Implementing

humanitarian aid

in a gender-equitable way

Women, Peace and Security

As a result of violent conflicts and the growing number of natural disas­ters and extreme weather events, more the 142 million people in 57 countries around the world require human­i­tarian aid to survive. Women account for a large share of people affected, and must there­fore be able to partic­i­pate in decision-making processes on an equal footing. Germany is strongly committed to promoting the gender-equitable imple­men­ta­tion of all human­i­tarian aid projects.

Jordan

Promoting gender equity, also for women refugees

Project partner
Women’s Peace and Human­i­tarian Fund (WPHF)

The Jordan Forum for Business and Profes­sional Women (JFBPW) provides vital psychoso­cial support and vocational training for women refugees. ©2019 UN Women /Lauren Rooney

By the end of 2019, about 655,000 Syrians had fled the Syrian conflict to neigh­bouring Jordan, according to the refugee agency UNHCR. This is equiv­a­lent to almost 10 percent of Jordan’s pre-crisis popula­tion. The needs of the refugee popula­tion – and the popula­tion of those commu­ni­ties hosting them – are immense. Refugee families report increased debt and depen­dency on human­i­tarian assis­tance or reliance upon negative coping strate­gies. An estimated 70,000 refugee children have no access to educa­tion, and growing pressure on essen­tial public services has deteri­o­rated their quality and neces­si­tated a substan­tial increase in public spending.

Gender disparity in Jordan remains preva­lent in the private sphere, with predom­i­nant cultural attitudes threat­ening women’s agency and equality – among both refugees and Jorda­nians. Violence against women is widespread across the country. Among Syrian refugees, female-headed house­holds face the highest level of food insecu­rity.

On average only 14% of female refugees are working, compared to 65% of male refugees. Female refugees are more reliant on external human­i­tarian aid to meet their basic needs than male refugees, as they have fewer indepen­dent sources of income and support. As aid dimin­ishes – both due to human­i­tarian aid fatigue in the region and in the light of increased liveli­hood oppor­tu­ni­ties for refugees – Jordan’s women refugees will be dispro­por­tion­ately impacted.

In Jordan, the Women’s Peace and Human­i­tarian Fund (WPHF), supported by Germany, focuses on:

  • As aid dimin­ishes – both due to human­i­tarian aid fatigue in the region and in the light of increased liveli­hood oppor­tu­ni­ties for refugees – Jordan’s women refugees will be dispro­por­tion­ately impacted.
  • Building civil society capac­i­ties and providing support for work that seeks to monitor the impact of the crisis on women and support women’s engage­ment in local and national polit­ical processes.

As part of the campaign to combat the causes of gender-based violence, the WPHF is funding five projects of civil-society organ­i­sa­tions to support young women married under the age of 18 and design inter­ven­tion programmes to prevent early marriages. Early marriage often prevents women from becoming active partic­i­pants in polit­ical and economic life, including peace processes and crisis preven­tion. As finan­cial reasons have been cited as a common reason for families to marry-off their young daugh­ters, the programme, among other things, seeks to offer families economic and employ­ment support services. The project partners are also working with hospi­tals and clinics to improve repro­duc­tive health services for young people.

Germany is one of the largest funders of the Women’s Peace and Human­i­tarian Fund, contributing a total of € 4 million since 2019. As a member of the Funding Board, Germany, along with other Member States, UN agencies and civil society organ­i­sa­tions, selects the projects to be funded.

Source: https://​wphfund​.org/​c​o​u​n​t​r​i​e​s​/​j​o​r​d​an/

A young Syrian refugee receives legal and psychoso­cial support services through the Family and Child­hood Protec­tion Society (FCPS).

Through empow­er­ment and educa­tion, the Family and Child­hood Protec­tion Society (FCPS) helps to improve the lives of young women.

Pacific: Solomon-Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Samoa

Support with the challenges of climate change

Project partner
Women’s Peace and Human­i­tarian Fund (WPHF)

A project in Palau to train local women in preven­ta­tive and immediate emergency response, imple­mented by Palau Red Cross. © 2019 Palau Red Cross Society

Climate change and natural disas­ters repre­sent a partic­ular and growing threat to peace and security in the Pacific region. Chronic cyclones and droughts, growing food insecu­rity, compe­ti­tion for resources and climate change induced popula­tion displace­ment are putting additional pressure on already econom­i­cally weak commu­ni­ties in addition to fuelling conflict.

While there has been some progress in recent years in terms of the situa­tion of women and girls in the Pacific, the region retains some of the worst indica­tors in the world in terms of overall gender equality. Violence against women is at pandemic levels with over three quarters of all women experi­encing physical and sexual violence.

Women and girls in the Pacific are also dispro­por­tion­ally affected by climate change and natural disas­ters — an increasing and recur­ring reality for the region. They are system­at­i­cally kept away from prepared­ness and response processes, reflected in the low level of women’s repre­sen­ta­tion in decision making.

With German support, the Women’s Peace and Human­i­tarian Fund is promoting syner­gies between the Pacific region’s actors, including multi­lat­eral and bilat­eral entities, national ministries of women, and local civil society organ­i­sa­tions.

While women’s organ­i­sa­tions have been the most successful in the region in terms of networking, lobbying efforts and service delivery, they remain small, have limited capacity and suffer from a lack of core funding to sustain actions.

In the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Samoa, the WPHF focuses on:

  • Increasing partic­i­pa­tion of women in emergency response planning at the commu­nity level while insti­tu­tion­al­ising gender analysis into Samoa Red Cross planning that will ensure long-term, sustain­able capacity.
  • Increasing protec­tion for women and girls and supporting civil society organ­i­sa­tions’ capac­i­ties to strengthen gender-sensi­tive human­i­tarian aid.

The efforts of the partner organ­i­sa­tions in the Pacific region have led to a higher number of women partic­i­pating in different decision-making processes in disaster manage­ment and human­i­tarian aid in the region. In order to better integrate gender-specific protec­tion needs and as a result of grantees’ advocacy and training sessions, village protec­tion commit­tees were created to monitor and address women and girls’ specific needs.

Germany is one of the largest funders of the Women’s Peace and Human­i­tarian Fund, contributing a total of € 4 million since 2019. As a member of the Funding Board, Germany, along with other Member States, UN agencies and civil society organ­i­sa­tions, selects the projects to be funded.

Source:https://​wphfund​.org/​c​o​u​n​t​r​i​e​s​/​p​a​c​i​f​ic/

A project in Vanuatu to increase women and girls’ partic­i­pa­tion and influ­ence in human­i­tarian and disaster response, imple­mented by Save the Children in Vanuatu. © 2018 Save the Children Vanuatu

The Federal Foreign Office supports projects all over the world in these key areas: