Podgorica, May 10, 2023 – UNDP Montenegro Country Office has been awarded the global Gold Gender Equality Seal for strong performance in advancing gender equality as an integral part of its organisational work, programming and operations alike, and thus achieving the highest global standard.

UNDP in Montenegro continues with strong commitment to advancing gender equality and has received this exceptional recognition of its performance. Maintaining the Gender Seal Gold Certification reaffirmed that gender equality and women’s empowerment have remained an integral part of the UNDP Montenegro work, and that gender equality has been meaningfully integrated throughout the office’s programming, as well as daily operations. The award is a result of an independent assessment of the UNDP Montenegro performance in the area of gender equality, across a number of dimensions: management, capacities, enabling environment, communications, programmes and projects, partnerships and impact.

The office has demonstrated expertise and firm commitment to gender equality, evidenced through transformative results, for example in developing a gender responsive social welfare system or addressing root causes of sexual and gender-based violence. Furthermore, the office has an exemplary Gender Equality Strategy and Country Programme Document 2023-2027 that keeps gender equality at the core of its internal and external work.

“This certification would not be possible without tireless and continuous work of all members of the team over the last couple of years, in addition to and beyond the work of our gender equality team. This is yet another confirmation of the dedication, commitment and walking the talk of the UNDP Montenegro Country Office in working towards achieving gender equality across multiple levels. It’s the second time the Country Office has received the golden seal. Keeping our performance at this level has been as challenging as receiving it for the first time back in 2016. Yet, our CO remains in the group of 17 UNDP offices globally who have demonstrated this excellence. The Gender Seal Certification has also been a valuable learning process which made us all more aware, more inquisitive and better equipped with tools and ideas on how to further strengthen our work in the area of gender equality, regardless of the role we have within the organization and our respective teams”, said Resident Representative for Montenegro Daniela Gasparikova.

“It is well known that only excellent teamwork leads to exceptional achievements. Consistency in our teamwork resulted with greatness of all in our CO, and entire UNDP Montenegro team has demonstrated its passion and professional commitment to make sure that we perform at our best in advancing gender equality. As we swing our programmes into action, I’m confident that our office will maintain leadership on gender equality and women’s empowerment and remain a positive example for the region and globally. The fight for gender equality in all spheres of society remains our far-reaching goal“, said Kaća Đuričković, RBEC SEAL Hub and Gender Team Leader. 

What is Gender Seal?

The Gender Equality Seal for UNDP Country Offices promotes an organizational culture of gender equality and incentivizes country offices to meet standards by integrating gender into all aspects of our development work. It is UNDP’s flagship initiative to build capacities and support transformational gender equality results. The Seal serves as a learning platform to help Country Offices to establish baselines, fine-tune strategies, address gender gaps, document innovations and showcase the impacts of interventions for gender equality. Unlike the usual “gender audit” or “gender evaluation”, the Seal process creates an inclusive and open space for free thinking and stimulates out-of-the-box thinking. The Gender Equality Seal benchmarking exercise proposes three levels of certification: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Country Offices are certified based on a review of their gender equality accomplishments.