Counterpart International adheres to a gender and development approach that emphasizes gender mainstreaming and equity in all program activities, including staff hiring practices, partner selection and grantee selection.

Counterpart International's (Counterpart) approach seeks to create a balance between resources allocated for women and men. Counterpart's purpose is to demonstrate that empowerment of women is not achieved at the expense of men, but rather to their benefit. In Afghanistan, Counterpart catalyzed a Gender Budgeting process by bringing together key government ministries and CSOs. The result of this effort was a commitment to gender-sensitive budgeting, and a $5 million earmark for women's programs in the 2009 parliamentary budget.

Children and youth make up over 40 percent of Counterpart's community-based project beneficiaries, and Counterpart works with a range of organizations to address youth needs, such as orphanages, parent-teachers' associations and ministries of education.

Photo: Women of the Buston community in Dushanbe, Tajikistan begin their training to become bakers. © Counterpart International.