GUIDELINES FOR ASSESSING AND REPORTING GENDER IMPACT
FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Purpose of the Tool
The following was developed for the Latin America and Caribbean (LAC)
Bureau of USAID by the Bureau Gender/WID Advisor. It was designed to provide
brief, basic guidance applicable at both the project and program levels, in a form
accessible to busy project managers and program officers, as well as Women in
Development (WID) officers. Its purpose is to 1) clarify definitions and concepts, 2)
provide usable guidance on how to tell whether gender is an important factor in any
given project or program, and 3) indicate the kind of information needed to
demonstrate gender-sensitive people-level impact [NELLY? DEFINE PEOPLE-LEVEL
IMPACT? IS THERE ANOTHER WAY TO SAY THIS??].
The tool is also intended as a complement to formal Bureau reporting guidance.
It examines the rationale for considering gender and its effects on sustainable
development, then explains the processes for determining and reporting gender impact
through specific LAC Bureau systems and documents, offering examples of good
mission reporting for each category.
How to Use the Tool
While this document is specific to the LAC Bureau and the way in which it
operates, it can also serve as a model for brief, accessible gender guidance which could
be adapted to serve the needs of other USAID bureaus or offices, or other development
[DESCRIBE STEP-BY-STEP APPROACH?]
Expected Outcomes of the Tool
Use of this tool can help the analyst to assess a project/program's people-level
development impact by showing how women benefit from development interventions
compared with men, and how impact can be attributed to project and program efforts.
The analyst can also report accurately on a program/project's impact achieved through
its gender-sensitive interventions, enhance recognition of program results, and promote
effective actions to improve these results in the future.
ABS Annual Budget Summary
CP Congressional Presentation
EOPS End-of-Project Status
LAC Latin America/Caribbean
NTAE Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports
POD Program Objective Document
SAR Semi-Annual Report [IS THIS RIGHT?]
WID Women in Development
1). DEFINITIONS AND CONCEPTS
The following key concepts summarize the basic definitions and analytical
framework for considering gender in development activities.
SEX VS. GENDER
"Gender" is a socioeconomic variable which refers to the comparative or
differential roles and activities of women and men what a society or culture
prescribes as proper masculine and feminine roles and behavior. Gender roles
vary among societies and over time. "Sex" refers to fixed male and female
WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT
Because women have more often been left out of the development process, a
special effort often needs to be made so that women as well as men participate in
and benefit from development; this effort has become known as Women in
Development (WID). WID does not mean leaving men out; it means ensuring
that women are included. USAID has long emphasized paying attention to the
effects of gender differences in all its relevant activities considering gender-
based factors in order to ensure full and equitable participation and benefit by
both men and women. "Gender-neutral" approaches assume equal access, but do
not take into account the constraints of gender on access and participation.
Gender differences usually operate in association with other socioeconomic
variables. Neither all men nor all women necessarily share the same interests,
concerns, or status. These vary by race, ethnicity, income, occupation, age, level
of education, etc. In addition, the concerns and status of men and women within
groups, whether racial, ethnic, age or class, differ.
GENDER'S EFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENT
Gender affects economic as well as social development objectives. It is much
more than an equity issue; it affects economic growth as well as social stability
and well-being. USAID experience has demonstrated that considering and
enhancing women's as well as men's roles and contributions to the economy
promotes development and sustainability. Increased economic participation by
women has also proven to have a direct impact on lowering birth rates and
improving children's nutrition and education.
Gender impact can bring about more balanced participation and benefit by both
sexes, lessening the gender imbalances characteristic of most societies, and thereby
encouraging better utilization of all human resources and more effective and equitable
distribution of benefits to people. Both of the latter are necessary conditions for
achieving broad-based sustainable development.
There are different types of impact, some more within a mission's manageable
scope than others, but all of which must be analyzed to assess the likely ultimate result
and to demonstrate a plausible linkage between the mission's interventions and that
The focus of this tool is specifically on gender impact for several reasons:
1) Gender cross-cuts all other social variables and is usually a factor affecting the
type and extent of people-level impact. For example, educating girls has
multifaceted benefits which differ from the benefits of educating boys; and
female-controlled income may bring about greater benefits in child welfare than
2) Gender analysis includes other social variables, and is the most efficient means of
undertaking effective social analysis. In gender analysis, the effects of other
variables are taken into account to provide a complete picture of the factors
affecting participation and impact on people. The analysis examines the roles
and participation of women and men belonging to specific groups involved in a
development intervention (e.g., indigenous farmers, urban or rural
microentrepreneurs, minority groups, youth and students, the rural poor).
3) Poor women, whether they are urban or rural, of minority or majority culture or
ethnicity, have long been among the most disadvantaged and hardest to include
in development efforts. Therefore, demonstrating impact on women as well as
men is a key measure of effectively reaching the disadvantaged, expanding the
human resource base and bringing about people-level socioeconomic change,
which contributes to broad-based sustainable development.
2). ASSESSING AND REPORTING GENDER IMPACT
STEP 1: ASK QUESTIONS AT ALL STAGES OF PROJECT/PROGRAM
Gender is frequently an important variable in project, program, and policy
effectiveness. To assess whether and to what degree gender-differentiated factors (as
well as other socioeconomic variables) might affect the outcomes of development
interventions, key questions should be asked during the strategic planning process and
during the design, implementation, and monitoring/evaluation stages of the
project/program cycle. These questions include:
1). Who needs to be reached for action to occur? (by sex and other relevant
2). Why. or so what? What difference will it make if these groups participate or
not? What are the implications for achieving the objectives?
3). How can these groups be reached? (different means may be necessary for
different groups; various constraints may exist because of gender roles and
activity patterns and different access to resources).
4). How will we know? What information is needed to determine who participates
and what may result?
5). What happened? Are the expected results being achieved? If not, why not?
What changes are needed?
STEP 2: DATA ANALYSIS
If gender is a relevant variable, it must be taken into account in determining
project and program performance. Sex-disaggregated indicators or other means of
determining gender impact are necessary if gender is relevant to achievement of outputs
Attention to gender does not mean adding an extra data collection burden;
rather it means focusing on the data needed to illustrate impact not more but better
information. The following types of information should be sought to determine gender
The amount of participation by both sexes in key project activities, outputs
and/or strategic objectives and the effects of gender roles: a) The way in
which they participate as active participants in decision-making and/or
implementation or as recipients of services; and the types of activities (e.g.,
training, credit, employment). b) The numbers or percentages of males
and females in key activities. c) Gender-based obstacles to participation
and how they have been handled.
The impact of women's and men's participation in these activities and the
degree to which this has helped achieve project and program objectives,
and lessons learned.
STEP 3: DETERMINING GENDER IMPACT
The purpose of the bureau and mission strategic objective framework is to focus
and concentrate interventions to achieve the greatest possible impact for sustainable
development, and to demonstrate progress toward that impact through measurable
Use of sex-disaggregated indicators at both the project and program levels is
important for activities in which gender imbalances are highly likely to affect attainment
of objectives. The relevance of gender and the type of data needed can be determined
through a question-and-decision process such as the following:
Based on existing information and experience:
Who participates in this activity (by sex and other relevant variables)?
Who benefits, and how? Are benefits to both men and women within the
target group generally proportional to participation to the time and
effort expended? Are there differences in how families benefit from
participation by women compared with men? What are the implications
of all of this for project/program impact? Could impact be significantly
increased if participation and/or benefit were expanded (e.g., if more
women or more men participated and benefited, or did so in more
If there are gender differences in impact, then:
Why are there differences in participation and/or benefit between men
and women in the target group? Could mission interventions sufficiently
change the factors causing these differences to enhance levels of
participation and/or benefit?
If the differences are amenable to change, then:
What can be done to address gender imbalances in participation and
benefits? What specific interventions are likely to increase
participation/benefits and are possible and practical within existing
Once these interventions are determined:
How can progress be measured? What specific indicators are needed to
demonstrate impacts on participation and benefits?
These steps are used to analyze the results shown by the indicators to determine
whether impact is occurring and to make any needed modifications in interventions.
If there is insufficient information on gender effects or the relevance of gender is
unclear, the importance of gender to impact can be determined by including the "who"
questions above in an evaluation or study, and then assessing the effectiveness of the
interventions using this information.
STEP 4: REPORTING GENDER IMPACT
If the above process indicates that gender factors are likely to affect achievement
of objectives, gender impact (both positive and negative) should be reported in terms of
those objectives, together with any action taken as a result. Reporting is necessary to
ensure that these impacts on results are recognized (gender factors are frequently
overlooked) as well as to promote effective action to improve results. A secondary
reason for reporting on gender is to satisfy the Congressional mandate that programs
ensure participation and benefit by both sexes.
If there are no data on or analysis of gender impact at the project or activity
level, it will be very difficult to address gender impact at the program level. A coherent
system is needed to assess and synthesize impact at succeeding levels. This requires
integrating gender and other types of people-level impact into the existing reporting
system. This not only provides information in a useful, programmatically integrated
form, but eliminates the need for additional and ad-hoc reporting. Some guidelines and
Projects for which gender is or could be a significant factor need to collect and
analyze information on gender impact based on what the project is trying to accomplish.
Project monitoring systems should include gender-sensitive impact indicators and
baseline data against which to measure performance in achieving end of project status
(EOPS) objectives, which should contribute to program-level strategic objectives.
Project evaluations are an important source of impact data when sex-disaggregated
impact questions such as those above are addressed and, especially, when disaggregated
baseline data exist. Further, to ensure that the data collected are analyzed for their
impact, reported and acted upon, project managers should be trained in at least the
basic elements of gender analysis and held responsible by mission management for
incorporating gender into performance reporting.
Example USAID/Ecuador's Non-Traditional Agricultural Exports
(NTAE) Project's purpose is to establish a healthy, growing NTAE sector
in support of its strategic objective increased trade and employment.
The project's EOPS objectives include production, export, and
employment impact. The mission conducted a study which showed that
80% of NTAE employment is comprised of women; consequently, the
mission persuaded the National Employment Institute to compile sex-
disaggregated employment data. An EOPS indicator also measures
equitable distribution of benefits through an increase in the number of
growers, with a target of 65% women [THIS IS CONFUSING. DOES
THIS MEAN THAT THE PROJECT'S EOPS OBJECTIVE IS TO
INCREASE THE NUMBER OF GROWERS, AND REDUCE THE % OF
WOMEN IN THE SECTOR TO 65% INSTEAD OF 80%?]. Training
figures are also disaggregated.
Gender impact should be reported in all relevant Project Status Reports under
the section on "Other Accomplishments and Overall Status." Impact should be
discussed not merely in terms of inputs and outputs (e.g. number of women trained),
but the effects on or implications for achieving objectives. Barriers identified or
corrective actions taken should be noted. To the extent possible, all relevant Project
Status Reports should disaggregate beneficiaries by sex, together with major activities, in
the "Project Status" and "Major Outputs" sections. This will not only reveal who is
participating and how (data needed to determine gender impact), but will enable the
mission to aggregate certain impacts across projects (e.g., numbers and/or percentages
of male and female participants, trainees, beneficiaries of employment creation, loan
recipients), particularly when the SAR system is automated. This in turn can facilitate
reporting of people-level impact in the Mission Director's overview section, as well as in
Action Plans, Congressional Presentations, and ABS coding (see below).
Example In its Project Status Report for the Land Use and Productivity
Enhancement project, USAID/Honduras has disaggregated all its major
outputs (activities planned and accomplished). Based on this data, the
report discusses impact, including the fact that the projected proportion of
women-headed households among project beneficiaries was not achieved,
at least in part because of an inaccurate projection of both total
population and household composition. Women are participating
[PARTICIPATING IN WHAT? THE ECONOMY? THE LABOR
MARKET?] at lower rates than men, except in several activities
specifically targeted to women, where participation has been high. The
report states that more attention is being given to promoting women's
participation in other activities.
Example USAID/Ecuador's Project Status Report on the Water and
Sanitation for Health and Ecuadorian Development Project describes
training for women promoters and community members trained by those
promoters. It also discusses the importance to the project of the
promoters' field work, and notes that training for promoters has been
expanded and informal training in operations, management, and hygiene
education has been mainly targeted to women because they are the most
influential family members.
Program Objective Documents (PODs) and Action Plans
Strategic objectives and program outputs should include sex-disaggregated
indicators where gender is a significant factor. In following PODs, programming
decisions should be based on Action Plan performance reports. Gender impacts should
be synthesized in the Action Plan narrative, based on both the indicators and sources
such as SAR data and project evaluations, in terms of their influence on meeting
strategic objectives and comparative benefits to women and men. In other words,
reports should address the extent to which women and men are participating and
benefiting [IN AND FROM WHAT?], and also discuss the difference this has made
(positive or negative) in achieving the [PROGRAM'S??] desired results. It may also be
useful to summarize the reasons for any significant gender-based differences and how
they have been addressed (e.g. lessons learned).
Example In its Action Plan overview, USAID/Honduras synthesized the
contributions of its program's key activities toward improving equity (a
necessary condition for sustainable development), highlighting impact on
women and other disadvantaged groups. The overview describes studies to
assess impact on the poor and on women and to guide programming,
which provide the basis for assessing results and applying these efforts in
future Action Plans [THIS IS A BIT CONFUSING]. Key indicators are
sex-disaggregated (e.g., manufacturing employment gains, access to factors
of production, practice of environmentally sound cultivation techniques,
number of vocational training graduates employed).
Example USAID/Guatemala provided a clear example of how gender
impact links with development impact in its Action Plan overview. It
reported that the Mission had successfully negotiated with the Ministry of
Education for significant policy and resource commitments to improve
girls' education. These commitments are expected to reap long-term
benefits not only in educational attainment but also in reduction of
fertility and infant mortality rates.
Annual Budget Submissions (ABS) and Congressional Presentations (CP)
The CP should contain a brief synthesis of the significance of gender to achieving
results and a summary of impact on women as well as men in the narrative (in response
to the Congressional mandate). The primary concern in the ABS is that budget
allocation codes accurately reflect the WID impact reported in the foregoing
performance assessment and reporting documents. Analyses conducted by R&D/WID
in LAC countries indicate that there are often significant discrepancies between SARs
and ABS coding. This calls reporting accuracy into question, and indicates
underreporting of WID impact in either the SAR or ABS.
Example R&D/WID's analysis for Guatemala showed that an education
project was reported in the SAR as having a significant component
focused on girls' education; however, the ABS coding for the project did
not include WID. The SAR for a rural electrification project included
disaggregated training data and reported that women comprised 30% of
project participants, yet no WID coding appeared in the ABS. The
reverse occurred for special development fund activities: the SAR made no
mention of women as project participants or beneficiaries, but various
activities were coded for WID in the ABS (up to 40%); the overall WID
attribution was 27%.
Attention to gender impacts as outlined above provides an excellent and specific
measure of people-level development impact. It shows how women, usually the most
disadvantaged group, benefit compared with men, and shows how impact can be
attributed to project and program efforts to overcome gender barriers.
[MORE ABOUT RESULTS OF USING THIS TOOL? USEFULNESS OF EXERCISE?]
AN ILLUSTRATION OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF GENDER IMPACT AND
THEIR EFFECTS ON DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
Development interventions are meant to change conditions and have an actual impact, such as
differences in behavior, income, or living conditions. Sustainability depends on the effectiveness and
durability of these changes. The following example of how different levels of impact can be defined and
feasibly linked with interventions, in contributing to lasting change, is illustrative; the same logical process
can be applied to any type of intervention and impact analysis.
1) The process begins with project or non-project assistance inputs. An example is implementation
of a vocational training program designed to be accessible to women as well as men: this
intervention is meant to maximize human resource development by encouraging participation by
2) The inputs are developed with certain goals and output in mind. The output in this case would be
actual course enrollment and completion by comparable numbers of women and men, which would
indicate successful elimination of gender-related barriers. Sex-disaggregated project data would
demonstrate results directly attributable to mission efforts.
3) Impact achieved by the process is assessed by answering the question "So what? What difference
have the inputs made?" An initial type of Impact for this example is employment (another
equivalent impact would be promotion, for those trainees already employed). Were both sexes
successful in finding appropriate employment as a result of their training, thus deriving economic
benefit as well as contributing to the economy? This impact can be determined through project
data or an evaluation or special study. It can be linked to mission efforts if training is shown to
have been based on an accurate assessment of demand for skills, or measures taken have been
successful in promoting employment of female as well as male trainees.
4) Other impacts are assessed by looking at other effects, direct and indirect results. A further
economic impact in this example is the effect on Income: do men and women trainees earn similar
levels of income from their employment, proportionate to their experience and skills? Income is
difficult to measure, but it is essential to find some measure of the comparative economic benefit
of training by sex in order to identify and address gender imbalance. What are the factors
contributing to equality or disparity and the implications for replicating successful or changing
unsuccessful interventions? If the mission can demonstrate, through an evaluation, for example,
that it has analyzed results and contributing factors, and linked interventions with results (e.g.
measures which resulted in successful entry by women into higher-paid non-traditional fields), it
can claim that the effort has had such impact.
Social Impact can be demonstrated by changes in women's influence or status in the family
resulting from employment and/or Income gained as a result of training. This could lead, for
example, to more equitable decision-making or distribution of resources. The impact of women's
income (compared with men's) on family well-being or children's nutrition, health and education
status could also be assessed. This demonstrates change in socio-economic conditions which can
contribute to sustainable development. Such impact is best demonstrated by a study which
compares results with baseline data. If this is not possible a linkage can still be made if the
economic impacts have been demonstrated and a study or evaluation reveals results based on data
such as comparative reporting of change in conditions by both trainees and male and female family