Most development organisations agree that gender equality and social inclusion matter. Far fewer can point to where, exactly, inclusion changed a decision in their last programme.
That gap is the practical problem. GESI — Gender Equality and Social Inclusion — too often lives in a proposal paragraph and a training day, rather than in the design choices, budgets and data that shape what a programme actually does. The result is a programme that is inclusive on paper and unchanged in practice.
This guide sets out seven concrete ways to embed GESI across the project cycle, from analysis through to evaluation. None of them require a separate inclusion project. All of them require changing something you already do.
What Does GESI Mean in Practice?
GESI is an approach that ensures programmes address the different needs, barriers and power positions of women, men, and marginalised or excluded groups — including people with disabilities, young people, ethnic and linguistic minorities, and those excluded on the basis of caste, class or sexuality.
The distinction that matters most is between three levels of ambition:
- Gender-blind — the programme ignores differences, and so reproduces existing inequalities by default.
- Gender-sensitive — the programme recognises differences and adapts to them, so that excluded groups can participate.
- Gender-transformative — the programme actively works to shift the underlying norms and power relations that create exclusion.
Most organisations aim for the second and describe it as the third. Being honest about which level you are operating at is a useful starting point.
Seven Ways to Embed GESI Across the Project Cycle
1. Run a GESI analysis before you design anything
A GESI analysis asks who is excluded, from what, and why. It examines who holds decision-making power, who controls resources, whose voices are heard in community consultations, and what barriers — practical, social, institutional — prevent participation.
Timing is everything here. An analysis conducted after the design is fixed can only tweak the edges. Conducted first, it shapes what the programme does at all.
2. Disaggregate your data — and act on what it shows
Collecting data disaggregated by sex, age and disability is now standard practice. Using it is not.
Disaggregation earns its cost only when someone looks at the split and asks why. If attendance among women is half that of men, the number is not the finding — the reason is. Build the question into your review process, not just the column into your spreadsheet.
3. Design consultation so excluded people can actually attend
Community consultations routinely reach the people who are easiest to reach — which is to say, the people already holding power.
Practical design choices determine who turns up: timing that fits around unpaid care work, venues accessible to people with disabilities, separate sessions where women will not speak freely in mixed groups, facilitation in local languages, transport support. These are small logistical decisions with large effects on whose voice shapes the programme.
4. Budget for inclusion explicitly
Inclusion has costs: interpretation, accessible venues, childcare, transport, additional facilitators, longer timelines for slower participatory processes.
If those costs are not line items, they will be cut under pressure — quietly, and always first. A GESI commitment without a corresponding budget line is a statement of intent, not a plan.
5. Set indicators that measure inclusion, not just participation
Counting women in a room is a weak indicator. It tells you about attendance, not influence.
Stronger indicators ask whether excluded groups influenced decisions, whether their access to resources or services changed, and whether the barriers identified in your analysis actually fell. Those questions are harder to measure — which is exactly why they are worth measuring.
6. Make accountability mechanisms usable by the people most excluded
A feedback mechanism that requires literacy, a phone, or a walk to the project office will be used by the least marginalised participants.
Test your channels against the barriers your GESI analysis identified. If people with disabilities cannot reach the complaints desk, the accountability system is measuring the satisfaction of everyone except the people it most needs to hear from.
7. Build GESI into evaluation questions from the start
If inclusion appears in the evaluation only as a disaggregated table, it was never a real programme objective.
Evaluation questions should ask directly: did the programme reduce the barriers it identified? Whose position changed, and whose did not? Did anyone become worse off? That last question is uncomfortable and frequently skipped, and it is often the most instructive.
What Gets in the Way
| Barrier | How it shows up | What helps |
|---|---|---|
| GESI treated as a separate workstream | One focal point, no ownership elsewhere | Make it a shared responsibility with named roles across the team |
| Analysis done too late | Findings cannot change the design | Complete the analysis before the design is fixed |
| No dedicated budget | Inclusion costs cut first under pressure | Ring-fence inclusion line items at proposal stage |
| Participation counted, influence ignored | Attendance rises, decisions unchanged | Measure influence and access, not headcount |
| Staff trained once, never supported | Training fades within months | Follow training with coaching and applied practice |
Frequently Asked Questions About GESI
What does GESI stand for?
GESI stands for Gender Equality and Social Inclusion. It is an approach ensuring that programmes account for the different needs, barriers and power positions of women, men and marginalised groups — including people with disabilities, young people, and those excluded on the basis of ethnicity, caste, class or sexuality.
What is the difference between gender mainstreaming and GESI?
Gender mainstreaming focuses specifically on gender equality. GESI is broader: it addresses gender alongside other axes of exclusion such as disability, age, ethnicity and class, and considers how these intersect. A woman with a disability may face barriers that neither a gender-only nor a disability-only lens would identify.
When should a GESI analysis be conducted?
Before the programme is designed. An analysis carried out after design decisions are locked can only make marginal adjustments. Conducted first, it shapes objectives, activities, budgets and indicators — which is where inclusion is either built in or lost.
How do you measure GESI outcomes?
Move beyond counting participation. Effective indicators track whether excluded groups influenced decisions, whether their access to resources or services improved, and whether the specific barriers identified in your analysis were reduced. Qualitative evidence is usually essential, since shifts in power and norms rarely show up cleanly in numbers.
Does GESI apply to every programme?
Yes, though the emphasis differs. Every programme distributes benefits and burdens across a population, and every population contains people with unequal access to power and resources. A programme that does not consider this does not avoid the question — it answers it by default, usually in favour of those already advantaged.
Starting Where You Are
Embedding GESI does not require restructuring your organisation. It requires changing a handful of things you already do: conducting the analysis earlier, budgeting for inclusion honestly, asking better questions of your data, and designing consultation so that the people you most need to hear from can actually be there.
Pick two of the seven. Do them properly on the next programme. That will teach you more than a strategy document.
If you would like support with GESI analysis, inclusive programme design or capacity building for your team, our consulting services and GESI training programmes are designed around the realities of development organisations. Our consultants bring specialist expertise in gender, sexual and reproductive health and social inclusion across Malawi, Uganda and East Africa.
Get in touch to discuss what your organisation needs.
