Gender Equality and Aid Delivery: What has Changed in Development Co-operation Agencies since 1999?

Set against the background of significant changes in aid delivery since the late 1990s, this report examines practices and institutional approaches to gender equality and women's empowerment in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members' development co operation agencies. It presents the key findings and conclusions of a study conducted in 2006 by the DAC Network on Gender Equality, which set out to map the gender equality mandate and institutional arrangements of agencies, to explore elements of emerging good practice and technical advice on integrating gender equality dimensions into the new aid delivery mechanisms, and to analyse how staffing and institutional arrangements in agencies can be adapted to the new aid environment. Overall, it concludes that progress towards fulfilling the promise of the Beijing Platform for Action has been slow and uneven among the Development Assistance Committee (DAC) members' development co-operation agencies. No agency fully matches its own political rhetoric and objectives on gender equality with the required human and financial resources. To match implementation to policy commitments, DAC members must: recognise that gender mainstreaming is expensive; make management and staff accountable for progress in this area and offer incentives for high levels of performance; put more senior gender specialists in the field; and train staff and embassy personnel to understand and take actions to alleviate gender inequalities.