Germany's approach to feminist financing: Progress in one year?

Germany´s BMZ published its Feminist Development Policy in March 2023, in accordance with the coalition treaty released after the federal election in 2021. The BMZ and AA have since moved towards implementing both a Feminist Development Policy and a Feminist Foreign Policy. The Feminist Development Policy sets a comprehensive framework for the third Gender Action Plan, GAP III, published in December 2023.

GAP III operationalizes the Feminist Development Policy and outlines specific actions from 2023-27. The plan identifies six thematic priorities, including economic and social empowerment, SRHR, and peace and social cohesion.

The following sections introduce both the Feminist Development Policy and the GAP III in detail, summarize what it promises to achieve, evaluate barriers to implementation, and identify potential weak spots.

What is Germany's Feminist Development Policy?

The Feminist Development Policy’s overarching goal is to address global inequalities and promote gender equality. The strategy focuses on four action areas:

• Strengthening rights, resources, and representation;
• Mainstreaming a feminist approach across the BMZ portfolio;
• Building international alliances; and
• Leading by example through institutional change.

Throughout the entire policy, the ministry emphasized the need for systemic change to realize equality, freedom, human rights, and self-determination, eliminate discriminatory power structures, and support the removal of social barriers preventing individuals from exercising their sexual and reproductive rights.

The policy directs Germany's approach by outlining political and financial goals to guarantee a gender-sensitive approach. Led by the BMZ, the policy aimed to increase the share of financial resources for gender programming, with at least 93% of the new projects tagged with a secondary or primary “Gender” marker. Furthermore, the policy set provided a roadmap for institutional change through trainings and evaluation of current initiatives to ensure that gender equality development programs account for intersectionality, inclusion, and a non-singular notion of feminism.

In addition to seeking input from experts from partner countries and consultations with civil society during the policy’s development, the BMZ also advanced plans to measure the strategy’s success through monitoring and evaluation tools including the OECD gender equality marker and GAP III, among others.

How does the policy conceptualize feminism?

The policy emphasizes the multifaceted and evolving nature of feminism, rejecting any singular definition. It underscores that feminism transcends Western origins and rejects a solely Eurocentric viewpoint. Instead, the policy acknowledges the global evolution of feminist theories and movements across diverse historical and social landscapes. The ministry underscores that across cultural contexts, all strands of feminism share a common goal: challenging systemic discrimination and oppression and offering solutions that break from entrenched discrimination.

Why is implementing a feminist strategy necessary?

Voices from donor and partner countries have been calling for a more intersectional and inclusive development approach for years. Taking cues from countries such as Canada, France, and the Netherlands, Germany’s Feminist Development Policy takes a holistic approach to gender equity, emphasizing the dividends of investing in gender equality. For example, the policy cities connections to agriculture, care and family development, political participation of women and girls, and intersection with humanitarian concerns. Grounded in evidence, the policy draws on studies that demonstrate that involving women and girls in agriculture boosts productivity, or when women manage household finances, they prioritize their family's health and nutrition. Moreover, the policy recognizes addressing gender-specific vulnerabilities in humanitarian crises is crucial, as nearly two-thirds of preventable maternal deaths occur in such settings.

At the same time, the policy’s focus on institutional and systemic change is motivated by Germany’s position in the donor landscape. As the 4^th largest donor of ODA, even small changes to Germany’s development budget could have noticeable impacts in partner countries. At the same time, German action on gender could provide leadership as other donor countries consider the implementation of a Feminist Development Policy.

How does the policy direct Germany's development finance?

In particular, the first focus area of the Feminist Development Policy, referred to as 'the three Rs,' sets the priorities for German gender equality projects:

• Rights: The BMZ outlines working with partner governments to eliminate discriminatory laws and norms, strengthen rights, and promote access to justice for women and marginalized groups. Key actions include promoting gender-equitable laws, providing legal information, and removing legal and social barriers.
• Resources: The BMZ aims to improve access to and control over resources for women, girls, and marginalized groups in partner countries. This includes promoting access to financial products and services, property ownership, education, information, and networks for women and girls.
• Representation: The BMZ wants to strengthen the full, equal, and meaningful participation of women and marginalized groups as decision-makers in key social, political, and economic processes at all levels. This involves advocating for gender parity and diversity in delegations to global conferences and enabling the integration of knowledge and solutions provided by feminist civil society and human rights defenders into decision-making processes.

What is GAP III?

Published in December 2023, GAP III operationalizes the Feminist Development Policy and outlines specific thematic focus areas and implementation measures for 2023-27:

• Peace and Societal Cohesion focuses on conflict prevention and peace-building processes, migration support and (post)-conflict contexts and strengthening political participation;
• Gender-Based Violence aims to change discriminatory norms and gender stereotypes to reduce GBV, develop a legal basis in partner countries to overcome GBV, and psychosocial, medical, social, and legal services for people affected by GBV;
• SRHR: the policy prioritizes equitable access to healthcare services for women, girls, and marginalized groups, especially LGBTQI+ persons, as well as enabling the realization of SRHR for women, girls, and marginalized groups;
• Economic and Social Empowerment, Participation, and Access to Good Work, which aims to improve access to quality education for all, reduce inequality in social security systems and care work, equitable access to decent work, and free choice of profession;
• Just Transitions to support women, youth, indigenous communities, and agents of change in participating in processes targeting climate action and biodiversity conservation, implementing climate programs that benefit all parts of society, and supporting marginalized groups in the co-creation of inclusive, climate, and environmentally friendly infrastructure and services; and
• Food Security, Agriculture, and Rural Development for implementing the human right to adequate food, equal access to land, water, and capital, and active and equal participation in decisions on food security, agriculture, and rural development.

GAP III also reaffirmed the Feminist Development Policy’s target to ensure 93% of new projects tag 'gender equality' either as a principal or secondary objective by 2025. Each theme outlines which measures the BMZ aims to achieve, as well as how it builds on pre-existing action plans like the National Action Plan (NAP III, 2021 - 2024) for the Women, Peace, and Security Agenda of the UN Security Council.

However, a critical piece of information missing from GAP III is the prioritization or proportion of financial contributions which will be allocated to each focus area. Thus, it remains unclear to what extent the BMZ will commit to its policy in the allocation of funds.

Is GAP III realistic?

What are barriers to the strategy's implementation?

Looking to the implementation of Germany’s Feminist Development Policy, a variety of factors pose challenges to the policy’s enactment and goals.

Limited resources: While the Feminist Development Policy advances the goal of ensuring that all implementing agencies and employees are fully briefed, trained, and convinced of the strategy's measures, this initiative requires substantial time and resources. Furthermore, extensive training could delay the effective execution of the strategy and strain available resources.

Resistance from conservative sectors: Both a reminder of the importance of gender equality and an obstacle to it, the global rise of right-wing populist and anti-feminist movements presents a significant hurdle to achieving gender equality. For example, some groups have branded the feminist policies as an ideological imposition that threatens traditional or conservative lifestyles, leading to efforts to dismantle and initiatives to reduce domestic violence and general inequalities.

In Germany’s specific context, polling ahead of the 2025 federal election indicates a strengthening of right-wing parties, which could pose a challenge to the administration and continuation of gender-informed development programs.

Germany's budget crisis: The strategy is also hindered by a constrained federal budget, due to the federal court verdict on the repurposing of unused debt that will cause an ongoing severe budget deficit until at least 2027. While the implementation of the Feminist Development Policy remains a priority for the BMZ, likely decreases in funding for development overall will affect funding for gender equality.

It is likely that the financial target to allocate at least 93% of newly committed project funding to gender equality by 2025 will not result in a significant increase in funding for gender equality. Since the target was announced in 2023, the BMZ’s funding has decreased by 8%, and given the budget crisis, it may decline further. Even if new funding is largely dedicated to gender equality, the impact on the absolute amounts of gender funding will still be moderate.

Systemic factors: As with pushback from conservative groups, persistent systemic challenges of underrepresentation of women of color, indigenous women, and LGBTQI+ individuals, intersectional challenges such as racism, and systemic barriers to participation pose both a call to action and limiting factor on the implementation of the policy. While the BMZ intends to advance systemic change, how the organization will monitor its progress toward dismantling systems of oppression externally and within its own structures remains outstanding.

What are the policy’s key enablers?

With the Feminist Development Policy and GAP III, Germany made steps toward joining a growing cohort of donor countries which are integrating gender equality and feminist principles in their development policies. At the same time, numerous studies and practice cases are showing that investment in women, gender equality and the fight against discriminatory practices have long-lasting positive impacts on economic and personal progression for society at large. In the context of international development cooperation, several synergistic trends emerge from national feminist development policies.

Holistic approaches: Integrating 'gender equality' as principal or secondary objectives in projects can streamline development efforts. In building programs that are gender-informed from the outset, rather than parallel projects that focus on gender equality or development, development organizations can increase efficiency while advancing multiple objectives, e.g., integrating policies that support women workers and entrepreneurs with initiatives that promote family-friendly workplaces not only empowers women economically but also addresses the challenges faced by the economy as a whole.

Global benefits: Similarly, the BMZ’s intersectional understanding of feminism as it interacts with other identities such as religion, sexual orientation, skin color, etc., underscores the impact of inclusive development policies in addressing vulnerabilities in other marginalized communities. The policy frames gender-conscious initiatives as opportunities for individuals of all genders to engage more fully, safely, and equitably in society.

Localized approaches: In response to the Feminist Development Policy, some groups have expressed concern that the policy would impose Western or Eurocentric gender perspectives onto countries, or that integrated gender lenses aren’t tackling core issues such as economic development. However, the policy’s intersectional approach to gender equality lends itself to cultural sensitivity, and equal engagement with partner countries, and meeting them where they are, such as in collaborations with the AU. In this instance, the AU’s strategy on Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment predates Germany’s, but the similarity of each policy’s objectives lends itself to partner-led, localized initiatives.

Geopolitical relevance: GAP III’s focus on peace and social cohesion is extremely timely in a context of global polycrisis, and maps clearly onto other development and humanitarian priorities. For example, initiatives against GBV in (post-)conflict and migration settings are crucial to avoiding further negative outcomes for already vulnerable populations. In this context, leaders and advocates can use the focus areas of GAP III to leverage additional resources for projects.

What's next for Germany's Feminist Development Policy?

In short, the German Feminist Development Policy and GAP III are important tools for addressing challenges of gender inequality and promoting self-determination on a global scale. The policy and GAP III are tremendous undertakings, especially within a predominantly white bureaucratic apparatus. Additionally, constrained funding for development due to Germany’s budget crisis and a lack of clear allocations to each of the strategy’s six thematic areas pose challenges for the policy’s actualization. At the same time, a political drift towards more conservative and right-wing parties could threaten the strategy’s implementation and longevity.

However, the policy and GAP III may also present many opportunities for advocacy and innovation. By mainstreaming gender equality across development initiatives, the policy opens avenues for whole-of-society approaches to programming that engage gender and other identities as enablers of social and economic development. Of particular interest is the GIZ’s Gender Action Week, following International Women's Day on March 8, 2024, which offers a key opportunity for advocates to exchange ideas and lobby for additional action on gender equality, including at a GIZ webinar on GAP III.

Global cooperation and solidarity are indispensable in advancing gender equality and women's rights, highlighting the cross-border interconnection of gender issues. In its prioritization of inclusivity, diversity, and empowerment, the Feminist Development Policy offers advocates multiple opportunities to work together for a fairer, more resilient, and sustainable future for all.