Summary of RISE Gender Analysis

The purpose of this document is to provide a summary of the USAID Resilience in the Sahel Enhanced (RISE) Gender Analysis1 to support RISE II applicants in designing more gender-transformative approaches that guide implementation, monitoring, and evaluation. Initiated in 2012, RISE seeks to address chronic vulnerability in Niger and Burkina Faso by strategically layering, sequencing, and coordinating USAID and other humanitarian and resilience-building investments, with the goal to “increase the resilience of chronically vulnerable people, households, communities, and systems in targeted agro-pastoral and marginal agriculture livelihood zones in Niger and Burkina Faso.” USAID is cognizant of women’s and men’s acute and uneven challenges and opportunities in development. Consequently, under RISE II, USAID urges a departure from a business-as-usual approach to gender equality and female empowerment to one that is more context-specific and targeted.