RE: Gender and evaluation of food security | Eval Forward

Dear all, 

here is a summary of the discussion and main issues raised by participants. 

  • Gender should be addressed at the time of formulation of the development action and design of its results framework, including the choice of indicators and data collection methods.
  • If gender was not included in the programme design and baselines are not available, it will be more difficult, though still possible, for the evaluation to address it and for baselines to be replaced by historical analyses;
  • The type of evaluation (process, impact or outcome evaluation) and the target audience will influence the way the evaluation considers gender aspects.
  • Given the complexity and multisectoral nature of gender, evaluations of gender should include social analysis, which is necessary to understand social systems and the constraints that perpetrate the women’s condition in the context of food security. 
  • To evaluate gender equality and empowerment of women, gender-responsive methodologies, methods, tools, and data analysis techniques should be selected (see references below).
  • It is important to consider possible trade-offs related to gender: an example from a project that aimed to support women by assigning them livestock with higher productivity but did not consider additional workload and the missing links to market opportunities that could allow to translate the higher production into income.
  • Examples of gender-responsive indicators were referenced and on how to make indicators gender sensitive.
  • Women, along with other stakeholders, should participate in co-producing the evaluation framework and take part in evaluations themselves, in a participatory approach. The evaluator / evaluation team should play the role of a facilitator and recognize the experiential knowledge of stakeholders.
  • Gender evaluations in Africa, as in other regions, must consider that unfortunately the level of understanding of the gender approach still varies a lot, which does not facilitate its application.
  • Some country initiatives:
    • Benin: a study on the sensitivity of the national system of monitoring and evaluation in relation to gender allowed to identify national indicators by sector to evaluate the gender aspect and to incorporate norms and standards to take gender into account in all evaluations.
    • Burundi: the Ministry of Local Government is looking at how to integrate gender in the five-year development planning process of municipalities, defining the basic "gender" indicators that will be monitored and evaluated during the life of this plan.
    • Costa Rica: The Ministry of Planning worked with UN Women on a guide on how to evaluate gender and human rights to complement the evaluations carried out within the National Planning System of Costa Rica.

References and links shared by participants / Références et liens partagés par les participants / Referencias y enlaces compartidos por los participantes 

Other references / Autres références (en anglais) /Otras referencias (en inglés)

 

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