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Overview: about the EBRD
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Paving the way for gender equality
April 2024
Paving the way for gender equality Evaluation of EBRD's support of Gender Equality - Phase 1 (2017-2021)
Background
The EBRD has emphasised its strong commitment to promoting gender equality as a critical aspect of fostering a modern, sustainable market economy. The Strategy for the Promotion of Gender Equality (SPGE) for 2021–2025 underscores the importance of integrating gender-responsive practices across the Bank’s operations. Key initiatives include the introduction of a gender SMART tag in 2021 to classify projects with gender objectives and a target of integrating gender equality activities into 40% of operations by the end of 2025, a goal that was already surpassed by 2023 with a 44% achievement. This evaluation, the first in a phased approach, focuses on the effectiveness of gender-related activities at the client level, assessing 23 selected investment projects and 7 technical cooperation projects from 2017 to 2021. It aims to provide lessons to enhance the mainstreaming of gender considerations in the Bank’s activities and contribute to better and more sustainable outcomes.
Main findings
1. Gaps between goals and implementation: While the EBRD has demonstrated a strong commitment to gender equality, ex-ante gender goals often fall short during implementation. This is due to inaccurate gender classifications and weak follow-through on planned gender activities.
2. Challenges in measuring results: A lack of robust monitoring and reporting systems hinders the ability to measure the impact of gender-related initiatives. When results are measurable, they are often small-scale or constrained by weak client commitment and limited incentives for achieving gender-related outcomes.
3. Overreliance on the Gender and Economic Inclusion (GEI) team: The GEI team plays a critical role in advancing gender objectives, but their expertise cannot substitute for broader institutional engagement. A lack of commitment and capacity across the Bank limits the mainstreaming of gender considerations.4. Reputational and reporting risks: Misclassification of gender projects could lead to misreporting, distorting perceptions of the Bank’s achievements and potentially harming its credibility.