The SEI Gender and Social Equity Programme

There are vital interconnections between gender, social equality, environment and development. Environmental change can affect different social groups in different ways: women and men, rich and poor, specific ethnic and age groups, people in developed and developing countries.

Patterns of development and economic growth that neglect the needs of specific groups of people can exacerbate disparities, stratifying people into losers and winners, worsening living conditions and creating unjust outcomes. A deliberate focus on gender and social equality in development can help achieve more inclusive benefits, and enhance human and environmental well-being.

SEI has long engaged with these issues in its research, but often not in a focused, sustained and explicit manner. This programme aims to enhance SEI’s capacity to engage in research and policy with a view to transforming gender, social and power relations to ensure more equitable outcomes.

Our starting point is that unsustainable patterns of production and consumption, amplified by disparate distribution of decision-making power, are putting enormous pressure on natural resources and also worsening poverty and inequality, with particularly serious impacts on people who depend on natural resources for their livelihoods and survival.

The programme’s core objective is to address knowledge and policy gaps related to gender and social equality in order to inform and advance sustainable development policy. The work packages and activities focus on three main tasks:

1. Mainstreaming gender and social equality issues within SEI’s projects, themes, initiatives and operations;
2. Providing opportunities for new research projects with a gender and social equality lens; and
3. Consolidating findings and insights in order to communicate them to relevant stakeholders and partners.

Download the fact sheet (PDF, 839kb)

Learn more about the SEI Gender and Social Equality Programme