This is a critical moment for work on gender in emergencies.
Across the humanitarian sector, we are witnessing a coordinated backlash.
Decades of progress are threatened by targeted funding cuts, the erasure of essential research and tools, and a political climate that seeks to silence our work.
Many dedicated practitioners feel isolated and that their work is being devalued.
This is not a time for silence.
It is a time for solidarity and for finding resilient ways to sustain our practice.
In this spirit, The Geneva Learning Foundation is pleased to announce the new Certificate peer learning programme for gender in emergencies.
We offer this programme to build upon the decades of vital work by countless practitioners and activists, seeing our role as one of contribution to the collective effort of all who continue to champion gender equality in emergencies.
Learn more and request your invitation to the programme and its first course here.
Our approach: A programme built from the ground up
This programme was built from scratch with a distinct philosophy.
We did not start with a pre-packaged curriculum.
Instead, we turned to two foundational sources of knowledge.
- First, we listened to the most valuable resource we have: the firsthand experiences of thousands of practitioners in our global network. Their stories of what truly happens on the front lines—what works, what fails, and why—form the living heart of this programme.
- Second, we grounded our approach in the deep insights of intersectional, decolonial, and feminist scholarship. These perspectives challenge us to move beyond technical fixes and to analyze the systems of power that create gender inequality in the first place.
This unique origin means our programme is a dynamic space co-created with and for practitioners who are serious about transformative change.
Gender in emergencies: Gender through an intersectional lens
Our focus is squarely on gender in emergencies.
We start with gender analysis because it is a fundamental tool for effective humanitarian action.
However, we use an intersectional lens.
We recognize that a person’s experience is shaped not by gender alone, but by how their gender compounds with their age, disability, ethnicity, and other aspects of their identity.
This lens does not replace gender analysis.
It makes it stronger.
It allows us to see how power works differently for different women, men, girls, and boys, and helps us to design solutions that do not inadvertently leave behind the people marginalized by something other than their gender.
Gender in emergencies requires learning at the speed of crisis
Humanitarian response must be rapid, and so must our learning.
A slow, top-down training model cannot keep pace with the reality of a crisis.
The Geneva Learning Foundation’s Impact Accelerator is a peer learning-to-action model built for the speed and complexity of humanitarian settings.
It is a ‘learn-by-doing’ experience where your frontline experience is the textbook.
The model is designed to quickly turn your individual insights into collective knowledge and practical action.
You analyze a real challenge from your work, share it with a small group of global peers, and use their feedback to build a concrete plan.
This process accelerates the development of context-specific solutions that are grounded in reality, not just theory.
Your first step: The foundational primer for gender in emergencies
We are starting this new programme with a free, open-access foundational course.
Enrollment is now open.
The course is a quick primer that introduces core concepts of gender, intersectionality, and bias through the real-world stories of practitioners.
It provides the shared language and practical tools to begin your journey of reflection, peer collaboration, and action.
Building a resilient community
This is more than a training programme.
It is an invitation to join a global community of practice.
In a time of backlash and division, creating spaces where we can learn from each other, share our struggles, and find solidarity is a critical act of resistance.
If you are ready to deepen your practice and connect with colleagues who share your commitment, we invite you to join us.