Introduction to the Toolkit About the Toolkit A gender strategy helps a National Human Rights Institution (NHRI) strengthen how it works. It is not an “add-on” document. A good gender strategy helps an NHRI: • Deliver its mandate more effectively • Improve institutional credibility • Strengthen leadership and accountability • Improve internal systems and workplace culture • Better protect and promote the rights of women, girls and gender diverse people. This Toolkit provides a practical step-by-step process for developing a gender strategy. It builds on the APF Toolkit: Facilitating an NHRI Gender Audit: Toolkit for National Human Rights Institutions in the Asia Pacific. From a gender audit to a gender strategy 1. Start with a gender audit 2. Follow-up with a gender strategy A gender audit tells you: A gender strategy then sets out: Where your NHRI is now Where your NHRI wants to go What is working well What priorities it will focus on What needs strengthening How change will happen What is realistic Who is responsible The audit shows you the starting point. The strategy shows the path forward. Audit first. Strategy next. Stronger impact. A gender audit without a strategy can lead to little follow-up. A strategy without evidence can become unrealistic and disconnected from the real situation. Gender Strategy Toolkit 2026 10