The integration of gender equality activities across grant interventions enhanced the adoption of improved land management practices, especially among women. Informed by due diligence, the design of activities across the portfolio of grantees was intentional at the outset about addressing social and gender-related constraints in decision-making around land management practices, as well as a host of issues confronting women within their communities and households. In addition, Millennium Challenge Account-Malawi encouraged grantees to ensure that gender equality activities were interwoven with those focused on promoting adoption of improved land management practices, including offering guidance and support for grantees more experienced in administering programs in one or the other domain, such that the integration of the two were consistent across the grant facility. As the evaluation showed, this emphasis ultimately augmented and enhanced the effectiveness of the overall grant interventions in catalyzing the adoption of sustainable land management practices for those covered by the grant-specific evaluation case studies. The strength of this approach is further evidenced by the evaluation’s finding that while adoption of several key practices remained generally widespread in targeted areas, women were at the forefront of sustaining most Environment and Natural Resources Management-related activities, and demonstrated stronger uptake of sustainable land management than men. A key reason for this result is that women were primarily the ones who were most traditionally involved in tasks related to the practices being promoted, and were therefore central to decision-making around land management. For future projects promoting sustainable management of natural resources, MCC country teams should carefully explore and assess the role of social and gender-related dynamics that may influence the ability and likelihood of targeted participants to adopt promoted practices, whether positively or negatively, as was undertaken during the design of the Environment and Natural Resources Management interventions. Interventions should be tailored and customized to address the most critical factors underlying women’s ability to fully engage in targeted activities, with explicit evidence and assumptions reflected in the project logic according to due diligence. Factors in women’s ability to engage in and benefit from project activities should be considered at both the community and household level.
Lesson Learned