Sharpening the gender angle of the revised Sphere standards

Encouraging women to participate in construction trainings or apprenticeships and to apply for positions generally reserved for males helps achieve transformative change. Photo: Distribution of construction material to families affected by an earthquake in Guatemala. © Laura Martínez/Mercy Corps

By Mireia Cano Viñas (*)

For most humanitarian practitioners nowadays, the question is no longer “Why do we need to integrate gender in our work?” but “How do we do it?” As a result, one of the most demanded competencies is proficiency on gender analysis, that is, the ability to identify the distinct needs, priorities and capacities of women, men, girls and boys and to adapt assistance in accordance with them.

At the core of the Sphere Handbook revision is the commitment to continue supporting people’s own capacity to act, while broadening the base of evidence on how to do it well.

With that aim in mind, a writing group made of technical experts on gender, older people, children and disability was constituted. Together with other peer review groups, these experts provide input to chapter authors and review the various drafts.

The following recommendations seek to further integrate gender into the next edition of the Sphere Handbook:

Key actions must promote meaningful participation. To achieve this, humanitarian professionals need to equally and separately consult men, women, girls and boys at all stages of the programme cycle. Only in this way can humanitarian response be more effective, comprehensive, durable and sustainable.

While acknowledging that women and girls are disproportionally impacted by crisis, it is also important to provide examples of how to target the needs and capacities of men and boys. For example, a recommendation related to infant and young child feeding is to include an action aimed to support men who are single heads of households and youth who take care of their siblings without any help. And when there is no female caregiver or when males want to come to the malnutrition centre, adequate access for males too should be ensured.

Ensure that polygamous households receive special attention. In polygamous societies, the distribution of goods should preferably target women. The goal is to ensure that each wife and her children receive appropriate assistance.

Change the language from “vulnerable groups” to groups with “special needs based on their gender, age, ability, etc.” In general, use positive language on women and men as agents of change with their own capacities rather than as passive groups with needs. This strengthens the focus on people’s own aptitude to act.

Provide specific guidance or suggest examples. For instance, instead of giving generic advice like “Consider distribution issues,” explain the following: “Consider distribution issues as, for example, separate queues when it is not culturally acceptable that women and men stand together in crowds.”

Make it explicit that data on a population affected by the crisis should always be broken down by sex and age and diversity factors such as disability, ethnicity, religion or others as relevant to the context. This way of collecting data is essential to understand precisely which people are affected by a crisis and ensure that services are not off-target. It also sends a powerful signal that everyone is recognised and their rights respected.

Include information about gratuity of the assistance and the existence of complaints mechanisms in the packaging of aid parcels, to reduce corruption and sexual exploitation and abuse.

Where relevant, use discussions on gender, age and diversity to go beyond the minimum standards and seek transformative change. For example, for shelter standards, state the need to determine ways to encourage women to participate in construction trainings or apprenticeships and to apply for positions generally reserved for males. The idea here is that addressing structural causes and consequences of gender inequality contributes to achieving lasting change in the lives of women, girls, boys and men.

Additionally, the writing group has made specific recommendations for each of the sectoral chapters. Below are some examples:

Water supply, sanitation and hygiene promotion (WASH).

Shelter, settlement and household items.

Food security and nutrition.

Health action.

Further integrating the gender, age and diversity dimensions in the revised Sphere Handbook will help realise the right to meaningful and relevant participation of affected people, including that of girls and boys and older men and women. It will also increase the access to assistance, while affording better protection and promoting transformative change.

Overall, it will improve what humanitarian practitioners do and how they do it. Ultimately, it will affect the effectiveness of humanitarian response in meeting the needs of all those impacted by emergencies, especially those with special needs based on their gender, age, ability, among others.

(*) Mireia Cano Viñas is a GenCap advisor providing gender technical expertise for the Sphere standards review. She is based in Oslo, Norway, and runs an independent gender consultancy company: Cano Gender Solutions. Contact the author by email.