In its Gender Policy approved in 2001, the Bank reaffirmed its commitment to promote gender equality and sustainable human and economic development in Africa as its main goal. The policy objectives are to mainstream gender issues in its activities and to support the efforts of Regional Member Countries (RMCs) to attain gender equality objectives.

The development of this Gender Plan of Action GPOA, therefore, fulfills a key requirement for the effective operationalisation of the Gender Policy. It is an instrument for ensuring institutional accountability for gender mainstreaming and is designed to encourage a systematic approach to gender mainstreaming, expand and accelerate on-going efforts, and lead to the generation and utilisation of best practices in the Bank's gender mainstreaming efforts.

The development of the GPOA was facilitated by the appointment of a multi-disciplinary Task force composed of a core group of professionals from different departments. In addition, informal consultations were conducted with various members of staff representing key Bank departments in order to increase their sense of ownership of the plan. The actions to be undertaken and indicators specified at programming and institutional levels was a result of a consensus gained at various levels.