Author | Mary Picard
The Guide to Gender-Transformative Programming
Integrating gender equality into UNICEF’s programs is an ongoing process of building on what is tried and tested, learning from mistakes and pushing new boundaries. UNICEF, through its gender specific actions, such as B. expanding its focus on adolescent girls and improving their access to health and other services has seen a significant contribution to gender equality. The next step in achieving sustainable outcomes for women and girls is to go beyond the immediate causes of ill health, malnutrition, or high risk of HIV and address the underlying causes (e.g., patriarchal norms or control over women’s sexuality). ) to tackle. A gender-transformative approach seeks to uncover the structural causes of gender inequalities so that program efforts are able to create an enabling environment for women and girls to have essential access to services and resources as rights-holders and equal partners.
Both the West and Central Africa (WCAR) and East and Southern Africa (ESAR) regions face many complex and interrelated health, humanitarian, demographic and economic challenges. The future of these regions is now being exacerbated by the ongoing health and socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on women and girls. This study focuses on the areas of health, nutrition and HIV with the aim of accelerating progress towards better outcomes for women and girls. This case study report contributes to that goal by identifying solid examples of gender transformative approaches in different sub-sectors and highlighting the strategies employed and some of the challenges encountered.
This report is a companion document to the Review of Gender-Transformative Approaches and Promising Practices in Health, Nutrition and HIV Programming in Africa: From Theory to Practice. The review document serves as the background for this series of case studies and explains the theoretical basis for reviewing the evidence for the case studies and the rationale for the selection of these four cases.
The case studies
The selection of case studies was derived from a review of 29 different health, nutrition and HIV initiatives in WCAR and ESAR. All four case studies below meet the qualifications for a gender-transformative approach according to the Gender-Transformative Approach Evaluation Model (see accompanying document) – demonstrating attention to three critical dimensions of change: (D1) reshaping policies, laws and budgets, (D2) transform formal systems and services and (D3) Reshaping the underlying social structures that focus on addressing disadvantageous gender norms, as well as demonstrating at least an intention to address the core dimension (D-CORE), a change in the unequal power relations between the sexes. Also, several strategies are used to generate the changes.
Each section begins with a brief summary of the obstacles, including the analysis that influenced the program design. Progress is then described in terms of dimensions of change, contributing strategies and outcomes. Each of the case studies highlights different lessons and insights along the different stages of the program cycle, building on UNICEF’s efforts to integrate gender transformative approaches in these and other sectors. Each section ends with a set of priorities that reflect what this analysis shows and what COs already have in the pipeline.
The selected cases
Tanzania: The Girls’ Rights and Reproductive Health Empowerment Program in Tanzania (GRREAT).
Ivory Coast: The U-Test Project: Optimizing HIV Self-Testing and Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis in At-Risk Adolescents and Populations
South Africa: The Peer Mentoring Program for Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW).
Ghana: Improving early childhood development in rural Ghana through scalable, low-cost, community-driven play programs
