The Quick Start Guide summarizes and provides a visual overview of the key issues and recommendations for incorporating gender dimensions into National Action Plans (NAP) for artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). The document is based on the detailed guidance presented in UNEP’s draft Guide on Incorporating Gender Dimensions into National Strategy Setting in the Context of Chemicals Management.
Gender mainstreaming refers to “the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programmes, in all areas and at all levels. It is a strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that women and men benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality.”
A gender-responsive National Action Plan (NAP) is a national plan on chemials management that includes gender aspects. Applying gender-responsive approaches to the development process of a NAP requires attention to gender throughout the iterative cycle of planning, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation. It also means consideration of gender issues in the crosscutting dimensions, including institutional arrangements, capacity development, financing and information sharing related to the NAP process, such as equal participation and influence in decision-making processes and equal access to financial resources and capacity-building for all genders.