Gender Analysis Questions .docx

The Secretary’s Office of Global Women’s Issues

Department of State Gender Analysis Sample Questions for Notice of Funding Opportunity Applicants

This document is intended to serve as a guide for Department of State Notice of Funding Opportunities (NOFOs) applicants conducting a gender analysis to inform their program design. It may be attached to NOFOs for organizations to reference when analyzing gender in the context of the area/region in which they wish to work. Applicants are not required to use this exact format, as many organizations will have their own gender analysis system, templates, or processes. It is intended only as an example of how to consult, research, and apply gender analysis in the context of Department of State foreign assistance opportunities.

I. What is Gender Analysis?

Gender analysis (GA) is a tool for exploring the gaps in power, resources, and opportunities among women, men, girls, boys, and other gender identities in a given context, and how this interacts with proposed work. Gender analysis is most effective when used in the early stages of program/activity conception to inform design, and it should be reviewed consistently throughout the implementation of the proposed intervention. This simple process can be conducted by anyone to ensure activities reach all members of a community equitably. Applicants for Department of State NOFOs can integrate gender analysis into their proposals by taking the below steps.

Steps of Gender Analysis

1. Gather Data and Reports: Conduct community consultations and review existing research to understand gender in the context of the community/country/region for this activity and potential partners.

2. Discuss and Analyze: After reviewing consultation findings and research, discuss the information with local partners, local communities, and other colleagues to analyze how it can or should impact the program’s design and results.

3. Incorporate Findings: Work with your team to incorporate the findings of your gender analysis into your proposal design. Clearly address identified risks either in your risk analysis and mitigation plan and/or program design, as appropriate.[footnoteRef:1] [1: Avoid exploiting or instrumentalizing women and marginalized genders for other ends]

How to Incorporate GA into Proposals Below are questions to help you identify the ways in which women, men, girls, boys, and other gender identities in a given context might impact and be impacted by your work, and illuminate opportunities to narrow inequities. Once you analyze the challenges, gaps, and opportunities related to gender, integrate your findings to strengthen your program design. For example:

· If gender-based violence (GBV) is common within a particular context, how can we work with communities and/or security sector actors, particularly men and boys, to address practices that contribute to it, even if gender equality is not the primary goal of the program or project?

· If our intervention focuses on elections or political transitions, and traditional gender norms restrict women’s civic participation, how can we adjust our design to lower these barriers and provide women with specialized assistance? If traditional gender roles and economic stressors stop girls from attending school, and our intervention seeks to increase secondary school attendance and performance, how can we tailor some activities to close this gender gap?

· If we want to support women’s participation in the formal economy, but they are limited by caretaking responsibilities in the home and traditional social norms deride or demean men who take on these duties, how can we address these harmful norms to improve opportunities for everyone?

II. Conducting a Gender Analysis Gender analyses must be tailored to the community/country/region where the work will take place. The following list provides sample questions to help complete a contextually specific gender analysis. Questions are grouped into five domains[footnoteRef:2] to assist in organization, but answers may overlap. [2: We have harmonized Department of State domains of analysis with USAID for ease and accessibility.]

Domains of Analysis

· Laws, Policies, Regulations, and Institutional Practices. Are all genders treated equitably in legislation, policies, and institutions? Are there any laws or policies that address inequities or discrimination? How could these impact the work?

· Cultural Norms and Beliefs. What does this society expect of different genders? How will this shape the way our work impacts women, men, girls, boys, and non-confirming genders? Do gender norms or expectations facilitate or impede engagement in the work?

· Gender Roles, Responsibilities, and Time Use (including paid and unpaid work like care for family members). Who does what? How does gender affect roles, inside and outside the home, and change the way people are affected by the challenges at hand? How might this impact their participation in the work?

· Access to and Control over Assets and Resources (includes income, employment, and land). How do gender norms affect control over and capacity to use resources and assets? Examples include access and control over income, education, healthcare, social services, technology, and information.

· Patterns of Power and Decision-making (including structural barriers and leadership norms). Who influences or exercises control over decision-making? Why? Consider decisions over material, human, intellectual, or financial resources and sexual and reproductive health. Are there any risks associated with disrupting these decision-making patterns, even if someone requests it? If so, how will you mitigate or respond to those risks?

Cross-Cutting Questions

· Collaboration: What do local women, girls, and gender experts; marginalized peoples; and communities think? How have/will you partner with them and mitigate potential risks from their involvement?

· Gender-Based Violence: How does gender-based violence impact the work and the communities with which you engage? This can include risks and rates of domestic violence, early and forced marriage, violence against women online, harassment or intimidation of women in politics, etc.

· Intersectionality: What other aspects of identity should be considered? Factors may include age, religion, race, ethnicity, tribe, wealth, education, marital or relationship status, class, sexual orientation, gender identity, rural/urban residence, disability status, and nationality, among others. How do you respectfully analyze these complexities?

III. Integrating Your Gender Analysis Into Program Design and Proposals Considerations related to applying your gender analysis to your design and implementation.

Design and Implementation

· Staffing and budget

· How will you deal with gender norms, discrimination, and vulnerability in this work?

· Will you train staff and partners to assess different local, national, or regional gender norms, and work in partnership with local women and marginalized groups to narrow inequities?

· If staff or partners are discriminating against others or being discriminated against, do you have a policy and practice in place to address that?

· Does your team include someone trained in privacy and referrals in cases of GBV?

· Will staff be representative of, and able to communicate with the people you need to reach?

· Does your budget reflect the resources you need for all the above?

· Stakeholder Participation

· How will you consult with local women, women’s groups, and civil society to ensure the work is inclusive of and responsive to their needs and perspectives?

· How will you reach everyone relevant to the success of the work?

· Which local organizations can help you safely engage all members of the community?

· Logic Framework/Work Plan

· How is gender equality e promoted in your logic framework and how will you iteratively strengthen its implementation?

· Risk Assessment/Challenges

· Is the work likely to exacerbate existing tensions or conflicts within the home, between participants or beneficiaries, within or between communities, or otherwise?

· What gendered issues, including the safety, movement, and access of participants and staff, may arise and how will you mitigate and respond to those risks?

· What policies and practices do you have in place to prevent sexual exploitation and abuse of participants by staff and implementing partners?

· Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning

· How will you monitor, analyze, evaluate, and continuously learn from your progress narrowing gender inequities as you implement this work?

· Are you disaggregating proposed indicators by sex and age?

· Have you included indicators that specifically track progress in narrowing gender inequities?

· State and USAID have joint foreign assistance GNDR standard indicators that may be helpful as a starting point, but should not limit your gender MEL:

· GNDR-1: Number of legal instruments drafted, proposed or adopted with USG assistance designed to promote gender equality or non-discrimination against women or girls at the national or sub-national level

· GNDR-2: Percentage of female participants in USG-assisted programs designed to increase access to productive economic resources (assets, credit, income or employment)

· GNDR-4: Percentage of participants reporting increased agreement with the concept that males and females should have equal access to social, economic, and political resources and opportunities

· GNDR-5: Number of legal instruments drafted, proposed, or adopted with USG assistance designed to improve prevention of or response to sexual and gender based violence at the national or sub-national level

· GNDR-6: Number of people reached by a USG funded intervention providing GBV services (e.g., health, legal, psycho-social counseling, shelters, hotlines, other)

· GNDR-8: Number of persons trained with USG assistance to advance outcomes consistent with gender equality or female empowerment through their roles in public or private sector institutions or organizations

· GNDR-9: Number of training and capacity building activities conducted with USG assistance that are designed to promote the participation of women or the integration of gender perspectives in security sector institutions or activities.

· GNDR-10: Number of local women participating in a substantive role or position in a peacebuilding process supported with USG assistance.

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