Evaluating changes in gender equality related to water, sanitation and hygiene interventions in rural Nepal: findings from a quasi-experimental evaluation

Growing evidence highlights the gender-transformative potential of water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) interventions, which can shape gender equality and social inclusion alongside and through improvements in WASH practices, service delivery, and governance. This paper presents results from a quasi-experimental evaluation of the gender-transformative impacts of WASH interventions in the districts of Dailekh and Sarlahi in Nepal between 2020 and 2022. This timeframe also overlapped with the COVID-19 pandemic. The evaluation utilized propensity-score-matching and difference-in-difference techniques with the 16-theme water, sanitation, and hygiene – gender equality measure (WASH-GEM) to differentiate results between women and men of varying levels of program involvement. Average scores increased in 10 of the 16 themes for men, while decreasing in 10 themes for women; suggesting that men experienced greater improvements in gendered outcomes. Nonetheless, active participation in the program led to higher benefits or mitigated negative impacts in 15 themes, and women had better outcomes than men in 13 of these. These results suggest that active participation in the program had a positive net benefit for women participants, mitigating the negative gender impacts of the pandemic. This study illustrates the value of gender-transformative WASH programming as a pathway not only to improved WASH but also advancing equality.