Gender, Women and Child Development

The project titled "Improving Education and Health for Deafblind People in Bangladesh" was funded by the Scottish Government during the period May 2013- March 2017. The objective was to improve education and health of children and youth with deaf blindness in fifteen districts of Bangladesh and in Dhaka city. The project targeted the most marginalised individuals and families and reached out to people with deaf blindness and family members who are indirectly affected. The project was managed and implemented by a consortium of organisations which comprised of Sense Scotland, Sense International (SI)-UK, Sense International India (SII), Centre for Disability in Development (CDD) and 15 in-country implementation partners.

Sutra Consulting undertook the final evaluation of the programme with the objective of studying the impact and informing local stakeholders and funders about achievements and results as well as evaluating the overall change experienced over the course of implementation. The evaluation also assessed the extent to which the project represented value for money in its efforts to deliver results, documented lessons learnt and made recommendations for future projects and strategy.

The UNDP Access to Justice for Marginalised People or the A2J Project was in its second phase and over a period of four years endeavoured to address some of the pertinent issues relating to the justice sector in India. It was a collaborative effort between the UNDP and the Department of Justice, Government of India and comprised of multiple components including legal research and evidence gathering to strengthen policy, systematic analysis of data on crucial aspects of the judiciary to influence policy, strengthening of the justice delivery through capacity building of Legal Aid Services, imparting legal literacy through strategic institutional partnerships, conducting innovative pilots to raise legal awareness and generate demand from the grassroots. The project had a special focus on working with marginalized groups belonging to Dalit and Adivasi communities, women and children.

Sutra Consulting was engaged for conducting a final evaluation of the project with a view to evaluate results and impact with a focus on sustainability, identify practices that could be taken forward in the next phase for replication and scaled up, document success stories, develop a basis for decision making in the next phase and lay down a roadmap for future interventions. Our team of legal and social development experts developed innovative and strategic recommendations that aided strong grounding of future phases of the project.

World Development Report on Gender Equality and Development as well as country policy dialogues and programs of the World Bank were seeking inputs through studies to inform about gender differences in making economic choices. The programme aimed at capturing experiences and views of women and men in making important economic decisions for living and the gender norms surrounding these decisions and the emerging pattern of changes in these norms.

Sutra Consulting provided insights through its qualitative study undertaken in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh, on gender differences in making economic choices in India. The team of experts skilfully highlighted subjective views of men and women, experiences with making key economic decisions, and to understand the gender norms surrounding these choices such as expansion of educational opportunities and changes in economic opportunities among others. Through work of the team the synthesis report was largely able to provide insights on whether communities are progressing towards greater gender equality in all spheres of life, difference in perceived equality across urban and rural communities, influence of education and greater cultural exposure, sharing with other modern societies on gender norms; increased support role of women on economic activities of families and discriminations faced by women. Our input along with cases from other countries were taken in preparation of World Development Report on Gender Report by the World Bank.

Women's helplines in 37 districts of Bihar have been functional for the several years and have reached out to several women who have required it's services. This facility was strengthened under DFID SWASTH Programme. The Redressal processes of the women's helpline had led to desirable outcomes for women and their families. The Programme strengthened operational issues as well as strategic directions.

Sutra Consulting was engaged in conducting outcome assessment of Women's Helpline strengthened under the SWASTH programme in Bihar. The team of experts assessed the functionalities of the helplines and individual socio-cultural and health outcomes for the women victims who accessed the helpline, observed the progress made by the helplines in achieving favourable outcomes for women and the support received by the victim and the families in resolving the issues, recorded various achievements, gaps and identified ways for effective and efficient ways for preventing violence, suggested ways in which the processes can be improved and strengthened further, cases can be managed better to improve outcomes as well outreach of the helplines including public awareness and support the government to plan and update its Strategy and Operational Plan to addressing gender violence.