Gender Equality as Smart Investment: UNDP’s Roadmap for Inclusive Development

UNDP’s “Investing in Gender Equality: Gender Marker Guidance Note for Staff” outlines how the organization tracks and improves its investments in women’s empowerment. The guide explains the Gender Marker system, which classifies projects by their impact on gender equality, aiming for 70% of UNDP spending to support gender-related goals and 15% to focus primarily on them. It promotes evidence-based planning, accountability, and gender-transformative programming that challenges discriminatory norms and embeds equality across all areas of UNDP’s work.

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has unveiled a new guide titled “Investing in Gender Equality: Gender Marker Guidance Note for Staff,” created with insights from the UNDP Independent Evaluation Office, UN Women, the International Labour Organization (ILO), the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE). The report makes a powerful case that gender equality is not only a moral obligation but also a smart economic choice. UNDP’s data shows that a 10 percent rise in spending on gender-focused projects can boost overall programme performance by 5 percent. In other words, investing in women and gender equality strengthens communities, economies, and development outcomes.

A Simple System to Track Gender Impact

At the heart of this effort is UNDP’s Gender Marker, a system that helps staff evaluate how much each project contributes to gender equality. First introduced in 2009 and now fully integrated into UNDP’s digital platform, Quantum, the Gender Marker uses a four-point scale: GEN0 for projects with no gender focus, GEN1 for limited gender contribution, GEN2 for significant focus, and GEN3 for projects where gender equality is the main objective. The idea is simple, every project, from climate action to governance reform, must be analyzed and coded to show its gender impact. This helps UNDP track not just how much money is being spent, but whether that spending is creating real change.

Turning Policy into Practice

The guidance sets ambitious targets under the Gender Equality Strategy 2022–2025: at least 70 percent of all UNDP expenditures should advance gender equality, and 15 percent should directly focus on it. These goals also align with global frameworks such as the UN System-Wide Action Plan on Gender Equality (UN-SWAP 3.0) and the Gender Equality Acceleration Plan (GEAP). The note explains how UNDP teams, from country offices to regional hubs, can integrate gender equality at every stage of a project. Staff are required to conduct a gender analysis to understand how men and women are affected differently by an issue, and to design interventions that address these disparities. This analysis looks beyond simple numbers to examine power relations, access to resources, and social norms, ensuring that every initiative is built on evidence, not assumptions.

Moving Beyond Numbers

But the guidance goes further than tracking. It stresses that gender equality cannot be achieved just by counting how many women benefit from a project. Real change comes from transforming the systems and structures that create inequality in the first place. Projects that reform laws to give women equal land rights or those that promote women’s leadership in climate governance are rated GEN3, meaning their main goal is transformative change. Initiatives that include women but don’t challenge deeper inequalities are rated lower. The message is clear: UNDP wants to move from gender-aware to gender-transformative action, programmes that shift power, attitudes, and policies in favour of equality.

Data, Accountability, and the Road Ahead

To make this approach work, accountability and data transparency are key. The new system allows gender coding at both the project output and activity levels, making it easier to capture the full picture of how funds are used. Each office must regularly review its gender coding, and regional gender advisors will carry out quality checks. The data flows into Power BI dashboards, where UNDP staff can visualize global and regional spending trends in real time. These dashboards reveal how much is being spent on gender equality, where it’s happening, and what kind of impact it’s having, from crisis response and digital inclusion to peacebuilding and climate resilience.

In essence, the UNDP’s new guidance turns gender coding from a bureaucratic exercise into a driver of social transformation. It helps ensure that every dollar spent under UNDP programmes is measured not only for efficiency but also for fairness and impact. The report’s central message is both simple and powerful: when women rise, societies thrive. By embedding gender equality in every stage of planning, budgeting, and reporting, UNDP aims to make equality not just a goal, but a global standard for sustainable development.