Gender Mainstreaming in Irish Aid
Country Strategy Papers

Irish Aid is committed to promoting gender equality.  We do this through a strategy of gender mainstreaming.

A key tool for development practitioners, ‘gender mainstreaming’ came into widespread use following the 1995 UN International Conference on Women and the adoption of the ‘Beijing Platform for Action’.    It means that gender issues (women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences) are taken into account in all legislation, policies and programmes.  In essence, all of Irish Aid's programmes and activities have to be ‘gender-proofed’.

Over the past decade, there has been a significant shift in the methods used in the delivery of aid to recipient countries.  This has meant a move away from funding of isolated, individual projects towards more programmatic approaches – where funding is tied more closely to national government planning and budget frameworks. 

This new method of delivering aid presents new challenges for gender mainstreaming. It also offers tremendous opportunities for promoting gender equality through sector wide and national level policies.  It offers an opportunity to influence the policy and institutional environment within which local (and project level) activities take place. In this way, gender issues are highlighted at a national level and incorporated into Country Strategy Papers (CSPs). These papers are prepared for all of Irish Aid's programme countries, in consultation with the Government in question and a variety of other organisations.

Gender Mainstreaming in Irish Aid - Country Strategy Papers identifies the Country Strategy Paper planning process as a critical entry point for gender mainstreaming.  Using Irish Aid's experience in Ethiopia as a case study, this paper presents clear recommendations and lessons learned. 

Overall, Irish Aid has a twin-track approach to gender mainstreaming.  It combines a macro strategy for institutional change, alongside specific actions to promote women’s empowerment.  This paper provides Irish Aid with the means to recognise the challenges of the new macro approach to aid delivery, while also taking advantage of the opportunities it affords. 

Full text of paper below