A letter from UN Women’s Executive Director, Ms Sima Bahous

Throughout 2022 Generation Equality has shown promising initial progress. Thanks to your sustained work as leaders, commitment makers and allies we have started to move from commitments towards implementation.

Over the past year the power of Generation Equality has continued to resound, with the number of commitments more than doubling since Paris, to 2,500. As UN Women we have sought to match this continued commitment with a strengthened foundation for implementation, including through the release of Generation Equality’s first Accountability Report, which showed that nearly 80 per cent of the commitment makers that reported have already begun implementing their pledges and that new multi-stakeholder partnerships continue to be developed. We have also successfully established the Multi-Stakeholder Leadership Group, which is supporting UN Women in driving forward the Generation Equality agenda, and convened the first two meetings in November and December.

For the coming year my hopes are threefold. Firstly, it is critical that every partner takes responsibility for translating their commitments into concrete impact that advances the Global Acceleration Plan. Secondly, our accountability processes need to continue being strengthened to ensure that the promises of Generation Equality are kept, including through enhanced reporting by commitment makers. Finally, we must fully seize the opportunity that the 2023 ‘Midpoint’ Generation Equality Forum in September presents as a moment for advancing accountability and generating new commitments, expanding on themes, constituencies and regions that are currently under-represented and under-served. On my recent mission to Tanzania, President Hassan announced Tanzania’s commitment to co-hosting the forum.

At a moment of escalating risks and rollbacks, Generation Equality offers an unprecedented opportunity to push forward and accelerate progress on gender equality and the Sustainable Development Goals. Commitment to stronger action is therefore one of my top priorities throughout the coming year. You can count on UN Women to be at the helm of all efforts to advance accountability and drive investment.

I thank you for your steadfast efforts and support for Generation Equality over the past twelve months. We finish this year encouraged by what we have achieved, and with ever higher aspirations for what is yet to come.