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.

The UN Gender Theme Group Good Practice Compendium (2024) is a collection of examples from UN Country Teams collected during the rollout of the UNSDG Gender Theme Groups Standards and Procedures in 2022-2023. More than 300 UN colleagues at country level participated in the rollout, managed by UN Women and DCO regional offices with the support of UN Women's UN System Coordination Division, in close collaboration with DCO, UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA,  representing the UN Gender Equality Network, at a global level. The good practices are meant to strengthen the system-wide impact, efficiency, and results for gender equality led by Gender Theme Groups, currently operational in more than 100 country teams globally. The compendium provides useful and hands-on examples for the effective function and operation of Gender Theme Groups.

This guidance support UNCTs in the application of the GEM within UN INFO and the UNSDCF. The UNCT GEM tracks the resources allocated collectively by the UN system under the UNSDCF cycle, making clear the level of commitment and the degree of resources allocated by the UNCT in support of national GEWE priorities.

This background note provides an overview of existing gender equality markers and reviews issues relating to the tracking and monitoring of investments related to gender equality and women’s empowerment. It is intended as an input into the development of a guidance note for the UN system on principles and standards for the design, implementation and reporting systems on investments that support gender equality and women’s empowerment in the UN system. The target audience is the staff and leadership of UN entities and their development and humanitarian implementing partners