Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis

Creating an INclusive and TrAnsformative youth-Led climate Action Movement (CINTALAM)
Save the Children Thailand

1. Introduction: CINTALAM

With financial support from the European Union, Save the Children (Thailand) Foundation launched the CINTALAM project in February 2024. The project aims to enhance resilience, adaptation, and mitigation capacity in the three Southern Border Provinces of Thailand to address climate change and environmental degradation. The project will deliver on two of the priorities: 1) enhancing CSOs’ participation in tackling climate change, fighting against climate change skepticism, and raising awareness of the impacts of climate change and global warming for the environment and people’s lives, and 2) enhancing the voice of women and girls and/or youth to better engage in social, economic, and environmental policy-making and implementation.
 

At the specific objective level, CINTALAM will increase engagement of CSOs and young people in all their diversity in collaborative actions to tackle climate change and other environmental challenges from a gender-responsive approach.

Output 1: Improved technical knowledge and tools of CSOs and other local partners to engage children and youth, especially women, in awareness raising and climate action activities.

Output 2: Increased opportunities for children and youth, especially women, to develop and implement gender-responsive solutions related to climate change, environmental education and/or resilient livelihood innovations.

Output 3: Strengthened exchange and networking spaces between CSOs, Local Authorities and youth-led initiatives on gender sensitive climate justice and action.

2. Background and Context

Since 2004, Thailand’s Deep South has seen a resurgence of ethno-nationalist conflict between Thai Buddhists and Patani-Malays. The drivers of this conflict are rooted in the grievances of Patani-Malays stemming from perceived systematic state discrimination as well as economic inequities such as a lack of youth opportunities. Creating an INclusive and TrAnsformative youth-Led climate Action Movement (CINTALAM), Cinta Alam meaning ‘love for nature’ in the local Kelantan-Pattani Malay language,
has been designed by Save the Children Thailand (SCT) and co-applicant Green South Foundation (GSF) using a participatory approach with stakeholders in Pattani and around the Deep South of Thailand (DST). The action aims to enhance the capacity of civil service organizations (CSOs) in Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla Provinces to support youth in the region to take meaningful climate action.
 

DST faces many climate-related issues which negatively affect the biodiversity of the region and livelihoods of its residents. These include more frequent monsoons during the wet season causing annual floods, and more frequent droughts during the dry season impacting crop production, agricultural livelihoods and food access. Mismanagement of household and commercial waste and trash build-up along beaches and in bodies of water in the region are affecting water quality and causing a decline in fish populations, thus requiring fishermen to travel farther to find adequate fish. This has even caused workers to give up fishing as a livelihood and migrate from the region.
Recommendations identified during a series of consultations with various stakeholders recommended that SC act as a liaison between educational and vocational institutions in DST and children to facilitate opportunities for children to engage on environmental issues, gain green skills, and raise awareness on climate change, especially those living in areas prone to climate-related disasters.
The ‘Impact Assessment of climate change and environmental degradation on children in Thailand’ asserted that Southern Thailand and particularly Narathiwat and Songkhla are two of the areas of Thailand where climate change poses the greatest risk and children will continue to be the most vulnerable to these effects. The paper recommended raising awareness among children about climate change and noted the need for more gender and child-sensitive climate policies.

3. Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Analysis

The GESI analysis described in this document builds on Save the Children’s Gender and Power (GAP) Analysis Guidance, a type of action research that examines power relations, explores gender inequalities and intersecting systems of oppression. GAP analysis is used to identify and analyse inequalities, break down barriers to equitable and meaningful participation, and advance gender equality and social justice. SC’s GAP Analysis uses an intersectional approach, is grounded in human rights and the understanding that intersecting inequalities are key barriers that prevent children, their families, and communities from fully exercising their rights. Gender and social inclusion analysis helps to identify and promote entry points, policies and opportunities for enhancing gender equality and social inclusion in CINTALAM, including multiple causes of vulnerability, including gender inequality and other determinants of social exclusion such as age, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic status, marital status, religion. 

 Primary Research Questions:

• How are gender and/or social inequalities (including those based on other determinants of social exclusion such as age, ethnicity, disability, socio-economic status, marital status, religion) exacerbated by climate change? What are the impacts of increased inequality on women and other historically marginalized groups (e.g., children and adults with diverse SOGIESC)? What are the gender and/or social inequalities in gender and climate change response efforts?
• What are the key barriers and opportunities for women in all diversity, women leaders and women-led CSOs in improving the effectiveness of their climate solutions?
• What are the technical assistance and capacity building needs and opportunities for women in all diversity, women leaders and women-led CSOs working on climate justice (i.e. change impacts, environmental degradation and response efforts)?

Domains of Analysis:

Research questions will be examined through the following domains of analysis.

1. Laws, Policies, Regulations, and Institutional Practices

• To what extent do laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices promote gender equality and equal protections?
• Do laws, policies, regulations, and institutional practices have explicit or inexplicit biases that impact women, women’s leadership/organizations, or particular groups of women? What are the legal barriers for women’s leadership in the climate justice space including response efforts?(Considering women in all diversity, e.g., lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer women, women with disabilities, women from religious/ethnic minorities, stateless women)
• How do the laws and policies affect the vulnerability of individuals and groups to climate change impacts?

2. Cultural Norms and Beliefs

• What are commonly held beliefs, perceptions, and stereotypes related to gender roles and responsibilities including around women and other marginalize group’s participation in climate change work? What gender norms, beliefs, and practices are widely accepted or shunned? How are they related to intersecting power differentials like gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, disability, or indigeneity?
• To what extent are social norms and beliefs upheld by community and societal institutions (e.g., schools, health systems, and governance structures)?  Who promotes popular beliefs, norms, or practices? Who is most impacted? What are the consequences of violating social norms for different groups?
• How are these roles and responsibilities being, or projected to be, affected by climate change impacts? What limitations do social norms or beliefs about the roles of women and women-led groups place on their engagement and leadership in climate justice work? What can and should be done to remove barriers for women’s leadership in climate justice? 

3. Gender Roles, Responsibilities and Time Use:

• What is the gendered division of labor in the project footprint area and/or the countries where the project operates? How are these being, or projected to be, affected by climate change impacts and response efforts?
• How do gender roles and responsibilities, inside and outside the home, impact women’s opportunities for leadership in climate justice? (Considering women in all diversity, e.g., lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer women, women with disabilities, women from religious/ethnic minorities, stateless women)
• What roles are anticipated to be played by different groups in the context of the project? What will these entail in terms of time commitment and need for mobility? What, if any, risks are associated with these roles and responsibilities? How can potential risks be mitigated for different groups?
• Why is gender and gender equality relevant to climate change, why important and how do gender and gender roles affect exposure to climate change consequences?

4. Access to and Control over Assets and Resources:

• What are the gendered barriers to the control over and the capacity to use resources—assets, income, education, social benefits, services, technology—and information necessary to be an active and productive participant and/or leader in society including CSOs? To be leaders in the climate justice space including response efforts? How is climate change affecting, or is projected to affect, access to these resources?
• How well can different groups in a society access and understand information sources related to change science and information? How are assets and resources needed to prepare for and respond to climate change including environmental disasters managed and controlled?

5. Patterns of Power and Decision-making:

• Who decides, influences, and exercises control over material, human, intellectual, and financial resources in the family, community and country? Why?
• To what extent do different people from underrepresented and marginalized communities participate in decision – making processes and in particular decisions on climate justice work and response efforts? Why?
• What are the constrains (social, cultural, economic, political) that restrict women and other marginalized groups’ active participation in household and community level decision – making processes including CSOs?
• What are the opportunities to promote the leadership of women and other marginalized groups in local governance/political systems and formal/informal institutions? What are potential risks associated with disrupting these patterns? How can these risks be mitigated?
• How can children, especially girls in all diversity, engage in environmental issues, gain green skills, and raise awareness on climate change or gender-responsive climate solutions (Considering children in all diversity, e.g., children with diverse SOGIESC, children with disabilities, children from religious/ethnic minorities, stateless children)

6. Safety, Dignity and Wellbeing:

• What is the link between climate change and gender-based violence? How is climate change exacerbating gender and social inequalities and the experience of gender-based violence among women and other historically marginalized groups?
• What are the safety considerations for women actors and leaders in the climate justice space (online and offline)? What safeguards does the project need to adopt for mitigating risks of online or offline GBV? (Considering women in all diversity, e.g., lesbian/bisexual/transgender/queer women, women with disabilities, women from religious/ethnic minorities, stateless women)
• How do governments, civil society organizations, communities, and others seek to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (online and offline)?

 Geographic Coverage:

Deep South Thailand: The research will focus in the targeted areas in which SCT and CINTALAM project partners will provide support on the identified three sampling sites in Deep South Thailand (Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat, and Songkhla Province) to conduct individual interviews and focus group discussions.
4. Methodology and Deliverables

S/GWI's Program Gender Analysis Guidance and Save the Children’s Gender and Power (GAP) Analysis Guidance will inform the design and implementation of the CINTALAM GESI Analysis.

Staffing:

In line with these guides, the Save the Children Thailand CINTALAM Project Coordinator, Gender Equality Advisor, Climate Change and Green skills Technical Advisor and Strategy Program quality and Impact Director will support and lead the GESI Analysis research team alongside research teams in Thailand.

Training and Policies:

• Complete SC’s GESI training and the mandatory Child Safeguarding Training for all staff, which outlines when and how to handle and report all safeguarding concerns including GBV referrals.
• Be informed of and sign SC’s safeguarding, non-discrimination, and anti-harassment, and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA) policies.
• Members of the research team who design the research tools and engage in the primary data collection and analysis will speak the same languages as the research participants (Thai).

Stakeholder Participation:

• GESI analysis team will adhere to ethical approaches that prioritize the welfare of research participants to ensure that respondents, exercise their autonomy and preserve their dignity.
• GESI analysis team will be committed to ethical collaboration, and mindful of the power dynamics and power differentials between the GESI research team and research participants.
• While designing the research methods and processes we will ensure that groups that have historically been marginalized are meaningfully and safely included and participating in research process.
• Save the Children will work in close partnership with local women led organizations in conducting GESI analysis.
• Save the Children and the GESI analysis team will be accountable for how the research is designed and how knowledge is generated and valued. We will challenge the hierarchy of knowledge which devalues the knowledge and experience of women, trans, non-binary and gender diverse people, and those who experience intersectional discrimination, such as women with disabilities. We will be mindful of power in research design, development of methodological approaches, data analysis and communicating results to inform programming for positive social change. 

Risk Assessment/Challenges:

• The GESI analysis will further investigate potentials risks and challenges related to project implementation and inform risk mitigation strategies and plans for both countries. The GESI Analysis team will adopt and use a reporting and referral protocol to ensure support to and referral of safeguarding and gender-based violence incidents.

Methods:

The analysis will be based on both primary and secondary data collection and analysis covering all of the domains of analysis and using an intersectional approach. Secondary sources will include academic articles and literature, existing gender/GESI/power analyses, relevant CSO, NGO and government reports, and Demographic and Health Surveys for each country. Primary data will be generated through consultative meetings with diverse stakeholders including women, women-led CSO members and leaders, and other marginalized groups in focus group discussions, and key informant interviews. Qualitative data collection tools will be tested and adapted for each DST context.

Work Plan:

Table below outlines following key steps in the GESI analysis process, as well as relevant deliverables and their timeline.

Key steps in the GESI analysis process:

Application Process

Submit expressions of interest that include:

• Consultant/organization name
• Skills and experience relevant to the consultancy
• Technical proposal outlining GESI analysis framework and methods, proposed timeframe, and workplan
• CVs and/or organizational capability statements
• Examples of similar studies conducted in the past
• Financial proposal, including budget, personnel allocation (role, number of days, daily rates, taxes and any other applicable costs)

Period of advertise: Until 20^th September 2024.

Contact person: nisfu.siribunlong@savethechildren.org