Support for the OECD Development Centre's Gender Programme

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Finland supports the improvement of rights and well-being of women in developing countries through the generation and provision of information on social norms, policy discussion and capacity building. Discrimination of women affects negatively the economic and social development in the developing world. This is evident from OECD Development Centre's gender data that is published under name SIGI -Social Institutions and Gender Index. OECD Development Centre has since 2006 developed gender equality related databases and analytical tools. The aim is now to continue and scale up this work. Finland is continuing the funding for the development of gender equality related databases and tools of the OECD development center. The purpose of these is to support the policy discussions on gender equality, and to better mainstream gender equality in development policies and development cooperation. Finland has been the key supporter in the development of SIGI as well as in creating the Wikigender-platform. With the help of previous funding from Finland, Norway, Sweden and Austria, a database has been created to provide information on the elements of gender equality and to produce analyses of its impacts both in individual lives and in whole societies. The webpage genderindex.org provides information and analyses on gender based discrimination and its impacts on development. SIGI has been the first to provide internationally comparable data on discrimination. It is available to policy makers, researchers and statistical offices.