Regional Training Course on harnessing gender data for SDG monitoring, policy making and action

Gender equality is a fundamental principle embedded within the framework of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It is not only a standalone goal (SDG 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls) but also a crosscutting topic that influences the achievement of the goals of the 2030 development agenda.
High quality, timely, comparable, and disaggregated gender data provide the evidence needed to measure progress towards achieving the gender-related SDG goals and targets. Such data are also indispensable in identifying gaps, informing policy decisions and implementing effective interventions. Some countries in Asia and the Pacific have made substantial progress to set up enabling environments for gender data and producing related statistics. However, challenges remain regarding the uptake of gender data either linked to gender data accessibility (openness, dissemination and NSO engagement with partners and stakeholders across the government and beyond) or to data literacy and documentary evidence of data use. According to the UN Women and Paris21 Gender Data Outlook (GDO) Index, multiple countries in Asia could improve in this regard. In the Pacific, GDO data are not available for most countries.