Over the past 20-plus years, development practitioners have learned many lessons about the value and the necessity of gender-inclusive development planning, program implementation, and benefit sharing. There is an exhaustive body of literature regarding why gender mainstreaming and attention to advancing gender equity is key to good development practice. The World Bank and others have focused on “the business case”for gender mainstreaming;^[2]
 human rights advocates, supported by international and national rights-based frameworks, argue that gender equity and equality are essential dimensions of basic human rights.^[3]
 These arguments are also relevant to newer areas of development programming, such as climate change.