This learning module is a part of the "I Know Gender" series developed by UN Women Training Center. It's available for everyone who is interested to know the implementation of the gender markers. Gender markers are a crucial tool in the accountability of financing for gender equality and women’s empowerment. Gender equality markers can help us identify where these investments are happening and where there are gaps.

This learning module is a part of the "I Know Gender" series developed by UN Women Training Center. It's available for everyone who is interested to know the implementation of the gender markers. This module provides background information on gender equality coding and provides practice on coding specific initiatives. The module only draws on documentation from entities that have gender equality markers that are consistent with the UNDG guidance. The purpose is to provide additional information on gender equality marker definitions or codes and provide opportunities to practice coding specific initiatives.

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).

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). 

This document complements and expands on the UNSDG’s Gender Equality Marker Guidance Note (2013). 

Together with the Guidance Note on Coding Definitions for Gender Equality Markers (2018), this supplementary guide aims to support UN entities in applying their Gender Equality Markers (GEMs) in an optimal manner. It seeks to encourage inter-agency knowledge sharing and is being developed by the UN-SWAP Gender Marker Working Group of the Finance and Budget Network (FBN), which is chaired by UN Women.

This document complements and expands on the UNSDG’s Gender Equality Marker Guidance Note (2013). 

Together with the Guidance Note on Quality Assurance of Gender Equality Markers (2018), this supplementary guide aims to support UN entities in applying their Gender Equality Markers (GEMs) in an optimal manner. This note elaborates on two Standards that have been the focus of discussion in the last three years: the ‘unit of analysis’ and ‘coding definitions,’ as well as discussing how the coding experience can assist in contributing to gender sensitive programme design. 

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

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.

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 System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity balances accountability with incentives, recognises different starting points and challenges, and provides positive tools to empower and encourage staff and managers alike.

The Enabling environment guidelines include good practices and recommendations to help guide and support all UN entities to make progress on a better work environment. The “Enabling environment guidelines for the United Nations system” focuses on three thematic areas: workplace flexibility, family-friendly policies, and standards of conduct. The “Supplementary guidance” covers also the areas of recruitment and talent management and includes a section on implementation.

The UN System-wide Dashboard on Gender Parity is a joint initiative by UNDP and UN Women to strengthen system-wide monitoring and data collection on the representation of women and men in the UN system, in support of the Secretary-Generalï's System-wide Strategy on Gender Parity. The dashboard uses the latest available data, with participation from nearly 40 UN entities.

These guidelines include good practices and recommendations to help guide and support all UN entities to make progress on a better work environment.

The objective of these Field-specific Enabling Environment Guidelines is to provide tailored guidance for personnel in the field, especially in mission settings, to help increase the representation of women and accelerate efforts to reach parity in the UN system

Demonstrates, among other points, how the GTG in Vietnam supported the application of the UNCT GEM.

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

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).