Zeitschrift für Evaluation: Issue 1/2024, 23. Volume Die Verankerung von Gender-Mainstreaming in der deutschen Entwicklungszusammenarbeit: eine theoriebasierte Prozessevaluierung

Gender equality is one of the objectives and a guiding principle of German bilateral official development cooperation. Gender mainstreaming as the process of planning, implementing, and evaluating development measures is intended to ensure that project activities are carried out that contribute to gender equality. The DEval evaluation “Supporting gender equality in post-conflict contexts” evaluated the extent to which the cross-cutting issue of gender equality is successfully anchored in development cooperation based on 47 projects in eleven post-conflict contexts. Two dimensions were examined: (a) the process dimension, i.e. the formal process of gender mainstreaming and its practical implementation, and (b) the outcome dimension, i.e. projects’ effects. The evaluation finds that the procedures for gender mainstreaming are fundamentally suited to the purpose of supporting gender equality. However, in practice the methods and analytical tools are rarely used in a way that systematically anchors the gender-conflict nexus in the projects. This means that some of the potential for generating effects conducive to gender equality is being forfeited. The reasons for this lie in the following organizational factors: (a) the gender climate in the organization regarding leadership, organizational culture, norms, and values, (b) the individuals and their gender-related skills and commitment, (c) the institutionalization of gender equality through binding guidelines, contact points, and knowledge management and (d) the financial and time resources. The results of the evaluation can be partially transferred to the integration of other cross-cutting issues in organizations.

Keywords
gender mainstreaming, development cooperation, process evaluation, gender- and conflict-sensitive evaluation methods