Why should you care about gender in emergencies?

Because lives depend on it.

When we ignore the different ways a crisis affects women, girls, men, and boys, people suffer and die unnecessarily.

Aid resources are wasted, and trust with communities is broken.

This work isn’t easy.

It requires courage, reflection, and the support of our peers.

This programme is for everyone who is ready to move beyond talking about these problems to actually making it happen.

Take your first peer learning course

The first step in this certificate programme is a foundational course built around a primer on gender in emergencies.

This primer introduces the core concepts you’ll need, such as gender, intersectionality, and bias.

You’ll learn through a dialogue with the real-world stories and experiences of your peers on the front lines .

The primer gives you the shared language and practical tools to begin analyzing your own work and planning for change.

If women and girls are disproportionately affected by humanitarian emergencies, this is not by accident.

It is a symptom of deeply rooted inequalities and systems of power, that can become worse in a crisis:

• Increased violence and risk. Women and girls face a dramatic increase in the risk of gender-based violence (GBV), including sexual assault and forced marriage, especially in unsafe shelters or camps .
• Dismissed health needs. Health workers, influenced by social biases, sometimes dismiss women’s pain as “exaggeration,” which can delay life-saving treatment for conditions like malaria .
• Failed aid projects. When aid is designed without consulting the people it’s for, especially women, it often fails. Latrines are built in unsafe locations and go unused, leading to preventable disease outbreaks .
• Ignored dangers for men and boys. The specific risks that men and boys face, such as forced recruitment into armed groups or the deep psychological distress of losing their role as a provider, are often overlooked in emergency plans .

What makes this programme unique?

This is not a typical online programme.

We do not rely on experts giving lectures.

We create a space where you and your peers can create knowledge and solutions together.

Our approach is built on three pillars.

• Learning by doing, not lectures. You’ll start by sharing a real story from your own work, not by reading theories. Your experience, and that of your peers, is the primary text in this course.
• Action-focused projects. Every part of this programme is designed to help you create a concrete plan. You’ll end the first course by identifying one practical action you can take to make your work fairer and more effective.
• Productive diversity. You’ll connect with and learn from a global community of practitioners. This includes colleagues from different countries, different cultures, and different roles, from frontline health workers to national planners.

What you will gain

By participating in this programme, you will gain more than just information.

• Real solutions to your challenges. You’ll work with peers to develop practical, context-appropriate solutions to the gender-related challenges you face every day.
• A global learning community. You’ll join a network of thousands of practitioners from over 100 countries who are all committed to providing fair and effective care.
• Evidence that change is possible. You’ll see how your colleagues around the world are successfully implementing small changes that make a big difference, giving you the confidence to act.
• An ongoing support network. The connections you make will last long after the courses end. You’ll have a network of trusted peers you can turn to for advice and support.

This certificate programme is built around four key practices.

You can choose the learning experiences that match your most important challenges.

• Analyzing power with an intersectional lens. This practice moves beyond seeing the whole person to understanding how systems of power affect them. You’ll learn how gender combines with age, disability, and ethnicity to create unique risks and capacities .
• Rapid intersectional analysis in crisis. This practice helps you quickly gather “good enough” information – integrating gender with other critical information – to make better, more equitable decisions from day one of an emergency .
• Mitigating gender-based violence (GBV). This practice explores how every humanitarian actor, regardless of their sector, has a responsibility to proactively identify and reduce the risks of GBV in their programmes.
• From analysis to action. This practice focuses on the crucial step of turning your insights into concrete action. You will learn to identify and implement the small, practical steps that can make care fairer and more dignified for everyone you serve.