Integrating Gender Equality in the Solomon Islands Country Strategy

The approach taken by AusAID's Solomon Islands program serves as a good model for beginning to integrate gender equality in a country strategy. One of the first steps was to develop a gender analysis of Australia's current assistance.

The aim was to identify existing gender equality initiatives and gaps across programs currently being implemented bilaterally and through the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI).

This gender analysis included:

a brief review of research findings on the importance of women participating fully in post conflict situations, and the benefits that flow from women's involvement
a review of Solomon Islands government policies and international commitments to advance gender equality
a review of the national women's machinery and the challenges faced by government and civil society actors in advancing gender equality, including the legislative and policy framework, the availability of data, and capacity constraints
a stocktake of current initiatives by Australia and other donors, specifically designed to advance gender equality
a stocktake of how gender equality issues are currently integrated in Australian-funded programs.

The gender analysis identified areas where Australian assistance could add most value by assisting the Solomon Islands Government to achieve its own priorities for advancing gender equality.

The gender analysis is being used as a tool for dialogue with all stakeholders - Solomon Islands' government partners, Australian government partners, and civil society organisations - to enable gender equality to be addressed in an explicit and visible way throughout the new strategy.

2007