Australia’s international support for gender equality

In 2015, Australia established the Gender Equality Fund to strengthen work on gender equality and women's empowerment in the aid program. The Fund maintains flagship investments that promote gender equality in the Pacific and South-East Asia, and supports innovative investments at country, regional and global levels, including through partnerships with the private sector and civil society. The Gender Equality Fund plays an important role in shaping Australia's development program to drive strong gender equality performance and results.

To support gender-responsive COVID-19 efforts, the Gender Equality Fund received an additional $10 million in the financial year 2020-21, increasing the total to $65 million. The Australian Government has since maintained the same fund level for the Gender Fund.

Work to end sexual and gender-based violence and advance and protect women's sexual and reproductive health and rights

Australia's efforts to address, prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) in all its forms include: supporting regional and 19 bilateral ending GBV projects across Asia and the Pacific through our development and humanitarian programs, helping to build the evidence on what works to end violence, supporting knowledge exchange and collaboration between Australian organisations and our regional partners, and advocating for a strong focus on addressing and preventing GBV in international forums.

Australia is also a member of several global advocacy partnerships focused on advancing efforts to end gender-based violence, including the UN Group of Friends for the Elimination of Violence against Women and Girls, the Generation Equality Forum Action Coalition on Gender-Based Violence, Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse, and the Call to Action on Protection of Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies.

Southeast Asia Gender-Based Violence Prevention Platform

$20.0 million, 2024-2029

The Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence (GBV) Prevention Platform aims to improve coordinated and collaborative efforts to prevent GBV in the Southeast Asia region through evidence-based advocacy, dialogue, policy and programming. It brings together partner governments, civil society, non-government organisations, regional bodies and international organisations to collaborate, share and work together to build capacity, evidence and action to prevent GBV.

Australia is also funding a UN Joint Programme (USD5 million, 2024-2028) led by UN Women and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to support and work with the Platform to prevent GBV in all its forms across the region.

Support to UN Women

$22.5 million, 2020-2025

In 2020 Australia commenced a new phase of funding through the Gender Equality Fund to support UN Women's Ending Violence against Women and Girls to deliver activities focused on prevention, essential services and support for local women's organisations to end violence against women and girls.

Specific activities funded under this investment include:

grant support for women's organisations responding to gender-based violence (GBV) through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women
delivery of prevention activities in the Indo-Pacific focused on stopping violence before it starts and
support for the UN Joint Global Programme for Essential Services for Women and Girls subject to violence to ensure frontline services are able to effectively respond to GBV across Asia and the Pacific.

Since 2020, UN Women has launched and implemented the 'Making Progress in Prevention Possible' monitoring framework, 'RESPECT Women: Preventing Violence against women – Implementation Package' and 'Policy Handbook on Multisectoral National Action Plans to Prevent Violence' to support prevention activities in the Indo-Pacific. Through the UN Joint Global Programme for Essential Services, UN Women provided direct technical support and developed new guidance to improve services for survivors, including the launch and roll-out of a 'Training Package for Prosecutors', 'Handbook on Gender-responsive policing practices', published guidance on 'Safe consultations with survivors of violence against women and girls' and 'Global Costing Tool' guidance on estimating resource requirements for services.

Support to UNFPA – kNOwVAWdata Initiative

$3.3 million, 2021-2025

Australia is supporting UNFPA to deliver the second Phase of the kNOwVAWdata initiative to strengthen regional and national capacity to measure violence against women (VAW) prevalence in Asia and the Pacific. Launched in 2016, kNOwVAWdata is a partnership between UNFPA, the Australian Government, the University of Melbourne and Australia's National Research Organisation for Women's Safety (ANROWS), which provides technical support and capacity building, enabling countries to undertake VAW prevalence studies in an ethical and scientifically robust way. Australia provided $2.9 million to support the successful first phase of the kNOwVAWdata program between 2016-2021. During Phase 1, kNOwVAWdata supported 23 countries in Asia and the Pacific with violence against women data prevalence activities. The Phase 1 evaluation found that kNOwVAWdata had increased awareness and knowledge of violence against women data, and this had influenced policy and advocacy efforts in several countries across the region.

UNICEF - Empowered and Equal Futures for Girls through Education in Southeast Asia

$7.0 million, 2023 – 2027

Australia is supporting UNICEF to strengthen education systems across Southeast Asia to address gender-based violence (GBV), promote positive gender norms and make schools safe for girls. Through this program, UNICEF is implementing whole-school approaches in primary and secondary schools in Cambodia and Vietnam by supporting schools, families and communities to create a safe school environment. The program is also working with regional institutions to strengthen education policies on ending GBV in and around schools and promote regional exchange and collaboration on advancing gender equality through education.

Pursue gender responsive peace and security efforts

The five year, $30 million Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Investment 2022-2027 is one significant and substantial means through which Australia will contribute to achieving the goal of Australia's National Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security 2021-2031: that in the context of increasing insecurity with climate change, diverse women and girls realise their human rights and achieve meaningful participation in all of Australia's work to prevent and resolve conflict and establish enduring peace. In 2025-26, Australia will conduct an independent mid-term review of the NAP on WPS and publish our second NAP progress report.

UN Women Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Asia Pacific Region

$10.5 million, 2022-2027

The Regional Framework addresses priority WPS issues and emerging trends in the Asia-Pacific region. Activities under this investment include:

technical support to governments in the region to develop, implement and review National Action Plans and the ASEAN Regional Plan of Action on WPS
research, data and tools on WPS
creation of a coordination mechanism and engagement platform for government, civil society organisations and other WPS actors
technical and financial support to civil society organisations to implement the WPS agenda at the regional, national and community levels
capacity strengthening and networking opportunities for women's rights civil society organisations to advance WPS.

Women, Peace and Humanitarian Fund

$7.5 million, 2022-2027

The Women's Peace and Humanitarian Fund (WPHF) is a UN multi-partner trust fund which finances women's participation, leadership, inclusion and empowerment in humanitarian responses and peace and security settings. Australia was a founding donor and supporter of the WPHF.

ActionAid Australia

$3.4 million, 2022-2027

This investment supports (i) the establishment of a Pacific Women Mediators Network (PWMN), and (ii) strengthened civil society engagement on Women Peace and Security (WPS) in Asia-Pacific and the Great Lakes region in Africa.

The PWMN will provide regional actors with women mediators and negotiators, coordinated by the Shifting the Power Coalition. Activities include:

creation of a network of women mediators
development of a knowledge management platform to support advocacy and action on WPS in the Pacific
establishment of channels for the PWMN to engage with national and regional actors through convening of meetings.

Civil society engagement on WPS includes strengthening dialogue and engagement among women peacebuilders in Asia, the Pacific and the Great Lakes region of Africa. Activities include:

mapping women's organisations and activists working across the regions on WPS
research and development of evidenced-based briefs to support advocacy and accountability for implementation of the WPS agenda
regional convenings to share learning, build understanding and identify and define priorities for advancing WPS
development of communication tools and digital platforms for engagement.

Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies

$2.35 million, 2022-2027

This investment supports the Southeast Asian Network of Women Peace Mediators (SEAWPM). The Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies (CPCS) is a well-established regional organization with experience implementing conflict transformation and peace process facilitation. The CPCS is also the secretariat of the SEAWPM.

The SEAWPM was established in 2019 to facilitate the involvement of its women mediators and negotiators in all phases of peace and conflict resolution processes in Asia. The SEAWPM is an independent but complimentary mechanism to ASEAN, making it uniquely placed to accompany ASEAN as a regional mediation mechanism. Activities include:

diplomacy with decision-makers and actors in analysing and exploring strategies and mechanisms for preventing, deescalating, and transforming political crises in Asia
convening stakeholders in processes that enhance the potential for constructive dialogue across and within concerned parties relevant to conflicts and their resolution
responding to emerging opportunities for mediation and facilitation in regional peace processes.

Legal Action Worldwide

$2.7 million, 2023-2027

This investment establishes an innovative, international Gender Justice Practitioners Hub. Leveraging practitioners' experiences at national, regional and international level, the Hub develops comprehensive tools, resources and information to facilitate gender analysis and trauma-informed and survivor-centred accountability processes, strengthening efforts in pursuit of gender justice for all victims and survivors of international crimes.

The Practitioner Hub will be constructed in two phases.

Phase 1 (18 months) will involve consultations with diverse stakeholders, mapping of existing initiatives, scoping of needs and development of initial resources and website.
Informed by Phase 1, Phase 2 will involve the establishment of the Practitioner Hub.

Promote women's economic equality and inclusive trade

Australia supports various initiatives to enhance women's economic empowerment and promote sustainable and inclusive economic development. These initiatives help mitigate the disproportionate impacts of economic downturns on women, and also harnesses their agency to contribute to and benefit from economic recovery measures and emerging green job opportunities.

UN Women Gender Action Lab

$7.1 million, 2024-2028

UN Women works with the private sector to advance gender-responsive business conduct through the Women's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) –seven principles that provide companies a roadmap to become more gender-responsive throughout their value chain. To deepen this approach, in 2024 the Australian Government and UN Women launched the UN Women Gender Action Lab (GAL): Innovation and impact for gender equality in the Asia-Pacific region, powered by the Women's Empowerment Principles. The GALs will identify, pilot and scale innovative multi-stakeholder partnership initiatives, such as thematic innovation labs, hackathons, incubators and accelerators, policy labs and applied research initiatives. A consultative process will determine and co-design activities with partners in areas such as:

Creating more inclusive workplaces, including for people living with disabilities
Advancing family-friendly workplaces, for example through employer-supported care services
Implementing innovative practices for gender-responsive procurement
Strengthening accountability through gender-reporting
Supporting innovation in climate tech and opportunities for women in the blue and green economies.

The four priority countries are Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines, with the aim to expand over time into other countries.

Investing in Women

Up to $80 million, 2023-27

Investing in Women (IW) is a multi-country initiative that seeks to accelerate women's economic equality and promote inclusive economic growth across Southeast Asia. Through partnerships with diverse stakeholders, IW supports women to thrive in the workplace and succeed in business.

Building on the lessons under the first seven years of the program (2016-2023; $102 million), IW works with business leaders, investors, and policymakers to remove barriers to women's full economic participation in Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines and (in a limited way) Myanmar. IW's efforts focus on women in the formal sector and small-to-medium-sized business owners, recognising them as crucial drivers of progress on gender equality that can stimulate broader change. The program's workstreams include:

Workplace Gender Equality: Supporting local business coalitions and partners to help leading companies build gender-equal workplaces through changes in organisational cultures, practices, and policy.
Enabling Policy Reform: Working with credible local institutions to strengthen the evidence base and drive collective action needed to influence and inform policy reform that supports women's equal economic participation, particularly related to the care economy.
Campaigns and Communities of Practice: Supporting locally driven campaigns and communities of practice to promote gender-equal attitudes and behaviours that strengthen public support for women's economic participation.
Gender Lens Investing: Working with investors and impact networks to increase investment in businesses, benefiting women by deploying Gender Lens Investing (GLI) strategies and products. This includes an IW funding window within Australian Development Investments (ADI).

Key program achievements since 2016:

Established Business Coalitions which partner with the private sector in Southeast Asia to advance workplace gender equality. Together these coalitions have enlisted 188 businesses, representing over 1.1 million employees, to implement more equitable workplace policies and practices
Invested into over 90 women-led SMEs in Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam which has helped catalyse over $290 million in co-financing
Deployed financing to investors in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines to develop innovative financial products and services to meet the needs of women-owned and led small businesses
Supported local partners to deliver evidence-based gender equality campaigns, reaching over 350 million people across Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam
Established six partner-led Communities of Practice that facilitate peer-to-peer learning, support, and collaboration among gender equality advocates in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

Women's World Banking

$16 million, 2024-2028

Women's World Banking is a leading global organisation working with financial service providers and policy makers to give low-income women increased access and capability to use financial tools and resources – thus increasing their economic empowerment. This investment provides both core (global) funding and targeted support in Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Cambodia and Vietnam). It builds on work undertaken during Australia's earlier partnerships with the organisation (2016-2024).

Women's World Banking helps women build financial security and resilience to shocks, through access to savings products, credit and capital for their businesses, micro-insurance and secure digital financial products (including government social protection payments). It is on track to reach 100 million women globally by 2027, through financial solutions that are relevant to their needs, reduce their risk of falling into poverty, and enable them to fully engage in productive economic activities. It also engages with policy makers to overcome barriers to women's financial inclusion and researches the impact of financial inclusion on women's economic empowerment.

Orange Bond Initiative

$12 million, 2022-2028

Australia has supported the Asia Impact Investment Exchange (IIX) since 2016 when, in partnership with the US, we provided funding for the first Women's Livelihood Bond (WLB). Australia provided further support to IIX for subsequent WLBs and in 2021 to IIX's COVID-19 Relief, Recovery and Resilience (RRR) program. In 2022, with Australian support IIX developed, and brought the WLBs under, the ‘Orange Bond Initiative' (OBI). The OBI is created as a recognised asset class for gender bonds, to encourage more players to bring more and high-quality gender bonds to market.

Led by its Steering Committee (on which Australia is a member) and with over 100 consultations, the OBI designed a set of global principles for gender bonds. It has built the ecosystem and infrastructure to mobilise at greater scale capital transactions that tap into the multi-trillion-dollar debt capital markets, to address financing gaps within gender lens investing (GLI) and the sustainable development agenda. The OBI aims to mobilise USD10 billion and empower 100 million women, girls and the LGBTQI+ community to create inclusive, resilient and green outcomes by 2030.

Support locally led approaches to women's leadership

Australia works across the region to support and recognise women's voices and leadership. These innovative DFAT investments are catalytic, enable greater reach to grassroots rights organisations and support advocacy for gender equality on multiple levels.

RiseUp!

$9.0 million, 2020 – 2026

Recognising the vital role of women and girls, Australia supports young women across six countries to take up formal and informal leadership roles in their networks and communities through World YWCA. Women aged between 18 and 30 access training, safe spaces and networks to build and exercise their leadership capabilities and advocate for change based on local contexts and priorities across the Indo-Pacific region.

Amplify-Invest-Reach: A pilot partnership with regional Women's Funds

$14.6 million, 2022-26

Women's Funds across Asia and the Pacific play a vital role in supporting human rights defenders and advocating for the rights of women, girls, and other marginalised groups. To strengthen this work, Australia partners with four organisations—Women's Fund Asia (WFA), Urgent Action Fund for Women's Human Rights – Asia and Pacific (UAF A&P), Women's Fund Fiji (WFF), and the Pacific Feminist Fund (PFF)—through the Amplify – Invest – Reach (A-I-R) pilot partnership. Since 2022, the partnership has provided core funding to Women's Funds and facilitated 494 grants to women's rights organisations and human rights actors across 25 countries, advancing gender equality and human rights. An independent evaluation conducted in 2025 recommended that the A-I-R pilot be significantly scaled up and extended, recognising its impact and potential.

Gender data

Australia's policy engagement and investments are strengthening capacities to collect, analyse and make accessible statistics on gender equality and the empowerment of women. Improvements in gender data support progress in such areas as women's health and wellbeing, women's workforce participation, and ending violence against women. In addition, high-quality data are critical for enabling governments in our region to ensure their policies are effective for all.

UN Women: Making Every Women and Girl Count (Phase 2)

$7 million, 2022-2026

Australia contributes to funds UN Women's global flagship program on better gender statistics, Making Every Women and Girl Count ( Women Count). Working with partner governments, international agencies and other actors, Women Count assists governments to collect, analyse and use good gender data, including to monitor progress on the Sustainable Development Goals. Women Count has three driving outcomes; 1) creating an enabling environment for gender statistics to inform policy, through the institutionalisation of gender data and gender sensitive considerations into policy frameworks; 2) increase gender-sensitive data production as standard practice; and 3) improving data accessibility and use.

International Women's Development Agency: Equality Insights

$3.5 million, 2024-2026

Australia has been at the forefront of supporting a move towards multidimensional, gender-sensitive data and poverty measurement that can accurately capture gender inequalities. Through a partnership with the International Women's Development Agency, Australia has supported the Equality Insights program since 2014, when it was being developed as the Individual Depravation Measure. This program aims to make gender-sensitive, individual-level, multidimensional data accessible to governments and decision-makers, improving the evidence available to them for policy decisions that advance gender equality.

United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

$31.2 million, 2022-2025

UN Women is the United Nations (UN) entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls. UN Women is a valued partner for Australia in advancing gender equality and women's and girls' human rights, in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.

Australia provides UN Women with funding to support its work, guided by the Strategic Partnership Framework between the Australian Government and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) 2022-2025. This includes annual core voluntary contributions, totalling $31.2 million for the period 2022-2025. In addition, Australia provides funding to support UN Women's activities at the regional and country level.

The Strategic Partnership Framework identifies the following shared objectives:

promoting, protecting and strengthening global norms, policies and standards on gender equality and women's empowerment
strengthening the UN system's action on gender equality
advancing disability and social inclusion
reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience
women's economic empowerment
ending violence against women and girls
women's participation in leadership and decision-making, including in building sustainable peace and resilience
improving the availability and use of disaggregated data and evidence on gender equality
delivery representing good value for money in the Indo-Pacific region and globally.

Our cooperation with UN Women complements Australia's own efforts for the achievement of gender equality, domestically and internationally, with a particular focus on women's leadership and decision-making, women's economic empowerment, ending violence against women and girls, sexual and reproductive health and rights, and the Women, Peace and Security agenda.

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Gender equality

Australia’s international support for gender equality

Work to end sexual and gender-based violence and advance and protect women's sexual and reproductive health and rights

Southeast Asia Gender-Based Violence Prevention Platform

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Support to UN Women

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Support to UNFPA – kNOwVAWdata Initiative

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UNICEF - Empowered and Equal Futures for Girls through Education in Southeast Asia

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Pursue gender responsive peace and security efforts

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UN Women Regional Framework Towards Peaceful, Inclusive Societies: Advancing the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the Asia Pacific Region

Women, Peace and Humanitarian Fund

ActionAid Australia

Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies

Legal Action Worldwide

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Promote women's economic equality and inclusive trade

UN Women Gender Action Lab

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Investing in Women

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Women's World Banking

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Orange Bond Initiative

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Support locally led approaches to women's leadership

RiseUp!

Amplify-Invest-Reach: A pilot partnership with regional Women's Funds

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Gender data

UN Women: Making Every Women and Girl Count (Phase 2)

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International Women's Development Agency: Equality Insights

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United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women)

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