Participatory Gender Training Workshop Manual

Cover including thumbnail image of the workshop training manual with a cartoon picture of people seated in a circle on a hillside

A Guide for Critical Reflections on Gender Norms, Roles and Relations in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) in Communities

Research partner, International Water Management Institute has introduced a Participatory Gender Workshop Manual in Dailekh and Sarlahi, Nepal. Implemented in collaboration with local partners Everest Club in Dailekh district and the Bagmati Welfare Society in Sarlahi district, the manual can be used to stimulate discussions among communities and governmental or non-governmental organisations, and stakeholders working in the Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) sector on gender norms, roles and relations in community and project areas.

Who is this manual for?

Any organization working in WASH sector – governmental, non-governmental organizations, community organizations, facilitators or researchers - that wants to hold a discussion on gender norms, roles and relations in their communities or project areas can use this manual. It has been designed to implement with communities directly dealing with or impacted by WASH issues. It, however, could be adapted to much larger settings, which demand integration of gender perspectives for inclusive and participatory development. The manual undertakes the Training of Trainers (ToT) approach and orients the facilitator on concepts such as gender, sex, intersectionality and facilitation tips to navigate dialogues and discussions on local gender and social norms in WASH context in the communities. The manual has been translated into Nepali and Maithili languages for easy understanding and implementation by the relevant stakeholders.

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Follow up version of: Leder, S., Das, D., Reckers, A. & Karki, E., 2016. Participatory gender training for community
groups. A manual for critical discussions on gender norms, roles and relations, Colombo, Sri
Lanka, CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE).

By: Gitta Shrestha (National Researcher – IWMI Nepal) and Labisha Uprety (Senior Research
Officer – IWMI Nepal).

This resource is an output of our Water for Women research project in the first phase, Water Supply and Gender.

Policy and strategy

Knowledge and Learning is central to Water for Women. It is a key priority of all partners and positions the Fund as an important contributor to global knowledge development and sharing in the water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector. Fund generated evidence, centred on innovative, climate-resilient and gender and socially inclusive WASH, supports partners to program for long-term impact. It also provides the basis to influence sector-wide development policy and practice globally, particularly around these cross-cutting themes.

Continual reflection, collaborative learning, knowledge development and exchange are important elements of Water for Women, which combined with effective programming, support partners to lead practice globally and raise the bar on climate-resilient, gender and socially inclusive WASH research, analysis, design and program delivery.

In the first phase of Water for Women (2018-2022), our civil society organisation and research partners developed and shared a wealth of resources through their projects. You can explore a selection of these resource highlights here, and how they link to the building blocks for climate-resilient WASH, drawn from our report, Knowledge and Practice Gaps in Climate Resilient Inclusive WASH.