Gender Standby Capacity Project

 

The IASC Gender Standby Capacity (GenCap) project seeks to build capacity of humanitarian actors at country level to mainstream gender equality programming, including prevention and response to gender-based violence, in all sectors of humanitarian response. GenCap’s goal is to ensure that humanitarian action takes into consideration the different needs and capabilities of women, girls, boys and men equally. It is a critical part to building inter-agency capacity on the integration of cross-cutting issues into the cluster approach.

GenCap consists of a pool of 26 gender advisers at a P-4/ P-5 level to be deployed on short notice as an inter-agency resource to support the UN Humanitarian/Resident Coordinators (HC/RC), humanitarian country teams and cluster/sectors leads, in the initial stages of sudden-onset emergencies as well as in protracted or recurring humanitarian situations.

The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) administers the deployments and is the GenCap Advisers' employer. GenCap Advisers’ salary, DSA/hazard pay, insurance and flights are covered by the GenCap project.

 

 GenCap Technical Workshop 2012

The 2012 GenCap Technical Workshop was held from 20-25 February in Geneva. Find the report from the workshop here. Below are several documents that were used in the workshop:

Day 1:
Find a PPT on GBV Guidelines on Coordination here.
Find a PPT on the GBV window here.
Find the GenCap Management Response Matrix here.
Find the GenCap Evaluation Report highligths
here.
Find the
GenCap Success and Challenges here.
Find a document on
the Transformative Agenda here.
Find the
NATF presentation here.
Find the SADD report here.
Find the SADD group exercise here.

Day 2:
Find a PPT on GenCap and UN Women here.
Find document on Age Definition of vulnerability here.
Find a PPT on UNISDR
here.
Find a PPT on Disaster Risk Reduction
here.
Find a PPT on a Preparedness Tool
here.
Find a PPT on
Entry Points Gender and Preparedness (Pacific Humanitarian Team) here.
Find a PPT on Adolescents in Humanitarian Settings
here.

Find a framework for viewing gender and age here.
Find HelpAge International's PPT here.

Day 3:
Find a PPT on 
Facilitation Skills here.
Find Booklet on Facilitation Skills here.

Day 4:
Find SEAGA 2012
here.
Find documents on Harmonizing Capacity Building Approaches
here and here.
Find a presentation on NRC and GenCap
here.


Day 5:
Find the 2012 IASC Gender Marker Report
here. 
Find a PPT for the orientation session on the Gender Marker here.

Day 6:
Find the PPT on Monitoring, Reporting and Communication
here.

Find document on Shelter Accountability Initiative here.
Download the Good Enough Guide
here.
Accountability to Affected Populations-IASC background paper here.
Click
here to go to the PSEA website and here to watch the video "To Serve With Pride".

 GenCap Videos

The Gender in Humanitarian Action films provide concrete field examples of what it actually means to "mainstream gender into humanitarian action." Only when we analyze the needs and capacities of women, girls, boys and men, can we target our programming and make humanitarian assistance and services effective.

With South Sudan as the setting, six 4-7 minutes vidoes on GenCap's YouTube Channel provide examples from four sectors: Agriculture, Education, Livelihoods and WASH.

 GenCap Updates

 GenCap Funding

GenCap is grateful to the governments of Australia, Canada, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and USA for their generous support. The humanitarian country team in South Sudan shared some of costs the GenCap deployment in 2010. UN Action supported the development of the IASC Gender Marker in 2010.

The graph below shows the total contributions to GenCap from 2007 to 2010.

 Gender Resources

The Gender page on OneResponse.info is a reference point for gender resources in humanitarian action.

Information on the IASC Gender Marker Initiative is found on the IASC Gender Marker page


 

 Contact GenCap Support Unit

The GenCap and ProCap Support Unit is based with the Humanitarian Coordination Support Section (HCSS) in OCHA Geneva. The support unit can be contacted for all queries related to GenCap and ProCap.

Office: D-610, UN Palais Geneva

Mirjam E. Sorli,
GenCap and ProCap Support Unit Manager
Email: sorli@un.org
Phone
: +41 22 917 1769 / +41 79 444 3757

Pam Cramer, Humanitarian Affairs Officer
Email: cramer@un.org
Phone: +41 22 917 1347 / +41 79 449 6443

Smita Kenkare, Administrative Assistant
Email: kenkare@un.org
Phone: +4122 9171704 / +41 79 444 3708

 GenCap Management

GenCap Steering Committee
Consists of members from the IASC Sub-working group on gender in humanitarian action. Provides strategic direction, oversight and accountability. Approves requests in monthly meetings.

For Steering Committee members: click here to log in to restricted Steering Committee webpage

GenCap Support Unit
Responsible for daily management of project, including monitoring and evaluation. Supports the GenCap Steering Committee and GenCap Advisers in the field.

Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC)
Contractually administers the GenCap pool of experts and maintains contact with the advisers on logistical and contractual issues before, during and after deployment.

 Monitoring and Evaluation

In order to measure the impact of GenCap on humanitarian action, the all GenCap Advisers uses a unique Monitoring and Evaluation tool to assess the status of gender in humaniarian operation at the start and end their deployment. The tool tracks changes over time in the cluster/sector the GenCap adviser works with.

Download the GenCap M&E Tool

Newest M&E Report:
The October 2010 Status Report provides an analysis of GenCap deployments from April 2008 to October 2010. The results indicate a significant and positive impacet of the GenCap deployments.

Previous M&E Reports:
October 2009 Status Report
Summary GenCap M&E Report (May 2009)
Final GPPI GenCap M&E Report (May 2009): The final report from GPPI provides an overview of GenCap's achievements between April 2008 and March 2009, and presents findings and recommendations. The report concludes that GenCap is a relevant and efficient project worth continuing.

 GenCap Mission Reports

Find the Mission Report from the GenCap Adviser to Niger from September 2010 - June 2011 here.

 How to request a GenCap Advisor

All UN/INGO entities with a MoU with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) can make a request for a GenCap Adviser. The request should be developed in a consutaltive fashion with relevant actors in the entire humanitarian country team. For administrative reasons, an entity with a MoU with NRC must formally host the GenCap Adviser. The GenCap Adviser could be based in the HC office or with the agency the country team deems most adequate. The HC must approve and sign the request before submission.

Questions can be directed to the GenCap Support Unit (gencap@un.org), which is the recipient of the signed request. The inter-agency GenCap Steering Committee formally approves the request before a deployment is made.

GenCap - Fact Sheet
GenCap - Frequently Asked Questions

GenCap Request Form
Checklist for Hosting Offices of GenCap Advisers

 How to become a GenCap Adviser?

A GenCap Adviser is a member of the GenCap roster who deployment through GenCap. The GenCap Roster is a roster of experts on gender and/or GBV mainstreaming in humanitarian action. GenCap Advisers perform at a senior level in an inter-agency role when deployed. GenCap deploys around 50% of its members at any given time and members are expected to be available for deployment for a minimum of 6 months per year.

The recruitment process is extensive and consists of the following steps: Screening of application letter and CV, phone-interview, various written tests, group and personal face-to-face interviews. References are checked at several stages during the process. The GenCap Support Unit and the GenCap Steering Committee takes part during the recruiment process which is managed by NRC.

Recruitment takes places on a twice-yearly basis. The vacancy announcement is widely published on international websites such as ReliefWeb. A link will be placed on this website when the next round of recruitment opens towards the end of 2011.

For questions on recruitment, please contact the NRC GenCap Project Manager: anne.hoseth@nrc.no.

Requirements:
*A minumum of 7-10 years of relevant professional experience, including extensive knowledge of gender sensitive and/or GBV programming
*Demonstrated, international field experience in a humanitarian and/or development setting
*Experience working in an inter-agency context
*Proven ability to negotiate and influence change with a wide range of stakeholders, through team/coalition buildiing and advocay
*Demonstrated experience designing and conducting training and other capacity building activities
*Excellent analytical, strategic planning, oral and written communication skills
*Ability to work in a diverse multi-cultural setting with sensitivity to the local context
*Working knowledge of English is required. Candidates fluent either in French, Spanish, Portuguese or Arabic are strongly preferred