The Digital for Girls and Women (D4GW) project, with a budget of €2.25 million and implemented by Enabel, aimed to promote an inclusive, rights-based digital transformation across Belgium, Burkina Faso, and Uganda. Conceived as a pilot initiative, it was carried out in a context marked by security constraints (notably in Burkina Faso) and persistent gender gaps in digital access. Its objectives were to (1) economically empower women through increased access and better use of digital technologies and (2) empower people, especially women and girls, to claim their digital rights.
The evaluation, covering 2022–2025, sought primarily to ensure accountability and generate lessons for future initiatives. With both a summative and formative lense, its general purpose was to assess overall project performance as well as to identify all project outcomes and generating learning for scaling, sustainability, and policy integration within broader D4D initiatives.
The findings highlight notable achievements. In Uganda, participants reported increased revenues through the use of digital tools such as social media, while institutions integrated digital skills into curricula. The launch of an online gender-based violence support portal and the distribution of a comic book broadened awareness. In Burkina Faso, the establishment of digital hubs and community-based campaigns fostered strong local ownership. However, the absence of baseline data and delays in setting up monitoring and evaluation limited the measurement of impact. Moreover, limited direct involvement of public authorities reduced the project’s systemic reach.