Enroll now. Then invite one person to join you.

Do not enroll in this course alone. Think of one colleague who faces similar challenges. Invite them. The course works best when you take it together.

Invite a colleague on WhatsApp, Gmail, Yahoo Mail, LinkedIn, Telegram, Facebook, or X/Twitter.

Why learn to mitigate gender-based violence risk?

Gender-based violence (GBV) is the most common human rights violation in the world. In places affected by conflict, almost four in ten women have faced intimate partner violence.

• You may not think of GBV as part of your job. The global humanitarian system does. The 2015 IASC Guidelines are clear: every humanitarian actor, in every sector, must assume that GBV is happening and act on the guidance for their sector, even before the data arrives.
• You may feel that GBV is too hard, too specialised, or too political for your role. This primer shows you, step by step, that your choices, where a latrine sits, how a queue is set up, and who speaks in a coordination meeting, are part of the response.

When the camp is new, the night is dark, and no case has yet been reported, how do you protect the women and girls who just arrived? When the water point is far, when the latrines have no locks, and when the cash queue is not safe, how do you work with women-led organisations and colleagues to change this? When a community health worker hears something during a home visit that no survey has ever picked up, who should she turn to? This primer gives you a practical way to answer questions like these. It is built around your own real challenges, and it is designed to help you act in less than 30 days.

What is this primer about?

This primer is the second course in the Certificate peer learning programme for gender in emergencies, offered by The Geneva Learning Foundation.

• It is, first of all, a space where local and international responders learn from each other, honestly, about what works to reduce gender-based violence (GBV) and support survivors safely.
• Every part of the primer follows the IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action and the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for GBV in Emergencies Programming.

Certification

You will earn a Certificate of contribution from The Geneva Learning Foundation.  It shows that you completed professional learning at European Qualifications Framework Level 7, designed to count as Continuing Professional Development with your professional body. It proves that you did real, useful work for your own setting: a checked referral pathway, a safety review of one service you know, and an action plan you can start in the next 30 days. It shows that you used the 2015 IASC Guidelines, the 2019 Inter-Agency Minimum Standards, and a feminist and decolonial lens to work on a real challenge from your own practice. It also opens the door to a private community of peers and to the wider certificate programme on gender-based violence mitigation.

How long it takes

The primer runs over four weeks, with about two to three hours per week. A self-guided option is also available if you want to move at your own pace. If you choose this option, make sure you have invited enough learning partners so you can give and receive good feedback.

What you will take home

By the end of this primer, you will leave with:

1. A one-page referral pathway map for your location, checked and ready to use.
2. A safety walk analysis of one service point in your setting, with three specific changes your team can make in 30 days.
3. A short written plan for one practical action you will take, with clear barriers, supports, and a simple way to track progress.
4. A critical reflection on power, voice, and your own role, built on one feminist or decolonial lens you can use again in future work.
5. A set of peer reviews you have given and received, which will sharpen your practice and the practice of your colleagues at the same time.

Why peer learning?

Peer learning works because three short steps repeat through the course.

• You read short primer screens and choose one practical action to plan.
• You share your plan and your story with three colleagues.
• You read their stories, give specific feedback, and receive specific feedback in return.

Your peers do not have magic answers. They have something better: fresh eyes, different contexts, and the honesty of people who face the same pressures you do.

Who this is for?

For every humanitarian and health worker whose decisions shape safety

For local responders and women-led organisations

Your knowledge of place, language, and power is the base of effective response. We see you as a leader, not an informant or a ‘local actor’. You can shape the learning of colleagues around the world, including international staff and managers who rarely hear from you directly.

For both newcomers and seasoned GBV specialists

You may already have deep knowledge, experience, and practice of GBV mitigation. This primer offers you something different. It is a space to strengthen your leadership of colleagues who are new to GBV, to engage with the decolonial and feminist critique of humanitarian practice, and to exchange with local and international peers who are working through the same questions you are. You are being invited to lead.

What is special about this primer?

1. You join a global peer network. You will share and learn with colleagues in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Global North who are working on the same problems. You will give and receive feedback as a regular practice, not a favour. The people you meet in this primer are the start of a longer conversation.
2. You focus on your own reality from day one. The primer is built around what you actually do in a crisis: check for risk, know your role, make one service safer, respond to a disclosure, work with local leaders, and care for yourself and your team. Theory is woven into practice, not placed above it.
3. It respects your time. The primer is text-based and light on bandwidth. You can read it on a phone, with a weak signal, in short sessions. No video is needed. You choose when and where to learn.
4. You get knowledge checked against global standards. Every practical action in this primer is based on the IASC Guidelines, the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards, and the evidence from The Lancet, Violence Against Women, and the GBV Area of Responsibility. You are not reading opinions. You are reading the current global reference, written for practical use in the field.