DRG TIG Week: Promoting Social Inclusion and Gender Equity in DRG Programming through Monitoring & Evaluation by Yana Ropaieva, Marian Ware, Ramsey Rodriguez, Alyson Kozma, and Marcia Mundt

Happy International Day of Democracy! We are Yana Ropaieva, Marian Ware, Ramsey Rodriguez, Alyson Kozma, and Marcia Mundt from the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) Inclusive Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (IMEL) working group. We are excited that USAID’s new Democracy, Human Rights, and Governance (DRG) Policy emphasizes inclusion as the first of its cross-cutting principles to maximize DRG program effectiveness. Gender equity and social inclusion (GESI) are essential to design and implement effective programs that bolster inclusive democratic systems and adequately respond to the needs of diverse members of the societies in which we work. In support of DRG Policy Principle 1, we want to share three strategies and related resources that leverage MEL to “advance social inclusion and gender equality by seeking transformational change in systems and structures.”

Assessing the Systems and Structures Underpinning Marginalization

To ensure DRG programming supports transformational change, it is important to take stock of a country’s socio-political context, including inclusion, to inform program design. CEPPS offers various assessment tools that DRG practitioners can use when developing a program or during program inception:

1. Gender Assessment Framework – Provides a structured, intersectional approach to understand gendered experiences of different groups of women in a country; their current levels of participation in political and electoral processes; and barriers and opportunities that influence their participation.
2. Youth Barrier Analysis Toolkit – Facilitates the identification of both positive and negative determinants of young people’s political engagement, enabling the design and implementation of targeted programs that encourage greater and more meaningful political participation by young people.
3. Political Economy Analysis with Social Inclusion Lens (Coming Soon!) – Embeds GESI considerations, specifically power dynamics and incentive structures for individuals and institutions based on identity and marginalization, to help design DRG activities that proactively seek to transform harmful gender norms and social inequities.

Monitoring Incremental Advancements in Social Inclusion and Gender Equality 

CEPPS developed more than 30 inclusion-focused indicators for key DRG technical areas and various marginalized populations, which can be integrated into USAID Performance Monitoring Plans (PMPs) in program- and context-specific ways. CEPPS also standardized disaggregations for all “individual count” indicators to better track the effects of programming on different participant groups. Our Inclusive Data Collection Guidance was recently released to help practitioners collect and analyze data reflecting the diversity of the communities CEPPS partners work with, including practical strategies, tools, and case studies.

Evaluating Transformative Change

To evaluate and address the factors that enable and/or constrain marginalized communities’ participation in civic and political life, CEPPS developed standard inclusion-focused guiding questions for assessments and evaluations at baseline, mid-term, and endline. This data is then coded across country contexts and synthesized into key takeaways about what works to foster inclusive democratic development. 

Standard Inclusion Guiding Questions

Lessons Learned

1. Make it Practical – While theoretical frameworks to guide and structure an inclusive MEL approach are valuable, practitioners need practical tools, templates, and examples to translate the theory into practice. 
2. Standardize and Aggregate to Drive Learning – Standard templates, indicators, disaggregations, and evaluation questions can be incorporated into programming across a variety of contexts and provide a framework for aggregation, making it easier to identify effective approaches under divergent conditions.
3. Leverage Local Knowledge and Experience – As we develop or implement these approaches, we regularly engage local partners and program participants to make updates with their valuable inputs.
4. Build upon USAID’s Existing Frameworks – Some CEPPS tools have been informed by USAID’s suite of tools and frameworks.

CEPPS is comprised of three core partners – the International Foundation for Electoral Systems (IFES), International Republican Institute (IRI), and National Democratic Institute (NDI) – supporting democratic development worldwide.  

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The American Evaluation Association is hosting Democracy, Human Rights and Governance TIG Week with our colleagues in the Democracy, Human Rights and Governance Topical Interest Group. The contributions all this week to AEA365 come from our DRG TIG members. Do you have questions, concerns, kudos, or content to extend this AEA365 contribution? Please add them in the comments section for this post on the AEA365 webpage so that we may enrich our community of practice. Would you like to submit an AEA365 Tip? Please send a note of interest to AEA365@eval.org. AEA365 is sponsored by the American Evaluation Association and provides a Tip-a-Day by and for evaluators. The views and opinions expressed on the AEA365 blog are solely those of the original authors and other contributors. These views and opinions do not necessarily represent those of the American Evaluation Association, and/or any/all contributors to this site.