Financing for gender equality

In Cameroon, UN Women works with the communities that host refugee camps, training local women in petty trade, food processing, sewing, soap-making, project management and entrepreneurship. Rebecca (left) and Ouseina (right) both received business training and a small grant from UN Women, and they both work as vendors selling a variety of hot food, including meat stew and cassava dishes, at the main roundabout in the town of Ngam. Photo: UN Women/Ryan Brown

Public and private financing is crucial for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. UN Women provides support at the local, national and international level to ensure that all actors allocate and spend budgets in ways that further gender equality goals.

Supporting high-impact financing

UN Women works to increase financing for the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, with an emphasis on Goal 5 – the achievement of gender equality. Alongside the UN system, financial institutions, governments and private sector actors, we develop and promote relevant tools and strategies – including gender responsive budgeting, national investment and financing frameworks with gender targets, gender financing assessments and innovative financing instruments – to leverage resources for gender equality.

Strengthening gender-responsive budgeting

UN Women supports governments in strengthening gender-responsive budgeting. We promote the use of relevant tools in the budget cycle and help national partners, including women’s organizations, collect and monitor data to track resources and deliver on gender equality strategies and plans. UN Women also supports governments in analysing public and private financing flows to inform national financing policies and to better prioritise gender equality in financing decisions.

Financial innovations

UN Women works with financial institutions and private sector actors to bridge identified gaps in gender financing. We aim to catalyse new sources of finance and bring about financial innovations, such as the introduction of gender bonds. We also work to influence international financing institutions’ programming to advance gender equality at the global scale.