GENDER MARKER TIP SHEET
PROTECTION SECTOR
Gender Equality in the Project Sheet
There are five entry points for the Protection Sector to address gender equality; the needs
analysis, beneficiaries, project objective, activities and outcomes. This chart is designed to give
examples of how to bring gender into each entry point. Following these steps will assist in
improving projects that code 0-1 so they merit a code 2. The steps can also help teams to more
fully mainstream gender in their code 2 projects.
Project
Objective
If the project is making efforts to advance gender equality, the project objective should
reflect this. A protection project objective that features gender quality signals to
implementers the high priority your agency/organisation places on ensuring each
woman, girl, boy, and man can access their human rights including the right to personal
security.
Here are some examples of how the gender-responsiveness of Protection projects can
be profiled in the objective: the original project objective has been strengthened by
the additions in italics.
Protection Example 1: Contribute to preventing and reducing statelessness equally for
women, girls, boys and men through an improved identification process
Protection Example 2: Assure that all populations affected by the conflict have access
to protection mechanisms in line with their traditional networks which allow males and
females full and equal exercise of their human rights
Protection Example 3: Ensure that emergency-affected children (replace ‘children’
with ‘girls and boys’) have equal access to mechanisms that protect them from risks of
increased exposure to violence, abuse, trafficking, neglect and exploitation, and their
rights are fully monitored according to humanitarian, human rights and child rights law.
Logically, objectives that include a gender perspective will be supported by all
subsequent elements of the project sheet – main activities, key outcomes and
beneficiary profile.
Beneficiaries
Protection projects need to specifically identify their beneficiaries by group and within
each group by sex and age.
Avoid using generic groups that hide sex and/or age, i.e. ‘IDPs’ ‘community leaders’ or
‘victims‘, ‘IDPs’ or ‘families’.
Needs
Assessments
Women, girls, boys and men often do not have the same choices. They may face
different hurdles in fulfilling their rights, dignity or personal safety. Gender-based
violence (GBV1) is an example: GBV is especially problematic in the context of complex
emergencies and natural disasters, where civilian women, girls and boys are often
targeted for abuse. They are the most vulnerable to exploitation, violence and abuse
1
GBV is any harmful act that is perpetrated against a person’s will and that is based on social ascribed (gender) differences
between males and females.
1
simply because of their sex, age and status in society.
In addition to GBV, women, girls, boys and men face struggles in the other pillars of
protection: housing, land and property rights; child protection; mine action and the
Rule of Law/Access to Justice. Therefore, a gender analysis is vital in the needs
assessment that informs any protection project.
Here are examples of questions that can enrich the design of protection projects:









What are the demographics of our target group? (# of households and family
members disaggregated by sex and age; # of single heads of household who are
women, girls, boys and men; # of unaccompanied children, elderly persons,
persons with disabilities, the chronically ill, pregnant and lactating women)
What personal security risks did women, girls, boys and men face before the
emergency (including in accessing food, water and fuel; in access to land and
markets; access to and participation in school; participation in paid work; access to
health services and facilities; and, access and participation in cultural,
community and social networks?
What has changed: what concerns do women, girls, boys and men now have about
their personal safety?
What actions do women, girls, boys and men want to be taken to increase their
personal security?
Do cultural norms enable women and men to participate equally in decisionmaking in their homes and communities? If not, what affirmative action is needed
so both can participate in a meaningful way in IDP/refugee/returnee communities?
Access to personal security and other rights is often blocked if a woman, girl, boy or
man either cannot speak up or no-one listens.
Are there discriminatory practices (or laws) that disadvantage either men/boys or
women/girls, or vulnerable subgroups of either sex, and prevent them from
exercising their rights to: food, water and NFIs; information; justice and legal
rights; health and education services; land?
What knowledge do women, girls, boys and men have about their legal rights,
sexual and gender-based violence, STIs, recruitment, mine action, etc.?
Who are the most effective messengers and what are the most effective methods
to bring rights education to women, girls, boys and men?
Are gender and protection issues being systematically addressed/monitored in:
Governance: An active multi-sectoral mechanism to prevent and respond to
gender-based violence within the disaster-affected population and a pro-active
mechanism to prevent humanitarian actors from committing sexual exploitation
and abuse (PSEA)2.
Facility design: Privacy in shelters; separate, lit, well-located toilets/
showers/water-points for males and females; safe and accessible common-use
areas for females and males; safe spaces for breastfeeding, peer discussions and
psycho-social counselling for M/F children, adolescents and adults.
NFIs. Appropriate locally-preferred sanitary supplies and contraceptives; culturally
appropriate clothing for males and females of different ages.
See the IASC Guidelines for Gender-based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Settings.
2
UN policy stipulates ‘zero tolerance’ for sexual exploitation and abuse. Sexual violence in armed conflict is a crime against
humanity.
2
Activities
The gender analysis in your needs assessment will identify gender gaps that need to be
addressed. These should be integrated into activities. Examples:

Gap: During the needs assessment women reported two young girls had been left
pregnant by the de-mining teams who set up camp near the returnee village during
their 12 weeks of demining.
Responsive activity: Orient all private contractors, including de-miners, in the
standards the UN requires of contractors. These include compliance with the SG’s
Bulletin on Special Measures for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Sexual
Abuse. All contractors and sub-contractors should be required in their contracts to
comply with the SG’s Bulletin. Rigorous monitoring should ensure violations result
in immediately cancelled contracts and trigger responsive services for the victims.

Gap: To get valid data on the affected population, humanitarian actors were doing
regular sunrise counts of the ‘night dwellers’- people, largely women, girls and
boys- who walk to the town each night for protection from rebel abduction. They
sleep in any secure area, whether in public works yards or school grounds, that is
not on the town fringe and where there is fencing, water and light. Most men stay
on their subsistence farms protecting their remaining possessions. It soon became
apparent that counting ‘children’ night dwellers and ‘children’ attending school
was hiding how many girls compared to how many boys were being abducted or
pulled out of school for other reasons.
Responsive activity: Ensure the project collects data on the affected population by
sex and age routinely. In conflict and disaster-affected areas, the protection issues
for women, girls, boys and men can not only be different at the onset of the
emergency but change with emerging circumstances. In the situation above,
identifying that the ratio of girls to boys is changing prompts project teams to
explore why and what can be done.

Gap: As government officials advised that it would be difficult to get female data
collectors for the host community assessment, an all-male team was recruited. This
team interviewed primarily male leaders. They raised no personal protection issues
but did raise property protection issues.
Responsive activities: Pro-actively seek equal numbers of men and women as data
collectors and information sources – there are always ways of supporting women to
participate; provide gender orientation to all data collectors to ensure they
understand why it is important to explore the differences between the realities of
women/girls and men/boys and know how to listen and record this information
accurately; ensure analysis explores the ‘root causes’ of fears and threats. These
can be an early warning of violence to come. In many environments sexual and
gender-based violence, in its many paid and unpaid forms, is seldom discussed:
signals like those in this case warrant investigation, then action, facilitated by
people with GBV expertise. Projects for these target IDP-host populations would
benefit from a conflict resolution mechanism that involves equal numbers of
respected males and females, including adolescent girls and boys.
Outcomes
Outcomes should capture gender change: the change experienced by the males and
females who are the identified beneficiaries. Outcome statements should, wherever
possible, be worded so that any difference in outcome for males and females or in
3
male-female relations is visible. Avoid outcome statements that focus on ‘IDPs’ ‘police
officers’ ‘survivors’ that hide whether, or not, males and females equally benefit.
Examples of gender outcomes in protection projects: the importance of the words in
italics is explained.

Child-friendly learning spaces established in order to secure the return to school of
5,000 displaced school-aged children, including near equal numbers of girls and
boys, in Area ABC
Signals that boys and girls have an equal right to education. If near-equal numbers
are not being achieved, the reasons need to be explored and inform follow-up
projects. Protection issues that are distinct for girls and boys may explain the gap

Improved and continued GBV coordination
Reflects that creating a culture of protection for women, girls, boys and men
involves many disciplines, all sectors, government and non-government actors.

Relevant sex and age disaggregated data on extremely vulnerable individuals is
gathered, reported and integrated into a referral system.
Recognises that the sex and age of a person can affect personal security and access
to rights

All local partners now have near-equal numbers of male and female trainers with
capacity to train others in protection, human rights and other relevant issues
Acknowledges that training roles are leadership roles and should be shared equally
by women and men. Also, male-to-male and female-to-female discussion and
facilitation may be required in some situations or, if not required, adds another
valuable dimension to male-female learning environments.

X% increase in the number of property titles in the joint name of husband and wife
or the name of a female head of household.
Advances equality before the law in land ownership and recognises that without
equal land ownership a woman’s choices may be severely restricted: without land
as collateral, there is often little access to credit.
4
Gender Code*
Description
Note: The essential starting point for any humanitarian project is to identify the number of women, girls, boys and men who are the
target beneficiaries. This information is required in all project sheets.
Gender Code 3
Targeted Actions
Contributes
significantly to
gender equality
The project’s principal purpose is to advance gender equality
The gender analysis in the needs assessment justifies this project in which all activities and all
outcomes advance gender equality.
All targeted actions are based on gender analysis. In humanitarian settings, targeted actions are
usually of these two types:
1. The project assists women, girls, boys or men who suffer discrimination.
The project needs analysis identifies the women, girls, boys and men who are acutely
disadvantaged, discriminated against or lacking power and voice to make the most of their lives.
Targeted actions aim to reduce the barriers so all women, girls, boys and men are able to exercise
and access their rights, responsibilities and opportunities. Because the primary purpose of this
targeted action is to advance gender equality, the code is 3.
2.
The project focuses all activities on building gender-specific services or more equal relations
between women and men.
The analysis identifies rifts or imbalances in male-female relations that generate violence;
undermine harmony or wellbeing within affected populations, or between them and others; or
prevent humanitarian aid from reaching everyone in need. As the primary purpose of this type of
targeted action is to address these rifts or imbalances in order to advance gender equality, the
code is 3.
Targeted actions are often designed as interim measures: they address gender gaps and create a
level playing field. Code 3 projects use targeted actions solely to address gender gaps & create
greater equality between women and men.
Gender Code 2
Gender
Mainstreaming
Contributes
significantly to
gender equality
A gender analysis is included in the project’s needs assessment and is reflected in a number of
the project’s activities and project outcomes.
Gender mainstreaming in project design is about making the concerns and experiences of
women, girls, boys and men an integral dimension of the core elements of the project: gender
analysis in the needs assessment leads to gender-responsive activities and related gender
outcomes. This careful gender mainstreaming in project design facilitates gender equality then
flowing into implementation, monitoring and evaluation. This intention, and a design that plans
for measurement of gendered outcomes, is clearly articulated throughout the project sheet
Most humanitarian projects should aim for code 2. In a perfect world, targeted actions would not
be needed and the highest quality project, from a gender perspective, would be a project that
fully mainstreams gender. Today, both gender targeted and mainstreamed projects are needed.
Gender Code 1
Contributes in
some limited way
to gender
equality
Gender Code 0
May not
contribute to
gender equality
The project includes gender equality in the needs assessment, in an activity or in an outcome.
However, there is no clear indication that gender analysis flows from the needs assessment into
activities or their related outcomes. These projects have pieces, like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle,
but not enough pieces to fit together ensuring male and female beneficiaries’ needs are both
addressed. The project design does not guarantee that the project will have a positive impact on
gender inequality.
Gender is not reflected anywhere in the project sheet. There is risk that the project will
unintentionally nurture existing gender inequalities or deepen them.
5