Rapid Gender Analysis in Emergencies

Rapid Gender Analysis (RGA) provides information about the different needs, capacities and coping strategies of women, men, boys and girls in a crisis situation. It does this in part by examining the relationships between women, men, boys and girls. An RGA is built up progressively, providing an initial but incomplete analysis of gender relations in an emergency, and links to more in-depth Gender and Power Analysis using the CARE Good Practice Framework. An RGA is also used to make recommendations to ensure that CARE comprehensively meets the needs of everyone involved in the crisis.

Rapid Gender Analysis has been used by CARE in more than 20 countries in large-scale emergencies and more than 30 countries in their preparedness phase. Almost all members of the CARE Global GiE team, and several RED Roster Consultants have used the toolkit. The RGA is designed to be formatted to many situations: variations on the RGA approach include a protection focus (Kobane), an urban focus (Jordan), and fully remote (Syria and South Sudan). CARE in Yemen, Iraq and Nepal conducted joint RGAs that engaged with external actors in the process of the research.

The RGA toolkit contains guidance on how to do every step of a Rapid Gender Analysis. The tools can be adapted to suit each country’s unique situation. In addition to the Guidance Notes, the RGA toolkit includes tools for primary data collection, secondary data review, analyzing the data collected, and making recommendations. There is also a Report Template that should be used when drafting the RGA reports.

Rapid Gender Analysis in 5 Steps

Resources

• Guidance note on rapid gender analysis (en Français, en Español)
• Rapid Gender Analysis Powerpoint
• Rapid Gender Analysis Template (en Français, en Español)

1. Find existing analysis and data on gender relations 

Gender in Briefs (GiB) are a key part of producing CARE's Rapid Gender Analysis in an emergency. A Gender in Brief compiles and analyses existing secondary gender information and presents this information in a two-page document, which contains sex and age disaggregated statistics and gender analysis from before the crisis. It makes links to key reference documents and existing CARE programs.

• See the GiE Guidance Note on Preparing a Gender in Brief
• Gender in Brief Template

2. Collect additional data through gender assessments

RGA Assessment Tools are used to gather information from women, men, boys and girls about the impact of a crisis. CARE uses different tools to collect information from women, men, boys and girls. Select at least two tools from the tools listed below and then adapt the tool to the context. See the Guidance Note below for more information.

• See the GiE guidance note on using the RGA assessment tools (en Français, en Español)

Example RGA assessment tools

• Sex and Age Disaggregated Data (en Français, en Español)
• Focus Group Discussion Tool (en Français, en Español)
• Key Informant Interview Tool (en Français, en Español)
• Mapping Tool
• Gender and Protection Audit (en Français, en Español)
• Individual Story Tool (en Français, en Español)
• Survey Questionnaire Tool (en Français, en Español)
• Additional Sector Specific Questions (en Français, en Español)

3. Analyze the results and compare to pre-crisis data

Gender data that has been collected is useless without analysis. The analysis of gender data is important for a number of reasons, including the following: to provide practitioners with an understanding of changes to gender relations and how they affect programming; to use the data and information generated form the date collection process to form recommendations; to find and understand gaps in programming and make adjustments.

• See the GiE Guidance Note on Analyzing Data

4. Write practical recommendations

Perhaps the most important step to completing a Rapid Gender Analysis is to provide clear recommendations to improve or address some of the problems or gaps identified in the analysis of the different needs, capacities and contributions of women, men, boys and girls. Remember that the purpose of collecting this information is to improve your response effort (and potentially those of your partners as well). Ask yourself, how can you use the information you now have to make targeted and practical recommendations to people within and beyond your organization in order to improve the response effort?

• See the GiE Guidance Note on Making Recommendations

5. Share with other actors

CARE’s Rapid Gender Analysis relies on gender sensitive assessment information becoming available during a crisis. In order to ensure this happens, CARE’s gender in emergency assessment and analysis work needs to be aligned to the timeframe and processes of the OCHA-led assessments. The diagram in the Guidance Note explains when to share different RGA Reports with other actors.

• See the GiE Guidance Note on Sharing RGA Reports