Understanding Gender, Diversity and Context

Elements expected for all roles

Examples of statements or behaviours which indicate the need for further development

• Recognise historical and systemic forms of gender and other inequalities and discrimination, and the barriers and impacts on all people, including those of diverse SOGIESC

• Groupings or identities within societies who are often excluded or silenced due to persecution, marginalisation, presumed lack of agency or capacity or being overlooked at victims, and the root causes for that

• Gender as a social construct and its role in SCRSV as gender-based violence. Understands and can explain gender and power dynamics, narratives, violence and inequalities in the relevant contexts, and how they create risks of revictimisation and barriers to survivor support and other rights [MC 6.3]

• How cultural and societal norms, values, expectations, traditions, rites and customs, as well as attitudes about self, identity, expectations, individuals and groups, drive, shape and surround violence, victims of violence, and responses to violence and its victims in each context [MC 6.2]

• The importance of a contextual and cultural understanding and nuances at a community and national level context [MC 6.1, 6.2, 6.5, 6.8-6.10]. If doesn’t know them in that context, knows how to find someone who does

• The main features of the international and national legal framework (and customary practices) where the SCRSV took place, where the survivor is now and where the work will take place, including national laws on informed consent, mandatory reporting, and potential criminalisation and discrimination of survivors [MC 6.7]

• The importance of cultural and other aspects of communication in the relevant contexts, including mannerisms, derogatory terms, common expressions and euphemisms, and gaps in language, as well as the significance and impact of all forms of our communication and interactions in the context, to ensuring gender, age, disability, social, cultural and context sensitivity and respect [MC 6.8] (methods and channels for communication)

• Using jargon or buzz words but cannot explain the underlying concept

• Failing to acknowledge or identify the role and influence of gender narratives on work

• Failing to acknowledge or understand cultural context of work

• Failing to discuss language and cultural communication with someone with good contextual knowledge

• Not understanding which national laws or local customs are discriminatory to individual survivors

Expected for all roles

Specific to programming (designing and delivering SCRSV programming)

Specific to survivor interaction roles (direct interaction with survivor to gather information)

Examples of behaviour which indicate a need for further development

• Adapt skills and approach to individual context

• Assess basic gender dynamics/gender analysis

• Analyse community dynamics (or knows how to source a community dynamic analysis)

• Identify and track systems and patterns of discrimination, power and exclusion in a context

• Source contextual and cultural understanding and ensure expertise within team competencies

• Source cultural communication understanding and ensure expertise within team competencies

• Do a basic data disaggregation for gender, age and disability

• Use gender analysis to inform programming design, delivery and evaluation

• Incorporate input from community actors and survivor networks into design, delivery and evaluation of programming

• Build in scoping, resourcing and planning time to ensure contextual understanding and diversity present within team (to allow for flexibility in personnel and methodology to adapt to survivor choices)

• Use disaggregated data for improving programming impact and reach

• Operate safely and effectively in the context by integrating understanding of gender, intersectionality and context into approach/work (with or without assistance)

• Respect cultural norms while still being survivor-centred

• Using non-harmful, culturally appropriate approaches and engagement for the context(s) (with or without assistance)

• How to safely and effectively work with interpreters when required (with or without assistance)

• No consideration of the gendered dimensions of the violence, it impact or the response to it

• Decontextualising the violence and understanding of it

• Applying rigid models or approaches from other places, without contextualisation

• Approaching or interacting with survivors without regard to appropriate gender norms, e.g. a male interviewer insisting on sitting alone with a female survivor

• Trips to a location for information gathering activities without the knowledge of the context or any community-based support or partners

Associated Values

Examples of attitudes or approaches which indicate need for further development

Core Values: Humility; Humanity, Dignity and Empathy

Approaches: 

• Strives to understand context, community norms and values and factors which might enable safer, more survivor-centred work, and minimise unintended harm

• Values and promotes cultural competency, builds this into teams, partnerships and methods of work

• Insensitive to gender, diversity and inclusion dimensions

• Does not care about structural or historical inequalities or the barriers they create

• Does not consider inclusivity or representative participation important

• Does not show interest in understanding the context or culture, e.g. ‘it’s all the same wherever we are.’

• Presents generic or home-grown approaches or methodology without contextualisation, e.g. ‘this is how we did it in (country)’

• Thinks being ‘gender-blind’ is a good thing