Gender inequality affects development outcomes, and it results in sub-optimal returns to development investments. Formal structures have been put in place to address these issues, but their effectiveness is hampered by a number of institutional constraints. This brief summarizes the findings of a scoping study conducted to understand the strengths and areas of growth of the gender development and coordinating subcommittees at the district and provincial levels in western Zambia, and of the gender networks at the national level. The study was conducted by the CGIAR Research Program on Aquatic Agricultural Systems and its global partner, Promundo-US, in February 2015. While the findings presented in this brief are specific to western Zambia, the challenges identified are shared across most districts and provinces in Zambia, as well as in many African countries such as Sierra Leone, where there are gender ministries and similar network structures, making the findings applicable to a wider context.