| 4. In which ways is the initiative creative and innovative?
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The phases of implementation of the plan are distributed over two years in Phase I, one of which is transitory, and the other for giving priority to implementation. This is followed by two phases, each lasting four years: for harmonization and implementation in parallel with the Government’s action plan and the State’s budget to ensure smooth implementation at ministries and public institutions, and to ensure obtaining the required support for cooperation and partnership in implementation, without the need for allocating additional budgets.
Preparation for the national plan, including six main phases, starting with the evaluation of the plan, including review. Results and preparation for new basis and concepts to be relied upon in the national plan development phase, and subsequently managing and implementing them. Based on SCW’s experience in the preparation National Strategy for the Advancement of Bahraini Women and its implementation plan, and guided by the outcomes and recommendations of the assessment phase, SCW started investing its knowledge assets in laying the foundations for creating a comprehensive implementation plan, culminating in the launch of the National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini Women “NPABW” (2013-2022).
Phased implementation which ensures comprehensiveness, depth, ease and impactiveness of implementation, through consecutive planning levels as follows:
Level 1: The NPABW (2013-2022) (Macro)
The national plan describes the course of action of the leadership of the “Supreme Council for Women”, its allies, and entities concerned with the affairs of women and the Bahraini society over the coming then years, to achieve the intended impact, in cooperation with “allies” and the “General Secretariat” in society, and particularly in the field of advancement of Bahraini women. The national plan forms basis of the uniform framework to be relied upon in taking harmonized decisions at the national, regional and international levels. This includes the long term goals and objectives, outcomes and development plans, and sets the values, concepts, method of performance evaluation of impacts, outcomes and plans in the (TPI) with entities concerned. This is in addition to monitoring and evaluation of the degree of change in the society’s culture (KPC’s).
Level 2: General Secretariat’s operational Plan for implementing the national strategy (Operational)
This plan details requirements for achieving interim objectives, and the management of resources and operations in a manner commensurate with intended services and output based on the nature of the SCW’s strategic plan. It relies on determining the readiness of the SCW and the action mechanisms for managing the strategic plan, as well as monitoring, evaluation, assessment and review of key performance indicators (KPI’s). It is fundamentally based on a total Projects Management Programme.
- During the interim phase (2013), the General Secretariat defined the executive bodies to be given priority, selected programmes/projects which are appropriate for the plan, worked on harmonizing them to achieve the outcomes and implement the plans which were selected from the national plan for implementation in 2014, which was the pilot year for the implementation of the national plan in preparation for the next fiscal cycle (2015-2018), and the staging of a number of field visits and meetings with key partners in the performance of the National Plan for the Advancement of Bahraini Women (2014), in order to study the actual status and explore strengths and opportunities for improvement in existing programmes/projects in society’s sectorial institutions.
- Simultaneously with the implementation of the strategic plan (2014), infrastructure plans and programmes were implemented using an integrated methodology to continuously measure outcomes and assess the impact of the implementation of the national plan, using relevant state of the art techniques.
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| 5. Who implemented the initiative and what is the size of the population affected by this initiative?
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- Given the comprehensive scope of the national plan and its overlapping with the plans of ministries and government institutions, SCW adopted a mechanism of sharing responsibility with relevant parties in order to ensure good performance.
- The national plan was developed within a (TPI) framework, where the SCW deployed its knowledge assets to lay down the foundations of the plan using mechanism which enhance responsiveness.
- Representatives of partners and government, legislative, judicial, private sector, and civil society organizations participated in the development of the national plan.
- In March 2013, SCW commenced its survey of the State’s programmes and projects, including many processes, such as determining executive bodies of priority, selection of appropriate programmes/projects for the plan, endeavoring to ensure compatibility for achieving outcomes and implementing plans. Key metrics used in the selection of priority entities in the legislative and judicial authorities, as well as the private and public sectors and the civil society during the pilot phase of the implementation of the plan to ensure social participation.
- With the framework of integration with the efforts expended by government institutions in various development fields, SCW endeavored to strengthen social participation in the implementation of the national plan, and commenced implementation of existing programmes and projects included in the plans of those ministries and government institutions, working on development them along the lines of the “NPABW”.
- SCW, worked in the first phase of implementation in parallel since the implementation of the infrastructure based outcomes and plans. Its Human Resources are expected to implement during phase I (37) programmes, or 55% of total programmes, which the human resources of partners in cooperation with the SCW are expected to perform (30) programmes, or 45% of total programme distributed over all domains.
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| 6. How was the strategy implemented and what resources were mobilized?
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- The SCW used its knowledge assets in all phases of assessment and follow up of implementation of the national plan. At the internal level in the General Secretariat, a strategy was developed such that each employee devotes at least 70% of his/her daily work hours to the implementation of the national plan, with the remaining 30% devoted to the performance of other roles and administrative functions which are not directly related to the national plan, such as one application of the knowledge management of the SCW’s General Secretariat. A department was created and charged with the implementation of the national plan, including the Plan manager, a specialized expert, and a general coordinator. The department consists of five basic work groups which include 40% of total General Secretariat staff, including 5% of the staff related to each impact, 6% team leaders, and 29% team members. This in addition to a dedicated team charged with the survey and measurement of results/achievements, consisting of 7 members from the five basic work groups, and another team for follow up and monitoring of the overall performance using a Projects Management Programme consisting of 5 members.
- The plan relied on various sources of information, data and studies, including those prepared by the SCW, and enlisted the help of specialists and experts, and used international reports and specialized references in this field.
- In addition, representatives of partners, government, legislative and judicial institutions, and civil society organizations participated in the evaluation and development of the national plan as part of the SCW’s efforts to ensure the participation of all of society’s segments, categories, specialties, classes and various age groups.
- The strategic plan was prepared to implement the national plan including administrative and organizational process, evaluation, training and educational tools necessary to ensure good performance of the plan, including impacts, outcomes and plans, starting with working along the guidelines of the government action programme, and selecting programmes/projects which are coordinated with the strategic plan in order to ensure the required support for cooperation and participation in the implementation of the national plan, without the need to allocate additional budgets for those programmes/projects, as they are within the approved State’s budget for 2014. This better consolidates the social partnership, in addition to programmes to be implemented by the SCW using mechanism which enhance responsiveness.
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| 7. Who were the stakeholders involved in the design of the initiative and in its implementation?
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The main outcomes which were achieved at the level of each impact over the period (2013-2014) include:
1. Family Stability Impact
- Preparation of the “National Strategy for Protection against Domestic Violence” proposal.
- Inauguration of the Family Conciliation Office at the Ministry of Justice, Islamic Affairs and “Waqf” in collaboration with the Supreme Judicial Council.
- Inauguration of the Bahraini Women Incubator Center (Riyadat) in partnership with Bahrain Center for the Development of Emerging Industries and Bahrain Development Bank as an integrated economic incubator to serve women entrepreneurs.
- Organizing the Second Exhibition for Women and Labour Opportunities in partnership between the Ministry of Labor and the SCW, aimed at providing opportunities for meeting between women seeking for employment, employers and concerned entities.
2. Equal Opportunity Impact
- Implementation of the National Model for Mainstreaming Women Needs in the Government Work Plan.
- Implementation of the decision to create equal opportunity committees in all government departments falling under the umbrella of the Civil Service Bureau, and the move by two private sector companies to establish equal opportunity units as a corporate mechanism concerned with ensuring equal opportunity.
- Development of mechanisms to follow up the State’s budget by dividing main budget schedules “by gender” and issue of circulars to provide an integrate part concerned with equal opportunity and mainstreaming of women’s needs.
- Implementation of women political empowerment programme as a collaborative programme.
- Implementation of a weekly radio programme titled “Equal Opportunity Radio” in collaboration with Bahrain Radio to promote awareness of the concepts and causes of women and equal opportunity.
3. Lifelong Learning Impact
- Assessment of readiness of employment centers to provide required support for job seekers, and the development of professional advice and guidance mechanism for female job seekers.
- Launch of an “internal model” of the knowledge exchange programme within the General Secretariat as one of the knowledge management applications.
4. Quality of Life Impact
- Inauguration of “Masaken” Project with the Ministry of Housing, aimed and enabling Bahraini women who do not satisfy conditions for receiving housing services, to benefit from.
- Development of support center for women services at the SCW to provide temporary support in emergencies.
5. House of Expertise Impact
- Taking initial steps to activate the Bahraini women database.
- Creating a network of partnerships with government, private sector, civil society and international organizations.
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| 8. What were the most successful outputs and why was the initiative effective?
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Following up the implementation of the outcomes, plans and programmes of the national strategic plan (2014) at SCW, an integrated Projects Management Programme was used, allowing a live performance indicators dashboard and periodic follow up reports.
— To augment the credibility of the evaluation, and to obtain signs of excellence in performance, three types of performance indicators were specified including the main baseline indicator as a tool for measuring and evaluating the extent of impact through the measurement of total achieved outcomes under which the targeted and detailed indicators are listed.
— Whereas the main baseline indicators of the outcome are cumulative indicators at the impact level, they were calculated at both the local and international levels using the closest statistical indicators, at the core level of those indicators, due to difficulty in calculating them at the first level of implementation.
— Bahrain Central Informatics Organization, were used as a measure of the main baseline readings at the local level, specifying the numerator and the denominator based on the targets of the outcomes in general.
— Main baseline international readings were obtained directly by referring to the reports issued by regional and international bodies, or measured using statistical equations if unavailable in those reports, specifying the numerator and the denominator based on the overall priority of the outcome. Some of the most significant reports relied upon are the OECD reports, World Bank reports, WHO reports, in addition to certain reports issued by the United Nations, taking into consideration the proprietary nature of some of the indicators, and in particular the social indicators for the Arab and Islamic Worlds.
— Detailed indicators directly related to target work plans at the local level were measured using indicators, opinion polls and focus group. Potential readings were included based on objectives aspired to be achieved after the implementation of a set of targeted programmes in collaboration with partners.
— To enhance the ability to respond to the implementation of the strategic plan for the implementation of the national plan (2014), SCW follows up the progress achieved in the programmes assigned to partners using specially designated forms, in addition to holding periodic meetings with them, in order to follow up the programmes which are included in the strategic plan they are charged with implementing, as well as the evaluation, removal of obstacles and creating alternative plans where required, and the follow up and documentation.
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| 9. What were the main obstacles encountered and how were they overcome?
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- The communication process with the entities concerned with implementation. Therefore the need arose to the development of communication and networking mechanisms to ensure the availability of accurate information. This was achieved with the activation of the internal communication model at the SCW, as well as the introduction of a number of mechanisms with partners including service-level agreements (SLAs), equal opportunity committees, the Committee for Cooperation with Civil Society Organization, in addition to the incorporation of woman’s needs and causes as part of the government action programme.
- SCW gave particular attention to the documentation and memorization operations of its efforts and programmes. These efforts however were divided among several administrative departments, and therefore lacked thoroughness and accuracy. In order to document the activities of the SCW throughout its journey on the road to implementation of the national plan, the SCW moved to adopt an advanced and impactive system to documents its activities, in reliance on an integrated MS Project “project management system”, providing a dashboard and periodic follow up reports.
- In spite of the great and diverse efforts by the SCW, many segments of society are not award of its rue roles. Therefore, action was taken to implement mechanisms aimed at promoting awareness of SCW and introducing the concepts and terminology of the national plan, using several media channels (visual/audial/social/networks) to increase the average response of the local, regional and international communities to the causes of women.
- To overcome the challenge of team staff members organization of their work priorities to ensure the implementation of the plan, a (70/30) strategy was implemented such that each employee or team member dedicates at least 70% of his/her time to the implementation of the plan, with the remaining 30% dedicated to other administrative functions which are not directly related to the national plan.
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