Report On The Review And Update Of Guidelines And Standards For Gender Mainstreaming 2014

The Ministry of Gender, Children, Disability and Social Welfare (MoGCDSW) is mandated to promote equal participation of women, men, girls, and boys in the national development agenda. Gender mainstreaming is one of the key strategies employed by the ministry to fulfil its mandate and is designated as a Key Result Area in the ministry’s strategic plan.1 To achieve the objectives of this Key Result Area, the ministry coordinates gender mainstreaming interventions across all sectors of Malawi’s government. Over the past few years, the ministry has developed, facilitated, or supported a number of strategic documents, including standards and guidelines which aim to strengthen and standardise gender-mainstreaming practices.

To ensure the effectiveness of these strategic documents in achieving desired outcomes, the ministry, with support from the USAID- and PEPFAR-funded Health Policy Project (HPP), conducted a review of currently available policies, strategies, guidelines, and manuals pertaining to gender mainstreaming. The review aimed to identify key documents and topics covered, assess their strengths and weaknesses, and identify gaps. Another ministry goal was to update prioritised existing documents based on review recommendations and develop a plan for putting them into practice.