Concept note for the side event on Reigniting the Beijing+30 Agenda: Strengthening Financial Accountability and Partnerships through Inter-Agency Pooled Funds and the Gender Equality Marker

Event handout for the side event on Reigniting the Beijing+30 Agenda: Strengthening Financial Accountability and Partnerships through Inter-Agency Pooled Funds and the Gender Equality Marker

The list highlights key recent knowledge products developed by the UN System Coordination Division of UN Women to support the integration of gender considerations into strategic system-wide processes at global, regional, and country levels. It covers topics spanning from gender mainstreaming, UN-SWAP, UNCT-SWAP, Gender Equality Marker, UN Gender Theme Groups, to Disability Inclusion and Intersectionality.

This table is to facilitate UN-SWAP focal points to collect data from business owners for the 2023 UN-SWAP reporting, in word format.

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.

In 2022 the UNDP Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF Office) conducted the Fiduciary Management and Oversight Group (FMOG) Survey on the Funding Compact Commitment 14 targeting inter-agency pooled funds. This commitment is composed of 12 features (well-articulated strategy, clear theories of change, etc.) that are an integral part of each inter-agency pooled fund and that seek the use of pooled funds in an efficient and effective manner in order to galvanize collective action towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The survey includes gender-related questions covering issues such as the use of the gender equality marker (GEM), the establishment of the minimum 15 per cent allocation to programmes with gender equality as their main objective or other financial targets. This publication highlights the main findings of the FMOG survey concerning gender-related issues in Multi-Partner Trust Funds (MPTFs) and Joint Programmes (JPs).

UN-SWAP 2.0 Technical guidance that guides reporting and is updated with references and good practices annually.

The latest UN system-wide achievements on gender equality and empowerment of women, collected via the 2022 UN-SWAP reporting. A total of 41 useful data points on the number and name of entities per detailed achievements, across 17 business functional indicator areas. 

This is a presentation on the GEM and financial targets in the UN System as part of the ITC-ILO Course  “Gender Responsive Budgeting within Organizations”, made by UN Women in December 2022. The aim of the presentation was to inform participants about the use of the GEM and financial targets as UN tools for ensuring gender equality and the empowerment of women at entity and country levels and at pooled funds. 

UN-SWAP 2.0 Technical guidance that guides reporting and is updated with references and good practices annually.

Empowered by the UN-SWAP 2.0, UN Women is able to identify and coordinate the system-wide adoption of good practices and harmonized products that can be scaled from one entity to another. UN Women selects and publishes a series of good practices from various entities on annual basis, normally through the UN-SWAP review reports and the updated technical guidance. This catalog aggregates various best practices under UN-SWAP 2.0 indicators, updated in 2022.

This brief seeks to explain the status of the implementation of the Gender Equality Marker (GEM) in the UN system (at the entity level, UN Country Team level, and in the inter-agency pooled funds level).

The Gender Equality Marker (GEM) is used by UNICEF to calculate the gender expenditure as part of the accountability to the Executive Board under Strategic Plan and Gender Action Plan. The target of 15% expenditure on gender is established in compliance the UN Systems Wide Action Plan on gender (UN-SWAP). The GEM at the output level and the Specific Intervention Code (SIC) at the activity level are the two main parameters used in calculating gender expenditure in UNICEF.

The ILO Guidance on the use of the gender marker explains the requirements for each GEM score and provide examples to ensure the correct application of the gender maker.

The brief highlights UN Women’s research on disability inclusion markers alongside insights from a wide range of development partners.

An short brief and illustration on applying Gender Equality Marker in UNFPA

In 2021, UN Women supported the UNSDG Fiduciary Management and Oversight Group (FMOG) Working Group in launching the first survey to all MPTFs’ Administrative Agents. This survey received responces from a total of 115 UN inter-agency pooled funds, equivalent to 70% of the estimated 164 active UN inter-agency pooled funds during the period 2020-2021. Of the total of complete responses received, 49 (or 43%) were from MPTFs and 66 (or 57%) were from standalone Joint Programmes (JPs). 

Good practice on implementing UNCT Gender Marker and financial tracking in Kyrgyzstan

UNIDO’s project and programme approval function requires all projects and programmes to assess their envisaged contribution to gender equality and the empowerment of women as a precondition to approval for implementation. This is done based on the criteria of the UNIDO Gender Marker as indicated in the UNIDO Gender Compliance and Marker Form. Within its four-level scale of assessment (see table below), UNIDO Gender Markers 2A and 2B are the desired good practice as per the 2020-2023 Gender Strategy.

This Guidance Note provides an overview of the gender equality marker and its application for the COVID-19 MPTF. It offers a checklist of minimum criteria, as well as tips and good practice examples to support gender mainstreaming throughout proposals and ensure applicant UN organizations
accurately apply gender equality marker codes in their submission.