In 2023, USAID launched their Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Policy (Gender Policy) building on decades of experiences and evidence in advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment globally. Delivering on the Gender Policy’s objectives requires transformative change in both the programmatic and operational realities of development. In supporting local partners globally to implement health programs, NPI EXPAND sought to incorporate gender equality in line with USAID’s Gender Policy, with a focus on gender mainstreaming in program implementation and organizational development. The baseline organizational capacity assessments that NPI EXPAND conducted with all its partners included a section on gender and some partners were supported to do facilitated gender-specific organizational assessments.
In some countries, NPI EXPAND strengthened local partners’ capacity on organizational and programmatic gender mainstreaming and integration. Partners received support with mainstreaming gender into their organizational systems and incorporating gender-conscious organizational policies. In some instances, NPI EXPAND’s gender mainstreaming work was at the program level, such as developing guides for male engagement dialogues on topics such as family planning and maternal health, engaging men in family planning efforts, and focusing on increasing school enrolment for adolescent girls.
The throughline of NPI EXPAND’s gender work was purpose: gender mainstreaming should not be about fulfilling a donor requirement or checking a box. The project worked with local partners with the end in mind; investing in gender equality and women’s empowerment to achieve sustainable development outcomes for all. This work came with challenges as well as successes. This event, Localizing Gender Mainstreaming, showcased NPI EXPAND’s work in gender mainstreaming, challenges and lessons learned, and highlight local partners in Kenya and Pakistan.
This is the sixth event in NPI EXPAND’s series, Lessons in Localization: Experiences and Perspectives from the NPI EXPAND Project. As NPI EXPAND comes to a close in October 2024, the project will share experiences and lessons learned from implementing its large-scale grants and capacity strengthening program through a series of webinars for stakeholders.
