Gender mainstreaming
The process of explicitly and fully addressing gender from the beginning to the end of any planned action. As defined by the United Nations in 1997, it is a strategy for making women’s, as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design and implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes in all political, economic and societal spheres so that men and women can benefit equally and inequality is not perpetuated. The ultimate goal is to achieve gender equality. Gender mainstreaming focuses on the fact that women and men have different life experiences and that development interventions affect them differently. Thus, gender should be integrated into development at all levels and in all sectors, focusing less on providing equal treatment to women and men (since equal treatment does not necessarily result in equal outcomes) and more on taking whatever steps are necessary to ensure equal outcomes. A mainstreaming strategy may include affirmative initiatives directed towards either women or men.
Gender prejudice
Reflects characteristics that are foisted on women and men but fail to recount actual individual ability. For example, housework is women’s work, not men’s. Gender prejudice often limits an individual in doing what he or she is able to do.
Gender responsiveness
Entails consistent and systematic attention to the differences between men and women in society with a view to addressing institutional constraints to gender equality.
Gender roles
Behaviours that are expected from men and women. Gender roles are learned and vary across cultures and over time; they are thus amenable to change.
Gender stereotypes
Popularly held ideas about men and women. For example, ideas that women are tender, men are strong. Gender stereotypes are learned and vary across cultures and over time; they are thus amenable to change.
Gender-related Development Index (GDI)
A comprehensive index measuring average achievement in the three basic dimensions of human development – a long and healthy life, knowledge, and a decent standard of living – adjusted to account for inequalities between men and women.
Impacts
Impacts are the longer term effects of outputs and outcomes on the wider community, such as the prevention of pests or the outbreak of disease, reduction of poverty, greater per cent contribution to GDP, improved living standards, etc. Impacts are related to the achievement of the goals of a project/programme, or of the organization itself. Impact tells whether or not the project/strategy/intervention made a difference to the problem that was being addressed. For example, the impact should tell whether FARA strategies have made a difference to the problem of food security in Africa. In other words, was the strategy useful or not? Before scaling up an intervention or deciding to replicate it elsewhere, there is a need to be sure that what is being done, or has been done, makes sense in terms of the impact on the beneficiaries.
Institutions
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FARA’s 2014–2018 Strategic Plan
Systems of established and prevalent social rules that structure social interactions and create stable expectations of the behaviour of others; socially embedded systems of rules. Generally, institutions enable ordered thought, expectation, and action by imposing form and consistency on human activities; institutions both constrain and enable behaviour.