This guidance note sets out common principles to ensure that UN gender marker systems are comparable and sets standards for gender equality marker systems that track and report on allocations and expenditures for gender equality and women’s and girls’ empowerment. It will guide the development of an effective and coherent approach for tracking resources that support gender equality results with agreed upon parameters and standards inside the UN system. This will allow for UN system-wide reporting2 with regard to funds contributing to promoting gender equality. This guidance note is intended to provide direction for individual entities instituting or improving their gender equality marker systems.

This document provides guidance to UN Country Teams (UNCTs) as they plan, finance, deliver and evaluate their support to countries in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), typically over a five-year cycle.

This Technical Note aims to guide UNCTs on how to mainstream gender equality considerations into planning and programming work as part of their ongoing COVID-19 response and recovery effort.