1. Presentation on Mainstreaming gender in water resources management Royal Netherlands Embassy Research - qualitative as well as quantitative - has amply demonstrated that where women and men share water and decision-making, management of water services is more effective and better sustained.

3. The Local Government Engineering Department The principles of gender equality and equity are enshrined in the Constitution of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh. The GoB has shown its commitment to achieve gender equality and equity through the National Policy for Advancement of Women and its National Action Plan. The LGED has been at the forefront of GOB’s activities for achievement of gender equity. For more effective implementation of activities to achieve gender equity, LGED has developed a Gender Equity Strategy (2002-2007), working towards a longer term vision.

7. A new way of doing business The Strategy envisages working towards achieving the overall goal by undertaking activities in the following core areas: - data/information - human resource development and training - training - participation - contracting

8. continued - policy - support facilities - communication - funding and resources - monitoring and evaluation - programme issues

9. The way forward To help with the national rollout of the Strategy at field level, a toolkit has been developed. The toolkit includes: - summary strategy - briefing sheet: integrating gender equity into the LGED project cycle - checklists: Data, Participation, Training

10. Before and after Efficiency, effectiveness, equity and affordability are the main gains of adopting a gender approach.