Although publicly-funded International Financial Institutions (IFIs) have missions to reduce poverty and promote economic growth, IFI projects often ignore gender inequality and increase poverty, prostitution, and HIV/AIDS, particularly among women and girls.
Most IFIs have taken inadequate steps to try to address these concerns, although nearly all have committed to promoting gender equality. Half of the eight IFIs we reviewed have policies to integrate gender into their work. However, these policies tend to be weak, are poorly resourced and understaffed. Gender experts comprise less than one percent of staff at all the IFIs, and the average is .3 percent.
This Guide compares IFI accountability mechanisms and gender policies to facilitate efforts by locally-impacted and other concerned individuals to raise gender-related concerns and to seek redress for gender-related impacts resulting from IFI operations.