“Gender equality is not just a ‘nice to have’ but an essential component to creating lasting, meaningful impact.” – Jennifer Elms, Regional Gender Advisor, AKF
Despite decades of advocacy and incremental progress, the world is far from achieving gender equality. From classrooms to boardrooms, from homes to government buildings, women and girls around the world face persistent, deep-rooted, and systemic barriers to opportunity and autonomy.
Gender equality is a precursor to and driver for sustainable development and building an inclusive, equitable, and prosperous world. Civil society organizations (CSOs)—local, national, or international groups of people organized around shared values and collective action—are crucial advocates for gender equality. They raise awareness, mobilize communities, and provide essential knowledge and resources that promote women’s participation in economic, social, and political life.
Earlier this month, AKFC hosted an event in partnership with Spur Change. It’s a program of the Inter-Council Network of Provincial and Regional Councils for International Cooperation that supports small and medium-sized organizations (SMOs) in Canada that work on development projects. This event, “Small Steps, Big Results”, focused on the work that Canadian CSOs are doing to advance gender equality.
This public event was aligned with Spur Change’s SMO Conference: Pathways to Gender Equality. The annual conference brought together SMOs from coast to coast to coast together for dialogue and learning.
The event was co-hosted by the Regional Gender Advisor for AKF Canada and USA, Jennifer Elms, who also had the opportunity to participate in the conference.
“The event provided an incredible opportunity to showcase the inspiring stories of gender equality champions,” said Jennifer.
National and international leaders from diverse Canadian organizations shared stories about their work in . Attendees also imparted insights and experiences from their diverse contexts, discussed challenges, and shared solutions.
Jennifer noted the striking similarities in those stories and experiences, such as common challenges when working in complex and nuanced environments and the difficulties with designing and implementing solutions.
“A focus on gender is not enough,” reflected Jennifer. “In the words of Senator Paulette Senior, who provided opening remarks at the Spur Change conference: ‘We cannot have gender equality without equality for all.’”
For Jennifer, intersectionality is a crucial concept when considering the complexities and interconnectedness of social, political, economic, cultural, and demographic factors that perpetuate discrimination.
Tools and approaches like Global Affairs Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy (FIAP) provide guidance on ensuring that projects are implemented in ways that advance gender equality.
“Organizations already have the insights and motivation to pursue gender equality, so streamlining technical best practices and evidence-based approaches [like FIAP] are needed,” said Jennifer.
But equally important – if not more – is the need to ensure that gender equality work is informed by the unique needs, behaviours, roles, and aspirations of individuals and communities at the local level.
“For AKFC and the AKDN, community-driven approaches and working with local organizations has always been a cornerstone of our work. We recognize the unique and vital knowledge and networks that local organizations are naturally a part of — by being rooted where they are — are essential for creating effective and sustainable impact,” said Jennifer.
For Jennifer, AKFC’s Advancing Gender Equality through Civil Society (AGECS) subprojects— part of an education and gender equality program in East Africa and a health and gender equality program in Central Asia —illustrate just that.
Through 26 projects across East Africa and Central Asia, AGECS supports local organizations that implement gender equality projects, and provides opportunities for regional and global collaboration through initiatives like the AGECS Global Learning Workshop.
“AGECS also attempts to reframe traditional funding structures to provide opportunities for community organizations that are often precluded from such structures to access resources to enhance their work,” explained Jennifer.
“Gender equality is not just a ‘nice to have’ but an essential component to creating lasting, meaningful impact,” said Jennifer. “And by ensuring communities are at the heart of the design process, solutions become contextually relevant and much more effective.”
To learn more about AKF’s work and practices, visit the AKF Learning Hub, an online platform with a plethora of learning resources developed by AKF and over 30 partner organizations. The Learning Hub can be accessed anytime, anywhere, free of charge.
