Digital Opportunity Trust – Gender Analysis and Strategy

Summary:  Q3 Strategy has been commissioned to develop a Gender Analysis and Gender Strategy for the Going Beyond Project. A 5-years project implemented in Cote d’Ivoire, Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia to address the issues of youth unemployment by using a peer-to-peer model, working with youth-serving and youth-led organisations to engage and equip young people in the four countries with digital business skills, confidence and leadership skills, enabling them to successfully join the increasingly digitalised economy. The project has a particular focus on engaging women,  with the goal of  recruiting and training 70% of the 4,000 young people who are under- and/or unemployed university graduates as Youth Leaders. These Youth Leaders will create a cascade of learning through culturally tailored digital inclusion and enterprise growth programs for nascent MSMEs owners, 70% of which will also be young women. 

Our Approach: The Q3 Strategy team first undertook an in-depth literature review utilizing the John Hopkins Gender Analysis Framework to provide a detailed overview of the cultural, economic and policy landscape of the four focus countries, through a gender lens. With an understanding of the current landscape and research gaps, the team designed a bespoke gender analysis framework tailored to the Going Beyond Project. This framework was used to guide primary data collection with key stakeholders including youth and women entrepreneurs, individuals working on existing capacity building programs as well as government representatives from various Ministries. The team engaged with over 100 stakeholders across the four focus countries, both in urban and rural areas, through KIIs and FGDs to gain firsthand perspectives on the current barriers and opportunities for youth and women entrepreneurs, especially in accessing digital markets and technology. Data from these interviews was analyzed using the bespoke gender analysis framework and integrated with findings from the desk-based research to highlight key context-specific findings for each focus country. 

Outcome: In addition to the four, country specific research findings reports, project wide gender strategy was developed through several co-design workshops with members of the Going Beyond project teams and youth representatives of prospective project beneficiaries, across the four countries. The strategy sets out key actionable recommendations for the Going Beyond team to consider in the planning, design, implementation, and monitoring and evaluation of the project, with the specific focus on the key considerations of gender aspects. The report focuses on common themes and overarching recommendations while also highlighting key context-specific factors and variations between countries.