Build on efforts to integrate gender equality into grant activities and ensure women’s representation among beneficiaries and workers under grant programs. A key objective of the IGP was to provide significant access by women and vulnerable groups to the program and its benefits – an aim that was conveyed widely to stakeholders during early outreach efforts, and encoded into the selection process. Women ultimately comprised over 50 percent of the total number of beneficiaries of IGP, although they constituted just 31 percent of the workers holding temporary jobs created through the grant programs. In addition, the evaluation found less than half the incomes associated with jobs created under IGP went to women, suggesting they often missed out on the economic benefits of the program. During implementation, the evaluation cited instances of grantees striving to increase employment of women in their programs through practical measures, such as directly hiring additional female staff or designing interventions to improve women’s livelihoods. These examples suggest that the women’s employment rate of 31 percent is higher than it would have been in the absence of IGP requirements. Additional efforts to identify barriers to female employment, address them during design, and benchmark progress will likely bring about enhanced results that can be more directly attributed to MCC measures for equality of opportunity.
Lesson Learned