A Guide to Integrating Gender in Improvement

This guide incorporates the USAID ASSIST Project’s learning and experience with gender integration in improvement over the last five years. It explains gender and gender integration, details how to integrate gender in improvement activities, encourages additional areas for consideration, provides resources that improvement teams can use to integrate gender, and lists many resources from which you can learn more.

The guide is designed for quality improvement teams, but is also relevant for all staff supporting those teams, including management, technical staff, monitoring and evaluation (M&E) specialists, and research professionals. It may also be useful to anyone who aims to address gender considerations to achieve better outcomes among women and men, girls and boys, or other professionals more broadly who are seeking to address gender in their own studies or activities.

The guide is divided into three main sections to support gender integration in quality improvement activities: (1) understanding gender and gender integration, (2) understanding the step-by-step process of integrating gender in improvement, and (3) understanding additional factors to consider when integrating gender into improvement activities. Though it focuses on the process for activities that have not yet begun, the guide will also be helpful to integrate gender in activities that are already underway. Review the entire guide and determine which components are feasible for you. The Appendices provide tools and resources to support this work.