The Multidonor Gender and Development Cooperation Fund (GDCF) was established in May 2003 as a facility to promote gender equality and women's empowerment in the Asia Pacific region.

The GDCF includes contributions from the Governments of Australia, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Ireland, totaling about $12 million.

The GDCF supports

• piloting innovations
• providing small grants to leverage and facilitate gender-inclusive design of ADB-financed loan projects
• country gender assessments and strategies to guide the formulation of country partnership strategies
• design and implementation of project gender action plans
• gender capacity development of government partners
• partnerships with women's organizations and other development agencies

The GDCF also provides resources for country and regional technical assistance projects aimed at building gender capacity in client countries and conducting research on emerging and critical gender issues.