Multilateral organizations and international security institutions have a critical role to play in supporting countries to enhance their accountability to implement national commitments and track investments for gender equality. But the record of these organizations in complying with their own gender equality policies often falls far short of expectations. This chapter examines the changing context of aid and the role of international development and security organizations in assisting countries to meet promises to achieve gender equality in development and peace building.

• There are to date no agreed system-wide gender marking systems to track amounts allocated and expected for gender equality and women's empowerment in International Financial Institutions or in other multilaterals such as the agencies of the United Nations system. Investment in such systems would support efforts enhance accountability of international institutions for promoting women's rights.
• Of the US$26.8 billion in ODA disbursements that donors using the reporting system accounted for in 2006, US$ 7.2 billion (roughly 27%) was identified as contributing to gender equality. This is up from US$ 2.5 billion (roughly 17%) in 2002. However, only half of OECD aid eligible for this screening is gender marked.
• The distribution of gender-marked aid across development sectors needs to be diversified to include more funds allocated to economic infrastructure (only 5% of gender-marked aid goes to economic sectors – compared to a 20% allocation to economic sectors from ODA in general).
• In spite of increased amounts of aid spending on gender equality, official aid remains a small portion of the funding for women's organizations.
• Security, along with development, is an essential pillar of the international commitment to gender equality and the promotion and protection of women's rights.
  • The passage of Security Council Resolution (SCR) 1325 in 2000, as well as Security Council Resolution 1820 in 2008, were significant advances in enhancing accountability of international security institutions to women.
  • Yet in 2007 and 2008, peace processes to resolve conflicts in northern Uganda, Darfur, and Somalia showed remarkably little progress in supporting women's inclusion on negotiating delegations or even among observers. In the peace talks for Northern Uganda in 2007-2008, for instance, there were never more than two women out of 17 negotiators on the delegations of either the government or the Lords Resistance Army.
• At the United Nations, the current debate on how to strengthen the system's capacity to support countries by giving more authority, status and resources to the entities that specialize in gender equality is an encouraging sign of the recognition of the need for a more powerful institutional infrastructure to advance women's rights and gender equality. Alliances between gender equality experts and advocates within and outside of these institutions – as well as with gender equality advocates in the North who track their government's development assistance allocations – are essential for more effectively monitoring and pressuring international organizations to implement the visionary policies and programmes of support to which they have committed.