Learning Objectives

Policies and programs built on an understanding of the linkages between gender, reproductive health and human development can make significant contributions to poverty reduction at both household and country levels.

The course aims to assist countries in analyzing, designing, and developing better health policies and programs which reduce gender-based inequality. To this end, the course objectives are:

• to identify the critical linkages between poverty, gender inequality, and health, and the key policy issues and implications;
• to define policy options and strategic choices for better health that take explicit account of these linkages; and
• to specify policies, programs, and projects in various sectors which will promote better health taht can be integrated into national poverty reduction strategies.

Algeria Test

Marilyn Lauglo Marguerite Monnet

Course Format

The DL courses will be offered once a week in four hour video-conference sessions and will use material directly relevant to sub-Saharan Africa. The first course will be offered in English in Ethiopia, Ghana, Tanzania and Uganda from 20 February to 10 April 2001 using DL techniques and methodologies through the Global Development Learning Network (GDLN). The second course will be offered in French between 23 April to 11 June 2001 in Francophone African countries, including Benin, Guinea, Ivory Coast and Senegal.

Venues and Dates

This course will be held over eight weeks from February 20 to April 10, 2001 and will consist of eight, four-hour, interactive distance learning sessions. Sessions will be held between 5:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m. EST time. Participants may choose to attend at any one of the following sites:

Ethiopian Civil Service College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA, Accra, Ghana
Institute of Finance Managment (IMF), Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania
Uganda Management Institute (UMI), Kampala, Uganda

Background

As countries in Africa define and implement national poverty reduction strategies and their associated Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs), one of their key challenges is to identify the critical actions that have the greatest impact on poverty, and to set clear priorities. The challenge is compounded by the fact that poverty has many dimensions, cuts across many sectors, and is experienced differently by men and by women. Better health is invariably among the highest priorities for the poor, and interventions in many sectors contribute to improved health outcomes. The links between poverty, gender inequality and health are frequently not well understood nor applied. Poverty reduction strategies that build on an understanding of cross-sectoral linkages and synergies will make a much more effective contribution to poverty reduction at both household and national levels.

As part of the Bank’s efforts to support client countries in developing effective poverty reduction strategies, the World Bank Institute (WBI) and its partner institutions are conducting an intensive, innovative learning program Adapting to Change: Population, Reproductive Health and Health Sector Reform as a service to client countries, which specifically focuses on placing efforts to improve health outcomes in a broader framework of cross-sectoral linkages and synergies. The program aims to inform the poverty agenda and the choice of priority interventions by facilitating the task of government and donor agency staff working on poverty strategies in addressing cross-cutting issues, such as gender, in prioritizing interventions aimed at better health.

Using distance learning (DL) techniques and methodologies through the Global Distance Learning Network (GDLN) , the WBI is offering the Distance Learning Course on ‘New Agendas for Poverty Reduction Strategies: Integrating Gender and Health’, as one of the activities within the Adapting to Change Program to assist countries in analyzing, designing, and developing better health policies and programs which reduce gender - based inequality.

Course Content and Learning Activities

The Distance Learning Course on ‘New Agendas for Poverty Reduction Strategies: Integrating Gender and Health’ uses participatory methods and course material which is particularly relevant to Sub-Saharan Africa. It will share knowledge on a) gender biases underlying perceptions of how men and women contribute to society, b) the structural roles of men and women in both the market and the household economies, c) the persistence of gender-based disparities in access to and control of a wide range of human, economic, and social capital assets, d) the policy implications, including with respect to trade–offs and linkages, relevant for improving health outcomes, and e) the integration of a range of possible policy and project priorities into poverty reduction strategies.

The eight four-hour sessions will cover the following topics:

• Session 1: An introduction to gender within an integrated framework for looking at gender, health and poverty reduction
• Session 2: Gender, poverty and economic growth in Africa
• Session 3: Gender and HIV/AIDS
• Session 4: Gender-based violence
• Session 5: Education and health: cross sector implications
• Session 6: A question of time: water and transport
• Session 7: Putting it all together in a poverty reduction strategy
• Session 8: Wrap-up: Where do we go from here?

Conditions for Attendance

The training will be delivered in English and is offered to participants from Anglophone Africa. It is open to high-level government policy makers, as well as to World Bank staff, local and international NGOs, international agencies, academics, and parliamentarians. At each site location, space is limited to 30 attendees.

Registration/Inquiries

Questions concerning this announcement regarding course content and/or registration should be directed to:
Marilyn Lauglo
Tel: 202 473 89 26
email: mlauglo@worldbank.org

Please indicate your interest in participating and indicate the site at which you would like to attend this course. Detailed information regarding the registration process and supporting materials will be made available to you electronically and in print. Please note that there is a fee for this training course.