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OVERVIEW



What is it?

The European Commission, through the Directorate-General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA), has adopted a dedicated approach to tackling inequalities, recognising their multidimensional nature, which goes beyond income and wealth to encompass disparities in access to education, healthcare, employment, political participation, and other fundamental rights. The EU applies its commitment to reducing inequalities across the broad INTPA mandate, with a specific focus on Global Gateway, notably via EFSD+, and its 360-degree approach, which provides an opportunity to mobilise private investment at scale, while ensuring that inequality reduction remains central to our external action.

INTPA’s Framework to addressing inequalities

To translate this strategic commitment into concrete guidance for EU staff and partners, DG INTPA has developed a comprehensive framework for “Addressing Income Inequalities through Development Cooperation” (Reference Document No. 29). While it focuses primarily on income inequality, it also explores effective policy responses and offers practical tools for preventing and reducing socio-economic inequalities more broadly, making it relevant across a wide range of policy areas.
The guidance is structured into three complementary volumes:
Volume 1 – Concepts and Definitions: This volume offers a theoretical framework for understanding inequality, its root causes, and the various dimensions and indicators used to assess it.
Volume 2 – Policy Briefs on Tackling Inequality: It presents 18 briefs on policies with a demonstrated impact on socio-economic inequalities. The policy areas covered are health and nutrition, education, social protection, transport and mobility, energy, climate change, water and sanitation, land, urban development, territorial development, public finance (i.e. taxation), trade, growth, digitalisation, financial inclusion, labour and employment, governance and the rule of law, and gender.

Volume 3 –Guidelines for mainstreaming the reduction of inequality in interventions: This volume provides operational guidance to help EU staff and partners to mainstream inequality considerations into policy dialogue and intervention design. It also supports engagement with national authorities, local stakeholders, and civil society actors in partner countries to ensure that tackling inequality becomes a shared development priority.

 

Inequality Marker

To measure our progress to reducing inequalities, the European Commission developed in 2022 an innovative policy tool: the Inequality Marker (I-Marker). Publicly launched by Commissioner Urpilainen in June 2023, the I-Marker establishes a robust tracking and benchmarking system that measures the contribution of all DG INTPA interventions towards reducing inequalities, also capturing their multidimensionality, in complement to the gender and disability markers. 



What can it be used for?

The I-Marker helps DG INTPA to better understand, track and benchmark the impact of its work on inequalities across all sectors, including Global Gateway priorities. For all our actions, it enables to assess whether, and to what extent, inequality reduction is an objective of an intervention, by scoring each action (outside EFSD+) against three levels:

  1. Inequality reduction is not targeted (level 0 or I-0); 
  2. Inequality reduction is a significant objective (level 1 or I-1); 
  3. Inequality reduction is the principal objective (level 2 or I-2). 

Consistent with SDG10, an action (outside EFSD+) is marked using the four following criteria: 

  1. Analysis of trends and drivers of inequalities used to identify the bottom (poorest) 40 % or socio-economically disadvantaged individuals;
  2. Objectives and activities of the intervention are designed to directly reduce inequalities;
  3. Measurable and relevant indicators in place to assess progress in reducing inequalities;
  4. Specific evaluation plan to assess the impact on the bottom (poorest) 40 % or the most vulnerable, including through the use of the Distributional Impact Assessment (DIA) methodology.

Following the Conclusions of 21 November 2023 on a social, green and digital transition in which the Council called for the broadest application of the Inequality Marker within Global Gateway, the I-Marker has been extended to EFSD+ operations. Officially launched on 5 June 2025 during the EFSD+ Blending Board to DFIs and Member States, the application of the I-Marker to EFSD+ started with blending operations and will be extended to guarantees for the next call for proposals.

Using the same methodology already applied to DG INTPA actions outside EFSD+, the proposed scoring system of the I-Marker for EFSD+ is conceived with the following three levels:

  • I-2: Awarded to investments having the general/principal objective and at least one of the specific objective(s)/outcome(s) set to reduce inequality and to have a positive impact on the bottom 40 % or other socio-economically disadvantaged individuals, households or groups.  
  • I-1: Awarded to investments having at least one specific significant objective/outcome aimed at directly reducing inequality: i) in the country, ii) in a specific geographical area, or iii) in a specific sector.  
  • I-0: Applies to any other investments that do not have an objective to reduce inequalities. 

The attribution of the scores for EFSD+ operations is also set by an assessment against the four below criteria:



When can it be used?

At any stage of the Intervention Cycle Management. The I-Marker should be applied throughout the entire project cycle — starting at the design stage by providing an analysis of inequality trends, drivers and determinants (criterion 1), continuing through implementation by following up on objectives and activities (criterion 2), and extending to monitoring (criterion 3) and evaluation (criterion 4) to ensure that progress and impact on inequality reduction are effectively measured.


Who can use it?

EU staff and other development practitioners. We encourage all partners, including EU Member States, to thoroughly apply the I-Marker in order to meaningfully maximise the impact of our interventions on inequality reduction, in line with the Council Conclusions of 21 November 2023 on a social, green and digital transition.


What are its strengths?

  • Prioritising inequality reduction. The I-Marker reinforces the design of interventions, resulting in projects with inequality reduction as their main objective. It effectively targets the most vulnerable groups by identifying and including them throughout the programming and project cycle. The I-Marker has contributed to a wide range of Equality Flagships, from digitalisation in Kenya, to decent work in Bangladesh - with transformative potential to reduce inequalities.
  • Ensuring inclusive investments. Its application to EFSD+ blending operations and, from the next call for proposals, to guarantees, helps ensure that investments systematically integrate inequality reduction objectives, thereby aligning private sector mobilisation efforts within Global Gateway with the EU’s commitment to inclusion.
  • Enhanced impact measurement through the Distributional Impact Assessment (DIA) methodology. By integrating the DIA, the I-Marker enables a precise evaluation of the share of beneficiaries within the bottom 40 % or other socio-economically disadvantaged groups, ensuring that results are grounded in robust, quantitative evidence. While the original DIA focuses on wealth (asset-based measurement), the DIA+ expands this approach by assessing income and consumption levels of beneficiaries, allowing for greater flexibility depending on available data in partner countries.
  • Leverage for policy dialogue. As an advocacy tool, the I-Marker has been crucial for policy dialogue and communication with partner organisations, including EU institutions, member states, international organisations, non-governmental organisations and academia.


What are its limitations?

The applicability of the proposed approaches may vary depending on the context, requiring adaptation and additional support. Translating these approaches into measurable outcomes can also be challenging, particularly in fragile or data-poor environments. To address this, the EU has provided specific guidance in the above-mentioned Reference Document. In addition, the Distributional Impact Assessment methodology can serve as a helpful framework for generating data to better understand the impact of our interventions on the most vulnerable, particularly the bottom 40%.


PRACTICAL APPLICATION

Key elements


Requirements

Data/information. N.A.

Time. N.A

Skills. N.A.

Facilities and materials. N.A.

Financial costs and sources. N.A.

Tips and tricks. N/A.

EU RESOURCES

Open access

INTPA Framework to addressing inequalities: 

Inequality Marker main guidelines: 

Inequality Marker for EFSD+:  

locked EU Limited



For further information, any revision or comment, please contact INTPA-ICM-GUIDE@ec.europa.eu
Published by INTPA.D.4 - Quality and results, evaluation, knowledge management. Last update :16 October 2025