This dashboard will enhance the Bank’s efforts to ensure that at least 80% of public sector operations and 50% of private sector operations directly benefit women and girls.
The African Development Bank Group has launched a new digital platform to monitor progress in gender equality integration across its programs and projects throughout the continent.
The Gender Marker System Dashboard is the online equivalent of the Bank’s Gender Marker System, which classifies the Bank’s programs or projects based on their degree of focus on gender equality and/or women’s empowerment in their objectives, components, and expected outcomes.
The gender classification system categorizes the design of a sovereign or non-sovereign Bank operation into four levels: GEN I, GEN II, GEN III, GEN IV.
- GEN I: The project’s main objective is directly related to gender equality and/or women’s empowerment.
- GEN II: Gender equality and/or women’s empowerment is one of the project’s outcomes, but not the main outcome.
- GEN III: One or more project outcomes are related to gender equality and/or women’s empowerment.
- GEN IV: The project may contain one or more gender-related activities, but these are marginal to its overall achievements and outcomes.
The Gender Marker System Dashboard provides staff with the latest gender-related updates, anywhere and anytime, when online.
The new digital dashboard presents gender-related data organized by sector, region, country, year, and funding source while highlighting areas where additional human and financial resources are needed to meet or exceed gender-based classifications.
The dashboard will allow Bank staff and consultants to access gender-related data for the preparation of country strategy documents, mid-term reviews, annual reports, regional integration strategy documents, and other Bank documents, as well as for project supervision and reporting on specific gender-related activities and outcomes.
“This Gender Marker System Dashboard is the latest innovation in how the Bank invests in African women to drive inclusive growth, in line with the 2024-2033 Ten-Year Strategy,” said Martha Phiri, Acting Director of Gender, Women, and Civil Society at the African Development Bank. “The aim is to accelerate our actions to empower women and reduce gender disparities, while also holding ourselves accountable for our commitment to gender mainstreaming in our operations.”
Linked to the Bank’s SAP (Systems Applications and Products) project management system, the dashboard provides a foundation for tracking the implementation of gender action plans within Bank operations. An action plan outlines specific operations, a budget, and responsibilities for integrating gender into the implementation of an operation.
The Gender and Women’s Empowerment Division within the African Development Bank’s Department of Gender, Women, and Civil Society led the development of the dashboard. Prior to its implementation, data was centralized and manually entered into a spreadsheet. The new interactive platform automates data entry and is accessible via SAP or the Bank’s intranet.
The Gender and Women’s Empowerment team will update the Gender Marker System Dashboard data on a monthly basis. These regular updates will allow all staff to understand the impact of their work on advancing gender equality, while enabling them to make better strategic use of the Bank’s gender-focused resources.
“We have seen incredible enthusiasm from Bank staff to ensure that our work contributes to building more inclusive societies and economies. The Gender Marker System Dashboard provides staff with the latest gender-related updates, anywhere and anytime, when online,” said Ms. Phiri.
This dashboard will contribute to strengthening the Bank’s efforts to ensure that at least 80% of public sector operations and 50% of private sector operations directly benefit women and girls.
The African Development Bank’s 2024-2033 Ten-Year Strategy identifies gender as a priority cross-cutting theme for driving Africa’s transformation.
About the African Development Bank Group:
The African Development Bank Group is the leading development finance institution in Africa. It consists of three distinct entities: the African Development Bank (AfDB), the African Development Fund (ADF), and the Nigeria Trust Fund (NTF). With a presence in 41 African countries and an external office in Japan, the Bank contributes to the economic development and social progress of its 54 regional member states. For more information: www.AfDB.org.