What is Generation Equality?

The world’s leading initiative to accelerate investment and implementation on gender equality

2020

Launch of the Generation Equality campaign and preparation for the Generation Equality Forums

2021

Mexico City Forum takes place in March and the Paris Forum happens in June. The Forums launch the Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality.

2022-2026

Implementation and accountability for the Global Acceleration Plan and Action Coalition commitments. Continuing to engage Generation Equality in the various UN and gender equality spaces.

ACTION COALITIONS

The Generation Equality Action Coalitions are the world’s roadmap for gender equality and acceleration of progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals, as well as the full realization of the Beijing Platform for Action. These innovative, multi-stakeholder partnerships focus on six critical areas for gender equality to achieve concrete change for women and girls worldwide.

Photo credit: UN Women/Catianne Tijerina

Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality

The Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality (GAP) – co-designed by the Generation Equality Action Coalitions - is a transformative roadmap that defines the most critical actions necessary to accelerate progress on gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals in the next few years.

The GAP outlines the Action Coalition journey and the blueprints for their success and how to achieve them.

COMMITMENTS FOR GENERATION EQUALITY

Commitments are a key mechanism for the implementation of the Action Coalition’s Global Acceleration Plan. Strong commitments from all partners are essential to accelerate investment and implementation in order to catapult progress on gender equality.

There are four types of commitments:

Advocacy

To amplify and mobilize support for transformative change to achieve the goals of the Action Coalition.

Policy

To demonstrate how an action can be translated to concrete policy change in the context of a government, company, or organization.

Programmatic

To deliver programs, services, research or other actions, with a focus on scale.

Financial

To support the realization of an action to advance gender equality results.

How to commit

By making a commitment under the umbrella of Generation Equality, you can amplify and expand your organization's commitment to gender equality and be part of a major global effort to accelerate investment and progress for women and girls around the world.

You will also commit to robust and transparent annual reporting of your progress to make sure that promises translate into lasting, accountable change.

The Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action (WPS-HA) is working to realize a world for women and girls in conflict and crisis in which financing, participation in peace processes, economic security, leadership and agency, and protection of their human rights are all possible. But to succeed, peace and humanitarian action processes need to include their perspectives and uphold their human rights.

Since its launch at the Generation Equality Forum in 2021, the Compact has welcomed more than 190 Signatories, including countries, regional organizations, UN entities and civil society: women and youth organizations and networks, academic institutions and private sector. Together, this multistakeholder process is driving five years of transformative action for sustainable and inclusive peace through strong partnerships, improved monitoring and assessment of progress and a focus on financing and advocacy.

Photo credit: UN Women/Joe Saade

Generation Equality Forums

In 2021, the Generation Equality Forum took place in Mexico City in March and in Paris June. These events officially launched the Generation Equality campaign.

The Generation Equality Forum Mexico concluded on 31 March 2021, after 3 days of dynamic discussions, activities and cultural celebration, with the unveiling of the draft blueprints of the Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality and of new catalytic commitments for gender equality.

The virtual Forum in Mexico City, 29-31 March, registered more than 13,000 participants from all parts of the world, 48% of whom were aged 34 and younger. The event also engaged over 250 speakers from 85 countries to reinvigorate action and movements for gender equality. The meeting took place amid growing concerns that COVID-19 has exacerbated a “gender equality crisis”, making action and investment in women’s rights critical. A quarter century after the landmark Beijing Conference and Platform for Action, the Forum aimed to re-ignite efforts for full implementation.

Watch the key moments from GEF Mexico City.

Photo credit: UN Women/Fabrice Gentile

The Generation Equality Forum in Paris took place from 30 June – 2 July, engaging nearly 50,000 people with the announcement of bold gender equality commitments including $40 billion of committed investments and the launch of a global 5-year action journey to accelerate gender equality by 2026.

The event included a dynamic youth-led stage, civil-society sessions and sessions aligned with the Forum’s Action Coalitions. The Forum launched a global 5-year action journey to accelerate gender equality by 2026, ‘Global Acceleration Plan for Gender Equality’. The Forum also launched a Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action, and announced new gender equality initiatives focused on health, sports, culture, and education.

Watch the recordings on the Generation Equality Youtube channel.

NGO CSW/NY & GENERATION EQUALITY

NGO CSW/NY was tasked by UN Women with the role of global civil society convener for the Generation Equality Forum, specifically convening the Civil Society Advisory Group (CSAG), which served as the representative of civil society’s priorities for the GEF by guaranteeing co-equal participation of civil society with the stakeholders for GEF.

Civil Society Advisory Group

The Civil Society Advisory Group to the Core Group (CSAG) served as the representative of civil society’s priorities for the Generation Equality Forums by guaranteeing participation on a co-equal basis of civil society with other stakeholders. It was created to ensure that diverse women’s rights and feminist organizations can engage meaningfully in the Generation Equality process.

Advisory Working Group

To further include civil society's priorities in the GEF process was through our formation and convening of the Advisory Working Group (AWG). A group of over 700 global civil society members met monthly to discuss GEF updates, check in with the CSAG, and provide input into the GEF and Beijing+25 processes.

NGO CSW/NY continues to be committed to following and amplifying the Generation Equality process, including the Action Coalitions and WPS-HA Compact, accountability measures, and commitments. We share Generation Equality updates with our mailing list of 50,000 people and provide space for Generation Equality updates and activities throughout the year and during the NGO CSW Forum.

Beijing+25 And Generation Equality Updates

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