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Donor agencies have developed policies, approaches and guidelines for addressing and monitoring gender issues in their development work. Below is a selection of key donor-published materials.
Bilateral donors
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (Australian Government
AusAID. (2011). ‘Promoting Opportunities for All: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment’, Thematic Strategy, Australian Agency for International Development (AusAID), Canberra
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This document outlines four areas of focus for DFAT’s work on gender equality and women’s empowerment:
- Advancing equal access to gender-responsive health and education services
- Increasing women’s voice in decision-making, leadership, and peace-building
- Empowering women economically and improving their livelihood security
- Ending violence against women and girls at home, in their communities, and in disaster and conflict situations.
DFID
DFID. (2011). ‘A New Strategic Vision for Girls and Women: Stopping Poverty Before it Starts’, Department for International Development, London
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DFID’s strategic vision for girls and women is that girls’ and women’s lives are significantly improved and sustainably transformed. The vision is intended to be an enabling framework which supports a wide range of interventions under each of the following four pillars:
- Delay first pregnancy and support safe childbirth
- Get economic assets directly to girls and women
- Get girls through secondary school
- Prevent violence against girls and women.
It also emphasises the importance of the ‘enabling framework’ to support these pillars. The framework includes support for: processes of social change; women’s and girls’ participation in decision-making processes; and enabling legal frameworks and policies.
DFID. (2008). ‘The Gender Manual’, Department for International Development, London
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DFID. (2009). ‘Guidance Note on Gender Mainstreaming and Social Exclusion in Research’ Department for International Development, London
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Sida
Byron, G. and Örnemark, C., 2010, ‘Gender Equality in Swedish Development Cooperation’, Final Report, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Stockholm
The current gender policy and the Sida Gender Equality in Practice Manual (March 2009) describe the process of identifying a gender strategy as starting with gender analysis, which leads to the selection of one, or a mix of approaches (integration, targeting or dialogue), which in turn leads to implementation.
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Sida. (2010). On Equal Footing: Policy for Gender Equality and the Rights and Role of Women in Sweden’s International Development Cooperation 2010-2015. Sida.
Sida’s 2010-2015 gender policy has four priority areas: 1) women’s political participation and influence; 2) women’s economic empowerment and working conditions; 3) sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR); and 4) women’s security, including combating all forms of gender-based violence and human trafficking. Gender mainstreaming is the main approach.
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Törnqvist, A. and Schmitz, C. (2009). ‘Women’s Economic Empowerment: Scope for Sida’s Engagement’, Working Paper, Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), Stockholm
Sida’s gender equality work aims to prioritise women’s economic empowerment in land and user rights; agricultural and rural development; unpaid care work; and entrepreneurship and private sector development. This paper defines and promotes an approach to women’s economic empowerment in these four areas, in addition to labour markets and decent work, human capital, and social protection.
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USAID
USAID. (2012), ‘Gender Equality and Female Empowerment’, USAID Policy, Washington DC
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Under this gender policy, USAID investments aim to:
- Reduce gender disparities in access to, control over and benefit from resources, wealth, opportunities and services (economic, social, political, and cultural)
- Reduce gender-based violence and mitigate its harmful effects on individuals and communities
- Increase capability of women and girls to realize their rights, determine their life outcomes, and influence decision-making in households, communities, and societies.
Multilateral development banks
World Bank
Gender Action Plan
Between 2007 and 2010, the World Bank Group Action Plan “Gender Equality as Smart Economics” (GAP) worked to advance women’s economic empowerment to promote gender equality and empowerment more generally. It focused on labour force participation, land and agriculture, private sector development and finance, and infrastructure markets.
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The World Bank. (2010). ‘Applying Gender Action Plan Lessons: A Three-Year Road Map for Gender Mainstreaming (2011- 2013)’, Gender and Development, Poverty Reduction and Economic Management Network, World Bank, Washington DC
The World Bank’s transition plan proposes to continue the focus on women‘s economic empowerment, while also broadening the scope to support Bank efforts to provide safety nets in response to crises and to the stresses of demographic pressures. In these contexts, it seeks to assist vulnerable boys and men. It also emphasises maternal mortality and reproductive health – issues with great impact on the MDGs and on long term development prospects, especially for IDA clients.
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Inter-American Development Bank
IADB. (2010). ‘Operational Policy on Gender Equality in Development’, Inter-American Development Bank (IADB), Washington DC
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This policy identifies two lines of action:
- Proactive action, which actively promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women through all the Bank’s development interventions. Such action includes both direct investment in areas strategic to gender equality and mainstreaming the gender perspective in development interventions. The policy aims to pay particular attention to groups that experience multiple inequalities, such as where gender inequalities interact with other inequalities based on socio-economic, ethnic and racial factors.
- Preventive action, which introduces safeguards to identify and prevent or mitigate adverse impacts on women or men resulting from the Bank’s financial operations. It aims to include women and men in consultation processes, and will comply with applicable legislation relating to equality between men and women.
Asian Development Bank
ADB. (2003). ‘Policy on Gender and Development’, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila
ADB’s Policy on Gender and Development adopts mainstreaming as a key strategy in promoting gender equity. Gender considerations will be mainstreamed into all ADB activities, including macroeconomic and sector work, and lending and technical assistance (TA) operations. The key elements of ADB’s policy include gender sensitivity, gender analysis, gender planning, mainstreaming, and agenda setting. To operationalise the policy, ADB’s activities will include providing assistance to its developing member countries in the areas of policy support, capacity building, gender and development awareness, and formulation and implementation of policies and programmes directed at improving the status of women.
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ADB. (2011). ‘Gender Equality: Bridging the Gap’, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila
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ADB. (2011) ‘Gender and Development Plan of Action (2008-2010): 2010 Annual Implementation Progress Report’, Asian Development Bank (ADB), Manila
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ADB. (2013). Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Operational Plan, 2013-2020. Moving the Agenda Forward in Asia and the Paci?c. Asian Development Bank Publishing.
In April 2013, ADB approved a new gender equality policy. Under the new gender operational plan, ADB will intensify its efforts to ensure that gender equality remains at the front and center of its development efforts, and to accelerate progress on closing remaining gender gaps. The operational plan will serve as the roadmap for translating the ADB-wide Strategy 2020’s gender equity goals into concrete and measurable operations to support gender equality outcomes. It takes a gender mainstreaming approach. There is a shift in focus from gender-equitable design, to better implementation and monitoring for gender-equitable outcomes. There will be more pilot programmes to tackle gender inequality directly, with a view to scaling up, and more focus on services and infrastructure to reduce women’s time poverty.
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African Development Bank
AfDB. (2001). ‘The Gender Policy’, African Development Bank (AfDB), Tunis-Belvedère, Tunisia
This policy elaborates a set of guiding principles, which emphasise, among other things, the need to apply gender analysis to all Bank activities. It also recognises that the concept of gender implicitly embodies a culture which entails cooperation and interdependence between women and men. The use of the gender analytical framework is designed to enhance understanding of the culturally determined gender elements relevant to programme/project implementation. There are five priority areas: education, agriculture and rural development, women’s poverty, health and governance.
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AfDB. Investing in Gender Equality for Africa’s Transformation. African Development Bank Group.
The Bank’s Gender Strategy for 2014-18 focuses on strengthening women’s legal and property rights, promoting women’s economic empowerment, and enhancing knowledge management and capacity building on gender equality. It firstly seeks to strengthen gender mainstreaming in operations and strategies; and secondly to improve gender equality within the Bank.
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