The Graduating to Resilience Activity employs a woman plus household approach to identifying and engaging participants. The Activity selects an economically active woman, or in some cases, a youth, within the household to engage in programming as a primary participant. This approach is intentional, as women are traditionally excluded or marginalized from decision-making around livelihood choices and earned income. The Activity understands that engaging not only the woman but also the entire household, is essential for promoting long-term sustainable changes in gender norms and empowerment. To examine the extent to which the Activity facilitated a change in gender norms during cohort 1, the consortium designed and conducted a follow-on Gender Assessment in 2021 to better understand which interventions were most influential in changing gender dynamics. Findings from this study indicated that coaching is a key driver in changing gender norms at both the household and community levels.  Building upon the Activity’s systematized learning processes including the cohort 2 refinement phase, Theory of Change annual review, and development of a Gender Mainstreaming Framework, seven core gender considerations were identified to support the intentional integration and mainstreaming of gender-sensitive approaches within the Activity for cohort 2.

This Learning Brief focuses on the impact of coaching on changing gender norms at the household and community level and shares learning and insight gathered through after-action reviews after the first year of implementation of cohort 2 (Cohort 1 was conducted over 30 months, ending in June 2021, and followed by a 6-month refinement period prior to the start of cohort 2) which began in February 2022 and will run for 24 months. Findings from the cohort 2 coaching AARs indicate that learning from cohort 1 and refinements made to coaching processes and curriculum for cohort 2 implementation have generally delivered the intended impact.

Click the button below to download the full brief and get an in-depth look at the findings and learning for Gender Transformative Coaching & Programming in Cohort 2 of the Graduating to Resilience Activity.