Instituting a Web of Gender Responsiveness

So I am now at the halfway point of my time here at UNEP HQ. I thought I would share with you a little bit about where I live, what I've been working on, and gender in my workplace.

Nairobi, Kenya
I live in a very nice suburb of Nairobi called Runda. It is the home of many expatriates who work at the U.S. Embassy or the United Nations Office Nairobi compounds that are nearby. I am enjoying my stay in a two bedroom guesthouse within 30 minutes walking distance of work. My landlady used to work for the UN World Food Programme, and my landlord directed safari trips; they are a very nice couple.

Prices in Nairobi for food, taxis, shelter, etc. have increased significantly since 2008 and are actually the same or more expensive than where I study in Troy, NY, therefore, I do a lot of walking. I share this pedestrian trait with many Kenyans. Since I usually forget how to say, "Habari ya asubuhi", I instead just say "Good Morning". It is a good thing that many Kenyans speak English, Kiswahili and their tribal language!

On the weekends I go to an eye hospital (as part of my dissertation research), shopping at the local mall, and to church. Now that I am becoming more comfortable with riding on the matatus, I will venture more often into the city center. I want to see: Kenyatta's mausoleum; the view of Nairobi's cityscape from the Kenyatta International Conference Center; and any museums and art galleries that I can find. There is a great blog called Nairobi Now with all sorts of cultural events in the city.

My Projects
I have two projects; the first involves consulting on Project Atmospheric Brown Clouds and in particular, its mitigation component Project Surya. Surya means “Sun” in Sanskrit. Project Surya had a pilot phase in India where it: evaluated cookstoves, assessed localized air pollution, assessed women’s experiences with new cooking technologies, and eventually settled on a new cookstove design. This project has three goals: (1) reduce global climate change by decreasing black carbon (a residue of incomplete combustion); (2) reduce deforestation by decreasing dependence on biomass; (3) improve the health of women and children by decreasing air pollution. As a consultant, my role is to report the best practices for gender mainstreaming environmental policy and planning that come out of the Project Surya pilot phase, and, to evaluate the proposed Phase II of Project Atmospheric Brown Clouds to see how gender mainstreaming can be improved.

My second project is to create an annotated bibliography on best practices for gender mainstreaming environmental policy and planning. I am working with a web designer to make this annotated bibliography searchable and sortable when it is published online. This web designer has been working with my supervisor to re-design the UNEP Gender website (the old website is here).

Please note: pictures of the old website (L) and new website (R) were added to this blog entry on 2011-September-16

Gender at UNEP
I find myself fascinated by my supervisor's job and the history of how it came into being.

Apparently, a team was formed in 2007 to look at how to make UNEP a more productive, efficient and effective institution. As part of that team, my supervisor, Ms. Janet Kabeberi-Macharia worked with others to create the UNEP Gender Plan of Action.

Fast forward to 2011, and Ms. Janet Kabeberi-Macharia is now the Senior Gender Adviser for UNEP. She spends a lot of time reviewing prospective employees on HR hiring boards, meeting with individual project managers, and writing policy recommendations and reports, among a range of other activities all of which are tied to gender-mainstreaming. Policy and practice has to be changed at many levels in order to perform a "web of institutionalization" of gender-responsiveness (using Caren Levy's concept). For example, this may involve gender-responsiveness training for staff of UNEP collaborating research centers, as well as the project teams from various UNEP divisions. Also, each project team in UNEP has a team member who also serves as their gender coordinator. Finally this “web of institutionalization” involves changing the organizational composition of UNEP itself to encourage more gender equity in leadership roles and attention to gender mainstreaming by leaders.

This concept of a "web of institutionalization" encourages one to think across scales of an organization in order to implement good policies and practices for gender-responsiveness. Its enactment here at UNEP demonstrates an excellent unity of theory and practice. However its enactment is very difficult. It is neither singularly top-down, nor bottom-up. To be effective, it must encompass both of those modes of institutional change as well as include lateral (instead of vertical) modes that cross-cut divisions, teams, and ideologies.

People who are smart and dedicated to the mission of UNEP may still resist such changes because: (1) it is not a process with which everyone is familiar, and (2) it is difficult to set goals and indicators for this process. It is exciting to be a part of this process for my 10 weeks here at UNEP.

First week at UNEP HQ in Nairobi Kenya

I started working at the beautiful and sustainable UNEP HQ in Nairobi on Monday July 25^th. I have the privilege of working in a zero energy balance building. That means that, over the course of a year, all of the building's energy needs are met by the solar panels mounted on the roof tiles. Not only does this building have a zero energy balance, but the builders were very careful to use local supplies (including local architects, construction firms, building materials, etc.) as much as possible. Also, rainwater is harvested to feed the beautiful fish ponds and both this rainwater and graywater (from the bathrooms and utility rooms) are used to irrigate the beautiful themed internal atrium flora, as well as the nearby lawn. With such gorgeous, tranquil surroundings, my work space is very inviting.

Less relaxing is the pace at which Quality Assurance Section (QAS) moves. QAS operates under the Executive Office of the UNEP and helps measure the impact of UNEP projects and programs. Within QAS, I am working with the senior gender adviser to the UNEP, Ms. Janet Kabeberi-Macharia to identify projects in the Resource Efficiency & Sustainable Consumption and Production priority area that might benefit from: (1) my expertise in theories of contextually appropriate innovation; (2) my expertise in theories of knowledge circulation; (3) policy suggestions for further gender mainstreaming.

Originally, at the request of Ms. Kabeberi-Macharia, I identified two (out of 6) UNEP priority areas that best fit my interests: Resource Efficiency and Sustainable Consumption (RE&SCP) and, Harmful Substances and Hazardous Waste. At the time, both Ms. Kabeberi-Macharia and I were considering how my project at the UN could best fit the topic of my dissertation research which is avoidable blindness. Its theoretical premise actually fits quite well with the UNEP priority area of Resource Efficiency –Sustainable Consumption and Production (RE&SCP), in particular the following areas: a model of sustainable financing; working with international institutions; facilitating S-S cooperation; emphasizing national ownership.

Together, Ms. Kabeberi-Macharia and I have started to identify some specific projects in the area of S-S Cooperation, that I might work with. In each, I will try to identify and advocate for specific policy measures to inculcate gender responsiveness (where women are encouraged to participate as decision makers in policy) and gender mainstreaming (where I advocate the incorporation of sex-disaggregated statistics and consideration of women's equality and women's empowerment into policy decisions).

While, as a Ph.D. Candidate, I have read a lot of feminist science studies and feminist technology studies literature, how such literature translates into policy practice was previously unknown to me. From Ms. Kabeberi-Macharia’s website on Gender Issues in UNEP, I accessed the glossary where I learned about the terminology used by policy professionals to discuss some of the same goals that feminist scholars have. If any of the other CWWL fellows have some other resources to share on the policy practices of gender mainstreaming, and gender responsiveness, I would very much appreciate them.

Counting Down to Nairobi

Now that the semester has ended and my round of conferences is over, I am counting down to my Environmental Policy Fellowship at the United Nations Environment Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. My current plan is to start my 10 week fellowship at the UNEP in Nairobi on Mon July 25 after I have written the first two chapters of my dissertation. I have looked over the UNEP website and they are doing some really interesting things. The thematic areas that looked most interesting from the UNEP website were:

• South-South Cooperation, looking at local technology production and transfer within the Global South for environmentally sustainable initiatives
• Health, Gender & Environment, looking at the connections between health and the environment (this most closely combines my dissertation interests with work at UNEP)

As I anticipate learning more about my work assignment, I have begun thinking about the connections between the work that UNEP is doing and my dissertation research on avoidable blindness. Specifically, I am aware of the following connections:

Water and Sanitation Management & Avoidable Blindness by Infectious Diseases

• decreases in trachoma (low vision in 80 million people) and trichiasis (blindness in 11 million people; caused by trachoma) through aggressive programs on the African continent
• decreases in incidence of onchocerciasis (river blindness) on the African continent

Climate Change & Avoidable Blindness by Cataracts and Particulate Matter

• decreased ozone means increased ultraviolet radiation. High levels of UV radiation have been correlated with increased incidence of cataract disease (17 million people are blind worldwide due to cataract) a disease which predominantly affects low-income women
• unknown levels of particulate matter caused by the use of wood or coal burning stoves. This indoor air pollution has been implicated in cases of low vision (again predominantly affecting women) among many other diseases.

While I do not yet know what my assignment is I am looking forward to working with interesting people and learning about how an international institution such as the UN operates.

Sumak Kawsay

Hello again from Becca in Quito, Ecuador! This week has bee quite a whilrwind of activity including getting acquainted with the office, and attending the Quito Climate Change Summit.

Towards the end of this week my project began to take shape. First I will be reviewing their strategic plan for environmental education and second I will be helping them develop one of the other strategic plans that are still in the works (Biodiversity, Pollution Control, Climate Change Adaptation, etc) or delving more deeply into the development of the Educacion Plan.

I have continued to be impressed by the progressive nature of Ecuadorean Policies. This week I read their National Development Plan because it is the nationwide document which proceeds the National Environmental Plan with which I will be working closely. The plan is actually called the National Plan of "Sumak Kawsay" with is a quichua saying that means "good living" or "well being". Basically, they are making a statement that the formal definition of development doesn't always benefit the well being of all citizens. The document takes the time to describe the many failings of neoliberalism "development" activities of the last 40 years which have often not benefited the general population of underdeveloped, "resource-cursed" nations like Ecuador. It then goes on to describe the need for sustainable social, economic and environmental practices that will overall contribute to the Sumak Kawsay of the people. But do not be misled! This isn't some hippie mumbo-jumbo document. For example, the plan embraces one neoliberal philosophy. It pledges to use market mechanisms, when it is possible, sustainable and socially just, to incentivize desired behaviors (like polluting less) in the most economically efficient manner.

Of course all of this is still quite new and still needs much work in order to be implemented. When I express my admiration for these documents to the Ecuadoreans I meet, many express at least some skepticism that these ideas will come to fruition. "Solo palabras", "only words" the most skeptic Ecuadorean I met told me. Nonetheless the groundwork they have laid is astonishing.

Hello from Ithaca, NY

Hi everyone! My name is Michaela and I'm a Biological Engineering student at Cornell University. My placement is with the Ministry for the Environment in Iceland, but I won't be going until mid-September. I have already discussed my project with my supervisor, and learned that I will be working with the Environment Agency on management of environmental information. I'm excited for the fellowship and can't wait to get a sneak peek by checking out everyone's blog posts over the summer!

First week in Ecuador

Hello Everyone! My name is Becca and I am from CMU. I just started my internship at the Ministry of the Environment in Ecuador on Monday. Although I have only just begun to become acquainted with the Environmental Policies here, it has been really interesting. Did you know that Ecuador is the first constitution to actually identify the rights of nature? The constitution was just written in 2008 with much influence from now President Correa, a PhD in economics. It reads like a modern foundation's mission statement. I can't even count how many times the word "sustainable" is used. It is truly revolutionary in so many ways. This constitution has also given so much leverage to the Ministry of the environment. Besides that the office culture is young, passionate and dynamic. It will certainly be an exciting place to work this summer!

I included this picture of the intersection where I catch the bus. This was an unusual day because it wasn't completely overly laden with traffic like it usually is. It was a national holiday! I think it captures the essence of a modern city nestled in the mountains, with unofficial housing developments (squatters) ascending up the mountainside.