Gender Equity: The Secret Ingredient for Impact

At the core of Equilead’s Gender Accelerator Programme lies a simple yet powerful mantra: gender-equitable teams deliver gender-equitable outcomes - and when outcomes are equitable, change is more sustainable and impactful.

Across sectors, we often see well-intended programs falling short because they fail to account for the lived realities of the people they serve—gender, caste, religion, region, and so on. One key reason?

The lack of diversity in the teams that design and lead these programs.

Teams are not homogeneous in their composition. A program is influenced and informed by the perspectives, biases, and lived experiences of those in decision-making — from how a problem is defined to what solutions are offered. When teams lack gender diversity, they often miss critical nuances, particularly around access, agency, and structural barriers faced by women, especially with intersectionalities such as caste.

Gender-diverse teams, on the other hand, are more likely to:

• Design inclusive and relevant programmes
• Identify and address power dynamics more effectively
• Drive innovation and better decision-making

This isn't just a moral argument—it’s a strategic one. Organisations with gender-equitable teams are more adaptive, resilient, and better positioned to drive long-term change.

Consider a climate change program aimed at increasing farm adaptation. If the team designing it has no lived experience of the gendered roles and barriers that women come across—such as mobility constraints, cultural taboos, time poverty, or lack of decision-making power—these challenges may be overlooked entirely.

However, if the team includes women with contextual understanding and is trained in gender analysis, the design shifts. Support structures like childcare, safe mobility, technological aid to support unpaid labor, and community-led models begin to emerge—making the program more responsive and effective.

When programs are designed and led by diverse teams, the probability of them reflecting the realities of diverse stakeholders is much higher. This alignment leads to greater adoption, increased ownership, and, in turn, more sustainable outcomes.

UN Women’s evaluations indicate that programs designed by gender-diverse teams were more likely to include locally relevant, context-sensitive approaches, especially in conflict and post-conflict settings, leading to higher participation and trust from communities. A review by the World Bank Independent Evaluation Group (IEG) found that Community-Driven Development (CDD) projects with gender-inclusive design and teams had significantly higher success rates, especially in beneficiary participation and sustainability of outcomes. According to OECD DAC evaluations, gender-balanced project teams are more likely to integrate gender-sensitive indicators and participatory monitoring tools, improving program responsiveness and learning outcomes.

Equilead’s Gender Accelerator Program helps bridge this link between internal equity and external impact. We work with organisations to question who is at the table, who holds power, and how team culture shapes the work on the ground.