SMEP Impact:
Gender equity and social inclusion
- Last updated on 8 December 2025
Overview
The SMEP Programme funds a diverse range of projects within the manufacturing sector and so a wide range of opportunities to promote gender equality and social inclusion (GESI) present. Grantees are requested to factor GESI into proposal development and are provided with guidance as to areas that may be relevant to their projects through a SMEP-specific practical guide, which also includes Leave No One Behind (LNB), and Do no Harm and Safeguarding aspects. SMEP provides support and guidance to grantees through GESI Tips and Tools.
These assist grantees to develop an understanding of the opportunities for incorporating GESI principles and objectives into their project teams, their implementation areas, communities, and supply chains. Grantees are also encouraged to allocate a portion of their project budget specifically for GESI activities, and are required to report on progress and impact.
The SMEP Programme also commits to providing equal opportunities, increasing supply chain resilience and capacity, as per HMG’s Social Value Model1 – specifically, Theme 2, “Tackling Economic Inequality” and Theme 4 “Equal Opportunity”. While this Social Value Model is targeted and tailored for use by central government departments (and related agencies), the themes and policy outcomes align with the GESI and LNB opportunities that SMEP aims to deliver.
1. This Social Value Model aims to ensure that the government’s projects and programmes provide additional, more comprehensive community or public benefits, such as creating new businesses, increasing supply chain resilience, and reducing employment gaps (of underrepresented and disadvantaged groups).
SMEP's GESI Framework
The SMEP GESI Framework aims to capture grantees’ activities in numbers and demonstrate the quiet and sometimes overlooked impact of transforming groups and individuals, which strengthens agency, voice, and ability to make informed choices. The framework, therefore, combines quantitative data and stories that highlight needs and contextual shifts during the implementation of the funded project.
Over Financial Year 2024-25, the GESI Framework was revised to provide a more coherent and actionable approach to promoting inclusive innovation across the manufacturing sectors. The updated framework supports SMEP and its grantees in embedding GESI considerations throughout the project lifecycle – from planning and design to implementation. At the core of this framework are two interlinked components:
- Beneficiary mapping
- GESI mainstreaming levels
Together, these components provide a methodology for identifying who benefits from project activities and how meaningfully GESI principles are being integrated across different stages and stakeholder groups. They also enable the programme to monitor progress, promote accountability and guide grantees toward more inclusive practices.
The framework is structured around three thematic areas, each representing a distinct sphere of influence within the project value chain – (1) Project team, (2) direct beneficiaries of solutions tested, and (3) indirect beneficiaries of solutions tested. Specific types of beneficiaries are identified and tracked within each area to assess how inclusive measures reach and affect different groups. To complement this beneficiary mapping approach, SMEP has developed GESI mainstreaming levels (adapted from UK Pact’s Guidance on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion [GESI] [Version 1, 2021]) that support funded projects in highlighting the degree to which gender and social inclusion considerations are embedded in their activities. These mainstreaming levels are applied across the three thematic areas as shown below and provide a structured means of assessing how GESI is considered in funded projects. GESI Mainstreaming Level 3 is the target level for all SMEP grantees.
The three thematic areas of beneficiary mapping:
SMEP's GESI mainstreaming levels per beneficiary thematic area:
GESI mainstreaming in SMEP-funded projects
SMEP project grantees address GESI in two central ways:
- Research: SMEP Grantees are required to consider opportunities for meaningful contributions to the body of research on Gender and Social Equity in manufacturing, including:
- The environmental health impacts of pollution from manufacturing, and
- The impact of solutions (technical or business model) on GESI (health or other).
- Impact: SMEP grantees should propose solutions for piloting either business models, technical interventions, or even policy changes that should consider:
- Present opportunities to improve Gender and Social Equity dimensions as part of the technology or business model being developed, and
- The systems that would be required to implement, manage and measure interventions.
In FY24-25, SMEP grantees have made excellent progress in mainstreaming GESI consideration in their projects. Using the new SMEP GESI Framework, we are able to measure and record the successes over the past financial year. These are shown below, as well as several key GESI showcase stories where these mainstreaming activities are featured in detail.
GESI Showcase Stories
