The Fund was established in 2009 as a bold investment in women’s rights to fast-track the implementation of gender equality commitments in the areas of women’s economic and political empowerment. By supporting CSO-led initiatives at local, national and regional levels, the Fund aims at addressing the concrete needs and priorities of the most marginalized groups of women and girls in developing countries. In the context of the 2030 Agenda, FGE’s mission has become more relevant than ever as it serves as a tool for localizing SDGs and leaving no one behind. During its 7 years, the Fund has delivered USD 64 million in grants to 120 grantee programmes in 80 countries, reaching over 10 million direct beneficiaries.
FGE is committed to draw evidence and widely share the lessons learned from this pioneering grant-making programme and to contribute to global know-how in the field of gender equality. In addition to undertake regular evaluations of its grantee programmes under a decentralized approach, in 2015 the Fund conducted a Meta Evaluation and Meta-Analysis of 24 grantee evaluation reports in order to validate their quality and gain evidence-based insight on what works for women’s political and economic empowerment programmes, as well as to analyze FGE’s processes and approach. In 2017, the Fund will go a step further by undertaking the first Fund for Gender Equality Evaluation. The evaluation will assess the Fund’s approach and contributions to promoting gender equality and women’s rights and empowerment since 2009 in alignment with UN Women’s Strategic Plans, while drawing lessons and recommendations to feed into future policy and programming by UN Women as well as other stakeholders (donors, civil society and gender advocates, and the development community).
The deadline for submission of applications for the Evaluation Team is Tuesday, 7 February 2017.
