Gender and Development

Gender Categories of ADB Projects

ADB assigns certain categories to projects, with the aim of promoting the systematic integration of gender considerations and for monitoring purposes.

Category I is based on ADB's project classification system. Categories II and III were developed by the Gender, Social Development and Civil Society Division to monitor ADB's portfolio from a gender perspective.

Category I: Gender Equity (GEN) as a Thematic Classification

Projects can be assigned a Gender Equity (GEN) thematic classification if they (i) promote gender equity by attempting to narrow gender disparities in access to basic services, productive resources, income opportunities, public decision making, dispute resolution mechanisms or rights; or (ii) integrate a gender perspective in social and economic development processes to achieve equal benefits, participation, and protection of rights of women and men.

Projects with this theme will include a

• gender analysis during project preparation
• gender-related purpose or gender-related activities identified in the project/program framework
• gender action plan that incorporates gender-inclusive design features, or components to directly benefit women or girls
• loan covenant to support the gender action plan or gender-inclusive features.

The theme can apply to projects in all sectors.

View projects with Gender Equity features.

Category II: Effective Gender Mainstreaming

The ADB's Policy on Gender and Development has adopted mainstreaming as its key strategy, and thus gender considerations are to be mainstreamed in all ADB operations. A project is included in this category when (i) the social analysis conducted during project preparation included careful consideration of gender issues, (ii) the project includes several design features to facilitate women's participation in activities supported by the project and/or women's access to project/program benefits, and (iii) these design features are supported by appropriate loan covenants.

These design features could include several of the following:

• targets for women's participation and/or access to project/program benefits (e.g., education/training; formation of beneficiary groups; receipt of loans, scholarships; for women representatives in project committees or associations; or for numbers or percentage of female staff in an executing agency or project implementation unit, or among extension workers, social mobilizers, NGO facilitators, etc.
• facilities, training programs, beneficiary groups, etc., for women of girls; or design of gender-sensitive physical infrastructure
• project components directly benefiting women or girls (e.g., provision for ownership of land or other assets, reproductive health services, support for food production, and subsistence activities)
• reform measures likely to benefit women or girls (e.g., increases in government budget for reproductive health, reform of discriminatory laws on land ownership or titling, changes in public sector hiring, and equitable employment practices), usually in a program or sector development loan
• mobilization of women to participate in project activities, provision or preference for hiring women for project-related work (e.g., construction or maintenance of project facilities), requirement of equal or fair pay for male and female workers
• collaboration with NGOs that service or work primarily with women
• for sector projects, requirement that subprojects include gender analysis and/or consultation with women's groups during preparation, and ensure women's participation and/or receipt of benefits (gender checklists can be used as guidelines)
• preparation of gender action plans
• hiring of gender specialists to advise executing agencies or project implementation units, or to work as implementation staff on gender capacity development components
• consistent use of sex-disaggregated data for project monitoring
• use of indicators to monitor and assess gender impacts of a project or program
• requirements for monitoring gender-specific results during midterm review
• inclusion of the national women's ministry in the project or program steering committee

View projects under Effective Gender Mainstreaming.

Category III: Some Gender Benefits

A project can be considered to have the potential to provide some gender benefits if it has either of the following features (i) consideration of gender issues in the social analysis carried out during project preparation, at least to identify women's concerns in project areas and likely benefits/impacts of the project for them; or (ii) minor design elements or small project components to benefit women (e.g., a small grant fund).

This category can apply to two distinct types of projects.

• Projects that, by their nature, should provide substantial benefits to women (such as education, health, rural development, microfinance, and water supply and sanitation projects), but that include little gender analysis and few or no specific design features to optimize the benefits for women; and
• Projects that are unlikely to provide direct and substantial benefits to women (such as road or railway projects), but in which effort was made during project preparation to identify possible positive and negative impacts on women, and to provide some indirect benefits or include mitigating features in the project design or resettlement plan (such as provision for employment of women in project construction work, information campaigns on HIV/AIDS risk, or special resettlement assistance to households headed by women).

View projects with Some Gender Benefits.