5% Initiative: How to mainstream gender into technical expertise missions?

Gender: A strong dimension in technical expertise missions

There is a strong link between the HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria pandemics and the gender dimension.

Women are more vulnerable biologically, socioeconomically and culturally as they are often less prepared in the negotiation of their sexuality, less educated and therefore less informed, more economically dependent than the men in their families, and less represented in decision-making circles. They today account for the majority of new HIV infections and are particularly vulnerable to malaria and tuberculosis during pregnancy. Finally, they are in most cases responsible for the care and protection of their children, who are themselves particularly exposed to the three pandemics. Harmful gender norms, discrimination, violence, limited access to education and the absence of appropriate services hinder access to healthcare for women and girls and fuel new infections.

Gender is therefore a key cooperation issue for Expertise France and the 5% Initiative. It has been phased into the various key stages of the financing cycle for 5% Initiative projects in the context of the Project Channel. It is required to be taken into account and is assessed in the context of the selection process for projects and is specifically monitored during their implementation.

Gender is also mainstreamed into the technical expertise missions of the Expertise Channel (formerly Channel 1). For several months now, the 5% Initiative has been conducting reflection with the experts who implement the technical assistance missions (formerly Channel 1). The objective is to develop the tools required to take gender into account in their missions and guide them in this exercise.

Find out about the Gender Webinar of the 5% Initiative

The Gender Webinar of the 5% Initiative is composed of four tools available below – an introductory and presentation video, a “Gender and Pandemics” module, a “Gender and Type of Support” module and, finally, a “Gender and Mission Methodologies” module. It will gradually be deployed during an initial pilot phase in the course of 2019. A user guide can be downloaded here.