Conceptualizing a Hybrid Framework to Help Improve Gender Outcomes in Water, Sanitation and Hygiene Programs in India

Developing and managing water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) programs in a sustainable manner contributes to gender equity by improving men’s and women’s access to services and benefits. A gender-sensitive approach to ensure equity in WASH programs can achieve positive outcomes including participatory decision making, empowerment of women, and sustainable programs. Gender analysis frameworks have a long history in development practice to guide strengthened gender outcomes, and opportunities exist to learn from such frameworks to support implementation of WASH programs in developing countries, including India. This paper reviews seven well-established gender analysis frameworks from the Indian WASH context vis-à-vis six key categories, viewed as critical components to gender outcomes and vital to the sustained success of WASH programs, to develop an improved compilation, referred to as the hybrid framework. The hybrid framework combines the strengths of the seven previously established frameworks for optimizing gender outcomes and aims to identify the opportunities for both men and women to shape WASH programs to meet their intended gender and equity objectives. Lastly, this newly developed framework provides a potential platform for local-level processes to use a comprehensive set of quantitative and qualitative indicators under each of the developed six categories provided further field testing and appropriate modification.