FINAL REPORT EVALUATION OF YSBS INFRASTRUCTURE PROJECT FROM GENDER PERSPECTIVE

Erlinda M Panisales

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Findings

This section is presented based on key issues to be addressed by this evaluation. The

analysis is focused on the degree of social (relations between different groups and

community groups including power relations) and gender (different roles and

relations between men and women) inclusiveness of the infrastructure development

projects by YSBS coupled with the indicators used in gender mainstreaming.

Relevance, analyzes the extent to which the objectives of a development

intervention are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, global

priorities and donors’ policies. Effectiveness, discusses the extent to which the

development intervention’s objectives were achieved, or are expected to be

achieved, taking into account their relative importance. This analyzes the projects’

effects to the marginalized groups, men and women. Efficiency, measures the extent

the implemented activities yield project results and whether the means of the project

have been efficiently transformed through activities into various project results.

Impacts, are permanent changes in the lives of the targeted groups: attitude,

behavior, economic, social, political capabilities and skills achieved through a

sequence of effects resulting from different activities initiated by the project. What

and how the infrastructure projects impacted differently the marginalized groups,

men and women. Sustainability, the continuation of benefits from a development

intervention after major development assistance has been completed. The

probability of continued long-term benefits and the resilience to risk of the net

benefit flows over time.

1.1. Relevance

The infrastructure projects’ relevance from a gender perspective is highly relevant

considering the project context. It was found that YSBS targeted and worked in

remote, poorly developed villages and inaccessible by land transportation (in line

with the CRS assessment criteria being used) because road and bridges

infrastructure do not exist rather muddy roads which are almost not passable

especially during rainy season. Other than roads and bridges, dikes and canals were

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constructed in flood prone areas to control water flow and floods that occurs every

year damaging rice plants and flooding residential land and houses.

The projects are highly social inclusive as they responded to the needs of the poor.

Village population participate to, has access to, and control over the village project’s

planning and implementation processes (been part of approval procedures). Village

officials, community leaders, leaders from different religions and residents both men

and women (in some villages) hold community meetings for the planning and

implementation (construction) of the infrastructures as well as their maintenance.

Benefits from the varied constructed infrastructures also vary between men, women

and children.

The infrastructure project by YSBS is social and gender inclusive. While at the

planning stage; analysis of what and how will the poor, men and women get benefit

and be affected differently, negatively and positively by the infrastructure was not

established, however, this evaluation confirmed that infrastructure development

created impacts in different aspects in the lives of the poor and marginalized groups;

as well as to men and women differently including children. One of them is impact

in the economy of the poor. As often heard from mothers from poor families saying

“Before our children cry asking for some food to eat, now they cry if we ask them to

eat”.

From a right’s perspective, villages’ population is poor because they are deprived of

their basic human rights including their right to infrastructure development

(structural poverty). While infrastructure development is a responsibility of the

government, the lack of political will to deliver services to the poor has been the

primary reason. The local government’s policy and practice in services delivery is

complicated by the complexity in budget allocation and setting development

activities priorities. The role and work of YSBS in infrastructure development is

still and will be relevant unless local government’s development policies and

practice in delivery of services change towards and prioritizing the needs of the

marginalized groups, men and women. Program direction of the local government

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concerning roads in addition is focused on roads classified as district roads/jalan-

jalan kabupaten not village roads.

Gender policy approach to infrastructure by the government is gender neutral using

understanding of gender that infrastructure projects benefit both genders effectively.

Kampung Laut is one the areas where YSBS is having successful work. The

constructed road (over and over due to land condition) is the only road infrastructure

that opened the village from isolation; and drainage1 and dikes creating huge area of

farm lands. 2Clean water however is still a problem.

1.2. Outcomes and Impacts

Logically, as infrastructure differs, outcomes and impact also differed.

Transportation infrastructure in general improved village population mobility and

village accessibility regardless of any socio – economic stratification and status.

Improved mobility and accessibility more importantly created changes in many

aspects of the lives of the poor both men and women; similarly and differently.

Below are changes in lives of the village population because of roads and bridges

construction that facilitated easier movement and transport.

Social, family ties in Indonesian is very strong, tradition of mutual family

visits to relatives and friends became more frequent. Other than usual visits,

wedding, baptism, circumcision of young boys are but some of the family

gatherings added by family arisan and reunions. Furthermore, community

activities of both men (village meetings for instance) and women

(neighborhood and villages arisans) became more active.

Access to public services like health (either to posyandu/integrated health

post for children under 5 and pregnant women, or community health centers

and hospitals) and education was facilitated. It was said that before the road

was not passable by public transport and motorbikes, sick residents and

1 More appropriate to be called canal, from the point of view of its function. The canal flows the mud from the river and channeled to flooded rice farms to increase farmland level. 2Also in other villages visited like Bringkeng and surrounding villages

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pregnant women hardly access health services. Stories of death on the way

to the health institutions are told. Children do have to wake up very early in

the morning to take a long walk to school hand carrying their shoes. They

have to struggle to overcome physical exhaustion to be attentive to their

class.

House condition also is improving now that they can build their houses

anytime and more economical compared before that they can only build

houses (part by part) only during dry season due to difficulty of transporting

materials. Correspondingly, bricks and roof tiles businesses in the village

also are flourishing.

Economic, improving economy from old and new economic activities where

women engaged into. A number of new economic activities emerged in the

villages like, new additional variety stores, food snack processing among

others from cassava, banana, and sukun. Old ones are developing like variety

store that sells daily households commodity needs.

Box 1. Increased Income Ibu Turmini and her variety store

Ibu Turmini is a resident of Kedungwaras, Bantarsari sub – district. She has 3 children

and her husband is a farmer. She has a variety store in front of her home long before the

village road was constructed. To buy commodities for her to sell in the village, she go to

Gandrung market that takes her 2 – 3 hours to get to the market passing through clay

muddy road. She cannot buy all she wants because of the difficulty to carry heavy load

going back home. Her income is too little even if she sell her goods at the higher price.

Significant changes happened now having the road constructed. She can go to Gandrung

market anytime that only takes her less than 1 hour with the public transport. Can buy as

much as she can, can sell her products in a lower price to the neighborhood and her

variety store asset increased three times after one year which she maintains until now.

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For men whose economic activity and main source of income is farming,

they do not have to bring their products to the market or to middlemen

(pengepul/tengkulak) wherein they do not have any control over the price of

their own products. It is the middle men who come now to the village to get

the farm products like bananas, coconut, rice paddy, etc. and farmers have

relatively higher bargaining position to determine the price of farm products.

Women are engaged in red sugar making in majority of the villages visited.

Before they hardly could carry maximum of 10 kilograms to the market and

not all are sold. The same changes experienced by women where middlemen

pick – up their products at their homes.

Cultural, the spirit of helping one another (gotong royong) and cohesion is

strengthened in the process of planning, building/road hardening and

maintenance of the infrastructure.

Political, the village population are involved and consulted by village

officials in the planning of infrastructure. The village officials and

population with YSBS are working together in the spirit of trust. Pride

among residents that they are key actors to infrastructure development also

developed.

Environment, quite observable in the dam’s mad, canals, and dike’s

infrastructures.

Dikes were built to control flow of water and flood. Dikes which are constructed

protect residents’ houses and rice farms from floods. In the village of Bringkeng,

Kawunganten sub – district was built an almost 3 kilometer dike. The village

experience flood (houses and rice farms) every year during raining season. The

total area of farmland that was flooded every rainy season is around 351

hectares and tens of houses near the dike. Out of the total area, around 270

hectares are saved and residents’ houses are freed from flood all throughout the

year. Around 80 hectares are still affected by flood but not as serious as before.

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Dam’s mud site was before a swampy area. During rainy season water

overflows as the culverts were too small. The swampy area was tilled by farmers

and planted with rice and is very fertile. The total area of the dam now is 125

hectares. Because of the dam, ground water deposit is increasing. Before the

dam, ground water depth is about 14 – 15 meters compared to now of 6 – 7

meters. Other than this, hundreds of hectares of rice farms were irrigated by

water from the dam. Residents who till the formerly swampy land that became

the dam area shifted from farming to fishing – raising fish through fish pens

(keramba). Around 200 former farmers have keramba in the dam. The farmer

interviewed said that he ones get hold of accumulated income of Rp150 mio in a

year.

Men are principally responsible in fish culture and women assist their husbands

in feeding fish and mainly doing the household chores.

Box 1. Improved Family Income From rice farming to fish culture

Mr Suroto, a resident of Rawabendungan area, in the village of Mertasinga, North

Cilapcap sub – district. He has 4 children and his wife is at present (almost 3 years)

working as domestic helper in Saudi Arabia. He was a farmer cultivating a small part of

the swampy land before the dam was constructed in 1988. His harvest which is less than

100 kilograms is for consumption. He is also raising cow.

He has keramba of about 500 m2 (divided in small pens) from the Central Java

governor’s project only in 2009. He cultivates Mujair fish species called which can be

harvested anytime. In one pen alone can harvests up to 500 kilograms sold (buyers

coming in the village) at the price of Rp 14,000/kilogram.

From the income he had from keramba, he bought an additional head of cow and built 12

rooms (rumah petak) for rent in his land in Jakarta. He feel more relax, saying that fish

culture is not a heavy job, and need one time capital. He is no more worried of where to

get the money for education of his children and health cost in times of sickness and other

emergencies.

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In Panikel alone, Kampung Laut, one can see huge area (more than a thousand of

hectares) that becoming rice farmlands from process of sedimentation. In parts

where farmlands are under water during rainy season, canals were built. A single

canal (600 meters long) is successful in reclaiming more than 10 hectares land

potential for rice farming every year. 3In Plindukan, also in Panikel, there are 97

hectares of rice field already cultivated before the canal construction. After 6 canals

were constructed in 2011, an additional land that could be planted with rice of

approximately 480 hectares was generated. It was observed that every canal can

cover swamp area of 80 hectares with the mud. In the first crop, yield per hectare

produce an average of 5 tons, with the average selling price of Rp. 4 million per ton.

So if we calculate the ratio of investment for each canal: 80 ha x 5 tons x Rp

4,000,000.00 - 70,000,000.00 = Rp.1.530.000.000, 00. Or with 6 canals equivalent

to Rp. 9,180,000,000.00 (about 9.2 billion rupiah), a remarkable achievement and

far exceeds the needs of the 62 families living there.

1.3. Effectiveness

When compared to the number of infrastructures targeted in each project, more

clearly the current phase (416-025-1014 ZG), YSBS exceeded the plan of 105 by

the end of 2013 to 138 to date. The total infrastructures constructed from period

2006 – to date numbered 268 and more than 50 small community projects from the

plan of 45.

YSBS strategy of road hardening has been effective in involving the local

government through other community focus programs like PNPM in smoothing the

hardened road compared to proposing a totally new infrastructure. Many villages

visited proposed and obtained projects from PNPM to asphalt roads hardened with

the support from YSBS.

The hardened roads constructed by YSBS are in general not friendly to pregnant

women.

3Bulletin Volume III, p .14

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Built dikes do not only function as dike but also used as roads by village residents.

Infrastructure became an entry point for other services to come into the villages like

electricity. Subsequent to electricity service, villages’ population access to

information also increased. They are informed of what is happening in the country

and the world. However, increased access to information also brought negative

change to their lifestyle and attitude --- consumerism.

6.4. Efficiency

The community contributes both land including trees in the land and labor or labor

alone if the infrastructure was built in a village land. The total amount per

infrastructure when computed, labor alone is almost equivalent to 75% of the cost of

an infrastructure. Men are dominantly the ones working. Gotong – royong is

arranged by the village officials through the heads of the sub – village depending on

the area the work is and also availability of materials. Women prepare and

voluntarily provide snacks and drinks in small village infrastructure constructions

and manage public kitchen (dapur umum) in relatively bigger ones.

YSBS coordinates with the local government to ensure that the supported

infrastructure project is not part of the local government infrastructure priorities

(also part of approval procedure).

6.5. Sustainability

Sustainability is looked into 2 aspects, the sustainability of the physical

infrastructure and the impacts in the lives of the people accounted to infrastructure

development. There is no specific structure for maintenance to ensure sustainability

of infrastructure formed at the village level after the construction. However, system

was put in place that differs from one village to the other. The system was based on

the potential of the village from the neighborhood environment (Lingkungan RT).

Every village has several neighborhoods. What are in practice that are identified

include:

Affordable voluntary contribution from each household are collected and

added to neighborhood funds used for road maintenance and repairs.

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Totally contributed by the residents particularly those that needs small repairs

and they worked together by gotong – royong. This also includes building

small canal beside the road particularly village gangs.

Use of Village funds from the government (ADD) amounting to Rp 30 mio

per where management is revolved per sub – village (dusun). If funds are not

used, usually allocated for other physical infrastructure including also roads.

Impacts in the lives of the people directly influenced by the infrastructure projects

are likely sustainable due to the following factors:

Established mode of transaction of selling products (farm and fish) by men

and women where the middlemen are the ones coming to the village.

More active involvement of village population to different village and

community activities that also strengthen cohesion, communication and

information exchange among them that strengthen pluralism.

Increased volume of commodities to be sold that correspondingly increased

income and access of neighbors for lower price of household commodities

near their homes.

The strategy of using infrastructure as entry point to holistic approach to

development.

2. Conclusion

While development that are taking place in the villages cannot be accounted solely

to infrastructure, more particular to roads and bridges that facilitated mobility and

accessibility, it is obvious that it is one of the contributing factors to the on – going

developments and positive changes happening in the villages. Specific to Panikel

village in Kampung Laut sub – district, the constructed road opened the village from

its isolation.

Infrastructures were built based on people’s capacity. The villages’ population

willingly and whole heartedly contributed resources they possess – land and

body/labor – in order to have infrastructure built. Men and women contributed in

different way.

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Socially, the spirit of gotong – royong/helping one another and cohesion among

village population at least at neighborhood level was revived and strengthened. In

addition, the feeling of ownership towards the built infrastructure is quite high

manifested by the willingness to contribute part of the resources they have which in

itself is limited.

Physical and economic costs especially for women in order for them to perform

their reproductive roles and for children to go to school clearly decreased. Economic

improvement, access to basic social services (education and health) followed

infrastructure development.

Control of the village population over the use of the infrastructure was found highly

dependent on the type of infrastructure especially roads. For instance, control on

the use of village roads connecting to other village (protocol) is likely very limited

to none compared to roads towards the interior and gangs. And so is their control

over the maintenance aspect.

There are evidences that the built infrastructures particularly dam and dikes have

undoubtedly improved the carrying capacity of the environment. Benefits are

derived directly and indirectly. Families living near the dam and dikes are now free

from seasonal flood, improved ground water deposits, and made hundreds of

hectares of farmlands arable which is crucial to food security.

Over- all, the infrastructure development is proven to be portal for community

development. Socio – economic development follows infrastructure development.

Expansion of resource base is on – going; economic status and condition of the

village population from old and new emerging economic activities are improving;

improving physical environment; increasing social cohesion regardless of economic

and religious backgrounds; and improved access to public services are evident. As

they are, it is obvious that rural infrastructure is likely contributive to the level of

achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

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However, although social inclusiveness in socio – economic aspects following

infrastructure development is apparent, it does not yet effect changes in the division

of gender roles and relations at the household and at the community level.

The experience of YSBS in implementing the infrastructure project makes one to

realize that gender equality and equity should be core values to over-all

development objective of poverty alleviation/reduction. That any development

initiative can only contribute to poverty alleviation if it is social inclusive (focus to

the poor segment of the population and other marginalized groups) as well as gender

inclusive (recognizes that men and women have different interests and needs) taking

into account that women constitutes 50% of every village population.

There is difference in the perception of the direction and fate of Kampung Laut

between YSBS, and the local government. To whatever direction will be, it will

affect thousands of people residing in the said sub – district. .

YSBS has rich experience in infrastructure development where other organizations

including the government can learn.

3. Recommendations

3.1. To YSBS

Gender Mainstreaming, to systematically mainstream gender in program

planning.

Infrastructure Development, both village and “multi-sectoral” infrastructure

development are still relevant. It is however quite strategic for YSBS to develop

an infrastructure project that is very selective which is focused more on

infrastructure that is integral part of possible effort pertaining to food security.

And to involve multi – discipline experts from different relevant institutions.

Knowledge Management, it is high time for YSBS to document her experience

in implementing infrastructure projects (as well as other programs) that can be

used as basis for formulating policy briefs for advocacy purposes, and as

document accessible through internet from which other organizations

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implementing the same types of projects may learn. MICD – UGM to take part

of this effort.

3.2. To Local Government of Cilacap

Capacity Building, in line with the policies on gender mainstreaming, to further

strengthen districts capacity on gender responsive planning and budgeting to

ensure that prioritized development activities in RKPD (District Development

Work Plan) provides benefits to both men and women and other marginalized

groups. The same with villages to ensure RKPDes (Village Development Work

Plan) is gender responsive. There is a need to train village office bearers and

representatives of different groups in the village on gender responsive planning

and budgeting.

Effective monitoring and evaluation of infrastructure activity to see the

benefits men and women derived from the activity and also how they impact to

both men and women.