In 2013, the CO applied for the Gender Equality Seal certification process. The CO established a Gender Focal Team with clear terms of reference and a work plan. The Gender Focal Team, which includes staff from operations and programming and is headed by the Country Director, has been since contributing to enhancing the overall effectiveness of the CO in delivering gender responsive results, by instituting gender mainstreaming policies and monitoring their implementation.

The CO then conducted a self-assessment using an online version of the standardized assessment tool that allows an office or unit to gauge where it stands with respect to the gender equality seal benchmarks. After scoring highly on the self-assessment, ―37/44― the Gender Focal Team identified areas to be strengthened and acted on the recommendations provided by the Gender Seal Team. 

In 2014, the Gender Equality Seal Initiative Appraisal Mission carried out an intensive exercise to review the performance of the CO against the full set of Gender Seal benchmarks. The CO scored positively on 87 out of 91 benchmarks that were applied. The CO has achieved scores significantly above the benchmark level on 13 of the benchmarks, and thus achieving the Gold Certification Level.

It is worth mentioning, that Egypt CO is one of three COs that have received the Gold Certification Level (out of 25 certified COs), during the seal’s second pilot.