The Generation Equality Action Coalitions are a collection of six multistakeholder partnerships on gender equality focused on catalyzing concrete collective action to deliver game-changing results for girls and women. Transformative and measurable commitments are at the heart of the Action Coalitions’ ambition to drive accountability and impact. 

The Action Coalition commitments take the form of financial support for the realization of results on gender equality; advocacy that amplifies and mobilizes support for transformative change; policy change that supports gender equality and women’s empowerment, particularly in the context of a government, company or organization; and scalable programming which delivers on services, research and other actions that support gender equality. In addition to the commitments, each Action Coalition has identified a core set of numeric targets which will be used to assess the impact of the Action Coalitions’ work. To learn more, see the Action Coalitions Global Acceleration Plan.

No, the Action Coalition targets as outlined in the Action Coalitions Global Acceleration Plan report were agreed through a separate consultation process and launched at the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City in March 2021 and confirmed at the Generation Equality Forum in Paris in June 2021.

The accountability framework for the Action Coalitions will include four core elements: 1. Reporting on the implementation of commitments; 2. Assessment of progress towards the targets and sub-targets set by each Action Coalition under the Action Coalition blueprints; 3. Assessments of the extent to which Action Coalitions lead and reflect transformative processes; and 4. Stories of impact focused on demonstrating how the Action Coalitions, individually and together, have advanced concrete change but also where greater efforts are needed. The open consultation, which took place in December 2021, was focused on area 2: Monitoring of Targets. Separate consultations and processes are planned for the other three areas. 

The list of indicators contains suggestions for global indicators for monitoring the targets of the 6 Action Coalitions based on earlier consultations with relevant stakeholders, inputs from the Action Coalition thematic leads, relevant international agencies and other entities/technical experts with relevant knowledge about existing data sources.

At the conclusion of the consultation, 273 inputs were received from 70 organizations. 47 per cent of organizations responding to the consultation self-identified as commitment makers, 41 per cent as leaders/co-leaders, 6 per cent as Government and the remaining 6 per cent were other relevant stakeholders, including private sector. Note some organizations may belong to more than one category but were included in only one category to avoid double-counting. 

All contributions submitted during the open consultation were carefully reviewed. The following criteria were used to determine a final set of indicators to monitor the Action Coalitions' global targets:

• Indicators agreed under an existing global framework, such as the SDGs, were prioritized. A third of all indicators selected are SDG indicators. In some Action Coalitions, the alignment is higher, for example 56% of the indicators selected for monitoring the global targets under the Bodily Autonomy and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Action Coalitions are SDG indicators.
• As much as possible, selection was limited to one indicator per target. The reasoning for this requirement is two-fold: 1. To ensure the final list of indicators is clear and concise from a communications perspective; and 2. To limit the reporting burden, including on data collection, compilation and analysis for periodic reporting.
• Indicators for which a methodology is available, and data are regularly collected (Tier I) were prioritized, followed by indicators for which there is a methodology, but data collection is irregular (Tier II). A limited number of indicators for which both methodological developments and data collection are needed (Tier III) were included. An overabundance of Tier II and Tier III indicators will result in a framework that relies on indicators that are unlikely to have baseline data, let alone trend data, over the 5-year time span of the Action Coalitions. The SDG criteria/definitions of Tiers has been adopted for the Action Coalition work. See the full definition of Tier classifications.
• Fit-for-purpose: is the indicator the best measure for assessing progress towards the target under review? Indicators that could be used to monitor multiple targets were also preferred in view of the objective to support cross-Coalition collaboration.
• Where multiple indicators were suggested to monitor a target, the indicator with the most endorsements during the open consultation were selected, taking also into account the other criteria outlined above as well as additional discussions with key stakeholders, including data producers and leaders/co-leaders of the Action Coalitions.

The targets and sub-targets identified in the Action Coalition blueprints define long term and broad changes that the Action Coalitions hope to contribute to. But these outcomes are influenced not only by the work and commitments of the Action Coalitions but also the work done by others, including activities related to the acceleration of progress on the 2030 Agenda and other similar country, regional and global efforts to support gender equality. The indicators identified through this consultation process will monitor progress on our shared vision as reflected in the blueprint targets and sub-targets. Other indicators and tools will also inform monitoring of progress, including a survey focused on tracking implementation of commitments and stories of impact, as well as broader evaluations of the Action Coalition process. Separate consultations are planned to develop these additional elements of the broader Action Coalition Accountability Framework (see the FAQ: What are the components of the Monitoring and Accountability Framework for the Action Coalitions?

All indicators will be disaggregated by sex, age, location (e.g., urban/rural), income, race/ethnicity, and other characteristics such as disability, migrant status and sexual orientation and gender identity as relevant and where possible. Characteristics which result in marginalization vary depending on context and so disaggregation groups cannot be decided universally for all indicators. As agreed in other global frameworks, such as the SDGs, disaggregation will be prioritized as much as possible to ensure all women and girls are included in the progress being monitored under the Action Coalition monitoring and accountability framework. Over the coming year, metadata will be compiled for all indicators selected, information including availability of disaggregated data across indicators will also be assessed. See Next Steps above. 

After baseline data has been established, UN Women will revisit the current tiers of the indicators. For indicators where the final review still indicates that they are Tier III (i.e., both methodological development and data collection are needed), efforts will be made to start work on methodological development in consultation with relevant action coalition co-leads, data providers and other stakeholders during the Action Coalitions process. For some of the Action Coalitions increase data production and use is a priority area and thus integral to successful implementation of the Action Coalitions, see for example Priority Area 4 of the Feminist Action for Climate Justice.   

The Compact has an independent monitoring mechanism and the modalities of how it may intersect with this Monitoring and Accountability Framework is still to be finalized and will be shared as it becomes available.