A new report by researchers at The Australian National University has revealed that non-government organisations (NGOs) are being hampered in their efforts to close the gender gap in the countries in which they are working.

Launched on 13 October 2011 in Canberra, Closing the Gender Gap: Gender and Australian NGOs found that pressures from partner organisations in developing countries, what NGOs saw as competing policy issues set by donors, and internal capacity issues meant gender integration was generally weak.

Authors Dr Patrick Kilby and Jo Crawford from the ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences said that despite virtually universal commitment to goals and strategies, implementation of gender equality policies had proved challenging for Australian NGOs.

The authors surveyed 15 NGOs including large, small, religious, and secular representatives and found that the level of awareness of gender issues was strong among all agencies.

“Overall, however, the research found that agencies found it difficult to have a strong gender focus across their whole programs,” Dr Kilby said.

“The key outcome of the research is that a greater investment in capacity building of NGOs and their partners is required because religion and tradition are sometimes used to argue for the maintenance of particular social structures.

“The research also pointed to innovative approaches to dealing with these issues in a sensitive and respectful manner, and so they cannot be an excuse for inaction.”

The report was funded through the ACFID Universities Linkage Network.

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