GEF’s updated policies on stakeholder engagement, gender equality, and safeguards signal stronger commitments to inclusion, yet practice has not kept pace. Implementation gaps and uneven evidence limit their ability to demonstrate impact.

If positioned with sufficient intention, the GEF policies can help to translate and mainstream key priorities across all GEF-financed activities and be central in delivering environmental and socioeconomic benefits.

Evaluation overview

• The program faces persistent challenges: uneven Agency and focal point capacity, limited time and resources for meaningful engagement, and country contexts that restrict inclusion of certain groups. Reporting to date emphasizes compliance more than evidence of policy impact.
• Coherence across the three policies is evident, but only the Gender Equality Policy requires integration into project frameworks. As a result, evidence linking policy implementation to improved outcomes is limited, with most documentation focused on inputs and compliance rather than results.
• The report recommends preparing a unified inclusion narrative across the three policies, strengthening monitoring and knowledge sharing on safeguards and inclusion practices, and recalibrating relationships with the CSO Network and the Indigenous Peoples Advisory Group for greater strategic impact.

Methodology

Evidence comes from portfolio review, surveys, interviews, and follow-up to prior evaluations of gender mainstreaming, safeguards, the CSO Network, and engagement with Indigenous Peoples.