Gender plays a key role in Futures Group’s programs. For instance, under the POLICY Project, Futures Group undertook an assessment of gender in country programs. Interviews with country managers of field activities found that gender was implicitly included in most country programs, but that gender (and related terms) needed more explicit discussion in workplans and project reports. The report—which included in-depth case studies of Guatemala and India—was published and findings presented at a professional meeting. Futures Group also launched the Women’s Property Ownership and Inheritance Rights initiative in Kenya to raise awareness of local leaders to the plight of disinherited widows and orphans and to build leader commitment to addressing the impact of disinheritance in their communities.

Futures Group has extensive experience conducting gender-related research and has produced publications that include:

• Addressing Gender-Based Violence through USAID’s Health Programs: A Guide for Health Sector Program Officers
• Gender-Related Barriers to Emerging HIV Prevention Methods: A Review of Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP) Guidelines
• Men Matter: Scaling Up Approaches to Promote Constructive Men’s Engagement in Reproductive Health and Gender Equity

Because of the importance of gender as a cross-cutting issue, Futures Group formed the Gender Working Group in early 1996. The Gender Working Group has been working with staff to increase their understanding of the impact of gender on program goals and how to integrate gender into projects, including country programs, workplans, strategic frameworks, and program evaluations. The Working Group has employed a range of approaches to promote gender-sensitive policies, such as conducting research on gender issues in policy, planning, and finance processes; providing technical assistance on gender to USAID missions; conducting gender training for program staff as well as counterpart organizations; and working with women’s non-governmental organizations to build their capacity and role in the policy process.

In addition to the Gender Working Group, Futures Group also participates in the USAID Interagency Gender Working Group and is responsible for its training component. In addition to short-term training for USAID technical staff and cooperating agency staff on gender-sensitive programming, Futures Group helped lead a training session for USAID staff from the Offices of Population and Health on better practices for integrating gender, gender-sensitive strategies, and tools for gender integration in requests for applications and proposals. Futures Group also helped conduct a training-of-trainers to expand the cadre of trainers available to help meet the gender and training needs of USAID and cooperating agencies in the United States and in the field. Each participant is required to conduct a workshop, co-facilitated by a core Interagency Gender Working Group trainer, in his or her own organization within 6-12 months.