The Generations and Gender Programme (GGP) is a distributed RI with the aim to provide scientists and policy makers with high quality and cross-nationally comparable longitudinal data on population and family dynamics to answer pressing scientific and societal challenges. The GGP is based on the collection, documentation, and dissemination of data from large-scale, nationally representative surveys in Europe and beyond. It provides data on transitions to adulthood, family dynamics, fertility decisions, work-life balance, well-being, and intergenerational exchanges. It maintains a Contextual Database which comprises a wide range of macro-level indicators characterizing the societal, economic and institutional context of countries to formulate empirically-informed policies on families and population.

The GGP Programme was launched under the umbrella of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) as early as 2000. In the following years, the findings and potential of the GGP emerged and new funding enabled to rethink the Programme’s long-term strategy. In 2016, the GGP obtained the status of emerging project in the ESFRI Roadmap 2016, noting GGP’s scientific excellence as well as its European added value and socio-economic impact. The GGP-EPI project provided the GGP with the means to institutionalize and further formalise key processes required to position the GGP for a successful application for inclusion in the ESFRI Roadmap as a sustainable, world-class Research Infrastructure. The project culminated with the successful application and inclusion in the ESFRI Roadmap 2021.