World Bank2023-07-252023-07-252023-07-25https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/40078As gender equity becomes more central to social and economic development, practitioners are increasingly focused on women and girls’ empowerment as a sustainable way to enhance well-being and close gender gaps. The operational approach to women and girls’ empowerment can guide practitioners in systematically translating the concept of empowerment into project designs. While World Bank projects are fairly effective at providing women and girls with the resources they need to reach their desired achievements, interventions that affect agency and context are much more scarce. This literature review is intended to provide a curated set of examples of interventions that aim to affect the context and agency factors impeding women’s and girls’ empowerment. The paper starts from the assumption that practitioners are increasingly convinced of the importance of addressing the three pillars of empowerment, but they are unfamiliar with evidence-based context and agency interventions. Information about effective initiatives is dispersed, often leaving task teams to start from zero rather than drawing on prior experience. This paper sorts through the literature and presents some of the most effective examples of agency and context interventions in developing countries.en-USCC BY-NC 3.0 IGOGENDER EQUITYWOMEN AND GIRLSEMPOWERMENTGENDER GAPSReportWorld Bank10.1596/40078