Gender and social inclusion

Gender inequality  is one of the key factors hampering wealth creation, poverty reduction and the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals in many developing countries. While international policy has made some progress towards addressing gender inequality, it needs to be converted into concrete changes on the ground, especially at the local level.

The resources available on this page all address the capacities required at the local level to address gender inequalities effectively. Sub topics include:

Decentralization: Decentralization increases the power of local governments and, by extension, their capacity to boost gender equality. What can local actors do to ensure that local governments actually mobile their powers to promote gender equality?

Leadership and power: Addressing gender inequalities starts with leadership and political will. One way to mobilize political will for gender equality is to get as many women as possible in leadership positions. Another way is to enhance gender sensitivity among male leaders.

Generating and analysing evidence on gender inequality: Evidence of gender inequality is a powerful resource for generating gender sensitivity and essential for developing effective gender policies. Monitoring mechanisms and gender analytical tools are therefore core capacities that local governments need to acquire.

Featured Article

Gender in value chains training course

Dates: 11 - 22 February 2013 (Application deadline 10th December 2012)
Type of event: Training (please note that this is a paid course)
Location: Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Organization: Royal Tropical Institute (KIT)
More information: http://genderinvaluechains.ning.com/events/kit-course-gender-in-value-chains-gvc

Professionals working in the field of sustainable agri-business development, be it from a private sector, support service or government perspective, are in need of a better understanding of how gender can be mainstreamed in value chain activities and partnerships. This participatory, experience based course offers you a framework that helps you plan and implement value chain interventions in such a way that women benefit more from value chains, while at the same time increasing business development opportunities within the chain as a whole.

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Recent Articles

Tapping the power of women's collective action in agricultural markets

06 June 2013

word_document_132619841_canonical_069d06076a Development actors are increasingly prioritising ‘investing in women’ to ensure food security and sustainability—as well as equity—in agricultural development. In this context, collective action is a critical but poorly understood way for women small-scale farmers to strengthen their engagement in agricultural markets.

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Report of national stakeholder consultations on water in the post-2015 development agenda

23 May 2013

post2015_water_consultations This report published by the Global Water Partnership (GWP) summarizes findings from 22 national consultations that it organized between February and May 2013. The consultations aimed to: identify country needs; obtain a deeper qualitative understanding of national priorities; and compliment the online global thematic consultation on water. The broad topics covered included water resources and wastewater management, as well as quality and water supply, sanitation and hygiene (WASH).

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Engaging communities in identifying beneficiaries of pro-poor programmes

13 May 2013

poverty action lab brief One of the main challenges countries face in effectively targeting social safety net programmes is correctly identifying the poorest households. This January 2013 Brief highlights a study by MIT's Poverty Action Lab that compared community-based methods of selecting who qualifies for a cash transfer programme with proxy means tests. The study found that while participatory methods were less accurate overall, they greatly improved local satisfaction and better matched the poor’s own concept of poverty.

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Capacity development tools for community empowerment

09 May 2013

The US Office of Community Services partners with states, communities and agencies to eliminate causes of poverty, increase self-sufficiency of individuals and families and revitalize communities. As part of its support role, OCS offers access to a wide range of learning tools on its website. These range from how to analyze data and communicate results, design outcome-oriented projects, develop collaborative platforms and implement value-driven donor development.

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Building local capacity for ecosystem-based adaptation

08 May 2013

MSV_Booklet_cover_140px Many Strong Voices (MSV) is an initiative to reduce the vulnerability of coastal communities to climate change. Based on case studies in Belize and Seychelles the project is working to formalize a methodology that combines evidence-based, scientific data with community knowledge and experiences.

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Scaling up climate information services for smallholder farmers in Africa and Asia

24 April 2013

climate informationThis white paper summarizes the lessons learnt from across cases, projects and research experiments in effectively developing and providing climate information and advisory services for smallholder farmers. The case studies were presented at an international workshop in Senegal in December 2012, co-organized by CGIAR's Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) and its partners. The workshop discussions focused on two projects that are attempting to reaching farmers at scale: Integrated Agrometeorological Advisory Services (IAAS) in India (which recently announced in 2012 plans to scale up to 10-12 million farmers) and Mali’s Projet d’A ssistance Agrometeorologique au Monde Rural (which has provided innovative services to farmers since 1982).

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Essential Readings

  • Rajesh Tandon (2010) "Voice, Values and Exclusion in CapacityDevelopment Processes: Experiences from India" in: Ubels, J., N. Acquaye-Baddoo and A. Fowler (eds) Capacity Development in Practice, Earthscan, pp. 93-100

  • Gender equality for smarter cities: Challenges and progress (UN-HABITAT 2010)

  • Assessing gender responsive local capacity development in Indonesia

  • Helen O'Connell (2010) Preserve status quo or promote gender equality? Capacity.org Issue 40 (August 2010)

  • Gender mainstreaming in local governments: Best practices (UN Habitat 2008)

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SEEP Community

SEEPcommunityLogo_web2 SEEP is a global network of over 130 international practitioner organizations dedicated to combating poverty through promoting inclusive markets and financial systems. Members are active in 170 countries and support nearly 90 million entrepreneurs and their families. The SEEP Community connects microenterprise practitioners from around the world to develop practical guidance and tools, build capacity, and help set standards to advance a common vision: a sustainable income in every household.

Learning communities on gender and social inclusion