Gender Action is bringing gender into the agendas of many existing IFI-watcher groups, which traditionally focused on the environment, transparency and accountability issues but neglected gender dimensions. 

We are also bringing IFIs into the work of gender justice and women’s rights groups, which have not yet addressed the IFIs.  By strengthening our partners’ attention to IFIs, women’s rights and gender justice, we expect to multiply Gender Action’s effectiveness in ensuring IFI investments benefit and do not harm poor men and women.

In January 2009, Gender Action completed the first year of its three-year ‘Gender Capacity Building Project’ sponsored by Oxfam Novib to increase the gender sensitivity of six IFI-watcher organizations.  After completing gender audits of three IFI-watcher counterparts during this first project phase, Gender Action has now begun individual training and capacity building with each partner.  As part of this second project phase, Gender Action delivered a workshop in April, 2009, to staff at the Bank Information Center (BIC) in Washington, DC, entitled Gender, Transparency and the World Bank. This workshop aimed to help BIC staff ‘engender’ their advocacy on the World Bank Disclosure Policy review process.  Also in April, 2009, Gender Action delivered an open workshop entitled Gender Tools for IFI Watchers during the World Bank/IMF Spring Meetings.  This workshop launched Gender Action’s new Gender Toolkit for International-Finance Watchers, which contains useful tools, information and resources on gender and IFI-related topics like extractive industries, climate change, indigenous rights and accountability measures for both IFI-watchers and non-IFI watchers alike.

Gender Action also launched a new series of Gender Action Links – short, accessible, issue briefs on topics related to gender and the IFIs.  The Gender Action Links aim to ‘link’ IFI-watcher and gender justice groups in gender-focused advocacy on the IFIs.  The latest Link in the series is Gender, IFIs and Extractive Industries.

Gender Action also completed a year-long (2008) capacity building project with the Women’s Law Studies and Legal Aid Center (WLSLAC) in Beijing, China, to assist them in conducting advocacy on the IFIs, gender and climate change.  The project entailed literacy training on the IFIs for WLSLAC, followed by a joint gender audit of IFI investments in China.  Based on the audit, Gender Action developed and published the capacity building toolkit IFI Gender Audit and Advocacy: A Toolkit for Chinese Civil Society Organizations. Using the toolkit and Gender Action’s capacity-building assistance, WLSLAC is independently conducting field assessments of the gender impacts of IFI investments in China.  This toolkit will enable Gender Action and WLSLAC to provide IFI literacy training and capacity building to a larger number of Chinese civil society groups in order to hold the IFIs accountable on their gender equality commitments in China.

Finally, in early 2009 Gender Action launched an electronic Gender Forum for International Finance Watchers in order to link our IFI-watcher and gender justice partners in joint discussion and advocacy on gender and the IFIs, as well as strengthen and multiply Gender Action’s efforts to ensure all IFI investments promote gender equality and women’s rights.

Gender Action web site

IFIs, Women rights