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We are pleased to announce that Education Development Center (EDC),  a global nonprofit that advances lasting solutions to improve education, promote health, and expand economic opportunity, has endorsed the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality (referred to as the Gender Standards). EDC joins 40 other organizations to become the 41st member of the Endorsers’ Circle.

EDC has shared a blog post about why they are endorsing the Gender Standards – please check out this great perspective on why “Achieving Gender Equity Requires Collaboration.”

Information about how your organization can join the Gender Standards Endorsers’ Circle is available on the “Join the Endorsers’ Circle” page. We hope you’ll join!

By Hannah Kuntz, International Technical Associate / Co-chair of Gender Working Group, Education Development Center

Gender Work is in Our DNA

Education Development Center (EDC) has a longstanding history of integrating gender sensitivity and awareness into its work, beginning in the US and then expanding internationally. In 1975, EDC produced films for US high school students to raise awareness of how gender stereotyping and socialization affect the life choices of young women. For more than 25 years, EDC’s Women’s Educational Equity Act Center supported 750 field-based projects in the US to promote bias-free education and to increase learning opportunities and outcomes for girls and boys, and young women and young men. Internationally, for more than 30 years, EDC has used interactive audio instruction to strengthen equitable access to learning, particularly in resource lean settings. In 2015, a Gender Working Group was formed by EDC staff eager to build on earlier efforts and ensure that the concept and practices of gender integration are fully understood and reflected in all of the organization’s external partnerships and commitments.

Why We Endorse the Standards

Given EDC’s ongoing commitment to reducing gender gaps and barriers as part of our global mission, it makes sense for us to join the Endorsers’ Circle, a group of organizations committed to upholding the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality (Gender Standards). Our technical guidance, the ‘how to’ of our gender-responsiveness, outlines six guiding principles informed by the Gender Standards. These principles are applied at all stages of a project lifecycle across our international programming and include:

• Do No Harm: We take care to avoid exacerbating and / or perpetuating existing gender and social inequalities in our work. This requires an understanding of the context, including the drivers of conflict, political dynamics and gender and social norms in the communities where the intervention is implemented, which is why we conduct and utilize gender research (see below) (Standard 7).
• Develop Organizational Culture and Capacity for Gender Equality: At all levels of our organization, we share responsibility for promoting equity, diversity, and inclusion as core components of our organizational culture. Our Gender Working Group also facilitates learning opportunities on gender-related topics specific to our international work and provides training to raise awareness among staff and partners on gender equity (Standard 2).
• Allocate Budget: We allocate resources in project budgets to implement activities to promote equity and inclusion, such as the development of teaching and learning materials to encourage students and teachers to challenge stereotypes and harmful norms, as well as hire staff with gender integration expertise, both full-time personnel and those providing short-term technical assistance (Standard 4).
• Conduct & Utilize Gender Research: We regularly conduct a gender analysis at the start of every project and build on the findings by developing and tracking indicators and commissioning special studies to assess progress toward mitigating gender gaps and barriers in education, health and economic opportunity during the life of the project (Standards 3, 5, 6).
• Dissemination of Results: We share evidence of inequity and exclusion with key stakeholders, including donors, implementing partners and government ministries, to ensure lessons learned, recommendations and successful interventions are integrated into longer-term planning and implementation with gender disparities in mind (Standard 8).

These guiding principles have helped us to strive for equity in a more systematic and meaningful way, and we continue to expand this critical lens though capacity and consensus building with our colleagues and partners .

Why Gender Standards Are Important

In spite of concerted efforts by donors, governments, civil society and the private sector during the past 70+ years, gender gaps and barriers persist around the globe. According to the 2021 World Economic Forum Global Gender Gap Index, it will take 135.6 years to close the gender gap worldwide; the index analyzes four dimensions: economic participation and opportunity, educational attainment, health and survival, and political empowerment. Preliminary evidence also indicates that the COVID-19 pandemic has further exacerbated inequities and vulnerability and partially re-opened equity gaps that had been addressed and shrinking.

It is at this important juncture that we join other organizations as an Endorser of the Gender Standards, affirming our commitment to prioritizing gender integration as a key component of our work and acknowledging that this is a collaborative effort. If we are to achieve gender equity globally, especially in countries hardest hit by the pandemic and those with existing high levels of gender inequality and exclusion, we must work closely together. To this end, we hope more organizations will step forward as Endorsers and look forward to learning from and collaborating with this growing community.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reverberated across the world, laying bare power inequalities and threatening to set back decades of gains on gender equality and social inclusion. The pandemic has been especially devastating for marginalized populations around the world who face disproportionate hardship in the face of COVID-19. This is why gender equality and social inclusion is critical for international development and humanitarian response organizations as they work on adapting program responses and staff wellness initiatives.  

Members of the Gender Practitioners Collaborative (GPC) and the Endorsers’ Circle have been collecting data as well as developing and sharing resources to support inclusive and equitable design, programming, and implementation for COVID response and recovery efforts.  

This post is the second in a series of “round ups,” in which we will periodically share a summary of recently published resources from GPC and Endorsers Circle Members. Please continue to follow us for updates!  

The Asia Foundation 

The Asia Foundation has published several blog posts and webinars addressing the disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 on women and girls, including the need to address gender-based violence. 

• Funding the Frontline: Rapid Response to the Gendered Impacts of Covid-19 in Asia – this blog post highlights the Lotus Rapid Response Fund, made possible with the generous support of The Asia Foundation’s Lotus Circle donors, which enables rapid response to the immediate needs of women and girls by providing additional resources for vital services, new interventions, and working with partners to adapt to these critical needs. 
• The Hidden Pandemic: Addressing Gender-Based Violence in Asia during COVID-19 – resources are available from this webinar, which focused on uncovering the rapid increase in domestic violence during the pandemic, promising approaches in responding with programmatic examples from Sri Lanka and Timor Leste, and key issues and areas to address in the time ahead. 
• In Asia, not all homes are safe: we need an urgent shift in thinking – this blog post discusses the need to incorporate attention to gender-based violence in COVID-19 response.  

International Rescue Committee (IRC) 

The International Rescue Committee has published several technical guidance documents to guide humanitarian programming across various sectors, to overcome the digital gender gap with the increase in remote service delivery, support humanitarian staff in a gender-sensitive manner, a global gender analysis in partnership with CARE and a press release highlighting the increase in barriers to women accessing GBV services. 

• Gender Recommendations for COVID-19 Program Response in Health, Economic, Education and other sectors (English/French) 
• COVID-19 and the Digital Gender Gap Guidance (English/French) 
• Supporting Staff through the Gendered Impacts of COVID-19 response (English/French/Arabic) 
•  CARE & IRC COVID-19 Global Rapid Gender Analysis 
• New Data Shows a Decrease in Women Being Able to Report Incidents of Domestic Violence in Fragile and Conflict-affected Settings  

Jhpiego 

Jhpiego developed operational guidance that synthesizes global recommendations, current best evidence and critical resources to help health care providers, managers and leaders to maintain essential health services, including for family planning, gender-based violence, and maternal health, during and after the pandemic, and ensure families receive the care and treatment they need and deserve. 

• A Practical Guide for Service Delivery 

Myra Betron, Director of Gender at Jhpiego, also co-authored a commentary in the journal Global Public Health, discussing important gender determinants to both men’s and women’s vulnerabilities to COVID-19 and calling on the global health community to unpack and address these early in the COVID-19 pandemic response. 

• Men and COVID-19: Adding a Gender Lens   

Save the Children 

Save the Children has developed various organizational-level technical initiatives to address gender and social inclusion including during COVID response: 

• Eight Ways to Ensure Gender Equality is at the Center of Responses to COVID-19 
• COVID-19: Gender Equality Matters (English and Spanish) 
• READY Online Learning Series. COVID-19: Magnifying Gender Inequalities.   Initially labeled the “great equalizer,” the  COVID-19  pandemic is anything but. Anchoring the discussion in the feminist perspective, speakers discussed how power hierarchies exacerbate inequalities during a crisis, including the “shadow pandemic” of gender-based violence. 
• COVID 19:  Gender Analysis Tool 
• COVID-19:  Humanitarian Gender Equality Marker 

Yeva Avakyan, Associate Vice President of Gender Equality at Save the Children, also co-authored an article in the journal Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters, that discusses how emphasizing the needs of “women and girls” doesn’t always focus on the systemic nature of inequality and marginalization and argues for a stronger understanding of discriminatory systems and power hierarchies that better inform programming and advocacy. 

• Moving Beyond Gender: Intersectionality as a lens to the COVID_19 pandemic: implications for sexual and reproductive health in development and humanitarian contexts 

Please check out these great resources and check back for future updates, as we will share additional guidance and information about how our members and endorsers are promoting gender and social inclusion as part of COVID-19 response. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has reverberated across the world, laying bare power inequalities and threatening to set back decades of gains on gender equality and social inclusion. The pandemic has been especially devastating for marginalized populations around the world who face disproportionate hardships in the face of COVID-19. This is why gender equality and social inclusion is critical for international development and humanitarian response organizations as they work on adapting program responses and staff wellness initiatives. 

Members of the Gender Practitioners Collaborative (GPC)  and the Endorsers’ Circle have been collecting data as well as developing and sharing resources to support inclusive and equitable design, programming, and implementation for COVID response and recovery efforts.  

This post is the first of a series of “round ups,” in which we will periodically share a summary of recently published resources from GPC and Endorsers Circle Members. Please continue to follow us for updates! 

ACDI/VOCA 

ACDI/VOCA has published blog posts and a resource to support programming and internal operations in the integration of gender and social inclusion as part of COVID-19 adaptations and response: 

• Addressing the Disproportionate Impact of COVID-19 on Women and Girls (blog) 
• Gender and Social Inclusion and COVID-19: Impacts and Recommendations for Agriculture and Market Systems Project Implementation 

 CARE 

CARE has published a series of gender analyses and guidance briefs to support gender integration and the protection of the rights of women and girls: 

• Global Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) on COVID-19, conducted in consultation with the International Rescue Committee (IRC), is for humanitarians working in fragile contexts that are likely to be affected by the COVID-19 crisis. It is organized around broad themes and areas of focus of particular importance to those whose programming advances gender equality and reduces gender inequalities. 
• Regional and Country Rapid Gender Analyses have taken place in almost every region (Latin America, East Central & Southern Africa, West Africa, Asia, and Middle East & North Africa) and several countries where CARE operates. 
• Gender Implications of COVID-19 Outbreaks in Development and Humanitarian Settings was developed before the Global RGA, to review lessons learned from previous public health emergencies. It reviews gender implications of COVID-19 across sectors and provides recommendations for those providing health service delivery, humanitarian organization, national governments and donors. 
• Implications of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Women and Girls’ Economic Rights: As the fallout from the pandemic deepens, CARE is drawing attention to the short- and longer-term effects of the crisis on women’s economic wellbeing. This brief provides in-depth suggestions on how to integrate a gender lens into specific aspects of the economic justice and rights discussion. 
• Gender-based Violence (GBV) and COVID-19 Guidance Note: This guidance has been prepared for CARE staff to adapt existing GBV prevention, response and risk mitigation programming, as well as internal and external messaging. 
• Food & Nutrition Security Pandemic Response Program Brief: This is a brief overview of CARE’s Food & Nutrition Security Pandemic Response Program. The program builds on She Feeds the World’s holistic model to improve food and nutrition security by helping women farmers claim their rights and receive the support they need in the face of the pandemic.  

Catholic Relief Services (CRS) 

CRS has published a series of guidance for partners related to gender and COVID-19 that is available at CRS’  Institute for Capacity Strengthening  site. This site is continuously being updated with new materials and translations of existing materials. Examples include: 

• Guidance on Gender Considerations in Programming During the COVID-19 Crisis 
• Considerations for Partners: Managing Gender Implications of COVID-19 for staff within our organizations  (English, French, Spanish and Arabic) 
• CRS COVID-19 Safe and Dignified Programming: Protection Mainstreaming and Mental Health Psychosocial Support Guidance (English, Spanish) 
• Guidance on Agriculture and Livelihoods Programming During the Covid-19 Pandemic  (gender integrated) (English, French, Spanish) 
• Considerations for  Social Cohesion and Peacebuilding, Protection And Social Justice, Governance And Equitable Inclusive Participation Of Women, Youth And Vulnerable And Marginalized Populations During The Covid-19 Crisis (English)  

Oxfam 

Oxfam America has published a series of blog posts articulating key considerations for COVID response: 

• What Comes After America First? A feminist foreign policy might be just what the US needs. 
• Mother’s Day and the importance of unpaid care work during the COVID-19 pandemic 
• What should go in the next COVID-19 stimulus package? 
• COVID19: Safeguarding essential workers in our supermarkets 

 Please check out the great resources and check back for future updates, as we will share additional guidance and information about how our Members and Endorsers are promoting gender and social inclusion as part of COVID-19 response.  

By Sahar Alnouri and Yeva Avakyan

On March 4, 2019, Save the Children hosted the Gender Practitioners Collaborative in an event celebrating the second anniversary of the release of the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality. At the event, CEOs from Plan International, FHI 360, Banyan Global, and Save the Children US celebrated the successes of the standards and reflected on next steps.

The Gender Standards address programmatic topics, such as indicators, data disaggregation, Do No Harm principles, and the use of gender analysis. They also tackle issues pertaining to organizational processes, such as accountability, budgeting, internal capacity, and shifting organizational culture to achieve sustainable change. This dual perspective was echoed by Yeva Avakyan in her opening remarks, stating: “We need a comprehensive approach that cuts across programmatic and organizational areas of our work” to advance gender equality.

During the first panel, titled “Leading the Charge for Gender Equality,”  the four CEOs discussed both the programmatic and organizational components of achieving gender equality. Carolyn Miles, of Save the Children US, and Tessie San Martin, of Plan International USA, focused on gender equality in their organizations’ programming. Miles stated that achieving breakthroughs for children is not possible “if we do not address gender inequality.” San Martin reinforced this statement, saying: “We’re not seeking to just improve. We want to transform. And we don’t think we’re going to transform until we get to the root causes of gender inequality.”

Patrick Fine, of FHI 360, noted that the Gender Standards have helped to encourage accountability at his organization. He said endorsing the standards has affected how FHI 360 allocates resources within the organization, such as investing in employee training. Meaghan Smith, of Banyan Global, discussed how data from gender analyses can provide an important opportunity for field staff to have conversations on the Gender Standards in a culturally relevant way.

The Gender Standards were not developed by one organization, or funded by a single donor. They were conceived and drafted by the Gender Practitioners’ Collaborative (GPC), a working group made up of gender specialists from US-based humanitarian response and development agencies who lead gender integration in their organizations. After drafting the Gender Standards, the GPC invited practitioners from around the world to review and provide comments; almost two hundred practitioners offered feedback on the standards before they were finalized.

In addition to the CEO panel, lead gender technical specialists from the US Department of State, Mercy Corps, Chemonics, ACDI/VOCA and IRC reflected on the way forward.  Several of the gender technical leads noted the importance and challenges of maintaining accountability for gender mainstreaming within their organizations. Jenn Williamson of ACDI/VOCA said that the Gender Standards have provided a good framework to reflect on and continuously strengthen her organization’s work to promote gender equality.

While the event celebrated the uptake of the gender standards – from nine endorsing organizations in 2017 to 35 today – both panels acknowledged the need for continued work to achieve gender equality within organizations and programs. As Kelly Fish from Mercy Corps said, “We cannot move the needle on gender equality in our programming if we are not ‘walking the talk’ and looking internally at both our operations and policies.”

If you missed the live stream, you can still watch the recording here

On June 11, 2018, FHI 360 and other sponsoring organizations hosted the third annual Gender 360 Summit in Washington, DC. This year’s theme was “Positive Boy and Girl Development,” with sessions that explored the intersections of education, health, economic empowerment and gender-based violence among girls, boys, and youth of diverse gender identities. A recording of the livestream and resources from the Gender 360 Summit are available here.

Members of the Gender Practitioners Collaborative (GPC) attended the Summit and participated in activities ranging from facilitating Gender Lounge table discussions, speed mentoring, moderating fireside chats, and presenting on the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality. Below are a series of reflections and takeaways on key themes from the Summit written by members of the GPC.

Expanding “Gender” to Include Youth
Elizabeth Silva, Senior Program Officer, Women’s Empowerment Program, The Asia Foundation

The theme of positive girl and boy development for the 2018 Gender 360 Summit was a critical topic. Panels explored the intersections of gender issues and health, education, economic empowerment and gender-based violence among girls, boys, and youth of diverse gender identities. Over the past few years we have seen an increased commitment among donors and development organizations in elevating and responding to gender issues among girls and boys. The U.S. Global Strategy to Empower Adolescent Girls is one such positive development, as it has drawn additional resources and attention to the fact that around the world, girls are often not provided with the same opportunities as boys, and that adolescence is such a critical point in their lives. This presents the unique opportunity to intervene and change the trajectory of their lives.

I had the privilege of serving as a facilitator for a gender lounge roundtable discussion about girl-focused gender analysis, which spotlights the specific challenges facing girls. Boys play an important role in this analysis as well, since they are central in examining and comparing the different levels of power, needs, constraints, and opportunities facing girls. Two key issues the conversation centered around included: 1) All gender analyses should (but rarely seem to) consider the roles, norms, opportunities and project impacts related to girls and boys; and 2) There are not enough quality gender analyses being conducted for youth programs, which too often remain gender blind. While much work remains, the Gender 360 Summit theme was very timely, and is an example of thought leadership on gender equality work with girls’ and boys’ that will move the development community forward on this important issue.

“Walking the Talk” on Inclusion
Jennifer Collins-Foley, Senior Advisor, Inclusive Development, World Learning

The Summit organizers are to be commended for their proactive attention to integrating gender and social inclusion throughout the format, speakers and participants. Examples include: attendees were asked at registration if they need special accommodations; sign language interpreters were present throughout the sessions; and the event was livestreamed, making it accessible to those who could not participate in person. The organizers clearly prioritized diversity among the speakers, particularly voices from the Global South, resulting in discussions where each speaker provided a unique perspective. Discussions consistently moved beyond the gender binary, exploring how gender and social inclusion analysis and approaches can strengthen development outcomes.

A session on “Cutting Edge Resources” offered participants a valuable new tool to expand the gender analysis lens and embrace the imperative of social inclusion. The Transforming Agency, Access and Power (TAAP) Toolkit and Guide for Inclusive Development provides a new approach to inclusive research and development. This toolkit offers an analytical framework and practical resources to enable users to identify who is left behind, reasons why and how it impacts agency, access and power, and offers guidance for the development of action steps toward inclusive, positive social change.

The Gender Summit 2018 has set a new, high standard for applying the principles of inclusion and set a model that we hope more conferences – and organizations – will follow.

Inclusive Partnerships Are Necessary for Sustainable Change
Hilary Mathews, Director for Strategy and Operations, Gender Justice Team, CARE USA

One of the “principles in action” that was represented so well at the Gender 360 Summit was the idea that social change processes require broad-based partnerships. Realizing gender equality and positive girl and boy development depends on change on multiple levels – within individuals, in communities, and throughout social and institutional structures. This is complex and political work, and we know we can’t confront and dismantle the forces of inequality and exclusion without collaborating across a diverse set of actors, each according to their competencies.

The Summit brought together an impressive array of development stakeholders as speakers and participants, representing INGOs, governments, civil society groups, activists, multilaterals, and academia. The value of and need for collective action was captured not only in this diverse representation, but also in discussion throughout the day, and in the forthcoming Gender 360 Summit outcomes statement, which will reflect critical synergies and a common advocacy platform issuing from the proceedings.

Beyond Gender Norms, Uncovering Power Dynamics
Dina Scippa, Senior Technical Advisor, Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality, Winrock

Even though gender inequality remains one of development’s most intractable issues, it is a profoundly exciting time in the global movement for equality. From the most recent G7 meetings where a Gender Equality Committee was formed; to sustained focus on gender within the SDGs; to thousands who have come forward to protest sexual harassment and violence with the #MeToo global movement, important conversations are happening globally. Development organizations, donors, companies, academic institutions, and the private sector are discussing how to support gender equality more meaningfully and deliver on commitments. But is it enough? Gender inequalities intersect with other aspects of oppression, which result in unique constellations of experience, impact and opportunity affected not just by gender, but race, sexuality, ability, caste, marital status, and citizenship (to name a few).

The Gender 360 Summit played a critical role in convening experts from a diverse range of sectors on key issues in addressing gender equality and social inclusion, with an acute appreciation of how intertwined, and intersectional, inequality is. What was abundantly clear at this year’s conference is how fundamental it is to leverage different sub-sets of expertise to address the interplay between gender and interconnected forms of discrimination. Improving opportunities for women and girls requires a fundamental change in societal norms, attitudes, and power. Looking through the lens of intersectionality is ever more critical to understanding the complexity—particularly of inequality—in the lives of women and girls. To promote effective and sustainable progress, experiences and identities of women and girls cannot be reduced to a single reality or prioritized at the expense of others, leaving other elements invisible and unaddressed.

Inclusive Mentorship and Peer Learning
Jenn Williamson, Senior Director of Gender and Social Inclusion, ACDI/VOCA

Like many conferences, a valuable aspect of the Gender 360 Summit is the opportunity for networking and learning exchange among colleagues. These opportunities are particularly important for young women who are less likely to receive advice from managers and senior leaders on how to advance and have less access to mentoring opportunities. I was delighted to participate in a “speed mentoring” session that gave me the opportunity to engage with talented and dedicated young people who are already achieving great things and are eager to learn how to grow their potential, their skills, and their opportunities. Mentoring and working with these young professionals not only benefits them, but it strengthens our organizations as they bring innovative ideas and new perspectives to our teams, organizations, and approaches. Furthermore, as we hope to better engage youth in our programming, we must improve this in our own organizations through mentoring and other ways that enable them to own processes and grow.

During one of the rounds, a woman joined my group who would be classified as a mid-career professional. She began her career in her home country in West Africa, transferring to DC headquarters not long ago. She tentatively joined my group, asking, “Am I too old to ask for a mentor?” It struck me how important it is that we not only mentor young people but that we also continue to ensure access to this important professional development resource for people of all ages, genders, and social identities. Because the Gender 360 Summit deliberately brought together people of different genders, ages, sexual identities, nationalities, and physical abilities and openly emphasized inclusion and accessibility, the conference facilitated learning and sharing as well as networking opportunities that are frequently not available to people in marginalized groups. This opportunity for learning and networking is particularly important for people in marginalized groups who have had less access to mentoring and career support throughout their professional careers. So, of course my answer was and will continue to be: “You’re never too old or young to seek a mentor!” It is important that we seek and offer mentoring—and peer learning—inclusively. Mentors and mentees will all benefit from expanded opportunities to share experiences and gain new perspectives in our professional development.

If you have a story to share about how your organization is promoting gender equality, inclusion,  or positive boy and girl development using the #GenderStandards, please reach out to us on Twitter @GenderPC or via email info@genderstandards.org. This blog was compiled by Jenn Williamson.

More than a year after the Gender Practitioners’ Collaborative launched the minimum standards for mainstreaming gender equality, 29 organizations are now official endorsers. In order to learn more about how endorsing organizations are mainstreaming gender equality and advancing their organizations’ commitment to the minimum standards, we asked them a series of questions. A few selected answers are below.

1. What was the process for creating your organization’s Gender Equality Policy (or equivalent) and how did you build buy-in?

Helen Keller International developed a global policy for gender equality and social inclusion. An internal working group, comprising members from both programs and operations teams across each region (Asia-Pacific, Africa and US), was set up to draft the Policy. Following review and inputs from Directors, it is now pending Board Approval prior to being made official.

2. How does your organization build gender mainstreaming culture and capacity? What does it do at headquarters and the project level?

IREX created a Gender Focal Point (GFP) program in 2017 to diffuse expertise on gender integration throughout all practice areas and business units. Interested staff from HQ and field offices were invited to apply for an 8-month program of training, mentoring and applied learning opportunities. The GFP Program builds a knowledge base of foundational gender concepts that is reinforced with special attention to IREX’s technical areas. At the same time, IREX has continued to offer less formal opportunities to build skills and knowledge through monthly Gender Salons, featuring staff, partners and other external experts on gender-related topics voted upon by staff through a biannual poll.

The Asia Foundation has a Gender Smart Initiative, which works to advance gender equality both institutionally and programmatically. Through the initiative, The Asia Foundation designed an interactive training curriculum for our staff, which includes an introduction to gender, an exploration of the relationship between gender and development, and concrete steps to promote gender equality in the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of programs. Through small group discussions and hands-on practice in applying a variety of gender analysis tools, the highly participatory training builds staff capacity to understand and respond to gender issues and norms and to take steps to improve project outcomes. To-date, more than 250 staff have participated in the training.

3. What is your organization’s approach to doing gender analyses? How does it use gender analysis to help inform project design and implementation?

International Executive Service Corps (IESC) has made a commitment to conduct a gender analysis for every proposal they submit, regardless of donor requirement. They customized a USAID gender analysis template to help them determine how women, men, boys, and girls are affected differently by project activities and design interventions that will result in positive outcomes for both women and men. The process of conducting a gender analysis at the proposal stage results in gender integration throughout project implementation and a commitment to allocate project resources for both women and men beneficiaries. Since 2017 IESC has conducted a gender analysis for 100% of proposals submitted to USAID.

MEDA conducts gender analysis in three phases of the project lifecycle. The first phase is during the initial scoping of potential projects. They conduct gender aware desk research and interview local constituents, which feeds into our planning and development of interventions. The second phase is a full gender analysis, which is conducted during our inception period. Here, we build off the initial scoping gender analysis by meeting with potential clients to understand their needs and barriers, and meet with local women’s organizations and public and private sector partners to ensure that they are committed to gender equality. From the full gender analysis, we develop our gender strategy for the project, which identifies gender-based constraints of our potential clients and their enabling environment.  The third phase of gender analysis is during any project assessment. We either try to mainstream gender into existing assessments or conduct gender-specific assessments to gauge how the project’s interventions are impacting relations and structures of our clients. From this information, we can pivot and introduce new activities to mitigate the challenges facing our male and female clients in our project.

4. What is your organization’s approach to developing, collecting, analyzing and reporting on gender equality measures or indicators?

Pact tracks indicators that go beyond just sex disaggregation, but that also measure gender equality and social inclusion. Nearly every project includes this type of measure. Having explicit metrics to track our work toward gender equality and social inclusion ensures our work does not lose sight of this goal and that all activities and outputs contribute to this outcome. We also place gender equality and social inclusion learning questions into project learning agendas that guide research and M&E under the program. Nearly all planned studies have a gender equality and social inclusion line of inquiry integrated into research and learning plans. Data from these studies are used to inform our programs so that we are able to adapt and improve our performance.

5. What is your organization’s approach to intersectionality, or to addressing both issues of gender equality AND social inclusion?

Equilo takes a comprehensive view to provide data analysis exploring intersectionality. Through our customized gender analysis framework, we apply a gender lens across population types at micro and meso levels. Our database and algorithms address gender-based violence, male engagement, disability status, age, LGBTQI status, ethnic and religious minorities, HIV status, orphan status, working and migratory status, poverty, and vulnerable populations.

6. What systems of gender equality accountability does your organization have in place?

Palladium has developed a Diversity and Inclusion Strategy to hold ourselves accountable to our diversity commitments and our organizational vision. Our progress on the implementation of the Diversity and Inclusion strategy and associated initiatives is shared with our employees on a quarterly basis and directly to the Board of Directors. Our approach and commitment to diversity and inclusion is driven by our CEO, corporate leadership team, strategic leadership team, and a Community of Practice with over 800 employees.  We hold all our people responsible for helping to create a diverse and inclusive working environment.

Thank you to all the endorsing organizations who contributed to this post! If you have a story to share about how your organization is implementing the #GenderStandards, please reach out to us on Twitter @GenderPC or via email info@genderstandards.org. This blog was compiled by  Elizabeth Romanoff Silva, Elise Young, and Lindsey Jones-Renaud. 

This article from Palladium was first posted on their website. Palladium is one of the newest endorsers of the #GenderStandards. Check out their work here.

Palladium’s work starts at a single point: understanding how everything is interconnected. In order to create new thinking, new approaches, and new solutions, we have to consider the broader context of any community or system. We encourage our clients and partners to think about key actors, dynamics, linkages, and gaps, including gender. Yet, what we often find is that gender is under resourced, despite being a key component of any ecosystem. Gender is one of those dynamics that affects every individual, in every aspect of life. That’s why Palladium is proud to announce our official endorsement of the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality.

The Gender Standards are set out by the Gender Practitioner Collaborative, and contain eight standards every endorser strives to meet:

• Adopt a Gender Equality Policy
• Develop Organizational Culture and Capacity for Gender Equality
• Conduct and Utilize Gender Analysis
• Allocate Budget Resource for Gender Equality
• Utilize Sex- and Age- Disaggregated Data
• Develop Gender Equality Indicators
• Do No Harm
• Ensure Accountability

Business as Usual
For Palladium, it’s easy to endorse these standards, having long been a champion of health, human rights, and economic empowerment for society’s most marginalised and vulnerable people. Similarly, and as a fundamental part of how we do business, we strive to create an inclusive culture where differences are both recognised and valued wherever we operate in the world and across every part of our work. We bring together individuals from diverse backgrounds and give each individual the opportunity to contribute their skills, experience, and perspectives. Our goal is to not just assess how gender is impacted across our projects, but to also work with our clients and partners to support, understand, and even demand exemplar diversity and inclusion practices.

Gender in Health
Palladium has strong experience implementing programmes that promote gender equality and social inclusion. Within our global Health Policy Plus project we include gender in family planning, sexual reproductive health, and HIV work. For example, we designed and implemented a sensitisation curriculum and trained over 4,000 staff from the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) and their implementing partners in 40 countries on gender and sexual diversity. In Pakistan, we cultivated male champions for family planning within the government, civil society, and health professionals in order to reduce barriers and expand access to family planning services and programmes for women and men.

Gender in Agriculture
In Ghana, we’re galvanizing agricultural investment opportunities by connecting  investors with opportunities and linking smallholder farmers to finance. In general, closing these critical gaps in a supply chain creates profits for investors, stable livelihoods for farmers, and reduces food insecurity, but we also look at how gender is impacted. In this particular case, forty percent of the farmers impacted are women. Our work looks at how women support their families and access finance so we can continually customise our interventions.

Gender within Palladium
As an organisation that is committed to making the world a better place, we strive to ensure that the right conditions are in place so that every person is able to achieve their full potential. We continually push ourselves to be leaders in how we approach gender; adapt our work to be as inclusive as possible; and continually look for improvements. For the past three years we have taken our approach to diversity and inclusion within our projects and ambitiously incorporated it across our organisation, reaching the highest levels of leadership. We don’t just include “gender” into a few sentences of proposals, but have our own internal working groups, a Chief Diversity Officer, and a community of practice with over 800 employees. We measure our own recruitment and pay by gender, have created a global Diversity and Inclusion training course for all employees, as well as regularly share ideas, best practices, and examples of successes. In short, at Palladium we are ‘walking the walk’ within our own organisation to incorporate a gender lens because we know it’s good for our employees, it’s good for business, and it’s good for our clients and partners.

The Only Way
Having a gender advisor isn’t enough. Putting a few gender words in our proposals isn’t enough. Ticking boxes on a list isn’t enough. We’re striving to incorporate gender into everything we do, from our senior leadership down into our work within communities, because it’s the only way to fully understand the challenges that our partners, clients, and those we work with need to solve. Endorsing the International Gender Standards is just one more way we’re holding ourselves accountable.

This article was written by Palladium’s Sara Pappa, Elisabeth Rottach, and Ryan Olson. 

From Rhetoric to Results: Creating Accountability for Gender Standards

By Erin Smith

Leading gender specialists came together on November 16, 2017 for a panel discussion on Standard eight of the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality: accountability. Hosted by the Gender Practitioners Collaborative and InterAction, the event featured experts from World Vision, Catholic Relief Services, CARE, the International Rescue Committee and others to discuss lessons learned in ensuring accountability for gender mainstreaming with a focus on gender audits and use of project-level gender scorecards. Continue reading “Moving from Rhetoric to Results”