WFP Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific - 2016 SPRs RBB 2016 SPRs by project type | Seite 747

Standard Project Report 2016
social safety nets. The workshop brought together government ministries that had not previously worked together in
emergencies. The lessons learned workshop recommended: 1) using the Government’s safety net programme,
Divineguma, to respond to emergencies in the future and strengthening its capacity for this purpose; 2) developing a
standard operating procedure for emergency response to improve collaboration among all stakeholders under the
coordination of the Ministry of Disaster Management; and 3) providing technical and capacity support to the Ministry
in emergency preparedness, assessment, and early warning, including WFP’s 72-hour assessment methodology,
as well as its flood and drought monitoring and surveillance systems. WFP and the Government plan to develop
further and use the social safety net cash-based delivery model based on the recommendations and inter-agency
linkages built during the workshop in order to strengthen national emergency responses.
Progress Towards Gender Equality
Gender considerations remained central to WFP's response. WFP advocated for equal numbers of men and women
to sit on the beneficiary selection committee, and for household bank accounts to be opened in the name of women
household members. This effort resulted in more than half of the new bank accounts (55 percent) opened under the
project being in women’s names, as well as an increase in women’s financial inclusion and access to credit at lower
rates.
The project planned to increase women’s participation by encouraging a female family member to register as the
cash recipient. WFP consulted with the Government, United Nations agencies, and community-based organizations
to identify and implement prevention strategies to limit the potential risks associated with cash-based transfers, such
as gender-based violence.
In accordance with WFP’s Gender Policy, the project integrated gender equality and women's empowerment into all
activities, by ensuring women and men's equal participation in the design, implementation, and monitoring and
evaluation of gender-sensitive interventions. As part of the community participation in the programme, women held
more than half the leadership positions in project management committees.
WFP used the emergency response operation as an opportunity to sensitise government officials on the importance
of gender equality and women's empowerment and to explore the potential of including a gender-sensitive lens into
the existing Divineguma system. During counterpart training conducted at the national and district levels, WFP
placed emphasis on gender equality. This helped ensure gender responsiveness and accountability in the
implementation of assistance to equally benefit men and women, with a particular focus on households headed by
women.
Sixty percent of the government officers engaged in beneficiary screening, selection, registration, and project
implementation, as well as more than 80 percent of banking staff who served the beneficiaries, were women.
Moreover, this intervention afforded WFP an opportunity to work with Divineguma to further include gender
considerations in the targeting and implementation of national safety nets over the long term.
In partnership with the Department of Divineguma Development, through the Divineguma development officers,
sensitisation sessions and messaging were conducted for beneficiaries, both male and female, on the benefits of
joint decision-making on the use of the assistance and on the importance of gender equity in using cash-based
transfers to ensure food security in the household.
Overall, monitoring findings showed that in 62 percent of beneficiary households, women made decisions over the
use of cash, whilst in 29 percent of households the decisions were made together by women and men. The
proportion of household expenditure on food was higher (58 percent) in households headed by women than in
households headed by men (50 percent). Women heads of household were also the primary caregivers in
beneficiary households and were in charge of preparing food, which played a key role in improving the
households' nutritional status. The higher proportion of household expenditure on food by women contributed to the
positive results in household food consumption and dietary diversity.
Protection and Accountability to Affected Populations
WFP worked in coordination with the Government to select Divineguma banks for cash withdrawal which were in
close proximity to targeted households. This careful selection resulted in limiting travel times and
minimising transportation costs for beneficiaries when collecting cash-based assistance. It also reduced potential
safety risks travelling to and from cash collection points. Moreover, WFP worked with the Divineguma banks to
ensure beneficiaries had access to cash withdrawals in dignified conditions. The Letter of Understanding between
the Government and WFP stipulated that the full entitlement of cash-based assistance was to be transferred to the
Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of (LK)
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Single Country EMOP - 200990