This module is going to look at how to make GIA business as usual. First of all, a GIA is not the responsibility of one person or department alone. It is everyone's role and should be embedded in business as usual. For this to work, however, organisational systems and structures need to be established. We like to think of two parallel processes going on here, the capacity to practically undertake a GIA, and so, thinking carefully about what it is you need to do to empower your workforce to understand and develop their capacity to practically undertake GIA in their work. Secondly, you need to think about the process by which you think about GIAs being embedded into your existing business processes to make sure that as you conduct GIAs, it becomes business as usual.
So, what is needed for Gender Impact Assessment to work well? Experiences from other countries have shown that quality GIA frameworks and tools, while critical to the embedding process, are not sufficient to ensure that a GIA is effectively embedded across an organisation. So, beyond the tool itself, what are the broader environmental instructional supports needed? Global evidence has identified five interconnected factors which play a key role in successfully embedding GIA into organisational processes.
First up we have leadership and commitment to GIA. Leadership and ownership of the GIA process is integral to successfully embedding it across your organisation. This requires buy in and also accountability at management levels, as well as ownership and commitment from staff across the whole organisation. You may want to think about combining a top down and bottom-up approach to embedding GIA, because this can be a highly effective strategy. So, thinking about the strategies to build leadership buy in and accountability. And also thinking about how you can have strategies to support staff commitment, and also ownership of the program. It may be useful to think about your strategies for building buy in and commitment in two ways. Firstly, those strategies which make the case for investment in GIA and build understanding of the importance of it. And secondly, those strategies which support your organisation to understand the GIA process and to develop the necessary knowledge and skills to undertake GIAs. Thinking about making the case for the importance of GIAs, it's easy to see that if leadership and staff across the organisation understand the benefits of GIA, they are more likely to be invested in the process, and therefore allocate resources to support delivery. We also want to think about getting everyone on the same page and understanding their GIA obligations. So, understanding what a GIA is hoping to achieve, the steps in the process, and the mandatory nature of the obligations, is important to foster leadership buy in and staff ownership and commitment of the GIA process. There's lots of different ways you could think about doing this and contextually this will differ from organisation to organisation, but some examples of actions you could take include training, leadership, but also all of your staff pool. Considering making GIA a part of everyone's job, potentially through key performance indicators or including GIA obligations in job descriptions. You could include GIA in the mandate of key committees, you could develop numerous communications products. You could also include it as a regular agenda item at meetings, particularly at departmental or leadership level.
Secondly, we have embedding into existing business processes and policy development. Looking at how you can embed GIA into your existing systems and processes is a strategic use of your time and resources. It can lead to GIA becoming more quickly, a business-as-usual process. It can also result in increased buy in and ownership of the GIA process, if these new obligations are not seen as too onerous or creating additional workload implications. So having a think about where this can sit in your context is really important. Ask yourself if there's any guidance or checklists for staff developing new policies or designing new programs and services that already exist, and maybe could these be amended to include or trigger a GIA. Or do you perhaps have a Policy Governance Committee, or similar mechanism which can incorporate GIA into their process?
The third aspect of the enabling environment is thinking about systems of prioritising and decision making. So, when we do a GIA there are several decisions which need to be made during those early stages of a process. This includes determining which GIAs you will prioritise, but also in your pilot phase, and also to think about how you will determine which policies, programs and services require a GIA in the first place. So, developing a clear process for making these decisions and providing tools to support their implementation is really critical. You might like to think about a decision-making matrix, a checklist or a flow chart to help you make these decisions and priorities, as well as thinking about who has sign off or input in making decisions and establishing your priorities as well.
Fourth, we have thinking about ongoing resources, training, and guidance. Embedding a GIA requires a long-term strategy to support staff and leadership to progress this work. So, it's clearly understandable to see that one off training will provide initial support to the staff but it won't create the long-term change that's needed to embed GIA in your organisation. The GIA process is new to everyone and working with others in your sector to share learning, tools and good practices can maximise your time and resources. Some things to think about in this area might be joining existing communities of practice or working groups to support this collaboration, potentially, you may need to establish new ones. As you consider some longer-term actions, you may find it useful to think about whether or not you can introduce a process so that a gender lens is applied to all budgetary decision making. Do you have a regular training program for staff, onboarding perhaps? Could this be adapted to include GIA, or could you create a new module for your staff? How could you collaborate with other organisations in your sector to access ongoing resources and guidance? Could you create a resource hub for your organisation where people could find case studies and other relevant info for their understanding?
The fifth aspect of the enabling environment is those mechanisms for accountability and monitoring. Having clear mechanisms for accountability and monitoring is important to ensure that everyone is playing their role in the GIA process. Thinking about the accountability mechanisms that you currently use in your organisation; you may see that there's some opportunity to embed GIA into these or to adapt to them. So, do you already have a working group for inclusion and diversity, a risk committee, a working advisory group to support your Reconciliation Action Plan, or accessibility action plans and so forth? How do you currently monitor compliance with your policies or the impact of your services and programs? Could GIA be embedded or integrated into these? What reporting mechanisms to senior management and the board are in place, and can you include GIA in these mechanisms? What are your current evaluation practices and how do staff already reflect and report on impact? So, thinking carefully about whether or not you can adapt any of these mechanisms to support and accountability in your GIA process is going to be really critical for your success. Maybe you need to think about creating additional mechanisms as well. It's also really important not to forget the importance of good record keeping, you need this to be established when the time comes to report on your progress.
In the online trainings we took a moment to enter breakout discussion groups to discuss these discussion points. You may like to take a moment now to do that with your colleagues and think a little bit about your contexts, and where it is you might need to build up your aspects of the enabling environment. So, take a moment to discuss, maybe some of those strategies that you could do to help build your different areas of the enabling environment where you need the most focus. Think about how you could share examples of work that you've already done that have worked well with each other and think about what kinds of resistance you might encounter and how you might counteract that.
Briefly just taking a moment to think about engaging your colleagues in GIA. Thinking about buy in and how vital it is for the success of a GIA, just briefly, highlighting the steps for success. Think about how it is you're going to make the case for change, how you're going to get everyone on the same page, and how you're going to track progress and impact. Again, you might want to discuss with your colleagues, what are the biggest challenges for you in getting buy in or embedding GIA in your organisation? And having to think carefully about what strategies might work to overcome these challenges.
There are a number of strategies for engaging colleagues and management in this GIA process. You can think about further training, whether as a whole organisation or just your management level, and perhaps thinking about getting this training tailored to different needs and different responsibilities. Thinking about what communications strategies you might be able to employ to get the message out there, thinking about how to embed it into existing systems. Perhaps you could think about embedding into strategic plans. There's also tailored support available from the panel of providers which you can find on the Commission's website. This is a way to engage a particular provider who can help tailor support for you and for your context. If you encounter resistance or backlash, another good resource is the (En)countering resistance: strategies to respond to resistance to gender equality initiatives by Vic Health.
So, to sum up, thinking about how to embed GIA is going to be really important for the success of this process in your organisation, thinking about what framework you might have and want to adopt for making decisions on when to do a GIA. Thinking about your systems of record keeping will be really important particularly when it comes to your progress reports. Thinking about those clear governance structures, and who has different roles and responsibilities and that everyone knows them, thinking about linking and referencing GIA into key strategy and policy documents, And making sure that you have adequate resources allocated for GIA.
Updated