Gender equality and inclusion

Our development efforts are rewarded only if we step up the fight for equal rights and fair access to resources and opportunities for women and men and all segments in society, including the most vulnerable.

Throughout the world, women, girls and marginalised groups continue to be victims of inequality and discrimination. Mainstreaming the gender and inclusion dimensions is a transversal priority in all our projects.

We adopt a three-pronged approach to ensure that our programmes take full account of gender, equity and inclusion issues.

The two-track approach: Gender equality is systematically integrated into all our projects. We also have specific actions and projects dedicated to gender equality, including transformative education projects for girls and projects to combat violence against women.
Gender transformative approach: We intervene at the individual, interpersonal, community, institutional as well as legislative levels of influence and seek to act, in particular, on the structural causes of gender inequality, including inequitable power relations and discriminatory norms.
The intersectional approach: Gender inequality must not be seen in isolation. It intersects with other factors of inequality and discrimination such as age, ethnic origin, social class and disability. We ensure that our actions meet the specific needs of the most vulnerable populations and contribute to social and economic justice.

Our experience

Peace and Security

Against a backdrop of rapidly deteriorating security conditions in many of our partner countries in Africa, the Middle East and Europe, we are implementing programmes to preserve or restore peace and security. We promote women’s active participation, leadership, unique perspectives and ability to provide innovative solutions to promote peaceful conflict resolution, post-conflict reconstruction and sustainable peace-building.

Fight against gender-based violence

Throughout the world, and particularly in fragile contexts, women continue to be the primary victims of domestic, sexual, psychological and economic violence. We design and implement programmes, both in terms of prevention and treatment, to combat gender-based violence. We support players in the justice, police, health and social sectors.

Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights

Promoting and protecting sexual and reproductive rights – including HIV response – are key to women’s empowerment and the well-being of households. We address these issues in a transversal way in our programmes (health, agriculture, education, etc.), involving both men and local authorities. Family planning remains a challenge at the heart of the dialogue with our partners.

Education and decision-making

The right to education is a prerequisite for creating economic, social and political opportunities. In our technical and vocational training programmes issues regarding access to education and continued school attendance of girls are systematically taken into account; and so is the creation of a safe and healthy environment that is conducive to learning.

Food security and food sovereignty

While women play a key role in food production, processing and marketing, access to land and markets remains difficult. By ensuring that women have equal access to land, technical training and business opportunities we support income-generating potential. Our agricultural programmes work in particular with women’s cooperatives, supporting their professional development (from production to sales) and their financial autonomy.