This Good Practices brochure was produced by the Asia-Pacific Gender in Humanitarian Action Working Group, co-chaired by UN Women, CARE International and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

This document is a snapshot of the extent to which, and in what ways, women and women’s rights organisations (WROs) have led and participated meaningfully in the COVID-19 response and recovery in the state of Tamil Nadu in India. This research was conducted through consultation with key actors utilizing the Framework for Measuring Women’s Leadership and Meaningful Participation in COVID-19 Responses.

This Gender Alert maps gender trends and recommendations in connection to the evictions of internally displaced persons and the destruction of informal settlements in Badghis. It has been developed by the Gender in Humanitarian Action (GiHA) Working Group and the Women Advisory Group (WAG) to the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) in Afghanistan

The complex and protracted humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan affects persons of all genders, at-risk and marginalized groups differently. Women and girls are disproportionately affected because of gender-specific restrictions that directly impact their ability to realize their rights. Traditional gender norms and patriarchal cultures have long reinforced discrimination against women and girls in Afghanistan, increasing their vulnerability and decreasing their capacity to recover from shocks, leaving them disproportionately affected during crises.

he Practitioner guide analyses, Nepal’s COVID-19 Preparedness and Response Plan, and serves two objectives. As part of the research component, it attempts to review and analyse the trends in gender equality and empowerment of women and girls financing priorities in the protection and health cluster response plans. The second component aims to guide cluster-based humanitarian response teams on strategies to better understand the gendered nature of disasters, their impact, and the emerging gender equality and social inclusion issues that require special attention and dedicated budgets. 

Today there are more internally displaced people worldwide than ever; approximately 59.1 million people have been forced to leave their homes due to armed conflicts, violence or human rights violations and disasters. Evidence indicates that more than half of internally displaced people are women and girls.

A study looking at Promoting the Recruitment and Retention of Women Humani­tarian Workers in Afghanistan. The study aims to identify specific barriers faced by Afghan women in their work for humanitarian aid agencies. It also aims to share best practices and recommendations for reversing these barriers, and for enabling more women to participate in humanitarian action. This will be vital for ensuring access by women, chil­dren, and marginalized groups to life-saving assistance.

In this edition: [*] UN Women share best practices with Rohingya camp leadership - The best practices of UN Women’s work were shared with the Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner’s Office and the Commanding Officers of the Armed Police Battalion in Cox’s Bazar. [*] Heavy monsoon rain causes flash flooding in the Rohingya camp - UN Women’s Multi-Purpose Women’s Centre in Camp 4 provided shelter to 151 women and children after heavy rain flooded the Rohingya Camp on 2. [*] Gender-diverse populations are being served in the Rohingya camp - A six-month training course on integrated lifesaving support for a gender-diverse group at the Multi-Purpose Women’s Centres (MPWCs) located in the Rohingya camp ...

The RGA includes the key impacts and emerging issues of access to shelter, safety, security and protection food and income, reproductive health services and WASH facilities keeping women and most marginalized community in consideration. The report also puts forward some immediate and long-term key recommendations.

A week ago, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake struck the Central Region of Afghanistan impacting Paktika and Khost provinces. Humanitarian assistance is being delivered in the most affected districts.

On 22 June, at 01:30am, an earthquake of magnitude 5.9 has struck the southeastern provinces of Paktika and Khost (Central Region of Afghanistan), killing at least 770 people and injuring another 1,500. 1,500 homes have reportedly been destroyed and damaged in Gayan2 (Paktika Province). According to OCHA and humanitarian teams delivering the response in the two provinces, immediate needs identified on the ground on 22 June include emergency trauma care, emergency shelter and non-food items, food assistance and WASH.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has, in recent years, substantively advanced efforts to address emerging protection, gender and inclusion (PGI) issues in disaster management. In line with the vision of One ASEAN One Response, in October 2021 the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) launched the ASEAN Regional Framework on Protection, Gender, and Inclusion in Disaster Management 2021-2025 (ARF-PGI). This serves as the main PGI strategy to all ACDM working groups for the implementation of the ASEAN Agreement on Disaster Management and Emergency Response (AADMER) Work Programme 2021-2025. The present Guidelines for Operationalising the ARF-PGI serve as a prioritisation and planning toolkit to support regional bodies working in a cross-sectoral manner on PGI issues in disaster management, and national disaster-management actors, in concrete operationalisation of the AADMER Work Programme 2021-2025.

This Gender Equality Update 36 summarizes and expands on the Task Team’s findings concerning the unique challenges faced by the LGBTIQ+ community, Dalit women, home-based workers and disabled women in Nepal.

This study looks at the challenges, barriers, and opportunities of women-led and women-focused CSOs across Afghanistan working in different sectors, with the aim to inform how part­ners can strengthen their power and agency and support them to respond to the needs of the most marginalized and vulnerable communities as well as their participation and leadership within the humanitarian response in Afghanistan. This study has been made possible with the generosity of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the British Government.

This Gender Equality Update highlights the impact of COVID-19 on women and excluded groups, preparedness measures implemented by different bodies of the Government of Nepal, challenges faced while responding to the pandemic and recommendations to be considered for future planning.

This research used a mixed methods approach with a strong focus on the qualitative to investigate the diverse perceptions and experiences among the Rohingya and host communities, addressing different dimensions of empowerment, motivations and catalysts that contributed to the perceptions, attitudes, behaviours, influencing factors, and parties that drive positive and negative change.

This document includes two stand-alone self-assessment tools that organizations or stakeholders can use to carry out a more targeted progress assessment, including 1) Stand-alone self-assessment tool to assess internal organizational progress in supporting women’s leadership in disaster and climate resilience; and 2) Stand-alone self-assessment tool to assess support for the leadership of women’s organizations in disaster and climate resilience.

Over recent decades, there has been an increased focus on women’s leadership in humanitarian and development contexts. Evidence highlights the important role of women’s leadership in bringing ‘invaluable contextual knowledge, skills, resources and experiences to emergency preparedness, response and resilience-building.’

The document was produced by Humanitarian Advisory Group, in close consultation with UN Women colleagues in Regional Office for Asia and Pacific, Headquarters, as well as Bangladesh Country Office

Despite the scope and severity of the problem, GBV in humanitarian contexts is vastly underreported and current programming to prevent and respond to GBV cases is insufficient. Moreover, the role of all humanitarian practitioners, regardless of their expertise in gender and GBV, is increasingly critical in identifying GBV risks and referring the survivors to essential services.