Gender Mainstreaming in SDC SDC is promoting Gender Equality according to its policy. Gender gaps have to be closed in order to reduce poverty and to empower women. SDC implements therefore a gender mainstreaming approach by increasing the gender knowledge and awareness of staff and partners, the institutionalization of gender as a cross cutting issue and the promoting the gender responsiveness of all interventions. Therefore, SDC is optimizing the institutional mechanisms to monitor the impact of its projects and strategies on gender relations.