Advancing Gender Mainstreaming

The project "Gender Mainstreaming in Public Policy and Budget Processes" supports administrations in several EU member states in further developing gender mainstreaming tools and effectively integrating them into decision-making and budgetary processes. Participating administrations include those from France, Germany, Malta, and Portugal. In Germany, the states of Berlin and Hamburg are receiving specific support.  

EAF Senior Expert Lisa Hanstein supports the Hamburg administration as a Local Expert, providing strategic and operational guidance on the development and implementation of gender mainstreaming in public decision-making and budgetary processes, and serves as the primary project contact. 

What is gender mainstreaming? 

Gender mainstreaming is a strategic approach to systematically embedding equality across all policy areas. It involves examining the impact of measures, programs, or laws on different genders—and determining how they can be designed to be fair and effective. 

In administration, gender mainstreaming is implemented through concrete tools, such as: 

• Equality monitoring and indicators 
• Gender impact assessments 
• Gender budgeting 
• Gender checklists 

This ensures that equality is not treated as an additional task, but is considered from the outset as a cross-cutting issue in decision-making and budgetary processes. 

Fact-finding mission in Hamburg 

To kick off the second phase of the project, a January 19–20, 2026 fact-finding mission took place in Hamburg. Together with representatives from the Hamburg administration and civil society, the current status of equality tools was analyzed and priorities for the upcoming project phase were identified. 

Numerous interviews with experts from specialized departments, the finance administration, the statistical office, and the fields of digitalization and AI were used to discuss existing procedures, challenges, and development potential. The focus included existing gender mainstreaming tools such as gender-responsive budgeting (GWHS), the gender equality framework program (GPR), the equality monitor, and the document review process, as well as capacity building within the administration. 

The results will be incorporated into the Inception Report , which defines the next steps and support measures for Hamburg. Implementation begins in spring 2026. 

Further information 

You can find more information about the EU project on the project page. 
Project contact person in Hamburg: Lisa Hanstein

The EU project "Gender Mainstreaming in Public Policy and Budget Processes (2025–2027)" is funded by the European Union via the Technical Support Instrument (TSI) and implemented by Expertise France in collaboration with the European Commission (SG REFORM) . 

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