Click on a country below to learn more about our past and current projects!
57
57
Countries with successfully led projects
35
35
Active projects
5
5
Regions worked in
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World
Country: Tanzania
Project: USAID Adolescents and Children HIV Incidence Reduction, Empowerment, and Virus Elimination (ACHIEVE) project
Partners: Pact (prime), Jhpiego, Palladium, No Means No Worldwide, WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
The ACHIEVE project, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by Pact, has a primary goal to reach and sustain HIV epidemic control among pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescents, infants, and children in PEPFAR-supported countries. The ACHIEVE consortium works with USAID missions, national governments, and partners to identify gaps in HIV prevention and treatment programming among priority populations. WI-HER leads the implementation of the three pillars of the USAID ACHIEVE Project Gender Strategy: social integration and gender mainstreaming, capacity development, and institutionalizing practices for transition.
In Tanzania, WI-HER leads gender equity, youth and social inclusion mainstreaming in the policies and guidelines of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) and supports organizational development within the Ministry and the social services organizations it oversees.
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili Activity
Partner: RTI International
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
The USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili (“Preserve Natural Resources”) Activity, which is fully funded by USAID, aims to address threats to animal movement and biodiversity in Tanzania. USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili will incorporate a series of interventions that support and strengthen the capacity of national and local government and civil society for biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. In designing interventions to achieve these objectives, USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili will systematically incorporate opportunities for empowerment and engagement of women, youth, and other groups historically excluded from conservation efforts.
Country: Ghana
Project: USAID Quality for Health Activity
Partner: URC
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
WI-HER joined prime URC to begin the partnership for the USAID Quality for Health Activity (Q4H). Q4H’s goal is to support the Government of Ghana (GoG) to strengthen institutional capacity to promote and oversee improved quality health services in public and private health sectors. Working toward this goal will sustainably improve the quality of health service delivery and improve health outcomes in Ghana. WI-HER’s role is to support URC to integrate locally-driven GYSI into the project and support the GoG to improve equitable health outcomes for Ghanaians through quality improvement and behavior change approaches.
Project: Ghana Millennium Development Authority Social and Gender Integration Plan (SGIP)
WI-HER prime contractor
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER was the prime contractor for the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in Ghana where we led the development of a Social and Gender Integration Plan (SGIP) for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact (MiDA, 2016). The SGIP serves as an operational guide and a monitoring tool to ensure a systematic gender and social inclusion process during the implementation of ‘Compact’ projects and activities. We worked with electricity companies – the Compact’s Implementing Entities – to identify entry points for greater diversity, social inclusion and female participation in the energy sector, focusing on projects that deal with electricity generation and distribution, and breaking barriers to leadership positions for women. For the SGIP, we developed key activities and recommendations for gender and social inclusion and promoted female leadership in areas such as private sector participation, infrastructure improvements, outage and technical loss reduction, performance monitoring, education and public information, amongst others. WI-HER’’s work to develop the SGIP was launched by the MIDA in 2017 and has provided women and vulnerable and excluded groups an avenue to have their voices heard and to ensure that men, women, and all sectors of the population would have equal access to energy and electricity sector opportunities.
Country: Kenya
Project: USAID HIV Service Delivery Support Activity (HSDSA), Cluster 2
Partner: FHI360
Status: Completed in 2021
WI-HER applied their innovative iDARE methodology to support health workers to improve the identification, care, and management of GBV cases in the USAID Afya Nyota ya Bonde project (contractual name USAID HIV Service Delivery Support Activity) in Kenya. The activity’s goal was to strengthen the capacity of national and county governments to plan, coordinate, and manage high-quality, cost-effective HIV services that are readily accessible to those who need them in four selected counties. WI-HER joined the consortium as a partner to improve GBV services during the peak of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, in-person training of county government trainers—to cascade training and transfer knowledge to facilities—was not possible as planned. Therefore, WI-HER adapted in-person GBV training to online training using an innovative, phased approach that considered contextual dynamics in order to achieve rapid improvements in GBV identification, clinical care, and management in select facilities.
Within the USAID-funded Afya Nyota ya Bonde project, WI-HER managed GBV implementation in eight facilities in the Kakamega, Laikipia, Kajiado, and Nakuru counties. Our team supported health workers in the identification, care, and documentation of GBV survivors. Using the iDARE methodology, WI-HER built community-driven iDARE teams within the facilities to identify barriers in GBV identification and management; we then co-designed solutions to address the gaps. In addition to improving service delivery and documentation, WI-HER worked with the local governments to develop and test new tools for facility use, including expanding the registry definition of GBV. In the original document, GBV was only used in terms of sexual GBV, excluding physical, emotional, and financial GBV from the definition, care, and reporting. Subsequently, WI-HER and the Kenyan health administration worked to institutionalize a minimum standard of care for GBV service delivery.
WI-HER adopted the following approach: conducted training-of-trainers and cascading training; and co-designed localized training materials as well as standards of practice for screening clients for possible GBV and indicators to monitor progress in closing gender-related gaps in reporting and care. This approach was developed to reach the USAID/PEPFAR Gender and GBV Technical Priorities for HIV Programs. To increase collaboration and coordination efforts in GBV response, our team supported facilities to link with existing governmental, private, and donor-funded programs that support GBV survivors.
Project: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender Housing Finance Initiative
Partner: A2F Consulting
Status: Completed in 2018
WI-HER supported an assessment, with A2F, on the IFC-funded “Gender Housing Finance Initiative (A2F Consulting, 2017-2018) to promote improved access of women to housing and housing loans in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The objective of this project was to better understand women’s barriers to accessing housing finance and identifying solutions to overcoming those barriers. WI-HER identified legal and regulatory policies that disadvantaged women, and defined recommendations for changes as well as suggestions for market size that women borrowers open for the private financial sector. This research informed the development and promotion of housing finance products and services that take into account women’s barriers and needs and expand market share opportunities for investors.
Country: Malawi
Project: USAID Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program
Partner: URC
Status: Completed in 2021
The project is funded through USAID’s Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program, the purpose of which is to generate, synthesize, and use evidence to improve policy and program implementation in low and middle-income countries.
As more and more countries embark on institutionalizing social accountability (SA) as a fundamental element of good governance and a cornerstone to responsive health systems, their experiences can inform national and sub-national efforts to expand and sustain SA processes in health. Prior to this work, there was neither a framework nor common metrics (even less evidence) for assessing whether a SA program was accomplishing its intent or positioned for sustainability. As countries advance in self-reliance in their health systems and continue to sustain progress and improvements in inclusive development, it is important that they have frameworks and tools for assessing their progress and guiding social development efforts.
WI-HER co-developed the initial assessment tool in 2021, including guidelines, interview questions, and scoring criteria. Institutional Review Board applications were submitted to and accepted and approved by the research institutes in both Malawi and Rwanda. WI-HER worked with local researchers to lead the data collection, guided by input from USAID mission advisors and assisted by local civil society organizations. The reports were finalized at the end of 2021.
Country: Niger
Project: USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST)
Partner: URC, American Academy of Pediatrics, EnCompass, FHI 360, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, HEALTHQUAL, Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and World Health Organization
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER provided technical assistance through the ASSIST project to ASSIST-supported countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to integrate gender and design female empowerment activities in improvement and systems strengthening activities. In Niger, WI-HER, through ASSIST, worked in 3 districts, Niamey III, IV and Konni, to improve the ability of health providers to document the number of women and their male partners who receive family planning counseling before leaving the health facility. The team addressed gender considerations by engaging male partners and addressing gender barriers related to the lack of male partner integration that affects the ability of both female and male clients to access and utilize family planning and health services.
Country: Nigeria
Project: USAID Integrated Health Program (IHP)
Partners: Palladium (prime), Jhpiego, Viamo, PharmAccess, Avenir
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
WI-HER is responsible for gender integration and social inclusion within USAID’s Integrated Health Program (IHP). USAID IHP aims to reduce child and maternal morbidity and mortality and increase the capacity of public and private health systems to sustainably support quality primary health care services in Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto, Ebonyi, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Our work focuses on mainstreaming gender into policies, program designs, and guidelines at the state level across the five task orders—with a focus on gender equality and equity in access to and quality of social services—and gender integration at the facility and community level, targeting the integration of gender issues that impact service delivery and clinical care.
Country: Uganda
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST)
Partner: URC, American Academy of Pediatrics, EnCompass, FHI 360, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, HEALTHQUAL, Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and World Health Organization
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER provided technical assistance through the ASSIST project to ASSIST-supported countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to integrate gender and design female empowerment activities in improvement and systems strengthening activities. WI-HER supported girls and women to become self-reliant in finding their own avenues of empowerment and coaching each other as peers to reach toward greater opportunities. Through skills building activities, co-creation approaches, and engaging women role-models, WI-HER supported peer groups of women and girls to develop strategies that would keep them in school and allow them to demonstrate the value of their own contributions to their families and communities. Girls determined that decreasing the manual labor of girls and women would free their time to study and to develop micro-businesses that would benefit themselves and their villages. The girls and women proposed to innovatively bring a mill to the area, WI-HER supported them to develop a business plan for a mill and mobilize seed money to build and work the mill. The mill is still working today, freeing time for girls to stay in school rather than grind grain, allowing women to sell grain as their own entrepreneurial endeavor, and pay for the mill with profits to benefit the community.
Project: USAID Social and Behavior Change Activity (SBCA)
Partners: Johns Hopkins’ Center for Communication Programs (CCP), The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG), The Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, and World Vision, Inc
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
WI-HER is the lead gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) partner on USAID SBCA led by prime, CCP. Using available government and facility data, WI-HER supports local communities to identify and address social and behavior change challenges faced in their communities using WI-HER’s iDARE methodology.
Country: Ethiopia
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for GESI. By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: USAID Ethiopia Food and Agriculture System Transformation (FAST) Activity
Partner: RTI International (prime)
Status: New 2022 project!
FAST seeks to increase access to healthy diets, particularly for women and children, by improving competitiveness, inclusiveness, and resilience of the food and agriculture system.
Project: USAID/Ethiopia Resilience Learning Activity
Partner: LINC, LLC
Status: New 2022 project! Check back soon for more information.Country: Fiji
Project: USAID RISE (Resilient, Inclusive, & Sustainable Environments) Challenge – Gender-based Violence and REDD+ in Fiji: Tackling Resource Conflict and Addressing Gender-based Risk in the Environment
Partners: Marstel-Day (prime) with local counterparts: Fijian subject matter experts (Land Tenure and Law Expert, and Social Inclusion and Gender Expert), Fiji Environmental Law Association (FELA), University of the South Pacific (USP), Live and Learn (L&L) Fiji, and the Ministry of Forestry Fiji REDD+ Programme (Fiji REDD+).
Status: Completed in 2021
WI-HER worked with the Government of Fiji (GoF)’s Ministry of Forestry to expand the Feedback and Grievance Redress Mechanism (FGRM) for the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Programme. Under this mechanism, WI-HER introduced localized gender-responsive approaches to resolving resource-based disputes and conflicts related to gender equity and GBV. Through a collaborative approach, WI-HER worked with government stakeholders, including Ministry of Forestry representatives; stakeholders from local NGOs and CSOs working in environmental conservation, such as FELA; existing women’s groups and gender-focused organizations, including the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM); and women, men, and youth from communities participating in the REDD+ Programme in Drawa and Emalu. The resulting gender-responsive and GBV-inclusive mechanism is known as the FGRM+, which has been endorsed by the National REDD+ Steering Committee.
Furthermore, we engaged with government and NGO stakeholders to support them in the implementation of new features of the FGRM+.
Achievements
- Reviewed and validated the redesign of the FGRM+, including a FGRM+ Communications Strategy informed by local insights.
Led the FGRM+ Training workshop. - Developed an innovative scoring/screening system to safely identify risks of gender inequity or GBV in complaints submitted through the FGRM+. The scoring system was generated using the information we collected during our Gender and Environment Analysis about local gender-based risks experienced in the context of land use, land rights, and land lease benefits. The scoring criteria was co-designed with community members and local organizations to ensure the questions asked were contextually relevant and responsive to the Fijian context.
- Applied the principle of do no harm to ensure the screening system did not cause additional risk to the complainant and incorporated privacy safeguards to protect complainants who may be experiencing GBV.
- Reached 53 local stakeholders with sensitization on gender, GBV, and the environment.
- Developed capacity of local stakeholders to recognize GBV-related grievances and manage grievances using tools that follow the do no harm principle.
Created an action plan for the GoF, which guided a path toward the institutionalization of the FGRM+.
Country: Colombia
Project: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender Housing Finance Initiative
Partner: A2F Consulting
Status: Completed in 2018
WI-HER supported an assessment, with A2F, on the IFC-funded “Gender Housing Finance Initiative (A2F Consulting, 2017-2018) to promote improved access of women to housing and housing loans in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The objective of this project was to better understand women’s barriers to accessing housing finance and identifying solutions to overcoming those barriers. WI-HER identified legal and regulatory policies that disadvantaged women, and defined recommendations for changes as well as suggestions for market size that women borrowers open for the private financial sector. This research informed the development and promotion of housing finance products and services that take into account women’s barriers and needs and expand market share opportunities for investors.
Country: India
Project: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender Housing Finance Initiative
Partner: A2F Consulting
Status: Completed in 2018
WI-HER supported an assessment, with A2F, on the IFC-funded “Gender Housing Finance Initiative (A2F Consulting, 2017-2018) to promote improved access of women to housing and housing loans in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The objective of this project was to better understand women’s barriers to accessing housing finance and identifying solutions to overcoming those barriers. WI-HER identified legal and regulatory policies that disadvantaged women, and defined recommendations for changes as well as suggestions for market size that women borrowers open for the private financial sector. This research informed the development and promotion of housing finance products and services that take into account women’s barriers and needs and expand market share opportunities for investors.
Project: USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST)
Partner: URC, American Academy of Pediatrics, EnCompass, FHI 360, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, HEALTHQUAL, Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and World Health Organization
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER provided technical assistance through the ASSIST project to ASSIST-supported countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to integrate gender and design female empowerment activities in improvement and systems strengthening activities.
Country: Haiti
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: Evaluation for the USAID Haiti Infrastructure Program: Improving Self‐reliance in the Architecture & Engineering Sector in Haiti
Status: Completed in 2019
WI-HER conducted an evaluation for USAID to support them to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Haitian business environment, the performance of implementing partners, and the capacity of local architecture and engineering, and construction firms. Based on that evaluation, WI-HER provided recommendations to USAID for strengthening its investments toward Haiti’s Journey to Self-Reliance.
Country: Nepal
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partner: RTI International (prime)
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Country: Bolivia
Project: School of Integration Sports Training Artistic Expression and Labor Development (EIFODEC) Gender Audit
Partner: Light for the World
Status: Completed in 2021
WI-HER worked with the local Bolivia organization School of Integration Sports Training Artistic Expression and Labor Development (Spanish acronym: EIFODEC) to strengthen their capacity to advance gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) through the institutionalization of gender mainstreaming in EIFODEC’s organization structures, proceedings, programs, and policies.
Our team conducted a gender audit to examine how gender was mainstreamed in EIFODEC’s institutional policies, practices, and guidelines; and to explore the integration of GYSI throughout the local organization’s programs. To strengthen their efforts, EIFODEC requested the gender audit to include GYSI knowledge and skills so that EIFODEC could become a gender transformative organization that better served the unique needs of the populations they work with.
Persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups may experience discrimination or stigma, which results in unmet needs, coupled with the scarcity of information or services. Due to the audit and supporting tools and the training support from WI-HER, EIFODEC wove GYSI into its organizational practices. They used a gender-transformative approach to continuously improve activity implementation, leading to a sustainable change in power and choices of the populations, thereby increasing their ability to contribute to and benefit equally from social, political, and economic development.
Achievements
- Developed tools for EIFODEC to locally assess gender equality and identify gender gaps and challenges at both the organizational and program levels.
- Conducted the final gender audit of EIFODEC’s institutional policies, practices, guidelines, and programs to inform locally-led gender mainstreaming and advancement of GYSI.
- Led gender sensitization and integration training using the audit findings to advance institutional gender-equitable practices.
Country: North Macedonia
Project: North Macedonia Evaluation of the Civic Engagement Project (CEP)
Partners: American Institutes for Research (AIR) (formerly IMPAQ International) and Strategic Development Consulting, North Macedonia (SDC)
Status: Completed in 2022
WI-HER joined AIR to conduct an end-of-project evaluation of the North Macedonia Evaluation of the Civic Engagement Project (CEP) to review the effectiveness of supported civil society organizations (CSOs) and their government transparency, anti-corruption, and rule of law interventions toward the European Union (EU) Accession. Specifically, the evaluation examines to what extent and how CEP-supported Government of North Macedonia (GoNM) agencies and CSOs helped to advance North Macedonia’s EU Accession regarding improving transparency, anti-corruption, and rule of law.
Country: Rwanda
Project: USAID Adolescents and Children HIV Incidence Reduction, Empowerment and Virus Elimination (ACHIEVE) project
Partners: Pact (prime), Jhpiego, Palladium, No Means No Worldwide; Local Partners: YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), DUHAMIC-ADRI (Duharanira Amajyambere Y’icyaro), RRP+ (Réseau Rwandais des Personnes Vivant avec le VIH [Rwanda Network of People Living with HIV])
Status: Completed in 2022
The ACHIEVE project, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by Pact, has a primary goal to reach and sustain HIV epidemic control among pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescents, infants, and children in PEPFAR-supported countries. The ACHIEVE consortium works with USAID missions, national governments, and partners to identify gaps in HIV prevention and treatment programming among priority populations. WI-HER leads the implementation of the three pillars of the USAID ACHIEVE Project Gender Strategy: social integration and gender mainstreaming, capacity development, and institutionalizing practices for transition. In Rwanda, WI-HER leads gender integration and transformation and primary and secondary gender-based violence (GBV) prevention to strengthen the community health system response to HIV/AIDS.
WI-HER conducted a gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) analysis to inform ACHIEVE project design and implementation in Rwanda. We have supported the project to mainstream GESI, including co-designing contextualized GBV response and prevention interventions, across project approaches, activities, and materials. We also strengthened the capacities of local implementing partners, DUHAMIC-ADRI and YWCA Rwanda, to design GYSI-responsive training, learning, and leadership activities for local communities where they serve. As a result of WI-HER’s technical assistance in Rwanda, YWCA Rwanda and DUHAMIC-ADRI have developed and adapted gender-responsive policies—including organizational gender policies, anti-harassment policies, and GBV policies—and trained their staff on operationalization of the policies.
Project: USAID Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program
Partner: URC
Status: Completed in 2021
The project was funded through USAID’s Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program, the purpose of which is to generate, synthesize, and use evidence to improve policy and program implementation in low and middle-income countries.
WI-HER worked with various stakeholders to co-develop a social accountability (SA) assessment tool to support citizens to claim their rights and entitlements at the national level and compare country progress towards making health systems more responsive to their citizens. As an initial pilot, WI-HER supported local stakeholders to test and improve the tool to identify the strengths and weaknesses in Rwanda’s systems for national SA in health. These included national and sub-national government members, CSO representatives, male and female community members, and global agencies/donors who contributed to the research through key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
The local teams in Rwanda carried out data collection between February and May 2021. The data collection included a rapid desk review and field assessment in each country, including key informant interviews and focus group discussions at the national, sub-national, and community levels. From the data, scores between zero (lowest) and three (highest) were assigned to define the level of maturity of each country’s SA system across five domains: structure, function, effectiveness, sustainability, and transformation.
Scoring from the social accountability tool will inform strategies and investments toward strengthening the health systems’ accountability. Further using the tool will enable both country governments to continue assessing their progress going forward.
The tool has been improved in response to learnings from the two pilot applications. One insight we gained from applying the tool was that we saw where donors need to provide more robust training to CSOs to lead the SA activities within countries effectively. CSOs play a critical role in SA systems, because they guide communities in claiming agency in oversight of quality care and in developing service delivery policies and strategies. In both countries, it was discovered that CSOs need greater technical capacity and financial resourcing (with the ability to resource funds outside of donor or government contributions) to carry out their part of the SA system.
Country: Kosovo
Project: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Kosovo Reliable Energy Landscape Project Evaluation
Partner: American Institutes for Research (AIR; formerly Impaq International)
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
Under prime AIR, WI-HER leads the Women in Energy (WE) component of MCC/Kosovo’s Reliable Energy Landscape Project (RELP) Evaluation. The purpose of the RELP Activity is to improve efficiency in energy use across Kosovo, in both households and businesses, and to strengthen the energy sector toward renewable energy development and advancement. The WE component focuses on advancing women’s participation in the energy and related STEM sectors (science, technology, energy, and math). WI-HER provides comprehensive analytical support to MCC and its partners, analyzing the RELP activity design to determine: 1) if and where gender and social inclusion have been integrated throughout the project in Kosovo’s effort to mitigate climate change challenges, address environmental concerns, and achieve sustainable energy development and use; 2) if the WE component of RELP has clearly defined and capacitated interventions for advancing women in energy and related fields; and, 3) if interventions addressed unique obstacles that women from minority populations or lower economic levels face in entering and sustaining participation in renewable energy and related sectors.
Project: MCC Evaluation of the Kosovo Threshold Transparent and Accountable Governance (TAG) Project
Partner: Mathematica
Status: Completed in 2022
WI-HER conducted an independent evaluation of the TAG project. MCC’s TAG project aims to improve public availability and analytical use of judicial, environmental, and labor force data by civil society, business, and the Kosovo Government, thus promoting data-driven decision-making. The project endeavors to achieve this aim by addressing two key constraints to Kosovo’s economic growth: an unreliable supply of electricity; and real and perceived weakness in rule of law, government accountability, and transparency. WI-HER’s role also includes evaluating the gender-related components of the project while the project works to support the Government of Kosovo’s efforts to improve decision-making and accountability by increasing the accessibility and use of judicial, environmental, and labor force data. The information and recommendations from the evaluation will enable them to add a localized gender equity and social inclusion lens to their efforts. WI-HER was responsible for the overall design, implementation, and dissemination of the evaluation, which was completed in 2022.
Country: Serbia
Project: Final Performance Evaluation of the USAID Strengthening Media Systems and Cooperation for Growth Activities
Partner: American Institutes for Research (AIR) (formerly IMPAQ International)
Status: Completed in 2021
In 2021, IMPAQ International (IMPAQ) was awarded a contract from USAID/Serbia to conduct a final performance evaluation of the Cooperation for Growth (CFG) Activity. WI-HER supported prime, IMPAQ, to conduct a rigorous utilization-focused evaluation that integrates quantitative and qualitative methods to enrich USAID’s understanding of the evaluation questions and provided USAID/Serbia with actionable recommendations to improve the efficiency and sustainability of its economic growth programming moving forward.
WI-HER supported the evaluations to assess the extent to which these activities have contributed to gender equity improvements, ensure the overall evaluation design and methodology are gender-inclusive, and support the data collection and analysis process, report writing, and dissemination.
Country: Senegal
Project: USAID Parliamentary Assistance and Citizen Engagement (PACE)
Partner: Counterpart
Status: Completed 2014
WI-HER partnered with Counterpart under the USAID-funded Parliamentary Assistance and Citizen Engagement (PACE) program, which aimed to build the capacity of the Senegalese parliament and to promote interaction between Senegalese citizens and parliamentarians. WI-HER provided technical assistance to develop a Gender Legislative Assessment Toolkit on Gender Impact of Policy and Legislation. This toolkit provided lawmakers with an easy-to-use, versatile and context-specific means of predicting and assessing gender impacts of legislation. Ultimately, the different elements of the toolkit served to increase positive impacts and mitigate risks associated with decision-making at the national level. The primary component of the toolkit included a customized assessment checklist that would be applied in the policy-formation process as well as in policy monitoring.
World
Country: Tanzania
Project: USAID Adolescents and Children HIV Incidence Reduction, Empowerment, and Virus Elimination (ACHIEVE) project
Partners: Pact (prime), Jhpiego, Palladium, No Means No Worldwide, WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
The ACHIEVE project, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by Pact, has a primary goal to reach and sustain HIV epidemic control among pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescents, infants, and children in PEPFAR-supported countries. The ACHIEVE consortium works with USAID missions, national governments, and partners to identify gaps in HIV prevention and treatment programming among priority populations. WI-HER leads the implementation of the three pillars of the USAID ACHIEVE Project Gender Strategy: social integration and gender mainstreaming, capacity development, and institutionalizing practices for transition.
In Tanzania, WI-HER leads gender equity, youth and social inclusion mainstreaming in the policies and guidelines of the Ministry of Health, Community Development, Gender, Elderly and Children (MOHCDGEC) and supports organizational development within the Ministry and the social services organizations it oversees.
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili Activity
Partner: RTI International
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
The USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili (“Preserve Natural Resources”) Activity, which is fully funded by USAID, aims to address threats to animal movement and biodiversity in Tanzania. USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili will incorporate a series of interventions that support and strengthen the capacity of national and local government and civil society for biodiversity conservation and natural resource management. In designing interventions to achieve these objectives, USAID Tuhifadhi Maliasili will systematically incorporate opportunities for empowerment and engagement of women, youth, and other groups historically excluded from conservation efforts.
Country: Ghana
Project: USAID Quality for Health Activity
Partner: URC
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
WI-HER joined prime URC to begin the partnership for the USAID Quality for Health Activity (Q4H). Q4H’s goal is to support the Government of Ghana (GoG) to strengthen institutional capacity to promote and oversee improved quality health services in public and private health sectors. Working toward this goal will sustainably improve the quality of health service delivery and improve health outcomes in Ghana. WI-HER’s role is to support URC to integrate locally-driven GYSI into the project and support the GoG to improve equitable health outcomes for Ghanaians through quality improvement and behavior change approaches.
Project: Ghana Millennium Development Authority Social and Gender Integration Plan (SGIP)
WI-HER prime contractor
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER was the prime contractor for the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in Ghana where we led the development of a Social and Gender Integration Plan (SGIP) for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact (MiDA, 2016). The SGIP serves as an operational guide and a monitoring tool to ensure a systematic gender and social inclusion process during the implementation of ‘Compact’ projects and activities. We worked with electricity companies – the Compact’s Implementing Entities – to identify entry points for greater diversity, social inclusion and female participation in the energy sector, focusing on projects that deal with electricity generation and distribution, and breaking barriers to leadership positions for women. For the SGIP, we developed key activities and recommendations for gender and social inclusion and promoted female leadership in areas such as private sector participation, infrastructure improvements, outage and technical loss reduction, performance monitoring, education and public information, amongst others. WI-HER’’s work to develop the SGIP was launched by the MIDA in 2017 and has provided women and vulnerable and excluded groups an avenue to have their voices heard and to ensure that men, women, and all sectors of the population would have equal access to energy and electricity sector opportunities.
Country: Kenya
Project: USAID HIV Service Delivery Support Activity (HSDSA), Cluster 2
Partner: FHI360
Status: Completed in 2021
WI-HER applied their innovative iDARE methodology to support health workers to improve the identification, care, and management of GBV cases in the USAID Afya Nyota ya Bonde project (contractual name USAID HIV Service Delivery Support Activity) in Kenya. The activity’s goal was to strengthen the capacity of national and county governments to plan, coordinate, and manage high-quality, cost-effective HIV services that are readily accessible to those who need them in four selected counties. WI-HER joined the consortium as a partner to improve GBV services during the peak of the global COVID-19 pandemic.
Due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, in-person training of county government trainers—to cascade training and transfer knowledge to facilities—was not possible as planned. Therefore, WI-HER adapted in-person GBV training to online training using an innovative, phased approach that considered contextual dynamics in order to achieve rapid improvements in GBV identification, clinical care, and management in select facilities.
Within the USAID-funded Afya Nyota ya Bonde project, WI-HER managed GBV implementation in eight facilities in the Kakamega, Laikipia, Kajiado, and Nakuru counties. Our team supported health workers in the identification, care, and documentation of GBV survivors. Using the iDARE methodology, WI-HER built community-driven iDARE teams within the facilities to identify barriers in GBV identification and management; we then co-designed solutions to address the gaps. In addition to improving service delivery and documentation, WI-HER worked with the local governments to develop and test new tools for facility use, including expanding the registry definition of GBV. In the original document, GBV was only used in terms of sexual GBV, excluding physical, emotional, and financial GBV from the definition, care, and reporting. Subsequently, WI-HER and the Kenyan health administration worked to institutionalize a minimum standard of care for GBV service delivery.
WI-HER adopted the following approach: conducted training-of-trainers and cascading training; and co-designed localized training materials as well as standards of practice for screening clients for possible GBV and indicators to monitor progress in closing gender-related gaps in reporting and care. This approach was developed to reach the USAID/PEPFAR Gender and GBV Technical Priorities for HIV Programs. To increase collaboration and coordination efforts in GBV response, our team supported facilities to link with existing governmental, private, and donor-funded programs that support GBV survivors.
Project: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender Housing Finance Initiative
Partner: A2F Consulting
Status: Completed in 2018
WI-HER supported an assessment, with A2F, on the IFC-funded “Gender Housing Finance Initiative (A2F Consulting, 2017-2018) to promote improved access of women to housing and housing loans in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The objective of this project was to better understand women’s barriers to accessing housing finance and identifying solutions to overcoming those barriers. WI-HER identified legal and regulatory policies that disadvantaged women, and defined recommendations for changes as well as suggestions for market size that women borrowers open for the private financial sector. This research informed the development and promotion of housing finance products and services that take into account women’s barriers and needs and expand market share opportunities for investors.
Country: Malawi
Project: USAID Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program
Partner: URC
Status: Completed in 2021
The project is funded through USAID’s Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program, the purpose of which is to generate, synthesize, and use evidence to improve policy and program implementation in low and middle-income countries.
As more and more countries embark on institutionalizing social accountability (SA) as a fundamental element of good governance and a cornerstone to responsive health systems, their experiences can inform national and sub-national efforts to expand and sustain SA processes in health. Prior to this work, there was neither a framework nor common metrics (even less evidence) for assessing whether a SA program was accomplishing its intent or positioned for sustainability. As countries advance in self-reliance in their health systems and continue to sustain progress and improvements in inclusive development, it is important that they have frameworks and tools for assessing their progress and guiding social development efforts.
WI-HER co-developed the initial assessment tool in 2021, including guidelines, interview questions, and scoring criteria. Institutional Review Board applications were submitted to and accepted and approved by the research institutes in both Malawi and Rwanda. WI-HER worked with local researchers to lead the data collection, guided by input from USAID mission advisors and assisted by local civil society organizations. The reports were finalized at the end of 2021.
Country: Niger
Project: USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST)
Partner: URC, American Academy of Pediatrics, EnCompass, FHI 360, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, HEALTHQUAL, Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and World Health Organization
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER provided technical assistance through the ASSIST project to ASSIST-supported countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to integrate gender and design female empowerment activities in improvement and systems strengthening activities. In Niger, WI-HER, through ASSIST, worked in 3 districts, Niamey III, IV and Konni, to improve the ability of health providers to document the number of women and their male partners who receive family planning counseling before leaving the health facility. The team addressed gender considerations by engaging male partners and addressing gender barriers related to the lack of male partner integration that affects the ability of both female and male clients to access and utilize family planning and health services.
Country: Nigeria
Project: USAID Integrated Health Program (IHP)
Partners: Palladium (prime), Jhpiego, Viamo, PharmAccess, Avenir
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
WI-HER is responsible for gender integration and social inclusion within USAID’s Integrated Health Program (IHP). USAID IHP aims to reduce child and maternal morbidity and mortality and increase the capacity of public and private health systems to sustainably support quality primary health care services in Bauchi, Kebbi, Sokoto, Ebonyi, and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT). Our work focuses on mainstreaming gender into policies, program designs, and guidelines at the state level across the five task orders—with a focus on gender equality and equity in access to and quality of social services—and gender integration at the facility and community level, targeting the integration of gender issues that impact service delivery and clinical care.
Country: Uganda
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST)
Partner: URC, American Academy of Pediatrics, EnCompass, FHI 360, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, HEALTHQUAL, Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and World Health Organization
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER provided technical assistance through the ASSIST project to ASSIST-supported countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to integrate gender and design female empowerment activities in improvement and systems strengthening activities. WI-HER supported girls and women to become self-reliant in finding their own avenues of empowerment and coaching each other as peers to reach toward greater opportunities. Through skills building activities, co-creation approaches, and engaging women role-models, WI-HER supported peer groups of women and girls to develop strategies that would keep them in school and allow them to demonstrate the value of their own contributions to their families and communities. Girls determined that decreasing the manual labor of girls and women would free their time to study and to develop micro-businesses that would benefit themselves and their villages. The girls and women proposed to innovatively bring a mill to the area, WI-HER supported them to develop a business plan for a mill and mobilize seed money to build and work the mill. The mill is still working today, freeing time for girls to stay in school rather than grind grain, allowing women to sell grain as their own entrepreneurial endeavor, and pay for the mill with profits to benefit the community.
Project: USAID Social and Behavior Change Activity (SBCA)
Partners: Johns Hopkins’ Center for Communication Programs (CCP), The Medical Concierge Group (TMCG), The Busara Center for Behavioral Economics, and World Vision, Inc
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
WI-HER is the lead gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) partner on USAID SBCA led by prime, CCP. Using available government and facility data, WI-HER supports local communities to identify and address social and behavior change challenges faced in their communities using WI-HER’s iDARE methodology.
Country: Ethiopia
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for GESI. By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: USAID Ethiopia Food and Agriculture System Transformation (FAST) Activity
Partner: RTI International (prime)
Status: New 2022 project!
FAST seeks to increase access to healthy diets, particularly for women and children, by improving competitiveness, inclusiveness, and resilience of the food and agriculture system.
Project: USAID/Ethiopia Resilience Learning Activity
Partner: LINC, LLC
Status: New 2022 project! Check back soon for more information.Country: Fiji
Project: USAID RISE (Resilient, Inclusive, & Sustainable Environments) Challenge – Gender-based Violence and REDD+ in Fiji: Tackling Resource Conflict and Addressing Gender-based Risk in the Environment
Partners: Marstel-Day (prime) with local counterparts: Fijian subject matter experts (Land Tenure and Law Expert, and Social Inclusion and Gender Expert), Fiji Environmental Law Association (FELA), University of the South Pacific (USP), Live and Learn (L&L) Fiji, and the Ministry of Forestry Fiji REDD+ Programme (Fiji REDD+).
Status: Completed in 2021
WI-HER worked with the Government of Fiji (GoF)’s Ministry of Forestry to expand the Feedback and Grievance Redress Mechanism (FGRM) for the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD+) Programme. Under this mechanism, WI-HER introduced localized gender-responsive approaches to resolving resource-based disputes and conflicts related to gender equity and GBV. Through a collaborative approach, WI-HER worked with government stakeholders, including Ministry of Forestry representatives; stakeholders from local NGOs and CSOs working in environmental conservation, such as FELA; existing women’s groups and gender-focused organizations, including the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM); and women, men, and youth from communities participating in the REDD+ Programme in Drawa and Emalu. The resulting gender-responsive and GBV-inclusive mechanism is known as the FGRM+, which has been endorsed by the National REDD+ Steering Committee.
Furthermore, we engaged with government and NGO stakeholders to support them in the implementation of new features of the FGRM+.
Achievements
- Reviewed and validated the redesign of the FGRM+, including a FGRM+ Communications Strategy informed by local insights.
Led the FGRM+ Training workshop. - Developed an innovative scoring/screening system to safely identify risks of gender inequity or GBV in complaints submitted through the FGRM+. The scoring system was generated using the information we collected during our Gender and Environment Analysis about local gender-based risks experienced in the context of land use, land rights, and land lease benefits. The scoring criteria was co-designed with community members and local organizations to ensure the questions asked were contextually relevant and responsive to the Fijian context.
- Applied the principle of do no harm to ensure the screening system did not cause additional risk to the complainant and incorporated privacy safeguards to protect complainants who may be experiencing GBV.
- Reached 53 local stakeholders with sensitization on gender, GBV, and the environment.
- Developed capacity of local stakeholders to recognize GBV-related grievances and manage grievances using tools that follow the do no harm principle.
Created an action plan for the GoF, which guided a path toward the institutionalization of the FGRM+.
Country: Colombia
Project: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender Housing Finance Initiative
Partner: A2F Consulting
Status: Completed in 2018
WI-HER supported an assessment, with A2F, on the IFC-funded “Gender Housing Finance Initiative (A2F Consulting, 2017-2018) to promote improved access of women to housing and housing loans in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The objective of this project was to better understand women’s barriers to accessing housing finance and identifying solutions to overcoming those barriers. WI-HER identified legal and regulatory policies that disadvantaged women, and defined recommendations for changes as well as suggestions for market size that women borrowers open for the private financial sector. This research informed the development and promotion of housing finance products and services that take into account women’s barriers and needs and expand market share opportunities for investors.
Country: India
Project: International Finance Corporation (IFC) Gender Housing Finance Initiative
Partner: A2F Consulting
Status: Completed in 2018
WI-HER supported an assessment, with A2F, on the IFC-funded “Gender Housing Finance Initiative (A2F Consulting, 2017-2018) to promote improved access of women to housing and housing loans in India, Colombia, and Kenya. The objective of this project was to better understand women’s barriers to accessing housing finance and identifying solutions to overcoming those barriers. WI-HER identified legal and regulatory policies that disadvantaged women, and defined recommendations for changes as well as suggestions for market size that women borrowers open for the private financial sector. This research informed the development and promotion of housing finance products and services that take into account women’s barriers and needs and expand market share opportunities for investors.
Project: USAID Applying Science to Strengthen and Improve Systems (ASSIST)
Partner: URC, American Academy of Pediatrics, EnCompass, FHI 360, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, HEALTHQUAL, Initiatives, Institute for Healthcare Improvement, Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, and World Health Organization
Status: Completed in 2017
WI-HER provided technical assistance through the ASSIST project to ASSIST-supported countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and Eastern Europe to integrate gender and design female empowerment activities in improvement and systems strengthening activities.
Country: Haiti
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partners: RTI International (prime), The Carter Center, Fred Hollows Foundation, Light for the World, Sightsavers, Results for Development, Save the Children, and WI-HER
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Project: Evaluation for the USAID Haiti Infrastructure Program: Improving Self‐reliance in the Architecture & Engineering Sector in Haiti
Status: Completed in 2019
WI-HER conducted an evaluation for USAID to support them to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the Haitian business environment, the performance of implementing partners, and the capacity of local architecture and engineering, and construction firms. Based on that evaluation, WI-HER provided recommendations to USAID for strengthening its investments toward Haiti’s Journey to Self-Reliance.
Country: Nepal
Project: USAID Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases丨East (Act丨East) program
Partner: RTI International (prime)
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
As a partner on USAID’s Act to End Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs) | East program, WI-HER leads Act | East’s strategy for gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI). By helping to identify barriers and design solutions for the hardest-to-reach, we provide critical support to governments and partners as they reach the ‘last mile’ in NTD elimination and control in 13 countries supported by Act | East.
Our team integrates GYSI into program-level and country-specific activities, tools, sustainability models, and capacity strengthening initiatives. We support desk reviews, community assessments, gender actions plans and strategies, and training curricula. We also use context-specific sensitization and learning techniques to support countries down to the community level to develop their own, locally-led methods of incorporating GYSI into NTD activities, including community mobilization, and reaching NTD program goals that are contextually and culturally appropriate.
Country: Bolivia
Project: School of Integration Sports Training Artistic Expression and Labor Development (EIFODEC) Gender Audit
Partner: Light for the World
Status: Completed in 2021
WI-HER worked with the local Bolivia organization School of Integration Sports Training Artistic Expression and Labor Development (Spanish acronym: EIFODEC) to strengthen their capacity to advance gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) through the institutionalization of gender mainstreaming in EIFODEC’s organization structures, proceedings, programs, and policies.
Our team conducted a gender audit to examine how gender was mainstreamed in EIFODEC’s institutional policies, practices, and guidelines; and to explore the integration of GYSI throughout the local organization’s programs. To strengthen their efforts, EIFODEC requested the gender audit to include GYSI knowledge and skills so that EIFODEC could become a gender transformative organization that better served the unique needs of the populations they work with.
Persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups may experience discrimination or stigma, which results in unmet needs, coupled with the scarcity of information or services. Due to the audit and supporting tools and the training support from WI-HER, EIFODEC wove GYSI into its organizational practices. They used a gender-transformative approach to continuously improve activity implementation, leading to a sustainable change in power and choices of the populations, thereby increasing their ability to contribute to and benefit equally from social, political, and economic development.
Achievements
- Developed tools for EIFODEC to locally assess gender equality and identify gender gaps and challenges at both the organizational and program levels.
- Conducted the final gender audit of EIFODEC’s institutional policies, practices, guidelines, and programs to inform locally-led gender mainstreaming and advancement of GYSI.
- Led gender sensitization and integration training using the audit findings to advance institutional gender-equitable practices.
Country: North Macedonia
Project: North Macedonia Evaluation of the Civic Engagement Project (CEP)
Partners: American Institutes for Research (AIR) (formerly IMPAQ International) and Strategic Development Consulting, North Macedonia (SDC)
Status: Completed in 2022
WI-HER joined AIR to conduct an end-of-project evaluation of the North Macedonia Evaluation of the Civic Engagement Project (CEP) to review the effectiveness of supported civil society organizations (CSOs) and their government transparency, anti-corruption, and rule of law interventions toward the European Union (EU) Accession. Specifically, the evaluation examines to what extent and how CEP-supported Government of North Macedonia (GoNM) agencies and CSOs helped to advance North Macedonia’s EU Accession regarding improving transparency, anti-corruption, and rule of law.
Country: Rwanda
Project: USAID Adolescents and Children HIV Incidence Reduction, Empowerment and Virus Elimination (ACHIEVE) project
Partners: Pact (prime), Jhpiego, Palladium, No Means No Worldwide; Local Partners: YWCA (Young Women’s Christian Association), DUHAMIC-ADRI (Duharanira Amajyambere Y’icyaro), RRP+ (Réseau Rwandais des Personnes Vivant avec le VIH [Rwanda Network of People Living with HIV])
Status: Completed in 2022
The ACHIEVE project, funded by the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and led by Pact, has a primary goal to reach and sustain HIV epidemic control among pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescents, infants, and children in PEPFAR-supported countries. The ACHIEVE consortium works with USAID missions, national governments, and partners to identify gaps in HIV prevention and treatment programming among priority populations. WI-HER leads the implementation of the three pillars of the USAID ACHIEVE Project Gender Strategy: social integration and gender mainstreaming, capacity development, and institutionalizing practices for transition. In Rwanda, WI-HER leads gender integration and transformation and primary and secondary gender-based violence (GBV) prevention to strengthen the community health system response to HIV/AIDS.
WI-HER conducted a gender equity, youth and social inclusion (GYSI) analysis to inform ACHIEVE project design and implementation in Rwanda. We have supported the project to mainstream GESI, including co-designing contextualized GBV response and prevention interventions, across project approaches, activities, and materials. We also strengthened the capacities of local implementing partners, DUHAMIC-ADRI and YWCA Rwanda, to design GYSI-responsive training, learning, and leadership activities for local communities where they serve. As a result of WI-HER’s technical assistance in Rwanda, YWCA Rwanda and DUHAMIC-ADRI have developed and adapted gender-responsive policies—including organizational gender policies, anti-harassment policies, and GBV policies—and trained their staff on operationalization of the policies.
Project: USAID Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program
Partner: URC
Status: Completed in 2021
The project was funded through USAID’s Health Evaluation and Applied Research Development (HEARD) program, the purpose of which is to generate, synthesize, and use evidence to improve policy and program implementation in low and middle-income countries.
WI-HER worked with various stakeholders to co-develop a social accountability (SA) assessment tool to support citizens to claim their rights and entitlements at the national level and compare country progress towards making health systems more responsive to their citizens. As an initial pilot, WI-HER supported local stakeholders to test and improve the tool to identify the strengths and weaknesses in Rwanda’s systems for national SA in health. These included national and sub-national government members, CSO representatives, male and female community members, and global agencies/donors who contributed to the research through key informant interviews and focus group discussions.
The local teams in Rwanda carried out data collection between February and May 2021. The data collection included a rapid desk review and field assessment in each country, including key informant interviews and focus group discussions at the national, sub-national, and community levels. From the data, scores between zero (lowest) and three (highest) were assigned to define the level of maturity of each country’s SA system across five domains: structure, function, effectiveness, sustainability, and transformation.
Scoring from the social accountability tool will inform strategies and investments toward strengthening the health systems’ accountability. Further using the tool will enable both country governments to continue assessing their progress going forward.
The tool has been improved in response to learnings from the two pilot applications. One insight we gained from applying the tool was that we saw where donors need to provide more robust training to CSOs to lead the SA activities within countries effectively. CSOs play a critical role in SA systems, because they guide communities in claiming agency in oversight of quality care and in developing service delivery policies and strategies. In both countries, it was discovered that CSOs need greater technical capacity and financial resourcing (with the ability to resource funds outside of donor or government contributions) to carry out their part of the SA system.
Country: Kosovo
Project: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Kosovo Reliable Energy Landscape Project Evaluation
Partner: American Institutes for Research (AIR; formerly Impaq International)
Status: Ongoing – check out our latest Annual Report for more information
Under prime AIR, WI-HER leads the Women in Energy (WE) component of MCC/Kosovo’s Reliable Energy Landscape Project (RELP) Evaluation. The purpose of the RELP Activity is to improve efficiency in energy use across Kosovo, in both households and businesses, and to strengthen the energy sector toward renewable energy development and advancement. The WE component focuses on advancing women’s participation in the energy and related STEM sectors (science, technology, energy, and math). WI-HER provides comprehensive analytical support to MCC and its partners, analyzing the RELP activity design to determine: 1) if and where gender and social inclusion have been integrated throughout the project in Kosovo’s effort to mitigate climate change challenges, address environmental concerns, and achieve sustainable energy development and use; 2) if the WE component of RELP has clearly defined and capacitated interventions for advancing women in energy and related fields; and, 3) if interventions addressed unique obstacles that women from minority populations or lower economic levels face in entering and sustaining participation in renewable energy and related sectors.
Project: MCC Evaluation of the Kosovo Threshold Transparent and Accountable Governance (TAG) Project
Partner: Mathematica
Status: Completed in 2022
WI-HER conducted an independent evaluation of the TAG project. MCC’s TAG project aims to improve public availability and analytical use of judicial, environmental, and labor force data by civil society, business, and the Kosovo Government, thus promoting data-driven decision-making. The project endeavors to achieve this aim by addressing two key constraints to Kosovo’s economic growth: an unreliable supply of electricity; and real and perceived weakness in rule of law, government accountability, and transparency. WI-HER’s role also includes evaluating the gender-related components of the project while the project works to support the Government of Kosovo’s efforts to improve decision-making and accountability by increasing the accessibility and use of judicial, environmental, and labor force data. The information and recommendations from the evaluation will enable them to add a localized gender equity and social inclusion lens to their efforts. WI-HER was responsible for the overall design, implementation, and dissemination of the evaluation, which was completed in 2022.
Country: Serbia
Project: Final Performance Evaluation of the USAID Strengthening Media Systems and Cooperation for Growth Activities
Partner: American Institutes for Research (AIR) (formerly IMPAQ International)
Status: Completed in 2021
In 2021, IMPAQ International (IMPAQ) was awarded a contract from USAID/Serbia to conduct a final performance evaluation of the Cooperation for Growth (CFG) Activity. WI-HER supported prime, IMPAQ, to conduct a rigorous utilization-focused evaluation that integrates quantitative and qualitative methods to enrich USAID’s understanding of the evaluation questions and provided USAID/Serbia with actionable recommendations to improve the efficiency and sustainability of its economic growth programming moving forward.
WI-HER supported the evaluations to assess the extent to which these activities have contributed to gender equity improvements, ensure the overall evaluation design and methodology are gender-inclusive, and support the data collection and analysis process, report writing, and dissemination.
Country: Senegal
Project: USAID Parliamentary Assistance and Citizen Engagement (PACE)
Partner: Counterpart
Status: Completed 2014
WI-HER partnered with Counterpart under the USAID-funded Parliamentary Assistance and Citizen Engagement (PACE) program, which aimed to build the capacity of the Senegalese parliament and to promote interaction between Senegalese citizens and parliamentarians. WI-HER provided technical assistance to develop a Gender Legislative Assessment Toolkit on Gender Impact of Policy and Legislation. This toolkit provided lawmakers with an easy-to-use, versatile and context-specific means of predicting and assessing gender impacts of legislation. Ultimately, the different elements of the toolkit served to increase positive impacts and mitigate risks associated with decision-making at the national level. The primary component of the toolkit included a customized assessment checklist that would be applied in the policy-formation process as well as in policy monitoring.
10
Years of Impact
75
% Of staff based in global south
12
Million dollar portfolio
