July 2022 – June 2023 (finished)

FCDO requested STAAR to create a package of support resources on GRSP, to strengthen knowledge and understanding among key FCDO stakeholders.

The aim of these resources is to contribute towards FCDOs ambition of putting women and girls at the heart of social protection and ensuring that practice reflected the gendered needs and experiences of people living in poverty and those facing vulnerabilities across the lifecycle.

These resources include a cheap sheet, which provides an accessible synopsis of why and how social protection should be tailored to the needs of women and girls throughout their lives as well as eight thematic briefs.

In early May 2024, STAAR Facility convened a workshop with 30 leading researchers representing 25 institutions to start shaping the next iteration of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office’s gender responsive and inclusive social protection research agenda – building on the excellent work of the GRASSP programme.

Presentations on current research included evaluations of gender-responsive social protection programmes, longitudinal poverty studies, NGO-led social assistance in conflict areas and the gendered impacts of climate change. Studies on social protection’s role in preventing gender-based violence (GBV), promoting women’s economic empowerment, and supporting vulnerable groups were also highlighted.

After two days of rich discussions, the following five points emerged as key research priorities for a future GRISP agenda:

• Social norms and ways to effectively influence them through social protection.
• Care: women’s time doing different types of care work (not only childcare), time use and how social protection can support or compensate for that time.
• Unpacking “plus” integration of systems: cross-sectoral/multi-sectoral, understanding better what works and how.
• Understanding more about the social workforce, including key gender dimensions.
• The gendered dimensions of climate and displacement and the use of social protection to build resilience and mitigate impact.

The discussion at the workshop marked the beginning of an engaging conversation on what research should focus on and how priorities should be defined over the next few months. Additionally, The STAAR Facility will soon open a space for those working in the field to engage in this conversation.

January 2024 – ongoing 

STAAR has been commissioned by UNICEF to support the Government of Eswatini with reforming its social assistance to program to be more inclusive.

This assignment intends to understand the extent to which Eswatini’s social assistance system is gender-responsive and to provide technical guidance to key stakeholders to identify entry points for advancing the programming on the gender continuum. 

The assignment specifically focuses on mitigating gender-based violence and violence against children, through strategic technical support, capacity building, and integration of explicit gender equality objectives.

May 2023 – September 2023 (finished)

GIZ requested STAAR’s support in the design of a gender-responsive social protection programme for women in the MENA region, focusing on Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, and Tunisia.

The assignment aimed to provide gender analysis and guidance on social protection systems within the region, assisting GIZ with programme design. It involved conducting two appraisal missions and gathering primary and secondary data, including key informant interviews with stakeholders, to ensure the programme addressed gender inequalities and supported women’s access to social protection.

The final output consolidated local expertise and provided recommendations to inform GIZ’s planning process. Despite some challenges with consultant coordination and report expectations, the project enhanced the regional approach to gender equality in social protection, laying the groundwork for future programme development.

August 2024 – October 2024 (finished)

FAO had requested STAAR’s support in the existing evidence on the ways in which social protection design and delivery can contribute to women’s economic empowerment in rural populations in both development and humanitarian settings.

Through the development of a scoping paper, the assignment focussed on understanding how “cash plus”, economic inclusion and agricultural insurance programmes contribute to women’s economic empowerment outcomes in rural areas and the design and pathways through which these outcomes can occur.

Through this analysis, STAAR supported the development of a practical set of programming recommendations for how social protection design and delivery can contribute to strengthening women’s economic empowerment outcomes.

January 2024 – March 2025 (finished)

STAAR is supporting GIZ with Designing a complementary component for female leadership that will augment GIZ’s core Collaborative Leadership Journey for Social Protection, creating strategies to engage female participants in the programme as well as the complementary female leadership component.
This STAAR assignment is focused on ensuring that the leadership programme addresses these gender-specific challenges and makes a contribution to gender equality through the fulfilment of designing a complementary component for female leadership that will expand GIZ’s core Collaborative Leadership Journey for Social Protection.
The findings of this study will be used to lead the change to move from being gender sensitive to being gender-responsive and to enable leaders to promote transformative outcomes for women and girls.

August 2024 – March 2025 (finished)

In addition to STAAR’s work on strengthening linkages between social protection and climate in the World Bank’s Sahel Adaptive Social Protection Programme (SASPP) and in productive inclusion programmes in the Sahel, FCDO commissioned STAAR to provide technical assistance to help shape SASPP’s future vision and ambition on gender equality.

The technical assistance produced a detailed narrative on gender-responsive adaptive social protection in the Sahel, based on global best practices, World Bank resources, and interviews with SASPP staff. A shorter public version is being developed to highlight key findings and recommendations. Additional support papers are also being prepared on topics such as social registries, payment systems, staff capacity, and monitoring and evaluation.

February 2022 – November 2023 (finished)

On behalf of the SPIAC-B Gender Working Group, STAAR was tasked with understanding current/ongoing efforts in collecting and analysing gender disaggregated data in social protection systems.

The report examines the reach and impact of gender-responsive social protection for women and girls, stressing the need for quality gender statistics. It highlights gaps in disaggregated data, opportunities for improved data management, and offers practical recommendations for adapting tools like household surveys to better support gender-responsive systems.

The outputs of this assignment informed the development of a Gender and Inclusion Data Charter – proposed by the SPIAC-B Gender Group. This charter provided a set of standards or guidelines for the collection of gender-disaggregated data in social protection programming, intended for implementation by various agencies, donors, and governments, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries.

November 2024 – May 2025 (finished)

The STAAR Facility provided technical assistance to support the Government of Uganda’s Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development in strengthening inclusive, gender-sensitive, and responsive social protection systems.

The assignment aimed to improve the integration of gender and disability considerations into both routine and shock-responsive social protection programmes. This included enhancing outcomes for women, girls, and people with disabilities, especially in regions with high displacement. STAAR’s support focused on building the capacity of government stakeholders and strengthening coordination between humanitarian and social protection actors to better deliver on gender equality and inclusion.

As a result, STAAR contributed to developing more inclusive approaches to programme design, delivery, monitoring, and evaluation—supporting the Government of Uganda in advancing a more gender- and disability-responsive social protection system.