Standard Project Report 2016 women.
The school feeding programme implemented in FATA aimed to achieve enrolment and learning objectives at the primary school level. At the primary level, both girls and boys were targeted; however, this activity was a strategic tool to indirectly address gender discrimination against girls ' education. The activity is also expected to lead to women ' s empowerment in the long run by encouraging access to primary and secondary education for girls in FATA.
Livelihood programmes focused on women ' s empowerment by providing food-for-training and cash-for-training, ensuring that women would be able to have improved livelihoods. In addition, these interventions improved economic access for women, thereby enabling them to take a more active role in decision-making at the household and community levels. Conservative social norms, particularly in FATA where there is a very strong practice of ' purda ' and women rarely leave their homes, continued to be the major inhibiting factor to securing adequate female participation in these interventions. In addition, food-assistance-for-assets( FFA) activities in these areas focused on structural work which were the prioritised needs of the communities returning to their areas after several years of displacement. Socio-cultural norms did not allow women to take part in physical work outside their homes at the community level. Women ' s participation was ensured through capacity development initiatives identified through specific needs assessment sessions with women ' s groups.
The proportion of households where females and males made decisions together over the use of food or cash was 52.1 percent in the last quarter compared to the target of 50 percent which was set to be achieved by December 2018. The percentage of women in leadership positions of project management committees was higher than the target of 20 percent; however, this varied tremendously between geographic areas. It is important to note that in the areas where these activities were implemented, gender gaps were significant as a result of challenging social and cultural circumstances.
In order to facilitate women ' s access to WFP services, all partners had female staff for community outreach as well as at the distributions points.
The percentage of female staff across the country office increased from 18 percent to 22 percent during the ongoing staffing realignment for the new PRRO( 2016-18).
In 2016, WFP Pakistan underwent the gender transformation programme self-assessment which will enable the identification of gaps in progress towards gender equality and women ' s empowerment and an action plan in 2017.
Protection and Accountability to Affected Populations
Information dissemination on beneficiary selection criteria and entitlements was an important part of programme design. The information was displayed at the distribution points and shared with the community during programme visits. Pictorial information was also developed, in order to ensure that every beneficiary, whether literate or illiterate, had access to this information.
Distribution points were selected in consultation with the community and keeping in view the principles of safety, dignity and integrity. WFP monitoring results indicated that almost 100 percent of beneficiaries were able to receive assistance without any safety problems while travelling to and from WFP distribution sites or while at the sites.
WFP activities were designed to be as inclusive as possible, targeting the most vulnerable among the food insecure populations. For example, the targeting process for the cash-based transfer( CBT) intervention was conducted at three levels— tehsil( sub-district), village and household— to ensure the most vulnerable and food-insecure areas and populations were selected for the intervention. At each level, the targeting was conducted based on a list of proxy indicators that pointed to vulnerability and food insecurity. Two major considerations were used to prioritise an area or a beneficiary; the first was the food security situation and impact of drought( to establish vulnerability) while the second was the accessibility of the area and required infrastructure( such as markets and banks).
The targeting of beneficiaries was designed to be both participatory— allowing community members to play a role in the targeting of households— and supported through household surveys to ensure that only the most vulnerable households were targeted.
With respect to the information provided to beneficiaries, most households were aware of targeting criteria and their entitlements, although households were often not able to recall where they could lodge complaints. As a result, less than half of all households reported being fully informed about the programme, which required that could recall the targeting criteria, their entitlements and where people could complain. WFP streamlined the calculation of this indicator in 2016, only counting those who were able to recall and respond correctly to all three criteria of“ being informed”. The most likely reasons for the low awareness of the complaint mechanism among beneficiaries and caretakers were people ' s focus on eligibility and entitlement information, and the cultural norm of accepting the
Pakistan, Islamic Republic of( PK) 22 Single Country PRRO- 200867