Effectiveness of donor supported leadership development interventions intended to promote women’s leadership in health in low- and middle-income countries: a scoping review

ABSTRACT Women remain underrepresented in health leadership. Promoting women’s leadership in development has resulted in the proliferation of donor-supported leadership development initiatives to address barriers to women’s participation. There is limited evidence synthesis regarding their effectiveness. This scoping review aimed to summarise evidence regarding the efficacy of donor strategies in this field. Seven of 3365 studies were identified. Findings were overwhelmingly positive however there was an overreliance on anecdotal evidence, and short evaluation periods. Overall, evidence is lacking on the effectiveness of such initiatives. More robust evaluation designs are needed to determine best practices to overcome gender inequality in leadership.