1.1 Introduction to the EiE-GenKit
1.1.1 Purpose of the EiE-GenKit
The EiE-GenKit is a series of tools and practical guidance that helps practitioners ensure education in emergencies (EiE) interventions and programmes are gender-responsive1 and inclusive. The materials encourage gender to be considered across EiE programme cycle phases2 and across EiE thematic interventions that bridge humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding efforts in the education sector. The EiE-GenKit is based on internationally recognized minimum standards and guidelines and closely aligned with the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s (IASC) Gender Handbook for Humanitarian Action, the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Minimum Standards for Education, and the INEE Guidance Note on Gender.
The resource builds on existing sector-wide tools and processes, enhancing current institutional approaches to design, implement, and evaluate gender-responsive and inclusive EiE interventions. Annex 9.2 describes these key processes and modalities including the IASC Global Education Cluster; UNHCR’s Refugee Education Strategy and Refugee Coordination Model; Education Cannot Wait’s (ECW) Gender Policy and Accountability Framework; and the approaches to gender from the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) and INEE.
1.1.2 Target audience
The EiE-GenKit is for international and national humanitarian and development education actors involved in preparedness, response, recovery, and development. This includes education personnel, EiE programme managers and other technical specialists, and officers across government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), international agencies, and donors. The EiE-GenKit is for practitioners including those involved in education clusters and coordination or sector working groups at the global, regional, national, and sub-national levels.
The EiE-GenKit is as a critical reference and advocacy tool for education leaders across humanitarian and development sectors. It can support leaders to facilitate inter-agency planning and coordination and ensure adequate resource allocation for gender-responsive EiE at national, sub-national, or agency levels.
1.1.3 Contexts in which to use EiE-GenKit tools
The EiE-GenKit brings together resources that straddle humanitarian, development, and peacebuilding programming – known as the ‘triple nexus’. Actions focus on prevention, preparedness, and response to crises, particularly for the most at-risk populations. This reflects the trend that crises are becoming more protracted. The EiE-GenKit can be applied from acute through to protracted crises and into development contexts. The tools and guidance are intended for immediate use, or they can be further adapted by national actors operating across different types of humanitarian emergencies and protracted crises such as armed conflict, natural disasters, and disease outbreak.
The EiE-GenKit emphasizes the importance of active engagement by all members of affected communities. This involves ensuring the meaningful participation of girls and women alongside boys and men. It means actively including people who face more barriers to participation, such as those with disabilities and health issues, those from cultural and linguistic minorities, and those from the lowest income groups.
Fig. 1.1: The triple nexus
Source: Adapted from Howe, P (2019) ‘The triple nexus: A potential approach to supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals?’ World Development, vol.124. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305750X19302773?via%3Dihu
1.1.4 How to use the EiE-GenKit
This Introduction consists of five parts:
- 1.1 provides a general overview of the EiE-GenKit.
- 1.2 highlights key concepts and terms relevant to ensuring EiE programmes are gender-responsive and address cross-cutting equity, inclusion and protection issues.
- 1.3 presents the EiE programme cycle, and how key parts of the EiE-GenKit fit with each stage of the cycle.
- 1.4 outlines the EiE-GenKit’s background standards and guidelines.
- 1.5 outlines how the index of IASC Gender and Age Marker (GAM) Gender Equality Measures (GEMs) align with each EiE-GenKit tool.
What to read and when:
- 1.1 and 1.2 should be read before starting work on a new programme, and as part of staff and partner induction.
- 1.3 provides an overview of the complete contents of the EiE-GenKit. It should be read before using the EiE-GenKit as it directs the user to relevant sections.
- Each section or tool in the EiE-GenKit can be used as a standalone product, depending on the user’s needs and stage of implementation.
- You should read the relevant section before starting each stage of programme design, delivery, monitoring or evaluation.
The rest of the EiE-GenKit is structured chronologically by the EiE programme cycle.
Each section corresponds to a stage in the cycle and contains tools relevant to that stage.
You can find the Humanitarian Programme Cycle timeline in Annex 9.3.
Each tool contains
- Links to INEE Minimum Standards
- Information about the primary intended users
- Purpose, introduction and key information
- Gender-responsive actions
Signposts to related EiE-GenKit sections
Signposts to related EiE-GenKit tools
Flags to essential resources
Further reading
Icons that mark specific areas of the EiE-GenKit that are intended for use in acute versus protracted crisis situations.