In 2024 UNFPA renewed its commitment to gender equity by obtaining EDGE Move, the second level of EDGE certification, the leading global business certification standard for gender equality. It has also reconfirmed its commitment as the first UN agency to intersectional equity by renewing its EDGEplus certification, which measures how the different experiences based on gender, ethnicity, sexual identity/orientation, age, disability and nationality intersect with each other. UNFPA received the first level of such certification, Assess, already in 2022.

UNFPA’s EDGE Move and EDGEplus certifications demonstrate that UNFPA has been able to maintain gender balance across all levels of responsibility since 2020, while significantly increasing the share of women in leadership positions. UNFPA also has a strong existing framework of policies and practices to ensure equitable career flows in the areas of equal pay for equivalent work, recruitment and promotion, flexible working and organizational culture, as shown by the chart below. 

The certification came with an ambitious action plan that aims to implement transformative results revolving around empowerment and equity, necessary to maintain UNFPA as a leader in equality in the workplace. In this context, UNFPA will provide personnel with opportunities to receive coaching and mentoring in support of their career development. By empowering our personnel with knowledge, skills and social capital, they will be equipped to develop the careers they aspire to, unimpeded by bias or inequities. UNFPA will also conduct a yearly gender pay-gap analysis to dispel perceptions on pay inequity across the organization and engage in candid conversations on outcomes of the analysis.