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Gender and development


Gender and development

Overview

To reach the full potential of the continent, we have to harness the full capacity and ability of the population by ensuring that women, who make up half of the population, are empowered to contribute in an equitable, productive and safe manner.

Gender equality describes a world in which women and girls have equal access to resources and opportunities and where their participation, contributions, and decisions are valued and rewarded as much as those of men.

For this reason Genesis looks at all its projects through a gender lens so we can find the opportunities for gender equality and address the barriers that keep women and girls from being fully active in their homes, economies and societies. We can’t achieve progress if half the world’s population is left behind and their potential and talent are left untapped.

Projects

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    Analysis opens tap to gender equality in African sanitation delivery

    The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation contracted JG Afrika and Genesis Analytics to conduct a needs assessment and landscape analysis to pinpoint how the foundation could best support its African-based urban sanitation partners with technical assistance that resulted in targeted and sustainable gender mainstreaming. 

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    Assessing outcome of empowering of girl scholars

    Genesis conducted a mid-term review of the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE) scholars programme in Ethiopia and Rwanda

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    Unlocking gender barriers faced by Malawian women

    CAMFED commissioned Genesis to conduct research into potential growth sectors for women’s entrepreneurship in Malawi, and to understand the gender barriers facing women entrepreneurs in that country.

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    Fintech solutions for women and their impact

    Genesis conducted research and prepared a paper that synthesised which financial technology solutions existed for women and their impact on women’s economic empowerment.

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    Rockefeller looks to new digital skills for Africa's youth

    Genesis was awarded a two-year grant by The Rockefeller Foundation to serve as monitoring and evaluation (M&E) partner to their Digital Jobs Africa (DJA) initiative, which was set up in response to the challenge of widespread youth unemployment in Africa.

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    Impact evaluation of POWER Africa in Rwanda

    Genesis was contracted to do an impact evaluation of CARE Canada’s Promoting Opportunities for Women’s Economic Empowerment in Rural Africa (POWER Africa) initiative in Rwanda. Funded by the MasterCard Foundation, POWER aims to improve financial inclusion in Burundi, Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia and Rwanda by linking village loan and savings associations with formal financial institutions. 

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    Mid-term review of largest UN project in digital finance

    Genesis was contracted to conduct a mid-term evaluation of Mobile Money for the Poor (MM4P), the largest of the UNCDF’s programmes in digital finance. The evaluation was based on a theory-based approach and used the OECD DAC criteria as its guiding framework.

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    State of access to finance for Ethiopian woman traders

    Genesis was appointed by the IFC to run a diagnostic study on the state of access to finance in Ethiopia for women traders during the COVID-19 crisis and beyond.

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    Enhancing access to finance for EAC women cross-border traders

    Genesis undertook a diagnostic study to inform discussions and policy adjustments to advance access to finance for women cross-border traders and the identification of firm-level barriers that limit their bankability.

View all

Related Focus Areas

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    Youth: Our focus is on girls and young women

    Africa is experiencing an unprecedented youth wave.  Our focus in youth is on young girls over the next five years so that no one is left behind in the development of the next generation. 

    Gender equality describes a world in which women and girls have equal access to resources and opportunities and where their participation, contributions, and decisions are valued and rewarded as much as those of men.

    For this reason Genesis looks at all its projects through a gender lens so we can find the opportunities for gender equality and address the barriers that keep women and girls from being fully active in their homes, economies and societies. We can’t achieve progress if half the world’s population is left behind and their potential and talent are left untapped.

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    Agriculture and agribusiness

    Africa’s agricultural sector is critical to sustainable economic development. It supports economic opportunities in rural communities, the alleviation of poverty and plays an essential role in food security. Genesis works across the public-private interface for governments, donors, philanthropic and private sector clients.

    Unlocking the sector’s potential requires a combination of political will, enabling regulatory frameworks, improved access to finance, skills investment and climate change adaptation. An understanding of these interlocking factors underpins our approach to programme design and implementation.

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    Centre of Digital Excellence

    The Centre of Digital Excellence (C0DE) focuses on technology innovation as well as the opportunities that this provides for improving the development potential of African nations and for managing the risks inherent in an increasingly digital world.

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    Financial Services Strategy

    Our Financial Services team has completed more than 1000 projects across sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East since 2001. We work with leading financial institutions to address their challenges, unlock value for their stakeholders and shape the future of the industry.

    Our team understands the evolving technology and market structures, economics and regulatory trends across all segments of the financial services sector. Our distinct approach is characterised by deep specialisation and rigorous analysis based on a strong economics foundation.

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    Financial inclusion

    Financial inclusion remains an acute challenge across Africa, with many people in the sub-Saharan region lacking access to basic financial products and services, such as credit, savings and insurance products. The effects of financial exclusion fall disproportionately on particularly women, low-income groups, rural inhabitants and small businesses. These groups have traditionally been underserved by traditional financial services. Genesis has built deep expertise in driving financial inclusion across these groups in Africa.

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    Health

    We work with our clients to develop solutions aimed at improving the health of populations throughout Sub-Saharan Africa. 

    Our region faces the challenges of the quadruple burden of disease, which includes both communicable and non-communicable diseases, as well as violence and injury. 

    Coupled with this are relatively weak health systems, heavy reliance on donor funding and inequitable public and private sectors. Within this context, we provide experts with decades of experience in the design, implementation, costing and evaluation of health programmes, and strengthening of sustainable health systems.

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    MSME development

    MSMEs (micro, small and medium enterprises) are recognised across the world as drivers of socioeconomic growth and development. They make a significant contribution in boosting public revenue collection, employment creation and economic empowerment, as well as provision of goods and services to the public.

    MSMEs face distinct challenges that limit their access to markets and operation capacity. Examples include limited formal documentation, lack of access to quality supplies and modern techniques, lack of networks and connections, limited access to finance, and limited capacity.

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    Monitoring, evaluation and learning

    We work to maximise the social and economic impact of development efforts. As a trusted provider of monitoring, evaluation and learning (MEL) services we combine our deeply rooted understanding of the African context with our extensive experience in qualitative and quantitative monitoring and evaluation (M&E) methods to assess progress, measure value creation, and facilitate internal and external learning.

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    Economic opportunity

    Expanding access to economic opportunity is essential for improving lives and livelihoods, generating jobs and creating wealth. The private sector plays a leading role in delivering economic growth and is increasingly expected to do so in a way that is inclusive and sustainable.

    There are a number of ways in which businesses, foundations, governments and development organisations work to support private sector development. These include developing inclusive market systems; supporting the creation of quality jobs; developing value chains and access to markets for businesses; development of the financial sector and supporting access to finance; MSME development; capital markets development; and overall business enabling environment.

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