Tag: Humanitarian

An approach to understanding intersectional programming: Age, Gender and Diversity Analysis Responding appropriately during humanitarian crises means understanding the social and cultural factors that makes some groups and individuals vulnerable, such as age, gender, ethnicity, disability or religion. The overlapping or intersection of multiple factors can dramatically increase a person's risk or vulnerability during a humanitarian crisis, resulting in inequitable access to resources. This paper outlines a new approach to intersectionality being piloted by Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) over a two-year period. The aim of the pilot is to better understand the intersection of different dimensions of social disadvantage and its implications for the organisation's humanitarian work.

Lessons from five countries: The diverse contexts in which Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) operates mean it must adopt an inclusive approach to designing, implementing, monitorng and funding its programmes so it can respond to vulnerability in all its forms. To this end, IRW has actively endorces and supported the development of the Inclusion Charter, encouraging the delivery of impartial and appropriate assistance to the most marginalised people. IRW also understands that an integrated approach to humanitarian programming - one that simultaneously addresses issues of disability inclusion, gender, conflict sensitivity and child protection in all contexts - improves its impact. To measure the organisation's progress towards an integrated approach, IRW's Programme Quality department has developed a unified 'intersectionality framework', enabling progress towards inclusive and sensitive humanitarian programming to be measured and scored with the support of SIDA. It is piloted in six country offices (Ethiopia, Gaza, Iraq, Pakistan, Syria and Yemen). In January 2018, Programme Quality held a regional roundtable in Istanbul, Turkey, with country office staff from all implemeneting offices, except Yemen. This brief summarises learning from implementing the framework and provides recommendations to improve IRW's approach to inclusive and sensitive humanitarian programming.