This report is an evaluation synthesis to examine experiences in mainstreaming gender equality across multilateral and bilateral donor organisations; and in so doing, to highlight trends (commonalities and differences) in findings, challenges faced, and good practices. This synthesis looked at 26 thematic and country evaluations, undertaken between 1990 and 2010, that focused on gender and/or women.
The 26 evaluations reviewed in this synthesis all point to a similar finding: gender mainstreaming is a complex undertaking that has not been widely carried out by the development community. Because of severe monitoring and evaluation challenges, many donors were constrained their ability to identify changes in gender equality. Therefore, this synthesis focuses on understanding the reasons for the poor record in successfully mainstreaming gender in the work of donor organisations.
Key Findings:
- Leadership has not consistently supported or prioritised the mainstreaming of gender equality and policy, resulting in what has become widely described as “policy evaporation.” A key challenge to mainstreaming gender equality has proved to be the failure of senior management of donor organisations to move beyond policy rhetoric; to actively commit to the concept to put in place organisation-wide systems and resources necessary to make gender “everyone’s business.” The underlying reasons for this failure are often related to competing leadership priorities, such as agendas for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), development effectiveness, and governance, to name a few.
- The absence of accountability and incentive structures has limited the achievement of results. The evaluations all emphasised the absence of accountability and incentive structures at the organisation-wide level as a key factor limiting the integration of gender equality into organisational processes and interventions.
- Financial and human resources have not been sufficient to enable effective mainstreaming of gender equality within donor organisations and interventions. Donor organisations have not devoted sufficient resources to support gender equality mainstreaming. The number of gender specialists has been cut or remained at a low level within many donor organisations. Many evaluations were unable to ascertain financial or budget allocations for gender equality mainstreaming at the headquarters or intervention level, as such information was not available or tracked.
- Many gender mainstreaming procedures and practices have been introduced and actively pursued for a short period, before gradually declining in use. After a gender mainstreaming policy is adopted, the most common organisational response has been to develop procedures and practices such as Gender Action Plans (GAPs), gender analysis, toolkits, manuals, checklists, and staff training. The evaluations found that most of these tools are not used systematically because of the lack of accountability or incentives.
- Results reporting and learning have been seriously constrained by inconsistent approaches to monitoring and evaluation. One of the most common evaluation findings across donor organisations has been the lack of supervision and monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems to track progress, allow for adaptive management, record gender equality results, and document good practice.
- Integrating gender equality into new aid modalities presents many new challenges to donor organisations. The emerging evaluative data on integrating gender equality into new aid modalities such as GBS and SWAps indicate that gender is not being mainstreamed systematically into these types of interventions.