Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1694859459493.pdf (Australia)
Inquiry into the International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015 ________________________________________________________ Submission to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade 15 June 2015 R G Casey Building John McEwen Cres Barton 0221 Telephone:02 6261 1111 Facsimile:02 6261 3111 International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 INTRODUCTION The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) understands that the International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015 has two key provisions: 1) to require that gender equality is considered in decision-making on Official Development Assistance (ODA) (including humanitarian assistance); and 2) to require reporting on this assistance.
DFAT agrees it is important to ensure gender equality and women’s empowerment are effectively integrated into programming and clearly reported.

DFAT considers that its current systems and processes meet the intent of this legislation.

As such, DFAT considers that this legislation is not required to ensure that Australia’s Official Development Assistance (including humanitarian assistance) promotes gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
GOVERNMENT POLICY ON GENDER EQUALITY IN THE AID PROGRAM The Government’s aid policy Australian aid: promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability includes gender equality and women’s empowerment as one of six strategic investment priorities in Australia’s aid program.

Through the policy, the Government has committed to be at the forefront of efforts to empower women and girls and promote gender equality in the Indo-Pacific region.
The Performance Framework for the aid program, Making Performance Count: Enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian aid, operationalises the Government’s aid policy.

It sets a target of requiring that at least 80 per cent of investments, regardless of their objectives, will effectively address gender issues in their implementation (the Gender Target).
In order to ensure implementation of the strategic investment priority on gender equality and empowerment of women and girls, the Government has also:  appointed an Ambassador for Women and Girls to advocate on these issues;  committed to invest in targeted programs to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment where there are persistent challenges and progress toward gender equality has been slow: women’s voice in decision-making, leadership, and peace- building; women’s economic empowerment; and ending violence against women and girls;  established a new Gender Equality Fund, as part of the 2015-16 Budget, to accelerate support for gender equality in the Australian development program; and  undertaken to ensure that Australia’s aid program and international diplomatic efforts align to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.
2 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 CONSIDERATION OF GENDER EQUALITY IN DECISION-MAKING ON ODA Gender equality and women’s empowerment are built into the aid architecture.

DFAT staff are required to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment through their aid program work.
There are five key ways in which this is done: through upfront planning as part of Aid Investment Plans;   as part of Investment Design processes;    through annual monitoring as part of Aid Quality Checks; through annual Aid Program Performance Reports; and through the provision of guidance and capacity building for staff.

Aid Investment Plan (AIP) Aid Investment Plans set out the direction for a country or regional program and link objectives, aid programming and results.
They are designed to help ensure the most effective use of aid.

The Performance Framework requires all country and regional programs to have AIPs in place by September 2015.

AIPs are a core aid management tool.

They describe where, why and how Australian aid will be delivered and the expected results to be achieved in a country or region.

AIPs provide a link between expected results; current and planned investments; and Australia’s national interests, strategic priorities and objectives.
Aid Investment Plans are required to contribute to the priorities set out in the Government’s aid policy, including the strategic investment priority to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment.
As part of identifying the strategic priorities for Australia’s aid program in a country or region, staff are required to:  draw on appropriate gender analysis that identifies the key constraints to growth, private sector development and poverty reduction;  align with the six investment priorities, one of which is promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment; and  align with the Performance Framework Making Performance Count: Enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian aid, which includes the gender target.
Investment Design Gender equality is one of the Investment Design Quality Criteria (IDQC) that all Australian aid investments must meet.

This requires staff to consider how the investment addresses gender equality and women’s empowerment.
To meet the quality criteria for gender equality, a design should:  effectively integrate appropriate strategies to advance gender equality and promote the empowerment of women and girls;  ensure the equal access of women and girls to the benefits of the investment;  demonstrate how DFAT will influence advancing women’s empowerment within the investment; including where appropriate, by addressing women’s role in decision-making and leadership, empowering women economically or addressing violence against women; and  ensure that sufficient resources (financial and technical) are allocated to implement strategies.
3 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 For aid investments over $3 million, staff are required to prepare an Investment Design document.

As part of the Investment Design document, staff must provide a strategic analysis of the investment operating environment.

This should set out the country/regional and sector/thematic context, including in relation to gender equality and the empowerment of women.
The Investment Design document should set out implementation arrangements, including an explanation of how the investment will advance gender equality and promote the empowerment of women and girls.

All Investment Designs must meet DFAT’s Investment Design Quality Criteria before proceeding to implementation.

This includes the specific gender equality criterion.

The most common method to quality assure designs against the IDQC is to combine a peer review and an independent technical appraisal.
Depending on the context and the size of the investment, independent internal and external stakeholders are involved (who have not been part of the design process).

This can include representatives from other areas of the department, other government agencies, the partner country, implementing organisations and contracted independent technical experts.

Aid Quality Check Aid Quality Check (AQC) reporting is a key part of DFAT’s system for monitoring and improving the quality of Australian aid.
An AQC is prepared annually for all investments over $3 million using data gathered from implementing partner reporting, monitoring visits, reviews and evaluations.

The AQC reflects on performance over the previous 12 months.

Through an AQC assessment, managers review how well aid investments are performing against eight quality criteria, record practical actions to improve performance and provide information about the achievements of Australian aid investments.
The eight criteria are: relevance; effectiveness; efficiency; monitoring and evaluation; sustainability; gender equality; risk management and safeguards; and innovation and the private sector.

Each criterion is rated on a six-point scale with ratings of 4 to 6 indicating satisfactory performance and ratings of 1 to 3 indicating unsatisfactory performance.
The gender equality criterion requires managers to consider the following issues:  Is the investment making a difference to gender equality and empowering women and girls?

Promoting equality between men and women is: [pick the best option below] o a principal objective of this investment; o a significant objective of this investment; o not an objective of this investment.

Analysis of gender equality gaps and opportunities substantially informs the investment.
Risks to gender equality are identified and appropriately managed.

The investment is making progress as expected in effectively implementing strategies to promote gender equality and women's empowerment.

The monitoring and evaluation system collects sex-disaggregated data and includes indicators to measure gender equality outcomes.

There is sufficient expertise and budget allocation to achieve gender equality related outputs of the investment.
As a result of the investment, partners increasingly treat gender equality as a priority through their own policies and processes.

4 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 The gender target in the performance framework for the aid program, Making Performance Count, is measured using the AQC gender equality criterion.
The target requires that more than 80 per cent of investments, regardless of their objectives, will effectively address gender equality issues in their implementation.

The effect of this target is to ensure that gender equality is not only considered at the start of an aid investment, but that it is monitored and implemented, and reported, throughout the life of the investment.
Aid Program Performance Report Aid Program Performance Reports (APPRs) are another important way for DFAT staff to monitor how their work is contributing to the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

These public reports are completed annually and are the principal mechanism for DFAT to assess the performance of the aid program at the country and regional level.
APPRs provide a frank, evidence-based assessment of the program’s progress against Australia’s aid objectives and contain proposals for management action.

Each APPR must include comment on progress made by the program in promoting gender equality and must articulate any trends or follow-up required.

Wherever possible, data included in APPRs must be sex-disaggregated.
Guidance and capacity building DFAT provides a range of guidance, capacity building and support to assist staff to ensure that aid investments contribute to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.

DFAT’s Aid Programming Guide (‘the guide’) supports managers in exercising their aid management responsibilities.

The guide outlines how staff are to consider gender equality in delivering aid investments, and provides links to supplementary resources and support.
The Gender Equality Good Practice Note, included at Attachment A, sets out DFAT’s strategic objectives for gender equality and the main entry points through the aid management cycle.

It provides practical guidance for aid management.
It supports staff to implement the aid policy, Australian aid: Promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability, which established gender equality as one of six key investment priorities for the Australian aid program, and the performance framework, Making Performance Count: enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian aid, which established a performance target for DFAT on the effectiveness of gender equality in all aid investments.
This written guidance is supported by a range of capacity building activities.

This includes an e-learning module on gender equality and development that provides an introduction to the key issues for staff; and a face-to-face two day training course on how to include gender equality in aid programming.

A copy of DFAT’s Gender Equality Capability Building Plan Outline 2015 is at Attachment B.
5 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 DFAT has a cadre of gender specialists, led by the Principal Sector Specialist – Gender Equality, who provide technical advice and support on gender equality across the aid program.
The role of the specialists includes:  providing input into development of country program directions, including aid investment plans, sectoral strategies and overall monitoring of programs for gender equality effectiveness; implementing processes to support robust AQC ratings, including providing technical advice and supporting AQC preparation;   quality assuring major initiatives in design and implementation; and  delivering high-level technical and policy advice for select, high-profile initiatives and country programs.
DFAT also maintains an Aid Advisory Services Standing Offer (AAS) for gender equality.

The purpose of the AAS is to allow officers to efficiently and rapidly access a range of high quality companies and individual advisers with expertise on gender and development.
Panel members from the Gender Equality AAS may be engaged to provide advisory services to contribute to aid policy development and to enhance the effectiveness of the Australian aid program through:  contributing to aid policy development, program delivery and enhancing the effectiveness of the Australian aid program;  ensuring that aid advisory services are based on international good practice, lessons learned from Australian and regional aid implementation and insights from other aid agencies;  assisting the Australian aid program to keep up with current trends and developments and to apply this knowledge practically throughout the aid program; and  providing the Australian aid program with access to high quality and timely advice.
CONSIDERATION OF GENDER EQUALITY IN DECISION-MAKING ON HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE Processes for ensuring that gender-related differences in the needs of those affected by a disaster or emergency differ from standard development processes.

When a crisis hits, response decisions must be made quickly to enable our humanitarian assistance to reach those in need as quickly as possible, ensuring the most lives are saved.
Consequently, DFAT relies primarily on partner systems, policies and processes to ensure gender-specific needs are taken into account.

Rather than reassess the ability of our partners to deliver on gender equality outcomes at the onset of a crisis, we have standing arrangements with partners who we know will deliver well on gender equality outcomes that ensure we can get gender-sensitive relief to those in need quickly and efficiently.
DFAT’s commitment to gender equality in humanitarian assistance is reflected in policy.

DFAT’s Humanitarian Action Policy (HAP) includes a commitment to gender equality in humanitarian action.

The policy supports the active participation of women, girls, boys and men, and the increased disaggregation of data by sex.

Protection is a core component of Australia’s humanitarian action.
Australia has a long-standing commitment to protecting people affected by natural disasters and human-induced crises, reflecting our desire to prevent and reduce the violence, exploitation and deprivation that people in such situations face.

Australia released its first Protection in Humanitarian Action Framework (the Framework) in 2013.

The Framework commits Australia to fund and advocate for dedicated protection programs and for protection to be mainstreamed in humanitarian action.
6 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 Preventing and responding to gender-based violence (GBV) is a priority area under the Framework.

DFAT’s commitments to gender equality and protection in humanitarian action are also reflected in our performance and partner assessment processes (such as Multilateral Performance Assessments and Humanitarian Response Aid Quality Checks).
As part of these processes, aid officials are required to assess the ability of our partners and investments to achieve gender equality outcomes, and this information is drawn upon in making funding recommendations.

For all humanitarian investments over $3 million it is compulsory to complete a Humanitarian Response Aid Quality Check (HAQC).

HAQCs are similar to AQCs but contain modified criteria suited to assess how well humanitarian response investments are performing.
This means that each humanitarian investment must be rated on its ability to make a difference to gender equality and empowering women and girls.

HAQCs also include a criterion on protection.

This includes an assessment of the extent to which the investment includes measures to prevent and respond to gender-based violence and the extent to which the monitoring and evaluation system for the investment collects sex, disability and age disaggregated data.
REPORTING ON GENDER EQUALITY IN THE AID PROGRAM DFAT currently reports each year on its work in promoting gender equality through the Performance of Australian Aid report (PAA) and the DFAT Annual Report.

As an investment priority and strategic target for the aid program, the use of international aid to promote gender equality is directly addressed in each of these reports.
In addition to these two major reports, DFAT undertakes extensive performance reporting and assessment of ODA and humanitarian assistance.

These reports inform and cascade up to the Performance of Australian Aid and DFAT Annual Report.

DFAT reporting on the aid program is complemented by the work of the Office of Development Effectiveness and the Independent Evaluation Committee.

The Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) at DFAT builds stronger evidence for more effective aid.
ODE monitors the performance of the Australian aid program, evaluates its impact and contributes to international evidence and debate about aid and development effectiveness.

ODE evaluation reports are publicly released, together with a management response from DFAT.

Gender equality is considered as a cross-cutting issue in ODE evaluations.

In addition, ODE conducts evaluations that directly consider the contribution of the aid program to promoting gender equality.
This has included:  evaluation of the contribution of Australia Awards to women’s leadership (currently underway);  Smart Economics: Evaluation of Australian aid support for women’s economic empowerment (2014); and  Violence Against Women in Melanesia and East Timor: Building on Global and Regional Promising Approaches (2008).

The Independent Evaluation Committee was established in mid-2012 to strengthen the independence and credibility of the work of ODE.
It provides independent, expert evaluation 7 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 advice to improve ODE’s work in planning, commissioning, managing and delivering a high-quality evaluation program.

The following table sets out DFAT’s performance reporting and how gender equality is assessed in each report.
A copy of DFAT’s Performance Framework for the aid program is at Attachment C. Consideration of gender equality Release Performance report Performance of Australian Aid Annual assessment and report on the whole of the aid program, including humanitarian assistance.

Gender equality is reported on as a development policy priority and one of the 10 strategic targets for the aid program.

Aid Program Performance Reports (APPRs) Annual report on each country or regional program.
The report must include analysis of progress made in promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls.
Partner Performance Assessments (PPAs) (ie Performance assessments of multilateral and other programs) Multilateral Performance Assessments (MPAs) (ie Performance assessments of multilateral and other programs) Periodic strategic evaluations by the Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) Annual assessments of how well implementing partners (including NGOs, commercial suppliers and multilateral organisations) are delivering services.

Also applies to humanitarian assistance.


PPAs include an assessment as to whether the partner has taken appropriate account of DFAT’s policies on gender equality.

Multilateral Performance Assessments, conducted every three years, assess the performance of key multilateral partners in relation to core funding provided by DFAT.
MPAs include an assessment criteria on alignment with Australia’s priorities, including whether the organisation has effective policies and programs to promote gender equality and empower women and girls.

Also applies to humanitarian assistance.

ODE monitors the performance of the Australian aid program, including humanitarian assistance, evaluates its impact and contributes to international evidence and debate about aid and development effectiveness.
ODE evaluations of programs and sectors consider gender equality as a cross-cutting theme.

ODE also conducts evaluations focussed specifically on the gender equality work of the aid program.

Public Public Internal - shared with implementing partner.
Results reported cumulatively in relevant APPRs Internal – shared with multilateral organisation Results reported cumulatively in relevant APPRs Public 8 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 Performance report Consideration of gender equality Release Aid Quality Checks (AQCs) Annual assessments of individual aid investments, valued over $3 million.

Gender equality is one of the eight assessment criteria.
Humanitarian Response Aid Quality Checks (HAQCs) Independent operational evaluation Humanitarian Response Aid Quality Checks differ slightly to other AQCs to reflect the nature of humanitarian responses.

Gender equality is one of nine assessment criteria.

Measures to prevent and respond to gender based violence are also considered as part of the protection criteria.

Evaluation of an individual aid investment conducted once per life of an aid investment.
This is expected to consider whether the aid investment responded to gender equality and how well this was done.

Independent evaluations also apply to humanitarian assistance.

Internal Results reported cumulatively in relevant APPRs Internal Public In addition to these performance reports, DFAT also prepares Aggregate Development Results.

These are indicators which are collected each year across the aid program.
These indicators require sex disaggregation of data, and include a dedicated indicator for women’s empowerment and women’s health.

9 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 Attachment A Gender equality and women’s empowerment in DFAT’s Aid Program Good Practice Note December 2014 Overview This good practice note sets out DFAT’s strategic objectives for gender equality and the main entry points through the aid management cycle.
It sits beneath DFAT’s Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment as practical guidance for aid management.
It supports staff to implement the aid policy, Australian aid: Promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, enhancing stability, which established gender equality as one of six key investment priorities for the Australian aid program, and the performance framework, Making Performance Count: enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian aid, which established a performance target for DFAT on the effectiveness of gender equality in all aid investments: Empowering women and girls: More than 80% of aid investments, regardless of their objectives, will effectively address gender issues in their implementation.
Approach Australian Aid establishes a twin track approach to gender equality and women’s empowerment.

This approach requires:  Integrating gender equality into all DFAT’s aid investments: This will help us to meet the 80% target and increase the effectiveness of all work, regardless of sector and area of focus.

 Targeted investments: Australian Aid established gender equality and women’s empowerment as a priority area of investment in which we will invest strongly.
We should identify investments that can address constraints to gender equality and women’s empowerment, or areas where progress is slow, such as ending violence against women, women’s economic empowerment, women’s leadership and decision making and challenging social norms that mitigate against the full and active participation of women in society.
DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy sets out three pillars as investment and advocacy priorities:  Enhancing women’s voice in decision making, leadership and peacebuilding  Promoting women’s economic empowerment  Ending violence against women and girls These three pillars are mutually reinforcing and require efforts to address gender norms and practices to ensure lasting, transformative changes in people’s lives and in key institutions.
These are useful to guide out analysis and help determine entry points, including deciding whether to pursue targeted investments or to integrate gender equality and women’s empowerment into mainstream programming.

10 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 A Quick Checklist Policy and ✔ Does the AIP draw on gender analysis (existing or new) to inform the understanding of the context Direction Setting and priorities?
✔ Were gender equality issues addressed in other analyses undertaken, e.g.

political economy analysis; poverty analysis; constraints to growth analysis?

✔ Does the AIP identify gender equality as part of the AIP- integrated in other priorities or as a stand- alone objectives ✔ Do the performance benchmarks identify gender equality outcomes or outputs as drivers for the performance of the program?

✔ Do the performance benchmarks and mutual obligations use sex-disaggregated data?
✔ Does the forward pipeline identify investments that promote gender equality?

✔ Does the Performance Assessment Framework use sex-disaggregated data, and quantitative and qualitative indicators related to gender equality to monitor the performance of the program?

Concept and ✔ Does gender analysis (existing or new) inform the investment concept and design?

Design ✔ Was gender expertise used during the concept preparation/ design mission/development of the design?
✔ Do the investment concept/ design clearly specify whether and how both women and men will participate and benefit equally?

✔ Have gender equality outcomes and impacts been identified and integrated?

✔ Does gender analysis inform the Program Logic/ Theory of Change?

✔ Are indicators measuring changes for women or changes in gender status included in the monitoring and evaluation framework?
✔ Has the concept/ design articulated a coherent and explicit approach and strategies to promote gender 11 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 equality?

✔ Has the concept/ design identified and made use of entry points within existing systems and policy frameworks of the partner(s)?

✔ Has the design considered the impact (intended and unintended) that it could have on women’s status and included strategies for avoiding or minimising negative impacts on women?
✔ Does the budget include an allocation for activities promoting gender equality, including human resources?

✔ Does the initiative work with others to maximise gender equality outcomes?

Risk management ✔ Is gender equality addressed in the risk matrix?

and Procurement ✔ Are gender equality issues identified in the safeguards assessment- particularly for children, or those at risk of resettlement?
✔ Are the gender equality deliverables clearly outlined in the scope of services, or agreement, and financed?

✔ Do the position descriptions include responsibility for addressing gender issues (not just the gender adviser but also the Team Leader and Specified Personnel, including monitoring and evaluation advisers)?

✔ Does the scope of services of contracts explicitly require gender equality deliverables?
Monitoring and ✔ Is collection and analysis of sex disaggregated data planned for, and are there gender sensitive Evaluation indicators in place for monitoring and evaluation?

✔ Is the implementing partner’s performance on addressing gender equality being monitored as part of the monitoring and evaluation framework?

✔ Are sufficient resources available to collect and assess sex-disaggregated and gender equality data?
✔ Does the evaluation assess how well the investment performed on promoting gender equality and 12 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 detail lessons learned?

Entry points in aid management Gender equality must be considered at all stages of the aid management cycle –in policy and direction setting, planning and design, implementation and monitoring, performance reporting and evaluation.
There are entry points throughout the aid management cycle to strengthen the gender equality objectives and outcomes, including:  Assess the context, and include gender equality in analysis (economic/ growth/ political)   Identify key challenges and barriers to gender equality in the country/ region Identify opportunities to address these challenges, and the best way to do this, through a stand-alone or a mainstreamed approach  Make gender equality actions clear in all documentation: from Aid Investment Plans, to designs, contracts and grant agreements, reviews, and evaluations  Ensure funding is adequate and team members have the necessary skills  Build gender equality and women’s empowerment into monitoring and evaluation  Find opportunities to leverage other work and to engage in policy dialogue  Support women’s organisations and coalitions promoting gender equality A quick checklist is attached that identifies some key entry points programs areas can consider.
Additional guidance is available on analysis, design and monitoring and evaluation.

In all we do it is important that we deliberate about our gender equality work.

That we integrate practical actions to address inequalities and that we are clear and explicit about what we aim to achieve and how we will do so.

Measuring results DFAT needs to be able to report on results from aid investments, and ensure those results are credible.
Investments that are clear about what they want to achieve on gender equality and women’s empowerment, are more likely to be effective in implementation, to deliver gender equality outcomes, and to mitigate the risk of adverse effects on gender equality.

DFAT will monitor performance on gender equality through assessing investment quality and effectiveness, and expenditure.
Quality The target of 80% of all aid investments effectively addressing gender equality and women’s empowerment will be assessed each year through the Aid Quality Checks of DFAT investments above $3 million.

The level is currently 74% and has not reached 80% for the past four years.

It is an ambitious target that can be met through concerted efforts.
This will involve improving the performance of investments currently rated unsatisfactory and effective implementation of DFAT’s Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Strategy.

This requires remedial action for programs already underway.

Clearly program managers will prioritise initiatives with some years to run, but even initiatives nearing completion will benefit from light touch steps to improve gender equality performance, and this will be important if we are to meet out 80% target.
We also need to maintain focus to ensure all investments currently rated satisfactory maintain their good performance, and all new investments address gender equality considerations well 13 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 when they start.

We know that programs that are clear about gender equality at the beginning of an investment will deliver stronger gender equality results and will also be more effective overall.
At the same time, it is crucial that DFAT’s ratings on gender equality are robust.

Historically, gender equality ratings have not been as robust as those for other aid quality criteria.

DFAT’s Gender Spend DFAT’s gender spend, the value of investments that contribute to promoting gender equality, can be analysed across programs, countries and sectors.
Currently 55% of all DFAT ODA spending contributes to gender equality promotion, as measured through the OECD/DAC gender policy marker which is applied to each new activity recorded in AidWorks.

This policy marker highlights investments that consider gender equality as a principal or significant objective at the start of their work.
Combining gender policy marker coding at entry with the annual quality scores during implementation shows that investments that consider gender equality well at the start, and include it in their investment objectives, perform much better at generating strong gender equality results during implementation.
14 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 Gender Equality Capability Building Plan Outline 2015 Attachment B Audience Key Learning Outcomes HOMS/ HOPS/ Canberra SES DHOMs/ Counsellors Senior Advisors Posted officers in fragile and conflict affected states (compulsory for Officers going to Solomon Islands and Afghanistan under the National Action Plan on WPS) Posted officers Gender Network DFAT staff self- identifying interest in gender equality and development Gender Focal Points/ Officers with gender programming responsibilities DFAT staff identified in programs or thematic areas as contact points on gender equality in their team Gender Specialists DFAT staff in Central and Divisions , GEQ, office of the AWG Awareness Level Understanding of:  Australia’s aid policy commitments and DFAT’s gender equality policy  Effective strategies to promote gender equality in foreign policy, trade and aid Awareness Level Understanding of:  The importance of the Women, Peace and Security Agenda and UNSCR 1325.
 Women’s different experiences of conflict and the important contribution that women can make to preventing conflict and building peace.
Awareness level Gender Equality e-learning mandatory for pre-posting Understanding of: Concepts and terms, international agreements and key issues Awareness Level Gender Equality e-learning recommended Understanding of:  Australia’s aid policy commitments on gender equality  DFAT’s gender equality policy  Approaches to driving better gender equality outcomes from development  Strategies to promote gender equality in foreign policy, trade and aid Operational Level Gender equality e-learning mandatory for Gender Focal Points Gender equality effectiveness course (recommended training for selected posted positions) Exchange of strategies, new programming approaches, tools, innovative practice, and new policy developments.
Focused in 2014/15 on AIPs/ PAFS and meeting the 80% target.

Operational/ Expert Gender equality effectiveness course Annual “master class” on gender equality effectiveness innovations, quality of mainstreaming in development, exchange of effective strategies on intersections of foreign policy, trade and aid.

Engage in corporate reform and policy agendas in DFAT, with other Government Departments, international development partners.
Proposed delivery method SES Seminars, 2x per year; Face to Face meetings/ briefings Led by PSS, with Gender Specialists in Divisions ‘Drop in’ style briefing with member of GEQ scheduled monthly Duration 30 mins- 1 hour 30 minutes E-learning module on PeopleSoft 1 hour Email lists Informal meetings of Canberra based staff with information updates and exchange on gender strategy, innovative research outcomes, innovative practice  Teleconference with Gender Focal Points, attended by PSS Gender and Sector Specialist  Annual Regional Gender Focal Point Workshop Once every 2 months Meetings 3 times per year Every 2 months Annual Workshop Monthly teleconference with Gender Specialists convened by PSS Gender Monthly/ Annual Annual specialist meeting 15 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5 Performance framework for the aid program Attachment C Making Performance Count: enhancing the accountability and effectiveness of Australian aid is the Government’s performance framework for Australia’s aid program.
It is designed to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of aid and enable a stronger focus on results and value for money (Figure 7).

It aims to strengthen the way performance is assessed at all levels.

Under the new performance framework, aid program performance will be assessed against 10 strategic targets, and specific benchmarks and mutual obligations for each country and regional program.
Figure 7: Reporting on performance and results in the aid program Divisions with aid program management responsibilities need to ensure that all aid programs and investments are aligned with the performance framework.

The Contracting and Aid Management Division (ACD) monitors and reports progress against the framework through a regular Aid Operations Report to the Departmental Executive.
The performance of the aid program as a whole will be assessed and reported publicly through an annual Performance of Australian Aid report.

The Office of Development Effectiveness (ODE) independently assures the quality of core components of the performance framework.

16 | P a g e International Aid (Promoting Gender Equality) Bill 2015Submission 5