The Mashreq Gender Facility (MGF) was launched in January 2019 as a vehicle to provide technical assistance to the Mashreq countries Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon to enhance women’s economic opportunities as a catalyst towards more inclusive, sustainable and peaceful societies, where economic growth benefits all. Specifically, the WB-IFC initiative (2019-2024) supports country level priorities and strategic regional activities that: (a) Strengthen the enabling environment for women’s economic participation; and (b) Improve women’s access to economic opportunities. 
 

CLIC assessed the focus, progress, and challenges of the MGF activities to date in each of the three countries and for the regional work, focusing on learning and strategic guidance to, in a realistic and quality focused manner, improve relevance and implementation at all levels.   

Specifically, the following: 

• Determined if and to what extent the MGF activities are relevant and appropriate to support women’s economic empowerment and participation in the public and private sector. 

• Determined how the MGF, in particular in Lebanon and Iraq, have been adapting due to the ongoing changes in local contexts. 

• Assessed the performance of the MGF regionally and at the country-level against expected results and identify what factors have supported or hindered progress to date.