Banyan Global is implementing the Gender Integration Technical Assistance (GITA) II task order, which provides on-demand, rapid-response, short-term technical assistance (STTA) to United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Missions and Bureaus across multiple sectors and in crisis and non-crisis settings.

Through GITA II, Banyan Global is leading a women’s economic empowerment fund Community of Practice (CoP). The Community of Practice seeks to advance the evidence base on WEE in development programming through a learning agenda guided by illustrative learning questions. The purpose of the CoP is to support USAID contracting/agreement officers and program managers, gender advisors, technical staff, and implementing partners in making activities as sustainable and successful as possible in achieving WEE development results. The CoP will convene governmental, non-governmental, and public and private stakeholders to build mutually beneficial relationships and provide ongoing technical support and learning among the community; learn from the approaches, successes, and challenges of the fund activities; and discuss evidence-based approaches to advance WEE for systemic impact.

Banyan Global has been involved with the CoP since its launch. Under the Women’s Economic Empowerment and Equality Technical Assistance (WE3 TA) task order, Banyan Global staff on WE3 TA and GITA II participated in the first CoP event, organized by USAID in Washington, DC in February 2020. Specifically, the Banyan Global team:

• Co-moderated a panel about evidence-based approaches to advancing WEE and achieving systemic impact in each of the learning agenda’s illustrative question areas;
• Facilitated peer-to-peer discussions in small groups focused on collaborating, learning, and adapting during the session on measuring WEE;
• Co-facilitated “lunch time table chats” on WEE technical support and the learning agenda;
• Facilitated sessions during the “Aligning on CoP Objectives and Engagement Moving Forward” session; and,
• Selected, updated, and formatted specific WE3 Technical Guide materials for distribution at the workshop.

Since the initial launch of the CoP in February 2020, the Banyan Global team has facilitated learning events, distributed member feedback surveys and hosted a working group meeting. Additionally, the team has launched online discussion groups and shared monthly highlights and updates with the CoP.