Supporting Gender Equality in Post-Conflict Contexts

As gender equality (SDG 5) and peacebuilding (SDG 16) are both key aspects of sustainable global development, they are also goals of international and German development cooperation. The achievement of these two goals poses ongoing challenges for the international community: progress is only slowly being made towards the realisation of gender equality, yet at the same time, the number of violent conflicts has risen in recent years.

The present evaluation takes up this thematic area and analyses to what extent the gender mainstreaming process used in German bilateral official development cooperation is suited to post-conflict contexts and supports the planning and implementation of activities that contribute to gender equality and the building of peaceful and inclusive societies.

The evaluation devotes particular interest to the intersection of these two goals. The nexus approach calls attention to the fact that all genders experience violent conflict in different ways. While men mostly tend to be involved in conflicts as active combatants, women are more likely to suffer from its indirect consequences. One of these can be poorer health care, with the result that armed conflicts reduce women’s life expectancy even more than men’s.

Moreover, in the context of armed conflicts, even outside of direct combat situations women (more than men) are frequently affected by violence, including sexual and genderbased violence. In addition, other social characteristics such as religion, ethnicity or sexual orientation can contribute to multiple or intersecting experiences of discrimination.