Convergence has always been invested in gender equality, however we became more intentional about integrating gender equality into our work in early 2020 with the support of our funder the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), whose commitment to gender equality translated into ensuring that their grantees also integrated gender considerations into their work. At the same time, our funder Global Affairs Canada (GAC), through its Feminist International Assistance Policy, encouraged us to prioritize gender in our work, which led us to reassess our performance measurement framework in our reporting to holistically report against gender targets.
While we were already working on being more gender-aware, it took DFAT and GAC’s commitment to push us to be more intentional and concrete about how we integrated gender equality into our work. This is an excellent example of the influence and impact donors can have with their funding, ensuring that their priorities are reflected in the work of their grantees.
This document attempts to illustrate why gender equality is important, how it relates to blended finance, and how we have integrated gender equality into our work. This is a guiding document for our own staff to understand the importance of gender equality in what we do, but we also hope this can be useful as a guide to others in the space who are still early in their gender equality journey and are not sure where to start.
