Integrating gender into monitoring and evaluation ensures projects that are fairer, more effective, and more sustainable. It strengthens their impact on all populations, without exception.

Integrating gender indicators into M&E frameworks : a practical guide

Equality between women and men is a fundamental human rights principle and a strategic lever for sustainable development. Public policies and development programs are increasingly prioritizing gender dynamics. However, this dimension remains absent or poorly integrated in many monitoring and evaluation (M&E) systems, leading to biased results, structural inequalities, and ineffective decision-making. This article offers a practical guide to effectively incorporate gender indicators into M&E frameworks.

Why integrate a gender perspective into M&E ?

Unlike sex, which is biological, gender varies across cultures, contexts, and eras. It influences how individuals access resources, participate in public life, and experience or exercise power. Integrating gender into M&E systems is no longer optional it is a necessity for several reasons.

Improve project effectiveness and measure differentiated impacts

To avoid producing inequitable results, every development project must include a gender perspective. Integrating gender into M&E systems helps improve local buy-in, strengthen inclusive participation, and ensure better use of resources. It also facilitates deep and lasting changes for all social groups.

Moreover, even if an activity appears to benefit the entire community, its impacts may differ by gender. For instance, in a land access project, if customary rights favor men, women may be excluded. By incorporating a gender lens, stakeholders ensure that project benefits do not unintentionally reinforce existing inequalities and that actions can be adjusted to reduce gaps.

Identify specific barriers

Women, girls, and gender minorities often face invisible barriers that traditional M&E tools fail to capture when gender is not considered. These include restrictive social norms and lack of control over economic resources. Gender indicators help reveal these realities, allow for tailored project adjustments, and remove barriers to ensure equitable participation.

Comply with donor requirements

In recent years, most international donors have required gender integration at every stage of the project cycle, including monitoring and evaluation. This translates to:

• Sex-disaggregated data
• Gender-specific indicators
• Analysis of differentiated impacts
• Gender-sensitive reporting

Failure to meet these requirements can jeopardize project eligibility for funding or contract renewals.

Basic framework for gender-sensitive indicators

Integrating gender into M&E systems requires a well-structured approach starting from the planning phase. This structure rests on three pillars: defining gender objectives, selecting appropriate indicator types, and systematically disaggregating data.

Define the project’s gender objectives

Before designing indicators, it is essential to identify the project’s specific gender objectives. These objectives reflect the intended changes in equity, access to resources, participation, or power dynamics. For example, an objective could be to increase women’s participation in decision-making processes (within community organizations, households, or local institutions).

Types of gender-sensitive indicators

Gender-sensitive indicators should go beyond simply counting the number of women involved in a project. They must assess the quality of participation, decision-making power, shifts in social norms, and more.

Quantitative indicators measure countable aspects and are typically expressed in numbers, percentages, or averages :

• Percentage of women who accessed credit through the project
• Number of men and women trained in a program
• Girls’ enrollment rate in a targeted region

Qualitative indicators measure perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and social transformations, often captured through interviews, observations, or focus groups :

• Women’s confidence in speaking publicly
• Male and female perceptions of gender roles before and after the intervention
• Women’s satisfaction with services provided

Systematic data disaggregation

Disaggregating data is essential for relevant gender analysis. This involves breaking down results not only by sex but also by other relevant variables :

• Age
• Socio-economic status
• Ethnic or geographic background
• Education level and disability

This process helps uncover hidden inequalities and design specific corrective actions.

Steps to integrate gender indicators into M&E systems

There are four (4) main steps for integrating gender indicators into an M&E system. These should be followed throughout the entire project cycle from design to final evaluation.

Conduct a gender analysis

Gender analysis forms the foundation for integrating gender into M&E systems. It helps understand roles, needs, responsibilities, disparities, policies, and the structural causes of discrimination and gender inequalities in the targeted context.

This analysis should answer questions such as :

• Who has access to which resources?
• Who makes decisions?
• What are the specific barriers to the participation of women or marginalized groups?

There are specific tools available for conducting such analysis.

Develop appropriate gender indicators and integrate them into the results chain

At this stage, the project team must define gender objectives, set targets, and formulate gender-sensitive indicators. These indicators should stem from the expected results related to gender equality and should follow the SMART approach (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound). It is also crucial to integrate gender indicators across all levels of the results chain.

Collect and analyze data from a gender perspective

Incorporating gender into M&E systems requires adapting both data collection and analysis methods. Inclusive methodologies such as social mapping or gender-differentiated timelines should be employed.

Field teams should be trained to identify gender bias, avoid reproducing inequalities, and ensure respondents’ confidentiality.

Use results for learning and change

The final and often overlooked step is the strategic use of data to:

• Adjust activities
• Influence local policies and community practices
• Produce evidence-based and enriched reports
• Document actual social and behavioral changes

This allows teams to learn from past experiences, enhance project impact, and foster more accountable and inclusive reporting.

The ultimate goal of integrating gender into M&E frameworks is to go beyond numerical parity and address power relations, transform social roles, and empower marginalized groups. Indicators should therefore be designed not only to measure participation or access but also to assess the quality of participation, the level of control exercised, and shifts in social norms.

At Kerus Consulting International, we support organizations in transforming their monitoring and evaluation systems to make them fairer, more relevant, and truly transformative.

References

• Integrating gender into monitoring and evaluation systems – best practices
• Gender-sensitive indicators for early warning of violence and conflict
• Gender and development: mainstreaming gender at every stage of the project cycle
• Gender indicators