This capacity development project has been initiated and coordinated by the UNICEF West and Central Africa Regional Office (WCARO) as one step in responding to the findings of the UNICEF Gender Mainstreaming Self Assessment (in 2006-07) and the Global Evaluation of Gender Policy Implementation in UNICEF (2007-08).  The project is part of a one-year organizational action plan, which is monitored by the UN Gender Task Force.

The project seeks to discern the experiences and lessons learned from a successful capacity building trajectory on gender and rights approaches in 6 UNICEF offices in West Africa (Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Togo, Central Office) and provides recommendations on how the offices can further strengthen gender mainstreaming, with suggestions on how to engage other countries in the West and Central African region.