1.5 Understand the current situation Before developing your gender strategy, understand the current situation in order to inform the decisions you make. If your NHRI has not recently reviewed its gender work, it is recommended that you do so before beginning the strategy development process. [The APF can discuss this process with you.] If your NHRI has not recently reviewed its gender work, it is recommended that you do so before developing the strategy. This may be called a gender audit, gender review, gender analysis or gender impact assessment. You will want to know for example: • The gender-based issues facing your most vulnerable communities • What you understand about those issues • How effectively your NHRI is addressing those issues • How well your NHRI integrates gender perspectives in all its internal and external activities and where improvements can be made. This may be called a gender audit, a gender impact assessment, a gender analysis, a gender review or something else. A gender audit of your NHRI will: • Establish a baseline of information against which progress can be compared • Identify what your NHRI does well and what it could be doing better • Recommend strategies and activities to address the gaps • Share and document good practices across the organisation, and • Strengthen the capacity of your NHRI to apply a gender perspective to your activities and to your internal policies and practices. If your last review was more than 12 months ago, it may be useful to do a short update using sources such as complaints data, investigation outcomes, HR information, annual reports and discussions with key external stakeholders. Gender Strategy Toolkit 2026 26