Since September 2019, the GCSP has been incubating the initiative within its Creative Spark and with the support of donors, dedicated staff and resources to the IGC Secretariat. 

“The Creative Spark is a project incubator and accelerator”, says Ambassador Dussey, “the level that the IGC has reached is already excellent, the initiative is having a real impact.  We hope to take it even further – expanding the network within hubs and to new hubs, and deepening impact. Achieving gender equality demands collaboration, creativity and innovation across sectors, and the Creative Spark provides a unique environment for that, with the benefits of organisational support”.

A number of innovative projects have already been incubated in the Creative Spark, including the Global Community Engagement and Resilience Fund, Media and Arts for Peace, Cyber Aid, the Geneva Cities Hub and most recently IDE4 Collaboration Spotting and Climate Action Accelerator. 

The International Gender Champions is a leadership network that brings together female & male decision-makers determined to break down gender barriers and make gender equality a working reality in their spheres of influence. The IGC was launched at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, July 2015 and has expanded to five Hubs – New York, Vienna, Den Haag, Nairobi and most recently Paris.

Martin Chungong, Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and a Gender Champion since 2015, took over the role of Chair of the IGC Global Board in February 2020. Read  his foreward in the 2020 Annual Report:

In a year of multiple landmark anniversaries to advance sustainable development and gender equality, 2020 has powerfully demonstrated the pressing need for individual and collective leadership to ensure that women and girls are not left further behind. Figures continue to emerge of the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on women and girls in all spheres - economic, educational, social, political, health - and devastating impacts on their personal safety.

In these turbulent times, the IGC has proved to be a key pillar of international cooperation – a robust network of leaders committed to countering the multiple threats undermining gender equality, and to transforming new challenges into productive opportunities.

The challenge we now face to ‘Build Back Better’ requires us to get ahead of both the COVID-19 curve and the growing curve of gender inequality. Our webinar series ‘Living Up to the Challenge’ in April and May, attended by over 400 Champions and Focal Points, allowed us to reflect on how we need to move beyond merely reacting to circumstances and become truly gender responsive in our organisations and programmatic work.

The accelerated use of technology and the adoption of flexible working schedules has allowed us to re-evaluate ‘business as usual’, but gaps remain in our organisational policies and cultures. Inclusive policies and workplaces, including parental leave for women and men and affordable and accessible childcare, are critical if we are to rebalance the care burden, redefine career paths for women and men, and shift social perceptions and norms. The Champions for Parental Leave campaign with UN Women and the Gender Champions Challenge helped us to move towards those goals.

Change takes time and concerted efforts. The IGC’s Fifth Anniversary highlighted how much we can achieve as a global network. Collectively, 133 male and 121 female Champions and 170 Alumni Champions have made over two thousand commitments, initiated new programmes and policies, and shaped a host of laws and practices. Our Panel Parity Pledge, equally important in virtual and in-person spaces, was fully adhered to by 78 per cent of those who responded to our Annual Survey. Single-sex panels have truly become unacceptable in the Hubs in which we operate.

Two new Impact Groups in Vienna on Representation and on Gender Equality in Nuclear Regulatory Agencies have reinforced the benefit of peers uniting to identify targeted actions. Agile in their structure, these Groups have resulted in transformative change in the areas of representation, trade, disarmament, justice and standards and we are excited to see more emerging.

We will have the opportunity to broaden the scope of our collaborations in 2021 through the framework of Generation Equality and our membership of The Nest, a ‘network of networks’, which includes global leaders and youth leaders. We also look forward to the Paris Generation Equality Forum when our Paris Hub will be formally launched.

I am confident that together we can drive much needed positive change within our organisations and programmatic work. Achieving gender equality is one of the best vehicles we have to avert the multiple growing global crises, and truly leave no one behind. Doing so will require us to think differently and act differently. On behalf of the IGC Global Board, I invite you to work with us to rise to the challenge.