The Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions is a voluntary awarding programme specifically designed for public institutions, that aims to support, recognize and champion public institutions that commit to advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment.
In line with SDG 5 (gender equality and women’s empowerment) and SDG 16 (peace, justice and strong institutions), the programme provides public institutions with a feasible and practical framework to strengthen their capacities, enhance the gender responsiveness of their work, and ultimately deliver for gender equality in a more effective and visible way.
Within this framework, the Seal establishes standards and performance benchmarks based on international and regional agreements and commitments, providing public institutions with a practical roadmap to put institutional commitments into practice, paving the way for gender responsive results at three key levels:
- Leadership and political commitment;
- Public policy cycle management;
- Organizational and institutional management.
The Gender Equality Seal is implemented in five stages, within a 12-18 months timeframe. The stages include:
- Engage - Establishment of institutional arrangements to begin the process.
- Baseline assessment - Self-assessment process to identify gender gaps based on the requirements of the standards.
- Action plan for improvement - Development and implementation of a plan of action for improvement, focused on addressing the areas of non-compliance identified in the self-assessment.
- External assessment - Final independent evaluation to assess the level of progress and achievements.
Seal certification - Awarding of the Bronze, Silver or Gold UNDP Gender Equality Seal.
Find out more about the institutions taking part in the Gender Equality Seal for Public Institutions programme below.
