The Gender Seal certification is a long journey that starts with an online self-assessment. In October 2021, the Country Office assessed itself and identified possible gender gaps within its programmes and workplace. Some of the topics evaluated at this stage include the number of women and men in leadership positions in the office and how male and female staff relate to each other. 

Beyond the self-assessment, the Gender Seal sets minimum standards of equality and provides a clear framework to guide the Office in linking gender dynamics in the workplace with development outcomes. 

 “This is not just a mere ticking boxes exercise. It essentially is a collective transformation process of individual minds and of us coming together as an office to reflect on gender identity, power relations and its impact on development,” says the Resident Representative.

The core element of this transformation process is dialogue. Through the creation of safe spaces, dialogue allows the entire Country Office team to engage in an open conversation about gender dynamics in the workplace without fear or taboos. The Deputy Resident Representative, Soahangy Mamisoa Rangers, explains how UNDP Angola created a safe environment for both men and women to discuss gender-related issues in the Office as part of the Gender Seal journey:

“We have created safe spaces within our weekly schedules where we organised women’s only meetings in one side, and men’s-only meetings on the other – which is an unprecedented initiative in the Country Office. Then we hosted a joint male and female meeting that enabled us to gather insightful views and feedback on gender dynamics within our workplace.”

Walking the talk

The UNDP Gender Seal offers three levels of certification: gold, silver, and bronze. UNDP Country Offices are certified according to their achievements against a set of benchmarks in terms of gender equality in their programmes, operations, and within the workforce. 

But securing the Seal is more than a getting a certificate and reporting numbers. It is about the efficiency, impact, and credibility of the Country Office. UNDP promotes the Gender Seal as an ongoing integration of gender mainstreaming efforts into all aspects of programming, the UNDP workplace and the overall thinking process of staff members, as outlined by the Deputy Resident Representative:

“The gender seal starts with us. It is very much about walking the talk,” says Soahangy Mamisoa Rangers. “We have done a self-assessment against the UNDP benchmarks on gender equity and based on the results, we have designed an action plan for ourselves on the next steps moving forward. This is how we can achieve gender equality results in the office and help set the tone for our partners,” she concludes.

Achieving gender quality is a step forward to transform UNDP’s work environment and to further embrace equality and inclusion. Currently, 42% of the Angola Country Office personnel are women. However, women are still under-represented at the higher levels of decision making.

The Resident Representative notes that “listening and understanding challenges of women colleagues in the office is key as a first step to further improve gender equality. This is about being open and changing our own minds and together figuring out better ways of accommodating women in our office to empower them accordingly,” says Edo Stork.

Besides the Gender Seal, one of the ways in which UNDP measures its contribution to gender equality is through the Gender Marker tool code, which enables UNDP to track its financial allocation and expenditure in its development programmes.