3. UN-HABITAT's roles and responsibilities among staff and management

Equally important to any policy document, aside from the goals themselves, are the owners of and decision-makers behind the document. In this case the relevant questions to be addressed by UN-HABITAT's Gender Policy would be the following:

1. Who is accountable and responsible for the implementation of the Policy?
2. Who will provide support to the process of gender mainstreaming?
3. Who is the Gender Policy written for?
4. Who will benefit from it?

Outlining the stakeholders of the policy document makes them visible to the user and therefore accountable to the objectives of the document. A policy document without a known owner is not likely to have an impact or be firmly founded in the organisation. On the other hand a policy document that openly identifies the responsibilities and roles of diverse stakeholders will be more useful and have a larger impact. This section of the Gender Policy will therefore outline the responsible and relevant stakeholders of UN-HABITAT.

3.1 Who is accountable and responsible for the implementation of the Policy?

The responsibility for the UN-HABITAT's Gender Policy is at the highest level of management within the Programme, that is the Executive Director (ED) of UN-HABITAT. The ED of UN-HABITAT will always be ultimately accountable for the end result of the Programme's work as well as its policy decisions, and the implementation of the Gender Policy by UN-HABITAT.

However, as the overall owner of the Gender Policy, the ED will not be able to implement the direct demands of the policy. In every day work, the responsibilities outlined in the policy will therefore be delegated according to the structure of the Programme. Therefore, the Senior Management is responsible for gender mainstreaming in their specific Branches and Divisions.

This system of delegation will be followed throughout the Programme and in the day-to-day work of the staff acknowledging the Gender Policy in the overall framework of the Habitat Agenda. This implies that the ED, together with the Senior Management, has the overall responsibility to ensure that UN-HABITAT's Gender Policy is implemented, and they are accountable for the outreach and impact of its objectives. However, the professional staff of the Programme must be responsible for the direct implementation of the policy document in their day-to-day work and activities.

3.2 Who will provide support to the process of gender mainstreaming?

To support staff in implementing the objectives of the Gender Policy, the Gender Policy Unit (GPU) has been established with the aim of building capacity and strengthening awareness within the Programme. The gender specialists within the GPU will provide support to all levels of the Programme in order to enable a better understanding of and attaining the Gender Policy objectives.

Another support function within the Programme is the Gender Task Force (GTF), consisting of gender focal points from all branches and divisions within UN-HABITAT, including the four regional offices. The members meet on a regular basis to discuss and develop strategies and institutional mechanisms for gender mainstreaming within UN-HABITAT. The conveyor of the task force, elected by the GTF takes part in Senior Management Board (SMB) meetings in order to incorporate a gender perspective in the decision-making and the procedures at this level. The GTF is also responsible for assessing gender mainstreaming work within the Programme on a yearly basis.

3.3 Who is the Gender Policy written for?

The policy is designed to be used by all professional staff and management in their everyday work as a reference for planning, decision-making and implementation of interventions.

The identified implementers of the Gender Policy, UN-HABITAT's staff and management, are the identified target group as they are crucial in the implementation of the policy objectives, as the agents of gender mainstreaming in UN-HABITAT's work. This includes Senior Managers, middle managers and the professional staff within UN-HABITAT.

As such, the UN-HABITAT staff and management must be viewed as the primary stakeholders of the policy document. The secondary stakeholders, of the Gender Policy, are the numbers of beneficiaries for programmes and projects implemented by UN-HABITAT. These include the women and men in countries affected by UN-HABITAT's operational activities.

3.4 Who will benefit from the Gender Policy?

The overall target group of the Gender Policy are the stakeholders of UN-HABITAT's activities, or the women and men among partners and within Member States. This includes the beneficiaries of programmes and projects, partners such as institutions and NGO's and the government bodies with whom the UN-HABITAT collaborates.

This therefore includes a large number of people and bodies which should all be taken into account in all planning, decision-making and implementation of activities. To be able to reach this group it is crucial that implementers, e.g. staff and management, use the policy in their work to reach the end users or beneficiaries. This implies that these groups of beneficiaries are always kept in mind and analysed from a gender perspective at all levels in implementing the Habitat Agenda.

3.5 Partners and Resources

UN-HABITAT should always aim to implement the Gender Policy in collaboration with external partners from civil society. This includes NGO's, community based organisations and other groups active in the area of human settlements development and gender mainstreaming/women's rights. Staff and management are advised to consult with women's movement and similar groups on a regular basis in their implementation of the Habitat Agenda. Civil society should have a clear entry point in participating and giving inputs to UN-HABITAT's interventions. (See UN-HABITAT's Partnership Policy for more detailed presentation of the partners, roles and responsibility)

3.6 Stakeholders and Beneficiaries

The secondary stakeholders of the Gender Policy, as was stated above, are the beneficiaries of the implementation of the Habitat Agenda. These stakeholders must be visible and their presence articulated in all programme and project planning for UN-HABITAT to be aware of gender differences.