On 8 March, let’s collaborate for International Women’s Day!
On this page, you can find:
- Details on the UN Women Campaign for IWD 2026.
- Advice from OECD DevCom on “Communicating for Gender Equality in 2026”.
- An archive (last updated in March 2025) on how OECD DevCom members communicate on gender equality
1. UN Women’s 2026 Campaign for IWD
- Women’s rights mean nothing if we cannot defend them. This year’s theme will be “Rights. Justice. Action.”
- Please use the campaign hashtag: #ForAllWomenAndGirls.
- Visit the IWD landing page or feature stories, explainers and multimedia content in English, French, and Spanish.
- Find social media assets on the IWD Trello board and CSW70 Trello.
- Read and share stories, including explainers on impunity, feminism, and equal access to justice (live 5 March).
2. Advice from OECD DevCom
Has gender equality become taboo? At our Briefing Session for IWD 2026, the OECD DevCom Network took stock of trends in how our members are communicating on gender equality. Check out our slide deck below for insights, examples and 6 recommendations.
3. Archive: Campaigns for International Women’s Day
OECD DevCom has been monitoring communications for gender equality and development for several years. Below, you can find recent campaigns for International Women’s Day, examples of language used by DevCom members to describe their work on gender equality, and an overview of countries that adopted feminist foreign and development co-operation policies.
Campaigns for International Women’s Day
2025
UN WOMEN: For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment. (2025)
• #IWD2025 theme “For ALL women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” is a call to defend and advance women’s empowerment. It also marks a milestone— 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, a landmark commitment to gender equality.
•Join the global conversation and celebrate IWD by using the #ForAllWomenAndGirls and #IWD2025 hashtags.
•Calls to Action: Closing the digital gender divide; creating opportunities for women to escape poverty; ending gender-based violence; ensuring Full and Equal Decision-Making Power; guaranteeing peace and security and lastly fostering climate justice.
•Access UN’s social media kit on their Trello Board which will provide you with inspiring visuals and messages to share on female empowerment.
OECD (2025)
The OECD is also a part of the 2025 International Women’s Day campaign:
• Visit OECD’s Development and Gender webpage to get our latest publications and data on progress toward gender equality.
• Follow the Development center’s social media platforms, where they will share insightful data and facts on gender equality (Linkedin, Facebook, X)
2024
UN WOMEN: “Invest in women: Accelerate progress”
• #IWD2024 theme is aligned with the priority theme for the upcoming 68th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW-68), “Accelerating the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls by addressing poverty and strengthening institutions and financing with a gender perspective”.
• Take a stand and join the global conversation by using the #InvestInWomen hashtag.
• Calls to Action: Investing in women: A human rights issue; Ending Poverty; Implementing gender-responsive financing; Shifting to a green economy and care society; Supporting feminist change-makers .
• Learn more about the issues here .
• Find UN Women’s social media package in their Trello board .
OECD
• The 2023 OECD Social Institutions and Gender Index (SIGI) gathers data from 178 countries and territories, measuring discrimination in the family, restricted physical integrity, access to productive and financial resources, and restricted civil liberties.
• We compiled 20 facts from SIGI to help you campaign for International Women’s Day. You can:
• Share them on your social channels using #SIGI #IWD2024
• Publish them on your website (Please be sure to credit the OECD SIGI 2023 Global Report: Gender Equality in Times of Crisis, and link to the report: SIGI 2023 Global Report : Gender Equality in Times of Crisis | OECD iLibrary (oecd-ilibrary.org)
• Use them in speeches and statements.
• If you do use any of these facts in your campaigns, please be sure to let us know at dev.com@oecd.org so that we can share and amplify!
Follow @OECDdev for more information.
• The Development Matters blog also brings interesting discussions on How to make gender equality work for everyone and on Why intersectional feminism matters for development.
Canada – Global Affairs Canada
Throughout the month of March, Canada will highlight success stories on the importance of investing in women and girls, like Orchid’s story – Thanaka project: Girls’ power in Myanmar . Its Instagram @CanadaDev will have weekly new quizzes on #IWD2024
Every day is an opportunity to celebrate women. In recognition of #IWD2024 let’s decide together to #InvestInWomen to accelerate progress and build a more inclusive world. Read Orchid’s powerful story to see how impactful investing in women is! ⬇ Orchid’s story ️️
— Development Canada (@CanadaDev) March 7, 2024
European Investment Bank (EIB)
EIB has released its updated Gender Equality and Women’s Economic Empowerment Overview for 2024, detailing the organisation’s activities and highlighting key projects that directly contribute to women’s economic empowerment worldwide.
For #IWD24, EIB has insightful articles:
• The Economic Power of Gender Equality, an op-ed co-authored by EIB, IMF and EBRD, explores the importance of pursuing diversity and ensuring an equal role for women in the economy, decision-making processes, and policy debates. It argues that such measures can yield better outcomes for people, the planet, and profits.
• Boosting women agri-businesses in Malawi delves into the importance of improving access to finance for small and medium-sized agricultural businesses in Malawi, particularly those led by women. This initiative aims to narrow the gender gap in the country.
Discover more about EIB’s recently established Women Climate Leaders Network , which seeks to leverage women’s leadership in the areas of climate action, environment and sustainability. Explore the importance of women’s leadership in climate action through testimonies of network members on their YouTube playlist .
France – Agence Française de Développement
For #IWD2024, AFD is leveraging storytelling to illustrate their efforts towards achieving gender equality.
• The blogpost (in FR) À la rencontre des femmes qui détiennent des savoirs écologiques en outre-mer highlights the efforts of the project “From Mother to Earth” in assisting women in passing down their traditional ecological knowledge to protect the environment and empowering themselves through their work.
• The blogpost (in ENG) With proparco, gender equality is moving centre stage in the bangladesh textile industry explores how a technical assistance program funded by Proparco is enhancing the health and education of employees in the textile industry in Bangladesh.
2023
Canada – #EndGenderBasedViolence and #StopDigitalViolence in collaboration with UNFPA
This year, Canada will support the UNFPA ‘Virtual is Real campaign’
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.jsThe theme for #IWD2023 is #DigitALL: Innovation and technology for gender equality.
— Development Canada (@CanadaDev) March 6, 2023
Technology is a powerful force in our world. Learn more about how Canada is supporting @UNFPA in protecting online rights ⬇️️
Development Engagement Lab: Public Attitudes Insights on Gender
Based on its cross-country surveys on gender and development cooperation in France, Germany, the UK and the US, DEL has put together:
• A Factsheet on how audiences react to the use of terms like “feminist” or “gender-inclusive”.
• A Press Release with data on perceptions to gender equality.
Please feel free to use it however you see fit, noting the citation requirements. If you have any questions or would like to see visualisations for any of the insights, get in touch with Molly Anders .
Netherlands – #IWD2023 Campaign
During the month of March, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs will focus on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.
• On SheDecides Day (2 March), the campaign focuses on sexual and reproductive rights (SRHR), so that every woman, girl and young person can decide what to do with their body, life and future. On International Women’s Day itself, the campaign focus is on women and girls as leaders and change-makers.
The Dutch MFA is encouraging partners to support its “#IWD2023” campaign by sharing stories of achievements, valuable contributions, and the leadership of women and girls in the advancement of transformative technology and digital education.
• What to do?
1. Choose an inspiring project or person
2. Formulate a powerful message
3. Use the #IWD2023 or #InternationalWomensDay
4. Tag @NLWomensRights and @DutchMFA.
In case of women human rights defenders (WHRDs), do consider the safety risks concerning this person or organisation and request the WHRD’s permission beforehand.
SEGIB – #8M #CerremosLaBrecha #DíaDeLaMujer #DíaDeLasMujeres
This year, SEGIB is joining UN Women’s campaign “For an inclusive digital world: innovation and technology for gender equality” and invites you to hear the stories of women scientists Ana Maria Cetto (#Mexico) and Lesly Zerna (#Bolivia) in the #SomosIberoamérica Podcast . Although they are several generations apart, both have something in common: they are an exception in their field.
Narratives on gender and development co-operation
What terminology are our DevCom members using to describe their work on gender equality?
Examples from the DevCom Community
| Organisation | Gender-focused work | Key quotes |
|---|---|---|
| Australia – Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT) | A new International Gender Equality strategy | ‘’The Australian Government is committed to advancing gender equality and the rights of women and girls at home, in our region and through broader international engagement’’. |
| Austria – Austrian Development Agency (ADA) | Gender Equality | ‘’Empowerment and gender equality In practice, this means that ADA supports measures to ensure the equal participation of women and men and girls and boys in all its projects and programmes. There is a need to address and change discriminatory societal and social norms and practices in order to enable women and men to equally access education and resources such as land, income and capital’’. |
| African Union | 1. Gender Equality & Development 2. AU Strategy for Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment | ‘’Emphasizing the active involvement and leadership of women in peace processes goes beyond a request from African women to be part of discussions for the sake of inclusion or as an assertion of their inherent right to contribute to shaping the vision of Africa’’. |
| Asian Development Bank (ADB) | ADB’s Work in Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment | ‘’ADB is working across Asia and the Pacific to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment, reduce poverty, and contribute to green, equitable, and inclusive development’’. |
| Canada – Global Affairs Canada | 1. Priorities & Initiatives 2. Gender Equality – Tools and resources | ‘’Our work to empower women and girls and promote gender equality in all our international development’’. |
| Finland – Ministry of Foreign Affairs | 1. Ministry of Social Affairs & Health’s key role in promoting gender Equality 2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Generation Equality | ‘’The promotion of gender equality is one of Finland’s foreign policy priorities. Finland has provided both political and financial support to UN Women and promoted women’s rights and gender equality in the organisation’s Executive Board for a long time. The Generation Equality campaign offers Finland an opportunity to reinforce its role as a frontrunner in advancing gender equality’’. |
| France – French Development Agency (AFD) | Gender Equality | ‘’The reduction of gender inequality, equal access to education and the empowerment of women and girls are central to our strategy. We take gender issues into account in our projects and we are a resolutely feminist institution’’. |
| European Commission | Gender equality – European Commission | ‘’Promoting equal economic independence for women and men, closing the gender pay gap, advancing gender balance in decision making, ending gender based violence and promoting gender equality beyond the EU’’. |
| European Investment Bank (EIB) | Gender equality and women’s economic empowerment | ‘’This publication gives an overview of the European Investment Bank’s support for gender equality and women’s economic empowerment. It details the Bank’s activities in the sector and highlights key projects. The stories, videos and case studies, illustrate how the Bank’s financing and advice help countries, regions and cities’’. |
| Germany – Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) | 1. Digital transformation for gender equality and inclusivity 2. We the women | ‘’Indeed, those who stand to benefit most from the opportunities offered by digitalisation – and who could participate more easily in economic, public and political life, take advantage of health services and develop their potential in education and employment – are marginalised groups and women in rural areas’’. |
| Germany – GIZ | GIZ Gender Strategy | “Gender equality is a goal in itself, but it is also a prerequisite and driving force for viable sustainable development. As a value-driven company and reliable actor in international cooperation, GIZ works resolutely to realise equal opportunities and rights for all individuals, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. ” |
| Iceland – Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Government of Iceland – About Gender Equality | ‘’Important steps have been made towards gender equality in Iceland in past decades. Among achievements is the increased participation of women in politics, both at the parliamentary and municipal level. Important legislation has been passed to ensure a more equal society, such as legislation to increase the number of women in leadership positions, and to combat gender-based and sexual violence and harassment’’. |
| Ireland – Irish Aid | Gender equality | ‘’Ireland believes in a world with universal respect for human rights. We know this can be achieved only through gender equality’’. |
| Italy – Agency for Development Co-operation (AICS) | Gender Equality | ‘’Gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls are essential conditions for the eradication of poverty and the construction of a global society based on sustainable development, social justice and human rights’’. |
| Netherlands – Ministry of Foreign Affairs | Development co-operation on women’s Rights and Gender Equality | ‘’The theme ‘Women’s rights and gender equality’ is about equal rights and opportunities for all. These are essential for peace, prosperity and development. The world cannot prosper if half the population is disadvantaged. In the reporting period, the Netherlands supported more than 68,000 women and strengthened 882 civil society organisations working to achieve gender equality. We also contributed to better legislation and changes to norms and values to better protect women’s rights’’. |
| Norway – Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) | Gender Equality for Development | ‘’Women’s rights and gender equality are priority areas for Norwegian foreign and development policy, and a topic that other countries frequently raise in dialogue with Norwegian authorities. Norwegian experiences with gender equality work are sought after as Norway has relatively good results to show in this area’’. |
| OECD | 1. OECD – Gender Equality and Development 2. Toolkit for mainstreaming and implementing gender equality | ‘’Economies are more resilient, productive and inclusive when they reduce gender inequalities and actively support the equal participation of women in all spheres of life’’ |
| OPEC Fund for International Development | Empowering Women for Increased Incomes | ‘’The grant extended to ICEP Institut zur Cooperation bei Entwicklungs-Projekten aims at consolidating and establishing sustainable local capacity-building structures that provide entrepreneurial training and empowerment for women from poor or extremely poor backgrounds in Guatemala, Nicaragua and El Salvador. The project contributes to attain MDG 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger and MDG 3: Promote gender equality and empower women’’. |
| Poland – Polish Aid | Polish Aid & Women Power | ‘’Poland supports professional activation of women in such places as Palestine, Kenya and Belarus, Ukraine in the belief that their independence means a better future for themselves, their families and whole societies’’. |
| Portugal – Camões Institute | Camões: Gender page | ‘’Gender equality is particularly relevant to the coherence of development policies, so it is important to strengthen the transversality of the gender equality dimension in Portuguese cooperation, bilaterally and multilaterally, and in partnerships with civil society actors and the private sector, in order to ensure the full realization of women’s human rights’’. |
| Secretaría General Iberoamericana (SEGIB) | 1. Gender equality 2. Legal frameworks for women’s economic autonomy and empowerment in Ibero-America/ | ‘’In response to the binding mandates of the Ibero-American Summit and recognizing its centrality for the achievement of sustainable development in the region, the Ibero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB) promotes gender equality as a strategic axis of Ibero-American cooperation’’. |
| Sweden – Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency (SIDA) | Gender equality | ‘’Gender equality is about the equal rights, opportunities and responsibilities of women, men and non-binary people to shape society and their own lives. Gender equality is a human right and a prerequisite for eradicating poverty. For Sida, gender equality is a prioritised issue and permeates all work’’. |
| World Bank | 1. World Bank on Gender 2. Gender Strategy 2024 – 2030 | ‘’The World Bank takes as its starting point that no country, community, or economy can achieve its potential or meet the challenges of the 21st century without the full and equal participation of women and men, girls and boys’’. |
Feminist Foreign Policy
In recent years, some countries have labeled their foreign and development co-operation policies as “feminist.” Our interview with the Development Engagement Lab discusses the pros and cons of this approach.
Countries that have adopted feminist foreign policy
| COUNTRY | Quotes from statements | Resources |
| Australia | ‘’While gender equality is central to a feminist approach, a focus on gender equality alone is not enough. A feminist approach understands that what underpins gender inequality is unequal power relationships based on gender and extends this analysis to the systems of power which underpin inequality and injustice at a global scale – such as patriarchy, colonialism, and exploitative capitalism’’. | Australian Feminist Foreign Policy Coalition |
| Canada | ‘’Peace and prosperity are every person’s birthright. Today, as Canadians, we have a great opportunity to help the people of the world’s developing countries join the global middle class and the multilateral system that supports it. It is worth reminding ourselves why we step up—why we devote time and resources to foreign policy, trade, defence and development: Canadians are safer and more prosperous when more of the world shares our values. Those values include feminism and the promotion of the rights of women and girls’’. | Canada’s Feminist International Assistance Policy |
| Chile | ‘’Chile has a Feminist Foreign Policy! Our country becomes the first South American country to implement a Feminist Foreign Policy, joining those who already have one, such as France, Canada, Spain, Luxembourg and Mexico. Thus, Chile advances in its commitment to human rights and equality, through our foreign policy to achieve a more inclusive society’’. | Feminist Foreign Policy (minrel.gob.cl) |
| France | ‘’Gender equality is a priority for the French government. Internationally, the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs delivers on this commitment through its feminist foreign policy. France is advocating gender equality in international forums and wants this goal to be taken into account in all issues, including inequality reduction and sustainable development, peace and security, defence and promotion of fundamental rights, and climate and economic issues’’. | Feminist diplomacy a priority for the French MFA |
| Germany | Feminist development policy is not a “policy by women for women”. Feminist development policy promotes global justice, prosperity and social cohesion. | Feminist development policy strategy – BMZ |
| ‘’Feminist development policy. Equality promotes peace and security In recognition of this fact, the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has adopted a new strategy for feminist development policy. It is based on the knowledge that the contributions that women and girls make are essential. Denying them the chance to contribute and participate would mean squandering significant potential, especially in development cooperation’’. | Feminist development policy | |
| Spain | ‘’The decision to draw up a feminist foreign policy stems from Spain’s leadership at the very highest level in recent years and from a strong political commitment to push on in compliance with the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). Our country has also become a benchmark on the international stage, thanks to its regulatory framework and its public policies in such fields as the fight against gender-based violence, equality at work and home/life balance’’. | Feminist Foreign Policy |
| Netherlands | ‘’The Netherlands is keen to reduce inequality and to achieve gender and LBGTIQ+ equality all over the world, so the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is working on a feminist foreign policy’’. | Feminist foreign policy explained |
| Mexico | ‘’Mexico’s feminist foreign policy is based on a set of five principles that seek to guide the government’s actions to reduce and eliminate structural differences, gender gaps and inequalities, in order to build a more just and prosperous society: 1. Feminist foreign policy with a gender perspective and a feminist agenda abroad 2. Parity within the Foreign Ministry 3. A Foreign Ministry free of violence that is safe for all 4. Visible equality, and 5. Feminism in all areas of the Foreign Ministry’’. | Mexico’s feminist foreign policy, one of three best in the world |