5.1 Implementing the System

The gender equality marker codes the overall intentions of project, output or activity to gender equality and the empowerment of women. Given that programme/project managers at corporate, regional and country levels have a good understanding of the project, entity guidance places primary responsibility on them for applying the gender equality marker at the planning and budget allocation stage. Gender advisors/gender specialists/gender focal points can and often do advise and support project managers on the correct use of the gender equality marker methodology and assignment of the code.  They also work with project managers to strengthen the considerations of gender equality and the empowerment of women in the project planning and design, which can also result in an improved gender equality marker score.    

While approaches in terms of who and how tagging occurs vary across entities and even within entity offices, the recommended practice is to apply the gender equality marker through a cross-functional team approach that brings together individuals from different units of the organization responsible for strategic planning, programme, finance and budgeting with gender equality experts or focal points in a collaborative and iterative process. Making sure to engage budget and finance officers is particularly important given that gender equality markers are operationalized through an entity’s enterprise resource planning system (ERP). ERPs record the gender equality marker code for each project output and track expenditures throughout the project cycle.
 
Entities that have adopted a cross-functional team approach to coding have noted that it has sparked important internal discussions that have led to a better understanding of gender equality in a certain (sectoral) context and built wider staff and organizational capacity on gender mainstreaming. It has also created opportunities for strengthening gender equality considerations in interventions and improving the quality of coding data. This is where entities that have been applying the gender equality marker are finding the real value in the coding process.

5.2 Reporting

Since gender equality and the empowerment of women is a core priority of the UN system, reporting on gender equality marker data, allocations and/or expenditures is an important aspect of institutional accountability and transparency. The global Gender Office/Unit leads on the collection and analysis of the data for reporting to internal and/or external constituencies. Internal constituencies include the entity’s governing bodies; senior management, as well as annual reporting through the UN-SWAP 2.0. External constituencies include Member States, donors, the International Aid Transparency Initiative (IATI) and partners. 

As a good practice, entities should report on gender equality marker data annually. At a minimum, reporting should include information on:

1. The number of projects/outputs/activities and corresponding financial allocations coded as principal, significant, limited and no contribution to gender equality and the empowerment of women. Overall totals should be provided on both initiatives and allocations so that percentages can be calculated. 

2. Financial expenditures, which are a more indicative measure of resources being invested in gender equality and the empowerment of women, should be reported similarly.

With the introduction of the Integrated Planning, Monitoring and Reporting Module (IPMR) module in UMOJA, UN Secretariat entities will be able to record the gender equality marker code for each project / output in their enterprise resource planning system and to track expenditures throughout the project cycle.

Entities that are rolling out their gender equality markers should formalize responsibilities for implementing a gender equality marker system through a clear protocol on the division of labour.  This protocol should:

1. Identify who will be assigning or reassessing codes and at what stage of the programme / project / budget cycle; 
2. Identify who / what units can support the scoring process and review the codes; and 
3. Elaborate how all these steps will take place within the programme cycle.
4. Identify who/what units are responsible for annual reporting and follow-up.

Additional Resources

Getting started with a Gender Marker/financial tracking mechanism 
UNDP (2013) “Steps to Develop a Gender Equality Marker” 
The 2018 Guidance Note on Coding Definitions for Gender Equality Markers