Gender and Development (GAD) – refers to the development perspective and process that is participatory and empowering, equitable, sustainable, free from violence, respectful of human rights, supportive of self-determination and actualization of human potentials. It seeks to achieve gender equality as a fundamental value that should be reflected in development choices and contends that women are active agents of development, not just passive recipients of development;

Gender Analysis – refers to a framework to compare the relative advantages and disadvantages faced by women and men in various spheres of life, including the family, workplace, school, community and political system. It also takes into account how class, age, race, ethnicity, culture, social and other factors interact with gender to produce discriminatory results;

Gender Audit – refers to a form of “social audit” or “quality audit” which determines whether the organization’s internal practices and related support systems for gender mainstreaming are effective, reinforcing each other and are being followed. This tool or process assists organizations in establishing a baseline, identifying critical gaps and challenges, and recommending ways of addressing them;

Gender Equality – refers to the principles asserting the equality of women and men and their right to enjoy equal conditions realizing their full human potentials to contribute to and benefit from the results of development, and with the State recognizing that all human beings are free and equal in dignity and rights;

GAD Focal Point System – is an interacting and interdependent group of people in all government instrumentalities tasked to catalyze and accelerate gender mainstreaming. It is a mechanism established to ensure and advocate for, guide, coordinate, and monitor the development, implementation, review and updating of their GAD plans and GAD-related programs, activities and projects (PAPs);

Gender Mainstreaming – refers to the strategy for making women’s as well as men’s concerns and experiences an integral dimension of the design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation of policies, programs and projects in all social, political, civil, and economic spheres so that women and men benefit equally. It is the process of assessing the implications for women and men of any planned action, including legislation, policies or programs in all areas and at all levels;

GAD Plan and Budget – is a systematic approach to gender mainstreaming, carried out by all government instrumentalities, through the annual development and implementation of programs, activities and projects and addressing gender issues and concerns in their respective organizations, sectors and constituencies by utilizing at least 5% of their total budget allocation;

Performance-Based Budgeting – is an approach to budgeting which involves a review of the agencies’ existing budgetary programs and projects to ensure that these support their core mandated functions and produce the targeted outcomes and outputs;

Rights-Based Approach – refers to the recognition of every human being both as a person and as a right-holder. It strives to secure the freedom, well-being and dignity of all people, everywhere, within the framework of essential human rights standards, principles, duties and obligations;

Women’s Empowerment – is a goal of and an essential process for women’s advancement. It is the process and condition by which women mobilize to understand, identify and overcome gender discrimination so as to achieve equality in welfare and equal access to resources. In this context, women become agents of development and not just beneficiaries enabling them to make decisions based on their own views and perspectives.

National Machineries for Women – Agencies with a mandate for the advancement of women established within and by governments for integrating gender concerns in development policy and planning

Patriarchy – Systemic societal structures that institutionalize male physical, social and economic power over women

Sex and Gender – Sex refers to the biological characteristics that categorize someone as either female or male; whereas gender refers to the socially determined ideas and practices of what it is to be female or male

Social Justice – Fairness and equity as a right for all in the outcomes of development, through processes of social transformation WID/GAD

The WID (or Women in Development) – approach calls for greater attention to women in development policy and practice, and emphasizes the need to integrate them into the development process. In contrast, the GAD (or Gender and Development) approach focuses on the socially constructed basis of differences between men and women and emphasizes the need to challenge existing gender roles and relations

Women’s Empowerment – A ‘bottom-up’ process of transforming gender power relations, through individuals or groups developing awareness of women’s subordination and building their capacity to challenge it.

Women’s Human Rights – The recognition that women’s rights are human rights and that women experience injustices solely because of their gender