Gender Equality
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"Effective humanitarian response addresses the needs and concerns of all groups in an affected population. This means understanding how conflicts and disasters affect women, men, boys and girls differently and basing programming on their differential needs and capacities. This is what gender equality programming is all about. "
John Holmes, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
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OCHA and Gender Equality
Understanding how conflicts and disasters affect women and men, girls and boys is critical to the overall effectiveness of our humanitarian response. Women, men, girls and boys experience war, floods, earthquakes and displacement differently: they have different priorities, responsibilities and protection needs.
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| Young boys in Kosovo |
Women, girls, boys and men can also play different, but important, roles in responding to conflict and making decisions to resolve conflict and build peace. While women and girls are disproportionately affected during crises, they are not just victims. Gender inequalities undermine the ability of women and girls to exercise their rights and to be active partners in emergency response, rehabilitation and development.
Here is the gender equality FAQ.
Gender Action Plans 2009
All OCHA field and regional offices are required to develop, implement and report on a Gender Action Plan (GAP). These are based on the office workplan, and outline activities and indicators related to gender. So far, 10 offices have submitted a GAP for 2009. These are Chad, Colombia, Cote D'Ivoire, Indonesia, Iraq, Niger, Somalia, ROAP, ROLAC and ROSA.
Additionally, headquarters branches must also have a GAP.The GAP for OCHA HQ can be found here. Status of implementation for 2007-08 can be found here.
The GAP for OCHA HQ 2009-10 can be found here.
Status of the implementation for 2007-08 can be found here.
Gender and Climate Change: Gender in Flash Appeals
A review of the Flash Appeals related to climate-induced disasters in 2008 found that gender mainstreaming is considered to some extent. Howevr, improvement can still be made on gender equality and GBV programming as well as the use of sex- and age-disaggregated data.
For review click here.
For matrix of findings click here.
Presentation on Gender and Climate Change
On 16 July 2008, OCHA organised a side-event on gender and humanitarian action to the annual session of ECOSOC. The Global Gender and Climate Alliance presented compelling evidence for why gender matters in disaster response and disaster risk reduction. For full presentation, click here.
Conference report: Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict - Identifying Research Priorities to Inform More Effective Interventions
On 26 June 2008, OCHA brought together 28 scholars and practitioners to identify research priorities for analysis of the scourge of sexual violence in armed conflict, within the following two focus areas:
- Understanding the motivations behind sexual violence in armed conflict. Click here for discussion paper and literature review.
- The nature, scope and motivation for sexual violence against men and boys in conflict. Click here for discussion paper and literature review.