Inclusive Legislatures for Gender-Responsive Policies

This project supports legislatures in Ghana Kenya and Togo to be more inclusive gender-responsive and transparent. It addresses barriers to women’s participation in democratic processes and amplifies women’s voices including COVID-19 response and recovery efforts. The project also improves legislative engagement with civil society particularly women’s rights organizations. Project activities include: (1) enhancing the capacity of legislatures to formulate and operationalize gender-responsive strategies and plans; (2) enhancing the capacity of legislatures to implement administrative reforms to enable gender-sensitive resource use and service delivery; (3) supporting legislatures to amend and pass inclusive gender laws including gender-sensitive budgets; (4) supporting legislatures to set up systems to oversee the achievement of gender equality commitments by executive branches; and (5) enabling legislatures to connect with citizens in particular women and girls.

The expected outcomes for this project include: 1) strengthened legislatures to represent the needs of the poorest and most marginalized populations with a focus on women and girls; 2) improved abilities and effectiveness of elected officials to design and develop inclusive and gender responsive laws policies and budgets; and 3) improved engagement of civil society and marginalized populations in particular women and girls in decision-making and democratic processes to ensure that policies and services better respond to their needs.