DG White Paper Release: Managing for Feminist Results

Today, Development Gateway (DG) is pleased to announce the publication of the Managing for Feminist Results: Measuring Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy white paper, that outlines the challenges and opportunities that development agencies may face when adopting new and/or feminist policies.

Our last white paper discussed the need to change how we approach, design, and implement M&E systems, to achieve more effective results data use. In this white paper, we share a practical look at what that means in practice, highlighting our work with Global Affairs Canada – International Assistance (GAC-IA) and supporting development of its first-of-its-kind Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP).

Using our Custom Assessment and Landscape Methodology, we worked with GAC-IA to develop its FIAP M&E work plan, design a comprehensive FIAP M&E system to fit within its existing frameworks, and calculate pre-FIAP baseline values for all 26 indicators identified. Despite being a federal agency with over 6,000 employees, all of this was accomplished within one year of the FIAP being announced. The M&E system has been deployed to GAC-IA employees, and will be used to capture FIAP monitoring data during annual reporting. Additionally, as early as next year, the Year 1 results of GAC-IA programming under the FIAP are expected to be available for internal learning and planning.

Managing for Feminist Results: Measuring Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy

Building on the GAC-IA experience, the paper provides an overview of how other development agencies can integrate a feminist lens into their existing M&E frameworks. It also outlines how to adapt agency-wide reporting mechanisms to new policies quickly and comprehensively, following GAC-IA’s lead rolling out a new strategy with minimal disruption for program staff.

It’s also important to note what this paper does not do – it does not seek to evaluate or define GAC-IA’s definition of “women’s empowerment.” Challenges associated with measuring “women’s empowerment” and evaluating strategy effectiveness to achieve that empowerment is an ongoing conversation that GAC-IA hopes to contribute to.

With the FIAP in place and M&E systems already in use, GAC-IA is in a position to learn how to empower women and girls by doing. Through this learning by doing, the FIAP’s policy impact — and the empowerment of women and girls — can begin to be realized (and measured!) without delay.