Gender Issues

USAID works to integrate gender issues into all of its programs. USAID has incorporated gender requirements into its ADS (USAID's official guidance on policies and operating procedures) and established the Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG), which is composed of representatives from USAID and numerous other organizations. The main goal of the group is to promote gender equity within family planning, health, and nutrition programs by providing guidance in the areas of research, policy, training, communications, and service delivery.

USAID Resources

• International Women's Day - 03/08/08
  To celebrate, USAID is kicked off a series of features on women whose work through USAID-supported projects are making a difference in the lives of other women, families, and communities.
  
  
• Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through USAID's Health Programs: A Guide for Health Sector Program Officers - July 2006 [PDF, 1MB]
  The Guide provides USAID Program Officers with specific recommendations to integrate GBV initiatives into their health sector portfolios. These guidelines are meant to complement a USAID-commissioned in depth literature review that summarizes promising interventions from the field.
  
  
• 16 Days of Activism - Eliminating Gender Violence - November 25-December 10, 2007
  Beginning on the International Day of Eliminating Violence Against Women, encompassing World AIDS Day on December 1, and ending on International Human Rights Day, 16 Days of Activism raises awareness about the violence that women and girls face in our global communities as a result of their unequal status in society and the intersection of violence and public health and development obstacles.
  
  
• Gender-Based Violence and Reproductive Health & HIV/AIDS: Summary of a Technical Update
  This 42-page publication summarizes the Technical Update held at USAID on May 1, 2002, a day-long event that drew more than 130 program managers, policymakers, service providers and trainees.

Additional Resources

• Sakhi Saheli – Promoting Gender Equity and Empowering Young Women [PDF, 3.9MB]
  This training manual will benefit those engaged in programs that aim to provide comprehensive gender-based responses to HIV prevention. The manual promotes critical reflection among young women, so they may recognize and understand how gender normative attitudes and behaviors affect their everyday lives and can result in increasing their vulnerability to HIV and other reproductive health problems.
  
  
• New Voices, New Perspectives
  Launched in 2005, this new research-paper series, directed towards recent post-graduate students worldwide, is intended as an opportunity for students enrolled in gender-related programs to contribute to global debates and to the communal sphere of knowledge on women's and gender issues.
  
  
• Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG)
  This network promotes gender equity within population, health and nutrition programs, in order to raise awareness and commitment to synergies between gender equity and reproductive health outcomes.
  
  
• Guide for Incorporating Gender Considerations in USAID's Family Planning and Reproductive Health RFAs and RFPs [PDF, 127KB]
  This tool is meant to guide program design teams through a process of thinking differently about how to meet the challenges of developing high-quality, client-centered, and sustainable reproductive health programs.