We Monitor and document cases of GBV, seek remedies and redress for women victims harmed by infrastructure projects and engage stakeholders to take several steps to address systemic failures that lead to GBV and harm the environment.

Gender gaps throughout the cycle of project planning and construction combined with the multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination and abuses undermine women’s exercise of their rights to land and other productive resources. In these instances, the state is obliged to protect women’s rights and provide access to remedy in cases where rights may have been violated. What constitutes an appropriate remedy is context specific. In the area of infrastructure, remedy for women’s rights can take various forms. These could include for instance, fair compensation, recognition of customary land, the reversal of a decision, and/or an apology.

However, underlying structural issues and the complexity of infrastructure development pose a number of specific challenges to the implementation of effective grievance procedures and consequently perpetuates the disempowerment of women. Judicial mechanisms are not always accessible and transparent, especially for women. Gender-specific legal barriers constrain women’s capacity to seek redress, such as restrictions on women’s rights to act without men’s consent, or the lack of legally recognized rights to land. Social-economic factors also limit women’s access to judicial remedies. Among other issues that women face includes a lack of economic resources, geographical and linguistic inaccessibility of courts, low levels of legal and basic literacy, and a lack of trust in the judiciary.

For women who are in a dispute over land options for seeking remedy through non-judicial procedures are not always obvious. Women do not often know which company or parties they are in dispute with given that infrastructure work can be highly segmented. For example, toll road construction is often split into different sections and each section is managed by different construction consultants, contractors, and monitoring consultants, as well as different concessionaire and land acquisition teams. When the project is financed via Public Private Partnerships (PPPs), the multitude of public and private actors further complicates accountability issues. Another persistent barrier to access is physical location and limited knowledge about non-judicial grievance routes. For most of these procedures, women usually require the support of NGOs to explain the process and help them access it.