Gender mainstreaming, driven by the Beijing Declaration, is a global strategy for promoting equality. Despite efforts, the 2022 Sustainable Development Goals report highlights insufficient progress, with women underrepresented in the global workforce and managerial positions. Nigeria’s Gender Development Index indicates persistent gender inequality, influenced by patriarchal norms.
In 2020, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation initiated the Gender Equality Division (GED), supporting organisations like SCIDaR to mainstream gender across programs. SCIDaR acknowledges the importance of diversity and aims to enhance its gender integration efforts. SCIDaR has implemented a few gender-focused initiatives including the “W initiative”, onsite child facility care, and workplace harassment training amongst others addressing gender gaps and fostering inclusivity. While progress is evident, we seek to maximise benefits, extend initiatives, and institutionalize gender-responsive programming.
The overall vision of SAGE is to mainstream gender across all programs within SCIDaR, employing a comprehensive learning-by-doing approach. The project aims to strategically integrate a gender lens into SCIDaR’s program frameworks, design and execution strategies, establish enabling systems that integrate a gender perspective into all existing and in-process BMGF and other donor investments within SCIDaR and document and track gender equality.
