Gender and Waste Nexus: Experiences from Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal

Annex 1: Methodology

The steps taken under this methodology were led by GRID-Arendal with the strong support of the country partner organizations: the Asia Foundation office in Mongolia, LEAD Nepal and WWF Bhutan. A gender and household waste assessment will be built on the following steps: 1. a literature review and desk study 2. field visits to Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal to gather new information through mini-surveys and interviews 3. information aggregation, modelling and final analysis. 1. Literature review and desk study Gender aspects in waste management have already been studied in selected countries such as India. The gender and household waste assessment will benefit from a literature review from countries with similar socioeconomic situations and cultural behaviours. 2. Field visits There is limited information about gender and waste in Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal. As part of the gender and householdwasteassessmentproject,information-gathering visits and interviews will be conducted with communities and individuals who are key actors in formal and informal householdwaste production and management. As urban households generate more waste per person, the focus of this study will be on the case countries’ capital cities: Thimphu (Bhutan), Ulaanbaatar (Mongolia) and Kathmandu (Nepal). These capital cities are the single largest urban agglomeration in each country, and due to their outsized cultural, demographic and economic presence and influence, qualify as primate cities. Household waste problems are more severe and significant in primate cities than in other settlements, and as a result, mitigation solutions and policies developed for such cities will generally set national standards, especially in rapidly urbanizing countries such as Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal. In the framework of this study, the GRID-Arendal team will collect gender-disaggregated information (including quantitative data, where possible), which will provide a background for the result-oriented and gender-responsive approach. Data collection, primarily through interviews and site visits will take place at the following levels: • At the household level (prevention, waste generation and segregation, and domestic waste management). Since householdmanagement may also be organized within community groups, such as community clean- ups or street sweeping collaborative efforts, GRID-

Arendal will also collect information about women’s and men’s roles in waste management-related activities at the community level. • At the municipality level (household waste management governance and policy). • At formal operational levels (private commercial and public sectors, waste recycling facility and/or landfills and dumpsites). • At the informal waste management level. Semi-structured interviews will be carried out with men and women separately in 5–7 urban households of the capital cities of Bhutan, Mongolia and Nepal. Support from the in-country partners will be essential to identify households for interviews and arrange for the interviews to take place. To the extent possible, households should be identified that are representative of different economic levels and caste/religion (where relevant). The partners and GRID-Arendal will use snowball-sampling techniques to identify suitable individuals and households to interview. The field teams will consult with each in-country partner to determine whether it is relevant and possible to organize separate interviews with community groups involved in waste management-related activities. This segment focuses on the formalwaste management level under the municipality’s mandate. GRID-Arendal will carry out semi-structured interviews with high- ranking members in departments responsible for waste management at the municipal level. GRID-Arendal anticipates interviewing 2–3 managers and officials. It is recommended that these interviews be carried out last, after interviews have been held at the household and informal levels. The analysis of formal waste management requires the preparation and gathering of background information on legislation, the extent to which the municipality does or does not take responsibility for waste and recycling, and the municipality’s mandates. GRID-Arendal will rely on the partner organizations to provide existing background resources and data sets, to the extent they are available. At the municipal level – interview script provided in Table 2. At the household level – interview script provided in Table 1.

At formal operational levels – interview script provided in Table 3.

90 Gender and waste nexus