The Country Policy and Institutional Assessment (CPIA) is an annual assessment of the quality of a country's present policy and institutional framework. "Quality" means how conducive that framework is to fostering sustainable, poverty-reducing growth and the effective use of development assistance. Gender equality, one of the sixteen criteria included in the CPIA process, is the extent to which the country has enacted and put in place institutions and programs to enforce laws and policies that: (a) promote equal access for men and women to human capital development opportunities; (b) promote equal access for men and women to productive and economic resources; and (c) give men and women equal status and protection under the law.