Sex-disaggregated data need to be accurate and usable for in-depth analyses to support policy development and program planning and implementation. The government has increased its focus on gender equality and has made significant progress on gender data tracking and transparency. Although there are a few publicly available national resources, they lack qualitative information.
Ensuring the sustainability of skills development programs requires (i) continually upgrading training programs, modules, curricula, and trainers' skills; and (ii) maintaining and upgrading training equipment and facilities. All of these require considerable resources and can hardly be borne by the implementing institutions. Basic government support, along with resource mobilization, is important to sustain the quality and relevance of skills development programs.
The concerns of women and family members regarding their safety during travel and within the work environment—especially in jobs that involve migration, working on the shop floor, or extensive field visits—are barriers to hiring women. The challenges highlight the need for focused interventions, such as building women's confidence, providing self-defense training, and counseling family members.
Introducing new courses, updating existing ones based on market response, and strengthening quality assurance meant to increase workforce participation and improve employment prospects will enhance the relevance and effectiveness of the program.
Gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) mainstreaming in Nepal's Ministry of Public Infrastructure and Transport (MPIT) is challenging. The MPIT developed and approved the guidelines for GESI. However, operationalizing the guidelines in all ministry operations has been challenging, mainly because of the need to orient staff at different levels. The government's budget allocation for mainstreaming GESI ensures strong ownership, but the budget is not adequate for institutionalizing GESI in the transport sector.
The development partner assistance was ambitious. Its timeliness and the volume of ADB's Comprehensive Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic (CPRO) financial assistance were well-received by the government. However, this led to a rushed design and inadequate attention to monitoring of implementation, particularly regarding existing capacities to collect gender-disaggregated data in the absence of any existing digital social security systems.
Effective gender mainstreaming in infrastructure projects may be helped by the inclusion of community-based activities that foster women's participation. In this case, community-based disaster risk management and flexible training schedules proved effective.
Review of the gender action plan (GAP) should be done within a year from loan effectiveness to facilitate the enhancement of both the GAP and project implementation. GAP implementation in Viet Nam was challenged by the late recruitment of a gender consultant, which prevented the EA/IA from receiving timely capacity-building inputs and limited the opportunity of the project to improve its gender equality design and targets.
The lack of available data across government departments can be challenging especially during times of crisis. The government encountered difficulties in collecting sex-disaggregated data in some instances; making it difficult to understand how women and girls were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Disaggregation by employment and disability status was challenging as well. The sex-segregated data on testing capacity and incentive for health workers included in the completion report were proxies based on total beneficiaries and the male and female ratio among the healthcare work force.
The urgency of the lending produced outcomes that, while unavoidable, are nevertheless instructive. For example, target setting was difficult because the contours of the pandemic were fluid. Liaising with the government was also challenging. The timeline for initial response was tight, and ADB worked with a small number of government teams in the interest of speed. This concentrated approach to planning was complicated by the pandemic affecting government officials’ health and well-being personally.