Gender,
Health and Poverty
A WBI
Course for South Asia
An e-learning course offered by the Health, Nutrition and Population Program of the World Bank Institute
GENDER,
HEALTH AND POVERTY
Course
Content
BACKGROUND
As countries develop and implement their Poverty Reduction Strategies (PRS), one of the key challenges is to identify actions that will have the greatest impact on poverty and improve the lives of the poor. The challenge is compounded by the fact that poverty has many dimensions, cuts across many sectors, and is experienced differently by women and by men.
The wide acceptance of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s) by the international community confirms the central role of human development, including health and nutrition, in combating poverty. People become poorer as a result of bad health or health crises, but being poor also makes people less healthy and more exposed to risks. Poor households place good health as one of their highest priorities and ill health as one of the main reasons why they fall into the cycle of poverty.
In no
region of the developing world are women equal to men in legal, social and
economic rights. Gender gaps are
widespread in access to and control of resources, in economic opportunities, in
power and political voice. Gender
equality is a development objective on its own - it also makes good business
sense as it is central to economic growth and sustainable development.
As part
of the World Bank’s efforts to support client countries in developing effective
PRS’s, the World Bank Institute (WBI) and its partner institutions have
developed a learning program on Gender, Health and Poverty for client
countries. It will examine the
issues and data in eight South Asian countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) noting the special concerns of
conflict and post-conflict areas in the region.
COURSE
OBJECTIVES
The
objectives for the course are:
a.
To
increase capacity for promoting gender, health and poverty issues in national
poverty reduction strategies and programs and assist countries in achieving the
related Millennium Development Goals (MDG’s);
b.
to
enhance skills for developing gender-sensitive, pro-poor policies and
interventions in national programs.
COURSE
STRUCTURE
This course will review the analytical base and examine global best practices to better address gender, health and poverty issues in national policies and programs. It will consist of eight modules that address the following topics:
Module
1 -
International Policy and Program Environment: The role of PRS’s in articulating
national development priorities and acting as the key instrument for development
programming; the MDG’s and a framework for action to accelerate progress at the
country level; shifting from project to programmatic aid.
Module
2 -
Why Gender? Framework for
Integrating Gender, Health and Poverty: Basic concepts of gender and the
critical linkages between gender, health and poverty; rights and business case;
gender analysis techniques and poverty diagnosis for preparing PRS’s.
Module 3 - The Life Cycle Approach to Women’s
Health: Critical gender and
health links throughout the life cycle including adolescent health; analyze a
framework that focuses on how to improve health outcomes (the “Pathways
Framework”).
Module 4 - Gender and HIV/AIDS: The feminization of HIV/AIDS; male
responsibility; impact on individuals, families and society.
Module 5 - Gender-Based Violence: International instruments and response;
prevalence of violence against women and actions to eliminate
it.
Module 6 – Cross-Sectoral Implications - Girls’
Education; Energy; Transport.
Impact of interventions from sectors other than health. Multi-sectoral approaches for achieving
the MDG’s.
Module 7 - Making services work for poor people - Empowering women. Services often fail the poor, particularly poor women – in access, quantity and quality. How to monitor and discipline service providers and influence policymakers. Examples of public-private partnerships and community financing for scaling-up.
Module 8 - Achieving the
MDG’s: Integrating Gender and
Health into Poverty Reduction Strategies – in diagnosis, program interventions
and monitoring and evaluation.
The course
will be delivered as a facilitated 6-week e-learning course conducted via the
Internet.
TARGET
AUDIENCE
The
WBI course is designed for senior and
mid-level officials and policy makers working in national governments, national
and international NGO’s, and bi-lateral and multi-lateral donor
agencies.
TECHNICAL
REQUIREMENTS
In
order to take this course participants will require:
1. Access
to a standard web browser -
for
Windows 98/Me/2000/XP/NT and Mac OS 9.x: MS Internet Explorer 5.0 or
higher (including 6.0)
for Mac
OS X 10.1: MS Internet Explorer 5.1
2. Access to
the Internet (World Wide Web) with at least a 28.8 kb modem, although 56.6 kb or
faster is preferred;
3. Flash 6
player (free software is included on the
CD-ROM)
4. A
CD-ROM drive.
INFORMATION,
Application and Fee
To enter the application procedure or to receive more information, please contact Ms Jo Hindriks
Tel.:
1-202-4736425
Fax:
1-202-6760961