“We can add $28 trillion to global #GDP by using #GenderStandards to close economic participation gaps.” — Gender Practitioners Collaborative

On March 8, 2017, to mark International Women’s Day, the Gender Practitioners Collaborative, a group of the world’s foremost gender experts and practitioners, gathered to launch the Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality. This launch coalesced gender experts and supporters spanning implementing, organizations, funders, and academia.

If #women farmers had equal resources, there could be 100-150M less hungry ppl. #GenderStandards can help: https://t.co/BYk7NlECTL @GenderPC pic.twitter.com/ED6m7sbN28

— Mercy Corps (@mercycorps) March 9, 2017

We are proud to adopt Minimum #GenderStandards for mainstreaming #GenderEquality in our organization & programs https://t.co/6KkhnQgSGl pic.twitter.com/b3m5XVviCE

— Winrock Intl (@WinrockIntl) March 8, 2017

Members of the Gender Practitioners Collaborative, FHI 360, ACDI VOCA, World Vision, Mercy Corps, Winrock International, Land O’ Lakes, Save The Children, Care and Plan International, as well as USAID’s Acting Senior Coordinator for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment, Marita Eibl, discussed the importance of this launch. There are eight standards that are meant to create a minimum level of quality for gender mainstreaming in their organization and specifically in their programming. The standards are intended to be broad enough so that they can fit into unique organizational and programmatic contexts. With these minimum standards, organizations will have industry guidelines they can hold themselves accountable to, in order to create working environments and programming that are inclusive and sustainable.

.@USAID acting Sr Gender Coordinator Marita Eibl affirms importance of #GenderStandards 4 #genderequality accountability #IWD2017 @GenderPC pic.twitter.com/GN3KR3Psfg

— Elise Young (@EliseGYoung) March 9, 2017

The Minimum Standards for Mainstreaming Gender Equality are an important step forward in gender mainstreaming. These 8 minimum standards set a quality model that can be built upon for years to come. Follow this conversation on Twitter with the #GenderStandards hashtag, the practitioner’s collaborative at @GenderPC, or visit www.genderstandards.org.