At the midpoint of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, progress on SDG 5 on achieving gender equality and empowering all women and girls has stalled. Recognizing this challenge, the independent evaluation offices of UN Women, UNDP, UNFPA, UNICEF and WFP collaborated to conduct an inter-agency synthesis of United Nations system evaluations related to SDG 5.

The dataset of SDG 5 evaluations included 619 evaluation reports from 33 United Nations entities. Of these, nearly half of the evaluations were chosen for further analysis. The analysis synthesised evidence on what helps and hinders progress, what approaches work and do not work, and key lessons and evidence gaps across the nine targets of SDG 5.

The report identifies several factors that contribute to progress towards SDG 5. These include the critical role of the United Nations towards advancing gender-responsive legislation, and the effectiveness of integrated and holistic programming. The report further highlights the use of knowledge, data and research to support advocacy efforts, technical support and capacity strengthening, and the essential role of civil society partners in driving progress towards SDG 5. 

However, operationalizing the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’ remains a challenge. Prioritising gender in humanitarian situations must be more sustained and comprehensive. Stronger and innovative monitoring and evaluation approaches are needed to assess contribution more rigorously towards gender equality outcomes. Harmful social norms and inadequate financing for gender equality initiatives remain significant barriers. Government commitment and institutional readiness are critical enabling factors for the development and implementation of legislation, policies and services. Evaluations also highlight the detrimental impact of COVID-19 on gender equality outcomes and programming across the targets. 

These findings can catalyse action by providing policymakers, programme implementers, donors and United Nations agencies with evidence and lessons learned to speed up collective efforts to accelerate progress on SDG 5. 

Getting there together: A synthesis of inter-agency programme evaluations on SDG 5: A companion to ‘Are we getting there? A synthesis of UN system evaluations of SDG 5’

With a growing emphasis on United Nations inter-agency collaboration, this companion report analyses 68 inter-agency evaluations, including those that were excluded from the main synthesis report due to their 2023 completion date. This analysis provides unique insights into joint United Nations programming for SDG 5, examining its strategic significance, effectiveness, coherence, enabling factors, barriers, recommendations, evidence gaps, and lessons learned. Specifically, this report explores the role of inter-agency work in achieving SDG 5 targets, successful collaborative practices, areas for improved coordination, and existing knowledge gaps.