Distinguished Ministers, colleagues, and partners, 

As we discuss Financing for Development this week, we must remember that insufficient financing remains a major obstacle to gender equality. The current context makes this even more challenging. 

• Official development assistance dropped by 7.1% in 2024, while humanitarian aid fell by 43%.
• More than 50 countries face debt distress, most in Africa and Asia.
• However, the challenge is not scarcity, it is misalignment. The estimated annual financing gap to achieve the SDGs is $4.3 trillion, while global wealth exceeds $450 trillion.  

At UNDP, we support governments across the financing system. 

• For example, our Tax Inspectors Without Borders initiative with OECD helps countries reduce tax avoidance, broaden tax bases, and reallocate inefficient subsidies towards social investments having resulted in mobilization of additional 2,4 billion USD.
• On the expenditure side, through our work on SDG Budgeting, we’ve supported over 50 countries in their public financial management systems reforms to better align with sustainable development goals, contributing to the alignment of $195 billion for the years 2022-25.We help countries align their public and private finance with the sustainable development goals through Integrated National Financing Frameworks, now present in almost 90 countries. 

We will continue supporting governments to advance public finance for sustainable development through our Seville Platform for Action on Public Finance. The Public Finance for SDGs Collaborative brings together countries, institutions, and technical partners to align and coordinate support across the full public finance cycle—revenue, expenditure, and debt. Rather than creating new structures, it builds on what works, fostering joint action, sharing tools, and enhancing collaboration at all levels. Its goal is to make fiscal reforms more coherent and results-driven, with development outcomes such as climate action, health, equity and most importantly, gender equality at the core. 

Indeed, public finance remains one of the most powerful but underutilized tools to advance gender equality. It is not just about more resources. It is about making fiscal policy work for gender equality.  

• Fiscal policies and discriminatory tax codes can hinder women’s economic empowerment.
• But they can also accelerate gender equality, such as by redirecting public investments towards care infrastructure, building progressive tax systems, or using fiscal incentives to expand women’s land ownership.  

UNDP's EQUANOMICS initiative (made possible by Norway, and Gates and Hewlett Foundations - here today) embodies our commitment to these transformations:  

• Working with nearly 30 countries, we help governments advance gender equality through fiscal policy reforms, ensuring fiscal policy coherence.
• We also equip Ministries of Finance, Tax Administrations to be ready to meet their gender equality objectives with our Gender Equality Seal, which has developed the capacities of 70,000 civil servants in finance institutions.  

Countries subscribing to today's Collective Commitment show concrete results: 

• We are very proud to have supported the Federal Inland Revenue Service of Nigeria, whose representative Ms. Angel Fadahunsi is here with us. The Revenue Service has now improved its gender statistics and collaborates with women’s organizations to better serve them.
• We supported the General Tax Authority of Mongolia, which has reformed its personal income tax code to incentivize women's participation in the labour market.
• In the Philippines, UNDP works with the Department of Local Government to address gender discrimination in local property tax and budgets. 

The Collective Commitment is inspired by exactly these kinds of achievements and possibilities.  

• It builds on consultations during the FfD process by UNDP, UN Women and partners, with views of more than 300 people, including many of you. 

The collective commitment focuses on three key areas to help make public finance truly work for gender equality. 

• First, it's about reforming policies. Things like tax systems, the budgeting cycle and public financial management both at national and local level from a Fiscal Policy Coherence, and targeted investments in care.
• Second, it’s about strengthening institutions, including improving data and digital systems.
• And third, it’s about making sure governance is inclusive, with strong oversight and accountability built in. 

All of you who have subscribed to this commitment have proved that there are results to be proud of, and investments worth making.  

At UNDP, we acknowledge that implementation remains the ultimate challenge. So we are ready to accompany governments to make this vision happen.  

Thank you.