Chapter 8: Analyzing and Integrating Gender Across the Program Cycle

Minimum Standards for Gender Analysis and Integration:

Gender Assessment Report Exists (Program Identification and Design Phase)

Sex and Age Disaggregated Data Collected (Monitoring and Evaluation)
Gender Indicators included in Indicator Plan (Monitoring and Evaluation)

Equity leads to
equality
The three children on the left
represent a one-size-fits-all
model while those on the
right show an equity or
“fairness” model. In both
images, the same resources
(number of boxes) are
available. In the equity model
the boxes achieve the desired
result because resources are
distributed to account for the
different needs of a short,
medium and tall child. We
distribute resources according
Left: one-size-fits-all. Right: equity or “fairness”. to needs so that everyone can
see over the fence. That’s how
we achieve equality.

About This Chapter

Analyzing and integrating gender takes place throughout the program cycle. This chapter introduces key
concepts and terms, outlines minimum standards for gender integration at Mercy Corps and presents
tools and resources to support gender integration work. While it is true that gender integration activities
must be specific to each context and sector, the right program management processes can help ensure
that important gender issues are addressed across all our work.

There are five sections to this chapter:

8.1) Introduction to Gender at Mercy Corps;
8.2) Gender in Program Identification and Design;
8.3) Gender in Program Set Up and Planning;

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8.4) Gender in Program Implementation; and
8.5) Gender in Program Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E).

Although we have separated the phases of the program cycle in this chapter to help organize
information, we acknowledge that in reality the phases overlap and inform each other.

8.1 Introduction to Gender at Mercy Corps

Mercy Corps’ Gender
Gender refers to women and girls, men and boys. It refers Theory of Change
not just to their sex (male or female) but to all the social
distinctions that cultures make among them. In every IF Mercy Corps programs improve the quality
of life for excluded groups, especially women
society, these groups have different needs, experiences and girls; promote laws that support gender
and access to resources. equality; and ensure that all people are
protected from gender-based violence,
Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy explains our commitment to
THEN more community members will
using a gender equity approach in our work. Gender
meaningfully engage in the systems that
equity is the fair treatment of males and females affect their lives and discriminatory power
according to their respective needs. Fair may be equal or it relations will be challenged and changed.
may be different – but it must be equivalent in rights,
This will lead to men, women, girls and boys
benefits, obligations and opportunities. Gender integrated enjoying equal rights and opportunities to
programs identify the distinct roles, needs and contribute to and benefit from economic,
social, cultural and political development.
opportunities of women, girls, men and boys and design
activities to close opportunity gaps. It is imperative to identify and address these gender issues. Because
if we don’t, our program participants (women and girls especially) may fail to benefit – and they may
even be exposed to unintended negative effects because of our programs.

When our programs are gender integrated, we:

• Identify possible positive and negative consequences on women, men, girls and boys.
• Address gender issues, inequalities and concerns in our program analysis and our development of
program logic and M&E framework.
• Specify desired impacts for different groups in our program design and measure those impacts
through indicators.
• Allocate adequate budget and staffing resources and expertise to allow for gender integration.

Resources to Support Gender Integration Efforts

There are two key resources that we will reference throughout this chapter.
• Mercy Corps’ Gender Analysis Framework helps teams gather needed information during
assessments to inform program design and adaptations.
• Mercy Corps’ Gender Theory of Change prioritizes critical outcomes to pursue – in any context or
sector – in order to promote gender equality. It helps teams identify key actions and indicators so
you can integrate gender into program design, setup and planning, implementation and monitoring
and evaluation.

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 Six Essential Gender Themes
Six essential gender themes stand out. (You will find them in this document, in the Gender
Analysis Framework and in the Gender Theory of Change.)
We always want to better understand, address and measure how our programs will:
1. Design and target activities based on knowledge of the roles and responsibilities of men,
women, boys and girls.
2. Improve access to resources and information for excluded groups, especially women and girls.
3. Increase decision-making power and community influence for excluded groups, especially
women and girls.
4. Reduce time constraints for overburdened groups, especially women and girls.
5. Promote positive change in those informal and formal laws, beliefs and practices that
undermine program outcomes and equality between men, women, boys and girls.
6. Protect men, women, boys and girls from gender-based violence through appropriate
mitigation and response to their concerns.

In addition to the Gender Analysis Framework, Gender Theory of Change and Six Essential Themes listed
above, other gender resources include:
• Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy confirms that gender equity is essential to our mission and Vision for
Change; establishes goals and principles for ensuring gender equity; and provides guidance to
implement our gender commitments.
• Our Gender Procedures were designed to help Mercy Corps teams integrate gender considerations
in their offices and programs. They were created in response to our program teams’ large number of
requests for technical support during our worldwide 2010 Gender Assessment.
• ACT for Impact: Introductory Gender Analysis Training (English, French, Spanish)
• Program Management Manual: Gender Training Curriculum (English, French)
• IASC Gender Online Training: Different Needs, Equal Opportunities: Increasing Effectiveness of
Humanitarian Action (English, French)
• IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action

8.2 Gender in Program Identification and Design

Tools and Examples in This Section:

 Tool: Gender Resource List

 Tool: Guidelines on Emergency Sector Specific Gendered Assessments - UN Nepal
 Tool: Conducting A Gender Assessment: A Step by Step Guide
 Tool & Example: Applying Gender Analysis Findings to Your Program
 Example: Emergency Rapid Gender Assessment Report - CARE Nepal
 Example: MORE Gender Assessment Report - Mercy Corps Ethiopia
 Example: Completed Gender Analysis Framework - Mercy Corps Gaza
 Example: Gender Integrated Program Proposal - Mercy Corps Gaza
 Example: PROGRESS Gender Integration Program - Mercy Corps Kenya, Uganda

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To be effective, all Mercy Corps programs must be designed to address the vulnerabilities and
opportunities of women, men, girls and boys.
Conducting and documenting a gender assessment during program design is a Minimum Standard for
Program Management at Mercy Corps.
Both emergency and development programs are required, at minimum, to conduct gender assessments
during the design phase and incorporate findings into their program analysis, program logic and
logframe and program narrative or scope statement. This minimum standard can be met by developing
a separate gender assessment document or by integrating gender into other assessment documents.

To meet the criteria of this standard, the written assessment report or problem analysis must include
explicit information on gender roles, responsibilities and inequalities. (Note: This minimum standard
may be conducted and documented in conjunction with the PMM Chapter 3 minimum standard:
“Written assessment or problem analysis exists, based on primary or secondary data.”) You need not be
a gender specialist to conduct a basic gender assessment. Certainly, use the technical expertise available
to your team, but be aware that anyone can gather basic gender information.

Assessing gender differences between men, women, boys, and girls during program design enables us to
better identify, target and meet the varied needs of all beneficiaries. Performing this critical step helps
ensure that we understand how gender roles, responsibilities and inequalities may influence a
program’s effectiveness and the sustainability of its results. It also helps us design and implement
programs that can close gender inequality gaps and empower and benefit males and females alike.
Conducting a gender assessment lets us better identify the gender risks our target beneficiaries and
communities face. Once we understand these risks, we can design programs that intentionally minimize
exposure to existing risks and avoid creating new ones.

Gender assessments can be rapid or more thorough, depending on the context, budget and duration of
the program being designed. For example, short-term emergency programs typically conduct a rapid
gender analysis during an emergency and a more in-depth assessment when transitioning to long-term
recovery work.

Building your gender assessment

Desk review. Collect existing qualitative and quantitative data on each of the six essential gender
themes. Look at excellent available data such as donor or peer organization gender assessments,
demographic health surveys, Population Reference Bureau Reports, World Bank Reports on Gender
Equality and Development and the World Economic Forum Gender Gap Report. Here is a list of regularly
updated resources.

Primary data collection. Conduct stakeholder and focus group discussions segregated by sex and age to
gather critical information about the experiences, needs, vulnerabilities and priorities of men, women,
boys and girls. This is true for all data collected – not just gender assessment data collection! Similarly,
individual level quantitative data should also be disaggregated by sex and age. Mercy Corps’ Gender
Analysis Framework provides example questions to kick off such focus group discussions and help
teams create a rapid gender assessment. Here is an example of a completed Gender Analysis Framework
from an emergency response program in Gaza.

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Applying Gender Assessment Findings
Once you have collected assessment data, the next step is to incorporate your findings into the
following areas:

• Program analysis: outlines differences between men, women, boys and girls in the problem
statement and context analysis.
• Program logic and logframe: includes outputs, outcomes and activities, and indicators that explicitly
address the needs of men, women, boys and girls, and requires sex and age disaggregated data
collection. Assumptions identified in the logframe include gender issues.
• Proposal narrative or program scope statement: includes gender assessment findings and describes
how the program will address gender gaps and empower participants.

The Applying Gender Analysis Findings to Your Program tool provides guidance and examples on how to
translate assessment findings into program actions.

Budgeting and Structuring for Gender Integration During Program Identification and Design
It takes appropriate resource allocation to strongly integrate gender into programs. We know from
experience that not allocating resources for gender-focused aspects of program implementation during
the initial budget and staff design phase means gender will fail to be woven into the program life cycle.

Consider these examples of gender-related costs that can be incorporated into program budgets:
• development of the gender action or mainstreaming plan;
• facilitated negotiations between husbands and wives on household decision-making and resource
allocation;
• leadership training for women and youth who are preparing to take on larger roles in their
communities;
• father care groups, in addition to mother care groups, to encourage male engagement in household
nutrition;
• gender training for team members and partner organizations; and
• on-staff Gender Advisor or gender consulting support.

Note that gender-sensitive M&E activities may also incur additional costs, depending on the approach
identified and expertise needed.

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8.3 Gender in Program Setup and Planning

Tools and Examples in This Section:

 Tool & Example: Conducting a Gender Analysis During Program Start-up - PAHAL program,
Nepal
 Tool: PAHAL Gender and Social Inclusion Workshop Facilitator Guide - Mercy Corps Nepal
 Reference: Mercy Corps Gender Procedures – Policy in Action (English, French, Arabic)
 ACT for Impact: Introductory Gender Analysis Training (English , French, Spanish)
 Program Management Manual: Gender Training Curriculum (English , French )
 IASC Gender Online Training: Different Needs, Equal Opportunities: Increasing
Effectiveness of Humanitarian Action (English, French)

Integrating gender into our program setup and planning activities is essential to ensure that issues
recognized during the identification and design phase are addressed throughout program
implementation. Although there are no minimum standards associated with this phase, recommended
actions are listed below.

• Build team capacity to identify and respond to gender gaps and opportunities
• Incorporate gender analysis session into program kick-off workshop

Build Team Capacity

To successfully integrate gender in program planning and activities, team members need a basic
understanding of key gender concepts and Mercy Corps’ gender equity approach. All program team
members should participate in gender training (online or in person) and review Mercy Corps’ Gender
Policy and Gender Procedures. It is strongly recommended that programs with timelines of one year or
longer conduct a two- to three-day basic gender training during start-up so teams have the knowledge
and tools necessary to take gender into consideration in each phase of the program cycle. It is also
important for team members to be aware of Mercy Corps’ Gender Integration Minimum Standards (this
document) and donor-mandated gender requirements. Team members will more knowledgeably
participate in the planning process if they receive gender training before they develop the Gender
Integration Plan or the program work plans. Great training resources include the Mercy Corps Program
Management Manual Gender Integration Training Curriculum (English, French), the Mercy Corps ACT for
Impact Introduction to Gender Analysis curriculum, and the IASC Different Needs, Equal Opportunities
online training (English, French).

Incorporate Gender Analysis Session into Program Set-up and Planning Activities
During the program kick-off workshop, use the Mercy Corps Gender Analysis Framework to check
assumptions related to program objectives, outcomes and key activities. Do this by reviewing the
general questions in each of the six essential gender themes to ensure we fully understand roles and
responsibilities, access to resources, decision making power, time constraints, the cultural and legal
environment and gender-based violence concerns. Using the Gender Analysis Framework this way will
often help us identify information gaps that we will need to fill during the early stages of program
implementation. The Gender Analysis Sessions should include:

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• An overview of gender assessment findings, so that team members have a shared understanding of
the gender dynamics in their context;
• A review of the program logic with the Gender Analysis Framework, to better understand gender
dynamics related to specific outcomes and activities and to identify information gaps that need to
be filled.

Incorporate Findings from Gender Analysis Session into Program Documents

To ensure that they can be tracked and completed, gaps identified and recommended actions from the
Gender Analysis Session should be incorporated into the Program Workplan, Work Breakdown Structure
and Monitoring and Evaluation Activity documents.

8.4 Gender in Program Implementation

Tools and Examples in This Section:

 Tool: Women Wanted: Recruiting Female National Team Members

 Reference: Mercy Corps Gender Policy
 Reference: Mercy Corps’ Guide for New Team Members
 IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian
Action

Once designed and planned, gender integration activities come to life during implementation. While
there are no minimum gender standards for this phase, aim to complete these key milestones:

• As you begin hiring for your program, think about your team composition. What steps will you take
to ensure gender diversity among your people? Mercy Corps’ Women Wanted Guide can provide
some suggestions.
• Orient your new team members to Mercy Corps’ Gender Policy. There is also a gender section in
Mercy Corps’ Guide for New Team Members.
• Plan to continue to build team members’ capacity in relation to gender, whether online or in person,
during the implementation phase. It’s an ongoing process that can include formal training, online or
self-directed learning, mentorship, engagement in communities of practice, and so on.
• Include gender quality expectations in your program’s Description of Deliverables. For example, your
market assessments should consider differential access and roles based on gender. Make sure M&E
systems include opportunities to reflect on results and findings; hold conversations with key
stakeholders; review available disaggregated evidence.
• Review sex and age data collected and revise targets and activities based on findings, as part of the
program’s ongoing process of adaptive management. Questions to consider when reviewing SADD
include: Are you reaching male and female participation targets? Are different genders reporting
different levels of satisfaction or success in program activities? Investigate unexpected SADD
findings and be willing to revisit the design of program components that may contribute to
underperformance.
• Discuss gender results and findings during team meetings and include information in formal reports.
• Share best practices so that other team members can apply them.

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8.5 Gender in Program Monitoring and Evaluation

Tools and Examples in This Section:

 Reference: Mercy Corps Gender Procedures: Policy in Action (English, Arabic, French)
 Tool: Girl Roster Questionnaire
 Tool: Design for Impact Guide - Gender Theory of Change and Indicators
 Tool: Gender Alpha Indicator Measurement Guide
 Example: Sex and Age Matter: Improving Humanitarian Response in Emergencies

Creating gender-sensitive monitoring and evaluation plans is one of the most important elements of
gender integration. If your M&E components have been designed appropriately, even a program that
does not have a clear gender objective will be able to measure the impact of program activities on
different groups and on gender dynamics. And, with a gender-sensitive M&E plan, teams can:
• Assess the degree to which program activities are equitably reaching both males and females and
are on track to achieve program targets.
• Periodically track gender-related assumptions identified in logframe to ensure that program logic is
intact and any unanticipated barriers, experiences or impacts that might negatively affect program
outcomes are identified early.
• Capture the outcomes of program activities for men, women, boys, and girls (which requires
adequate sample sizes and selection methods).
• Understand if programs have helped to promote equality, created new gender disparities or
inequalities, or increased existing inequalities.
• Track gender-based violence and protection risks to ensure that program activities are not causing
increases.

When gender is properly incorporated into an M&E system, teams will uncover information gaps and
false assumptions in program design, better identify and target beneficiaries and be able to implement
relevant activities that are designed to meet the different needs of men, women, boys and girls. It is
important to think about gender-appropriate staffing for M&E teams and any contracted labor; you
often need female team members to collect accurate information from women and girls.

There are three steps to developing a gender-sensitive M&E plan:

• Collect sex and age disaggregated data during all individual-level data collection
• Include gender indicators in Indicator Plan
• Use gender-sensitive data collection approaches

Collect Sex and Age Disaggregated Data

Collecting Sex and Age Disaggregated Data (SADD) is a minimum standard of Program Management
at Mercy Corps. SADD is when we specifically break out data by sex and age to look more precisely at
similarities, differences and trends. At the outset, collecting SADD from target communities during
assessments (see section 8.2) and baseline data collection provides program teams with necessary
information to design more impactful and sustainable programs. This Girl Roster Questionnaire can help

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you find hard to reach groups like adolescent girls. Later, continuing to collect SADD during program
implementation through monitoring processes and surveys helps us to correct programs that are not
meeting our targets, or that have skewed results based on sex or age categories. Finally, teams should
collect SADD during endline evaluations/ final surveys so we can measure our impact on different
demographic groups, identify potential trends and make recommendations for future programs.
Chapter 2 of the Mercy Corps Gender Procedures focuses on SADD – and provides information and
examples of how SADD can be used.

Any time we collect data on individuals, on access to and control of resources, or on roles in the family,
community, or economy, we should be collecting sex and age-related data. This is because sex and age
can dramatically affect access to resources and resources and without this information we will miss
important opportunities. It is important to also consider other social factors like religion, caste, ethnicity
and economic status that, along with gender, affect the experiences of different groups. Don’t forget to
consider and plan how you will ensure that there are adequate sample sizes for sex and age categories,
so that results are representatives of the experiences of different groups.

The Importance of Age Data

While collecting sex-disaggregated data is generally straightforward (male/female), age disaggregation is
slightly more complicated. The easiest way to track age is to ask for date of birth, then calculate current
age. But there can be barriers to obtaining accurate age data. Respondents are often reluctant to share
personal details and many don’t accurately know their birth date or age. Our teams report that
respondents would rather state their age as a range (35-45) than commit to an actual number (44). We
do recommend trying to get accurate raw data whenever possible and appropriate to enable enhanced
analysis. Because there are many ways to define age groupings, and in order to ensure some consistency
in approach and to align with emerging best practices, we recommend the following age categories:

0-5 6-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-34 35-49 50 plus

We understand that different sectors have different reasons for disaggregating data, and that for some
programs it may make sense to use even narrower categories: for example, many health-related
indicators refer to children under 1 or even the first 1,000 days of life. While you may choose to be more
specific, please do not be less specific. You are discouraged combining two categories into a single unit
(for example, using 10-19 as a category instead of 10-14 and 15-19) from collecting and/or reporting
data across two or more age categories, as that will make it more difficult to understand who is actually
being reached and how different age groups were impacted. For example, a youth program that
reported data on 13-22 year olds as a single group would not provide a useful understanding of a
program’s impact at meaningful developmental stages in a young person’s life.

Include Gender Indicators in Plan

Incorporating Gender Indicators into the Indicator Plan is a minimum standard of Program
Management at Mercy Corps. Gender indicators (see Design for Impact Guide for examples of
indicators) show us how our programs are affecting men, women, boys and girls. They are performance
measures that require collecting information; but beyond simply counting activities or outputs, they
should also measure and capture the following:

• Differences in benefits, outcomes and impacts for women, men, boys and girls;

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• Changes in gender norms or relations (positive or negative) related to program activities—for
example, changes in access to or control over services and resources, or changes to women’s and
men’s status and decision-making power.
• Changes in equality for marginalized groups; for example, increases in decision-making power, self-
confidence, or community decision making.

Mercy Corps’ Design for Impact Guide (DIG) is a great resource for learning more about indicators and
finding specific examples of gender indicators and measurement guidance. The gender page of the DIG
website also hosts a Guide to Gender Alpha Indicators. Alpha indicators should always be incorporated
into indicator plans if they are relevant to the program.

Use Gender Sensitive Data Collection Approaches

Program data should be collected using different methods that will enable all groups – regardless of
gender or age – to express their views and experiences openly and honestly.

• Separate focus group discussions (FGDs) should be held for men, women, boys and girls. To ensure
active participation in focus groups, discussions should be held separately for males and females.
There are also important power dynamics between adults, older youth and adolescents that can
negatively influence focus group discussions. Although not always readily apparent, less powerful
groups (women, youth) may feel uncomfortable or fear repercussions for expressing their views in
front of more powerful groups (men, elders, mothers-in-law). Separating discussions by sex and age
will help teams create the most open and neutral environment for participants to speak freely.

• Teams should have both male and female data collection team members. Both men and women in
the household will have information needed for M&E processes. The age and sex of the facilitator
and note taker or enumerator can greatly influence the quality and accuracy of the data collected.
For example, having a male team member interview a woman or facilitate a female-only focus group
is not appropriate, especially in conservative environments, and may result in skewed responses.
Similarly, having a female facilitator alongside a male translator could affect information
transparency. Whenever possible, try to avoid having community leaders (or anyone else) observe
interviews or focus group discussions, as the presence of non-participants often influences
responses.

• Collect both individual- and household-level data. Household-level data collection often obscures
gender issues and the experiences of our program participants, but individual-level data collection
can be time consuming and costly. Using a mix of individual and household-level data collection
allows the program team to understand both perspectives.

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Resource List
Section 8.1 Tools and Examples
 Tool: Gender Resource List
 Tool: Guidelines on Emergency Sector Specific Gendered Assessments - UN Nepal
 Tool: Conducting A Gender Assessment: A Step by Step Guide
 Tool & Example: Applying Gender Analysis Findings to Your Program
 Example: Emergency Rapid Gender Assessment Report - CARE Nepal
 Example: MORE Gender Assessment Report - Mercy Corps Ethiopia
 Example: Completed Gender Analysis Framework - Mercy Corps Gaza
 Example: Gender Integrated Program Proposal - Mercy Corps Gaza
 Example: PROGRESS Gender Integration Program - Mercy Corps Kenya, Uganda

Section 8.2 Tools and Examples

 Tool: Gender Resource List
 Tool: Guidelines on Emergency Sector Specific Gendered Assessments - UN Nepal
 Tool: Conducting A Gender Assessment: A Step by Step Guide
 Tool & Example: Applying Gender Analysis Findings to Your Program
 Example: Emergency Rapid Gender Assessment Report - CARE Nepal
 Example: MORE Gender Assessment Report - Mercy Corps Ethiopia
 Example: Completed Gender Analysis Framework - Mercy Corps Gaza
 Example: Gender Integrated Program Proposal - Mercy Corps Gaza
 Example: PROGRESS Gender Integration Program - Mercy Corps Kenya, Uganda

Section 8.3 Tools and Examples

 Tool & Example: Conducting a Gender Analysis During Program Start-up - PAHAL program,
Nepal
 Tool: PAHAL Gender and Social Inclusion Workshop Facilitator Guide - Mercy Corps Nepal
 Reference: Mercy Corps Gender Procedures – Policy in Action (English, French, Arabic)
 ACT for Impact: Introductory Gender Analysis Training (English , French, Spanish)
 Program Management Manual: Gender Training Curriculum (English , French )
 IASC Gender Online Training: Different Needs, Equal Opportunities: Increasing Effectiveness of
Humanitarian Action (English, French)

Section 8.4 Tools and Examples

 Tool: Women Wanted: Recruiting Female National Team Members
 Reference: Mercy Corps Gender Policy
 Reference: Mercy Corps’ Guide for New Team Members
 IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action

Section 8.5 Tools and Examples

 Reference: Mercy Corps Gender Procedures: Policy in Action (English, Arabic, French)
 Tool: Girl Roster Questionnaire

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 Tool: Design for Impact Guide - Gender Theory of Change and Indicators
 Tool: Gender Alpha Indicator Measurement Guide
 Example: Sex and Age Matter: Improving Humanitarian Response in Emergencies

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