Health Rights of Women Assessment Instrument (HeRWAI)

Developed by the Netherlands' Humanist Committee on Human Rights (Humanistisch Overleg Mensenrechten, or HOM), this 74-page document offers a detailed description of a practical evaluation methodology - one that is designed to support non-government organisations (NGOs) in analysing health policies (particularly, those concerned with women's health rights) worldwide.

Specifically, HeRWAI is a strategic tool to enhance lobbying activities for better implementation of women's health rights. Through a HeRWAI analysis, organisations can link what actually happens with what should happen according to the human rights obligations of a country. The analysis includes local, national and international influences and is based on the norms set by the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).

The HeRWAI analysis consists of six steps, which analyse a policy that influences women's health rights:

1. Identifying the policy
2. Exploring the government's commitments
3. Describing the capacity for implementing the policy
4. The impact on the health rights of women
5. State obligations
6. Conclusions and way forward

Each step consists of information and questions to guide the analysis. Explanations, examples and checklists facilitate the answering of the questions. The analysis is expected to produce a set of recommendations to improve the impact of the policy, as well as an action plan to lobby for adoption of the recommendations and to raise awareness about the findings of the analysis.

The full HeRWAI analysis is expected to take one to three months to complete. However, HOM notes that the depth and detail of information needed varies from situation to situation; those undertaking the analysis may limit their time investment by selecting the questions which are most relevant to their situation. Instead of a full HeRWAI analysis, health communicators may use the HeRWAI Discussion Guide, provided in Annex VII, to make a quick analysis of the impact of a particular women's health rights policy. This will take one-half day to two days and gives an impression of the principal human rights issues involved.

Collaboration has been a strategy in developing and testing HeRWAI. To create the tool, HOM engaged in close cooperation with Naripokkho in Bangladesh, the Federation of Women Lawyers in Kenya (FIDA-Kenya), Servicio Integral para la Mujer (Si Mujer) in Nicaragua, International Women's Rights Action Watch - Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP) in Malaysia and Wemos in the Netherlands. In addition, 4 organisations in Pakistan, Kenya, Bangladesh and the Netherlands tested HeRWAI, concluding that the instrument is user-friendly; the users do not need to be a researcher to do the analysis. The organisations valued the link between health rights, women's rights and human rights and noted that it is good to have international law (commitments) as a starting point in the discussion with the government. The instrument made them think of issues they would not have thought of otherwise and look at issues from different angles. Moreover, the rights-based questions they asked created awareness among policy makers and others whom they approach to collect information.

Click here to access a related peer-reviewed summary on the Health e Communication website, and to participate in peer review.