For an aid project to be successful in providing assistance to the poorest and most vulnerable it is essential that the project design has taken into account the various interests and roles of relevant stakeholders in the community.  Amongst these stakeholders, males and females of all ages, form the broadest and most basic category that needs to be examined.  This is because their roles and interests are often different and they will affect or be affected differently by both the problems addressed as well as the proposed project design.  Women are generally far more vulnerable and disproportionately poorer at all ages, and therefore particular attention needs to be paid to ensuring their interests are represented.  UNDP estimates that of the 1.3billion people classed as living in poverty 70% are women. There is growing international recognition that the ‘face’ of poverty is increasingly female.

In project design, gender analysis helps us to:

1. Identify gender-based differences in access to resources to determine how different members of households will participate in, and be affected by, project interventions.
2. Incorporate gender equity and empowerment into the project design process and subsequent goals and interventions.