India

UNDP India

has achieved the Gold Gender Equality Seal Certification!

Since 1951, UNDP has been committed to supporting the government of India to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment as a means of driving improvements that yield benefits for all. This is evidenced by UNDP’s role in strengthening resilience in India – particularly among groups of women living below the poverty line – by promoting increased access to livelihoods programs and narrowing gender gaps across several areas of human development.

"Over the past few years, UNDP has been buzzing with the Go for Gold Chant. This is not about sports, we are making sure that in everything we do, we put gender equality at its heart."

- Shoko Noda, Resident Representative, UNDP India

Some key achievements include:

Using tech to reshape inclusivity and promote women’s empowerment in healthcare

UNDP worked on strengthening the agencies of women service providers: it trained 1.2 million frontline workers on digital technology for vaccine management, including 700,000 female health workers. Additionally, an approximate 54,000 vaccine cold chain handlers – of which 30,000 being women – were able to efficiently manage vaccine logistics through smartphone-based trainings.

Scaling rights-based solutions for social inclusion by reaching the furthest behind first

Together with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, UNDP intensified its assistance to LGBTQI+ communities, by supporting the National Institute for Transforming India Aayog – the country’s think tank on policy development – to develop a National Action Plan to promote and advance LGBTQI+ rights.

Deeping engagement with local women-led organizations

UNDP strengthened collaborations with local associations and educational training institutions, leading to the integration of 50 women-led micro, small and medium enterprises on the National Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme portal, thus allowing access to financial incentives and advocacy support.

Narrowing the digital divide to achieve inclusive economies

Through UNDP interventions in Karnataka State, women-owned enterprises gained access to loans through government schemes amounting to over $100,000. Nearly 5,000 women had enhanced business infrastructure through training on entrepreneurship and linkage to business development services with a 41% increase in the use of digital payments by women entrepreneurs.

UNDP India man with microphone and people standing listening

Select good practices and innovations in advancing foundational elementss of gender equality:

UNDP India produces diverse knowledge and communications products that are wide in scope and format, to promote empowering narratives of women and LGBTIQ+ persons as agents and drivers of change.

UNDP's programmatic interventions in India have strong architecture that supports gender mainstreaming efforts across all portfolios.

UNDP has developed strong alliances with an array of civil society and women and trans-rights organizations to advance LGBTQI+ health.

The Country Office has made significant contributions to national gender equality goals, by contributing to the design and formulation of the “SMILE - Support for Marginalized Individuals for Livelihood and Enterprise” scheme, launched in 2022.

"The Gender Seal Mission truly pushed me to think deeper on what we do across our development projects with respect to gender integration. One of the key learning is working with women is not enough and we need to engage with men and boys in a strategic way."

- Divya Jain, Project Officer, Sustainable and Inclusive Growth, UNDP India

"The gender seal process provides an opportunity to pause, reflect and re-think about how gender is omnipresent in every aspect of our work. I hope we build on this momentum and see transformational change in our lifetime - not only for women, but other historically marginalized groups in India as well."

- Vedant Rastogi, Project Coordinator, Accelerator Labs, UNDP India