A summary of the So What? report. A look at whether integrating a gender focus intro programmes makes a difference to outcomes.

More than a decade has now passed since the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo. At the time the Programme of Action (POA) with its emphasis on improving reproductive health and promoting gender equity marked a major shift in national population policies and donor strategies worldwide. Now however governments and organizations everywhere are asking a question that goes one step further: Does taking a gender-based approach to policy and programming as proposed in the POA have an effect on health particularly reproductive health outcomes? The Interagency Gender Working Group (IGWG) of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has taken stock of some of the reproductive health programmes since the ICPD that integrate gender. In a lengthy 2004 publication reviewing those interventions known as "The So What? Report: A Look at Whether Integrating a Gender Focus Into Programmes Makes a Difference to Outcomes" the IGWG has concluded that the evidence does suggest that integrating gender into reproductive health programmes has a positive impact on achieving reproductive health outcomes. This summary of that lengthy review is intended to present policymakers and programme managers with a clear and accessible picture of what happens when gender concerns are integrated into reproductive health programmes. It is not an attempt to update the information or data contained in the original 2004 report. However in some instances where more recent global estimates are available these have been noted in footnotes. (excerpt)