.
- The National Conference on Mainstreaming Gender in Development under the theme “Fair Partnership between Men and Women in National Development… How?” in 2008
- Second National Conference on Mainstreaming Women’s Needs in Development… the Role of National Efforts”, of which the National Model on Mainstreaming the Needs of Women was issued (2010).
Second Phase: The First National Model (2011-2013):
- A Royal decree was issued on establishing a National Commission to follow up on the implementation of the national model including all the relevant involved entities. The committee developed a comprehensive plan to implement the aspects of the model.
- A coordination committee was formed including members of the legislative authority (Nuwab and Shura Councils) specialized in supporting the outcomes of the national commission, through employing the legislative instruments and tools.
- Establishment of a directorate on mainstreaming the needs of women specialized in:
- Integration of the concept of equal opportunities in national strategies and policies.
- Transforming public budgets to become responsive to women’s needs in development.
- Follow up on the governmental and private sector entities with regards to the establishment of equal opportunity units,
- Evaluation of achievements with regards to objectives of mainstreaming women’s needs in development.
- Submission of proposals and plans to ensure sustainability of mainstreaming women’s needs in development.
- Working towards establishment of more equal opportunity committees, with the appropriate work plans.
- Work in line with the Ministry of Finance to transform the public budget to become responsive to women’s needs.
Third Phase: The Second National Model (2014-2016)
- The need to develop the National Plan emerged along with the transformation in national realities and the necessity of undertaking evaluation of the previous model. Therefore, the Third National Model was conducted in October 2013 under the theme “Mainstreaming Women’s Needs in Development… Review and Evaluation”. The new National Model will be implemented through the course of 3 years and consists of 4 main themes:
- Policies: it is the expected role of the relevant entities in charge of the implementation of the national plan (legislative authority-executive authority-civil society- private sector) in developing policies and legislations to ensure equal opportunities.
- Budgets: it is the expected role of entities on adopting budgets that are responsive to women’s needs.
- Knowledge Management: It is the knowledge exchange while ensuring the implementation of equal opportunity applications.
- Measuring the Impact: this reflects the transformation of the national model because it ensures sustainability through the constant follow up and evaluation processes.
- SCW’s role relies on following up on the implementation of the national model through setting policies and evaluating the impact of the national plan.
- The national model also puts emphasis on the role of regional and international organizations. The partnerships with these organizations are set to be invested to transform SCW into a house of expertise in the field.
|
|
| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
|
|
- SCW relied on the method of comprehensive method to set the national plan. The model came to reflect the partnership with all the sectors, in line with the national efforts to meet the obligations of Bahrain towards MDGs, along with the international conventions ratified by the Kingdom.
- The roles in the model were defined according to the responsibilities and specialization of each entity. Therefore policies theme was given to the legislative authority which owns the legislative tools. 3 main partners were also defined in the theme designated to executive authority; Civil Service Bureau, Ministry of Social Development (Civil Society) and Ministry of Finance (Responsive Budgets). Regarding knowledge management, the following partners were defined: University of Bahrain-Bahrain Institute for Public Administration-Bahrain Institute for Banking and Finance- Supreme Council for Vocational Training. SCW on the other hand, monitors the implementation of this model and sets mechanisms of evaluation and measuring the impact.
- Also, SCW works in line with equal opportunity committees, to follow up on the implementation of the model.
- Given that the civil society plays a major role in implementing the national model, SCW cooperates with the Bahraini Women Union and the Societies enrolled in the Cooperation Committee between SCW and Women’s Societies and Committees, to ensure the implementation of the national model.
|
| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
|
|
- The structure of SCW was developed to become more specialized in women’s issues. A new directorate was established and is concerned with the mainstreaming of women’s needs.
- The structure of the directorate was set in line with the national model and the equal opportunity units. The directorate consists of 3 departments: training and awareness, planning and development and awards and initiatives.
- SCW works in line with the Ministry of Finance on setting budgets for equal opportunities, in cooperation with the Civil Service Bureau and the Ministry of Finance to integrate the required data in the Oracle program for these entities, which is used to monitor the data of workforce and expenses.
- SCW collaborated with UNDP in implementing the knowledge management and awareness objectives. A number of training programs were conducted by several Arab specialists in the field.
- SCW worked towards the integration of the national model for mainstreaming women’s needs in the national development plan.
|
|
| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
|
|
- Increase in the amount of awareness by the pioneering entities that initiated the equal opportunity units. The impact of the units on the employees represented more than 50%.
- National capacity building in planning, conducting and evaluation of mainstreaming women’s needs. A number of training programs were conducted to train members of the Bahraini Women Union and Cooperation Committee members, which resulted in the presence of national expertise in the field.
- Integration of equal opportunity section in the public budget tables.
|
|
| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
|
|
- The development of the National Plan which represents a comprehensive system that defines roles and responsibilities all the relevant parties, along with common points and areas of cooperation between them.
- SCW works in line with equal opportunity units to set operational plans for each unit.
- Each entity is obliged to provide periodic progress reports, through which evaluation process is undertaken. An average of 67% of achievements was accomplished by most entities.
- During the Third National Conference 2013, national efforts were evaluated in the field of mainstreaming women’s needs and equal opportunities using a comprehensive system of evaluation.
- The evaluation process relied upon the awareness achieved and the areas of potential improvement, along with other means such as surveys, awareness indicators and focus groups.
- International experts were involved to evaluate the experience in an independent manner.
- A mechanism to measure the progress was defined to undertake periodic meetings for equal opportunity committees and the national commission.
- The constant evaluation of the equal opportunity units in 4 areas (employment, participation in training and education programs, participation in awareness and knowledge programs, reflection of equal opportunities in governmental strategies).
- Achievement progress system was defined including a database to measure the indicators of equal opportunities
- Launching of a national award “The Award of Her Royal Highness Princess Sabeeka Bint Ibrahim Al-Khalifa for the Empowerment of Bahraini Women” which aims at encouraging governmental and private sector entities to adopt practices that support equal opportunities between the employees and mainstreaming the needs of women.
|
|
| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
|
|
- One of the most prominent challenges facing the initiative at the early stages was the lack of figures representing women’s shares. This was achieved later in cooperation between SCW and the Ministry of Finance.
- The varying awareness of the importance of equal opportunities and the importance of mainstreaming the needs of women. This was addressed through awareness programs of the National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini Women and the National Development Plan, along with a number of training programs conducted for the members of equal opportunity units.
- The varying levels of response of the governmental entities to establish equal opportunity units at the early stages of the project, despite the support provided to SCW to raise the awareness with regards to the national model to mainstream the needs of women. To address this, the Civil Service Bureau issued resolution N. 4 obligating all governmental entities to establish equal opportunity committees.
|