Overseas Aid: Females

(asked on 1st May 2020) - View Source

Question to the Department for International Development:

To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what assessment she has made of the implications for her Department's policies of paragraph 9 of the National Audit Office report entitled, Improving the lives of women and girls overseas, published on 29 April 2020.


Answered by
Wendy Morton Portrait
Wendy Morton
This question was answered on 6th May 2020

DFID is proud of its impact on gender equality, but is not complacent. We welcome the scrutiny of the National Audit Office (NAO) and we are considering this recommendation to further strengthen transparency and accountability on this important agenda.

The NAO rightly recognises the Department’s work to promote girls’ education, challenge child marriage, end female genital mutilation and tackle sexual violence around the world.

DFID’s Strategic Vision for Gender Equality provides a single framework to guide all decisions about DFID and cross-government policies, strategies and funding commitments relating to gender equality. Different areas of work have their own plans which are updated regularly as the global and national contexts change. DFID reviews progress across all its gender equality work, spanning all seven areas of the Strategic Vision, every six months and sets out priority actions for the next six months. This assessment of progress is presented to DFID’s Gender Equality Delivery Board, chaired at a Director level within DFID.

This approach has enabled DFID to be flexible and adaptive. It can direct its support to wherever it is needed most at any given time, including critical support to women and girls during the coronavirus crisis. It also allows flexibility to adapt to local circumstances and work with local expertise, in line with the Strategic Vision.

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