EC LAUNCHED THE INEQUALITY MARKER!

“As Mandela said, poverty is man-made and it can be removed by man. Fight against inequality is at the core of INTPA mission. As New Global Financing Pact leaders pointed out, impact has to be monitored. Our new Inequality Marker does that”, tweeted Commissioner Urpilainen.

Commissioner Urpilainen has launched the Inequality Marker on 23 June 2023 at the “Science and the Fight against Poverty: How Far Have We Come in 20 Years and What's Next?” College de France Colloquium organized by Esther Duflo. You can find the Commissioner’s speech here: Speech at the College de France (europa.eu)

The Inequality Marker (“I-Marker”) is a concrete and innovative tool that will enable the EU to better understand, track and benchmark our impact across all sectors on inequalities.

It will assess whether, and to what extent, inequality reduction is an objective of our intervention by considering how the intervention answers a set of four criteria. An intervention can be scored on the following three levels:

• I-0: Inequality is not targeted
• I-1: Inequality reduction is a significant objective
• I-2: Inequality reduction is the principal objective

Why is the I-Marker important?

• It helps us understand the drivers of inequality in each intervention
• It helps us set goals and plan activities to fight inequalities
• It helps us to effectively target the most vulnerable groups in each intervention
• It makes sure that reducing inequality is a top priority in EU external actions

All DG INTPA development projects must include the Inequality Marker, meaning that every development project must be scored against the I-Marker.

The I-Marker is a major innovation in our work to build sustainable and inclusive societies, but the journey does not end here. The launch of the I-Marker marks the beginning of a new chapter in our fight against inequality. It is a call to action for all of us to work together, across borders and sectors, to address this urgent global challenge.

More information on the I-Marker and its criteria can be found in the Inequality Marker Guidelines, Inequality Marker Video and I-Marker one-pager. Additional information on inequalities can be found in the Reference Documents I, II, and III. For any questions or support on employing the I-Marker, please do not hesitate to reach out to the Inequality Team at Unit G.4.