Mid-term performance evaluation of the round 1 women?s economic empowerment activity portfolio [LEAP III]

This W-GDP initiative was the first-ever, whole-ofgovernment approach to advancing women?s economic empowerment, with ten United States Government (USG) Departments and Agencies (interagency)1 working toward the goal of reaching 50 million women by 2025. The W-GDP focuses on three pillars: 1) Women Prospering in the Workforce, 2) Women Succeeding as Entrepreneurs, and 3) Women Enabled in the Economy.

In Fiscal Year (FY) 2018, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a women?s economic empowerment (WEE) multi-year portfolio of 45 activities supported by the W-GDP Fund under the former W-GDP Initiative. The WEE portfolio of activities is coordinated by the Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI), Gender Equality and Women?s Empowerment Hub (GenDev). The WEE mid-term portfolio performance evaluation report assesses 45 of the initial 48 2 activities, designated as WEE Round 1 activities. The evaluation examines whether these 45 activities were technically sound and the extent to which the activities contributed to women?s economic empowerment outcomes and aligned with achieving the goals of the three pillars. The evaluation assesses the ability of the former W-GDP Initiative and its funding to deliver on the goals outlined in the W-GDP pillars and corresponding constraints.

The evaluation is divided into two phases and will generate two separate reports: Phase 1, a mid-term evaluation and Phase 2, a final evaluation to be completed in 2023. The mid-term evaluation assesses the WEE Round 1 activity designs, formative implementation experiences, and early results through March 30, 2021. The mid-term evaluation assessed the extent to which the WEE Round 1 activities have achieved the WEE goals, identified challenges and opportunities, and provided key learnings. The Evaluation Team (ET) conducted a quantitative and qualitative analysis, which included a desk review of nearly 300 documents  provided by USAID and implementing partners (IP),3 data collected from online surveys and key informant interviews with USAID/Washington, missions, IP staff, and partners. The ET developed case studies of four WEE activities to obtain important feedback from beneficiaries and local partners located in multiple countries. The case studies provide deep insights into how complex development interventions are being implemented locally, regionally, and globally (see Annex IV for links).

The ET recommends that USAID should incorporate the key lessons from this portfolio mid-term evaluation into the design and implementation of current and future WEE-focused programs and policies.