Gender Integration

III. Introduction
THE CENTER OF EXCELLENCE ON DEMOCRACY,
HUMAN RIGHTS AND GOVERNANCE (DRG Center)
has developed this toolkit as a practical guide for USAID
staff to better integrate gender into DRG programming.
Gender integration furthers both the objectives of USAID’s
Strategy on Democracy, Human Rights and Governance
(DRG Strategy) and the Agency’s policies regarding gender
equality, women’s and girls’ empowerment, and the rights
and political participation of all people.
Gender equality and female empowerment are core
development objectives, fundamental for the realization
of human rights and key to effective and sustainable
development outcomes. No society can develop
successfully without providing equitable opportunities,
resources, and life prospects for males and females so
that they can shape their own lives and contribute to
their families and communities.
−USAID Gender Equality and Female Empowerment Policy
(Gender Policy)
Background and Context
Since 2011, USAID has taken dramatic steps to advance
gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment
more effectively throughout its work. This effort builds upon
an architecture of U.S. government policies and strategies
released between 2011 and 2015, including the USAID Gender
Equality and Female Empowerment Policy (Gender Policy),
the United States Strategy to Prevent and Respond to
Gender-based Violence Globally, and the LGBT Vision
for Action.
Incorporating gender analysis into USAID’s work in
Washington and in the field allows the Agency to identify
opportunities to advance gender equality and women’s and
girls’ empowerment and helps to ensure that all of our work
takes gender-based differences, constraints, and opportunities
into account. Gender analysis is required for strategies and
projects, but the scope of analysis will differ depending on
the level of focus. 1
Effective gender integration is particularly critical to our work
in the field of democracy, human rights, and governance. If
USAID’s work does not ensure that women, men, transgender,
and gender non-conforming people have equal opportunities
to participate in and benefit from its programs and in the
political life of their societies, then we are failing in our efforts
both to promote participatory, representative and inclusive
political processes and government institutions 2 and to foster
6 USAID | Gender Integration in Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Programming Toolkit