Giving Compass' Take:

• Earlier in September, Equal Measures 2030 (EM2030) launched a new SDG gender monitoring tool called the SDG Gender Index to improve efforts on gathering gender data. 

• SDG experts believe that the new device will help track gender equality data and improve the systems already in place to advance the SDG focused on advocating for women and girls. 

• Read the Giving Compass Gender Equality guide for donors.

As we approach the  73rd United Nations General Assembly and Global Goals Week 2018 – the three-year mark since launching the ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – it is clear that our monitoring capabilities need to grow to match our ambitions, especially those related to closing equity gaps for women and girls.

Because of this need, new efforts are being made to capture and convey the progress, or lack of progress, toward the SDGs. On September 19, Equal Measures 2030 (EM2030) launched a new SDG gender monitoring tool – the SDG Gender Index – that will complement official monitoring efforts from the U.N. system, as well as national-level and civil-society initiatives.

Through cross-country comparisons, the index provides a new perspective on understanding SDGprogress on gender equality, while using this information to inform advocacy and accountability efforts.

Ultimately, the goal of this index is to help gender-equality advocates track broad SDG progress on girls and women while promoting accountability among decision-makers.

As a founding partner of EM2030, Data2X believes this index offers a new insight into SDG tracking on gender equality through its ability to: 1. foster cross-country comparisons; and 2. combine official SDG gender indicators with gender issues that are not included as official SDG indicators but are critical to achieving SDG targets – such as women in climate change processes and openness of gender data.

Improvements to existing gender data and consistent work to close gender data gaps are imperative for quality SDG tracking and sound policymaking. To serve that end, Data2X, with our partner Open Data Watch, has undertaken new mapping work (building on our original 2014 report “Mapping the Gender Data Gaps”) to identify and highlight the gender data gaps, in alignment with the SDGs.

Read the full article about improving gender data by Emily Courey Pryor at News Deeply