WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by project type | Page 193

Standard Project Report 2016
achieve gender parity in leadership roles. Besides this, the school teachers and administrators were trained on the
use of early grade reading materials and digital teaching learning materials. Though women teachers comprised
only 38 percent of teachers at the primary level, WFP, through its partners, advocated for the participation of women
teachers in these trainings to the extent possible to enhance their capacity. Finally, WFP in collaboration with other
development partners, has continued to advocate for the recruitment of women teachers in primary grades and for
the implementation of the equity strategy to create gender-friendly spaces in schools.
The maternal and child health and nutrition (MCHN) programme supported nutrition interventions in line with the
principles of gender equity incorporated in the national guideline for programme implementation through food
assistance by giving priority to women in all key processes of identification, planning and implementation.
Beneficiary cards, and maternal and child health cards were distributed in the names of women and children (in
Nepal’s cultural context, men would be the preferred receivers of services as heads of household). This helped to
give priority to woman’s role in nutrition and childcare, and in the accurate use of the SNF provided. In certain
instances however, men also came to collect the Super Cereal during the monthly food distribution schedule when
their women were unable to attend. As women understood their roles better and developed more awareness of the
importance of good nutrition, they were able to increasingly join in household decision-making together with their
husbands on the use of the SNF and other supplementary food in the family diet, as evidenced by an increase in
the proportion of such households over the past year.
The proportion of women members in leadership positions in the health facility operations management committees
(HFoMC) was lower in 2016 than the previous year. The HFoMCs are management bodies where office bearers are
elected from the candidates fielded by political parties in the village development committee areas. In terms of office
bearers of MCHN committees, there were also fewer women candidates who were nominated in 2016 by the
HFoMCs. Overall, this led to a slight reduction in the proportion of women members in leadership positions of these
committees in 2016. An estimated total of 2,020 female community health volunteers (FCHVs) were supported
under the MCHN programme at the community level for overall mobilisation and dissemination of the nutrition
messages. In terms of staff composition of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) hired for technical
assistance to the MCHN programme, a total of 202 staff members were hired with 112 male and 90 female staff at
the field level.
Component 4 of th