2. UN-HABITAT's Gender Mainstreaming Approach Mainstreaming is established as the overall strategy for promoting and strengthening gender equality at the international level, through documents such as the Platform for Action adopted by the Member States at the United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing (1995). The mandate of mainstreaming in all interventions has been carried forward by a number of international and national policies, which all demand that attention, effort and resources are given to create a gender sensitive practice at all levels and in all sectors of society. 2.1 UN-HABITAT's 10 Gender Mainstreaming Principles UN bodies are all mandated to fulfil this demand for gender mainstreaming in all their activities within the context of the respective agencies. In related steering documents directly linked to the issue of gender mainstreaming in all UN activities and interventions, the basic principles of mainstreaming for UN bodies are outlined. Compiled, they amount to the following 10 principles for gender mainstreaming in UN-HABITAT's work: Initial definitions of issues/problems across all areas of the human settlement field should be done in such a manner that gender differences and disparities will be visible and diagnosed. Assumptions that human settlement development is neutral from a gender perspective should never be made. Gender analysis should always be carried out in both recommendations to policy and planning as well as in operational areas of work before implementation and decisions are made by UN-HABITAT. Systematic use of gender analysis, sex-dissagregated data and commissioning of sector-specific gender studies and surveys are required for all areas of UN-HABITAT's activity. Responsibility for implementing the mainstreaming strategy is system-wide, and rests at the highest level within the agency, and its departments; and adequate accountability mechanisms for monitoring progress in UN-HABITAT's interventions need to be established within each and every area of work. The staff and management are also to be committed to promote and ensure a gender perspective in their collaboration with partners and other agencies. Political will from the Senior Management by providing competent leadership and enabling allocation of adequate resources for gender mainstreaming, including necessary additional financial and human resources in the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. Gender mainstreaming requires that efforts be made to broaden women's equitable participation at all levels of decision-making within the human settlement field. In all UN-HABITAT's interventions care will be taken to ensure that women are consulted equally with men, and that women are involved in projects and programmes, decision-making processes on an equal basis with men. UN-HABITAT should also ensure that assessments are made in every case of the likely impact of the activity on gender equality in the community served. Mainstreaming does not replace the need for targeted, women-specific policies and programmes, and positive legislation, nor does it do away with the need for gender units or focal points. A specific gender mainstreaming strategy for UN-HABITAT should be formulated, and priorities for its interventions established within every branch and unit within the Programme. Provision of training to all personnel at UN-HABITAT headquarters and in the field is essential, as well as appropriate follow-up in order to reach strengthening of competence and knowledge regarding gender mainstreaming and awareness for staff and management. The direct implications for UN-HABITAT in line with these 10 principles will be outlined in much more detail in Habitat's Gender Mainstreaming Action Plan. However, these principles should be converted into acknowledged and visible objectives for the work of each and every staff member within UN-HABITAT. 2.2 Accountability Mechanisms Equally important to developing and promoting mechanisms and approaches for gender mainstreaming, is to make these mechanisms accountable within every phase of the work, from planning and decision-making to follow-up and evaluation. The staff and management of UN-HABITAT should be accountable for mainstreaming a gender perspective within all interventions. For this the Programme needs to develop accountability mechanisms that will routinely review the work and ensure that gender mainstreaming is implemented. Project Review Committee -- (PRC) This committee is already installed and working in UN-HABITAT reviewing projects and programmes with a budget of US$100,000 to give input and request clarification before the final decision-making on the further implementation is done. A Terms of Reference for including gender components in evaluating proposals has been developed. Indicators and Benchmarks Indicators to measure the outputs of programmes and projects should always be developed in programmes and projects in order to be able to follow-up and review their impact on gender equality. These should include both quantitative as well as qualitative data from the operational activities and should routinely be followed up in the framework of programmes and projects. This aspect is also checked at the PRC. Follow-up and Monitoring Institutionalised follow-up and monitoring linked to the above mechanism (the indicators and benchmarks) should be planned for all programmes and projects to review the on- going operational activities and their impact on women and men. Management Accountability Management of divisions, branches and units should institutionalise mechanisms in their respective areas of responsibilities, to ensure that gender mainstreaming is implemented through using a gender perspective and that women's empowerment and participation is taken into consideration in all interventions. This could be done through checklists, branch/division specific Projects Review Committees and institutionalised follow-up mechanisms integrated already at the planning stage of activities.