Three international financial institutions—the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Bank Group (WBG)—have recently completed evaluations on the promotion of gender equality and women’s empowerment.

All three evaluations highlight the persistent challenges these institutions face in mainstreaming gender across the preparation, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of projects, programs, policies, and regulatory measures. They also point to the difficulty of doing so in a way that avoids a perfunctory, box-ticking approach while encouraging deeper initiatives that address the root causes of gender inequality.

In this session, the independent evaluation offices of the ADB, IFAD, and the World Bank Group will present methodological insights and lessons from assessing the results of international financial institutions in promoting gender equality, through gender “mainstreaming”, and through more transformative approaches, developed and implemented with local partners. The discussion will explore how results have been measured, where progress has been made, and what gaps remain.

This session will be valuable for evaluators, practitioners, and national decision makers, offering insights on how to construct a robust body of evaluation evidence, as well as practical lessons on strengthening monitoring and evaluation (M&E) frameworks that better capture development impact.