Foundations of Gender-Transformative Approaches

Welcome to ‘Foundations of Gender-Transformative Approaches’, the first course of this learning path.

Gender-transformative approaches to programming are key to building lasting, positive development outcomes based in equality among women, men, girls, boys and gender minorities. These approaches seek to engage communities in examining how gender inequalities intersect with other inequalities. They create opportunities to challenge gender norms, promote positions of social and political influence for women, and address power imbalances between different genders. 

Such programming is often complex and nuanced, particularly where the goal is changing negative attitudes and eliminating harmful practices. Empowering marginalized women and girls is central to gender-transformative approaches. Working with men and boys as allies and champions of change by challenging harmful notions of masculinity is also vital.

This course will help you understand what makes a programme gender transformative, why it matters for quality and results-based programming, and what strategic adjustments can be made to your programme so that it becomes more gender transformative. This course also lays the foundation for subsequent courses of this learning path that cover programming for adolescent girls.