Emergency|Humanitarian Aid
Sawtahaa (Her Voice) in Peacebuilding and Recovery Actions Final Evaluation
The longstanding cultural practices across Sudan often exclude women from decision making, even in issues of direct concern to them, such as early marriage and FGM. This report builds on CARE's efforts in the context of the “Sawtahaa” project to analyse women's situation in the post conflict processes and to enhance transformative change in three areas, namely: structure, relations and agency. This was directed to enhance women's role in decision making and in addressing issues of direct concern to them.
The Darfur Community Peace and Stability Fund (DCPSF) was launched in 2007 to help facilitate peacebuilding by restoring the capacity and authority of traditional community-based conflict resolution mechanism and to enhance the delivery of economic and basic social services by implementing a number of community-based activities.
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The Darfur Community Peace and Stability Fund (DCPSF) was launched in 2007 to help facilitate peacebuilding by restoring the capacity and authority of traditional community-based conflict resolution mechanism and to enhance the delivery of economic and basic social services by implementing a number of community-based activities.
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WOMEN LEAD IN EMERGENCIES Global Learning Evaluation Report
CARE’s Women Lead in Emergencies (Women Lead) model has been developed to operationalise CARE’s commitment to women’s leadership as one of our four focal areas for Gender in Emergencies.1 Women Lead supports women within communities at the frontline of conflict, natural and climate-related hazards, pandemics and other crises to claim their right to a say over the issues that affect them, and to participate in emergency preparedness, response and recovery.
The Women Lead model looks to address fundamental gaps in humanitarian response that result in the exclusion of women from meaningful participation and leadership in the decisions that affect their lives.
Since 2018, CARE has piloted Women Lead in 15 locations in Colombia, Mali, Niger, the Philippines, Tonga and Uganda. In 2020, Women Lead worked directly with 804 women’s groups. Through piloting this approach in diverse locations and within different types of humanitarian crisis, Women Lead has sought to understand challenges, barriers and enablers regarding this kind of programming in different contexts.
Women’s confidence, knowledge and self-efficacy: The evaluation identifies considerable qualitative evidence of increases in confidence, knowledge and capacities. Participants identified the Women Lead model as being relevant to their needs and accessible to them. We can see evidence of women identifying Women Lead as an important enabler of collective action – supporting women to raise their voice, advocate for their needs and engage more effectively with stakeholders. Quantitative surveys support these findings. In Niger, 88% of Women Lead participants feel confident in their knowledge of their rights compared with 58% of non-participants. In Uganda, 58% of Women Lead participants reported ‘confidence in accessing services’ compared with 40% of non-participant women who said the same.
2. Women’s presence and meaningful participation in decision-making: The evaluation finds that Women Lead increases women’s presence, regularity of attendance, and meaningful and effective participation in decision-making community settings. In Niger, 91% of women who participated in Women Lead had attended formal community meetings and almost 60% said they had attended these meetings regularly compared with only 34% of non-Women Lead participants. This had occurred despite men in the community previously challenging women’s presence at these meetings. The Women Lead model appears to normalise women’s presence in decision-making spaces, and we see some evidence of women forming their own decision-making forums and creating opportunities for themselves to make decisions, take action or hold leaders to account. In Uganda, the South Sudanese Refugee Women’s Association has formally registered to become the first recognised women's community-based organisation in Omugo settlement. We also see the incorporation of Women Lead groups in Colombia, where groups have formally registered and started to offer services to other women.
3. Women’s informal and formal leadership: We see strong evidence of women feeling empowered to take up leadership positions within their community, both formally and informally. In Niger, women are significantly more likely to be leaders in their communities than non-participants (31% of Women Lead participants compared with 9% of non-participants). In Uganda, 22% of Women Lead participants hold leadership positions in their communities compared with 14% of non-participants. In Colombia, for which we have pre- and post-comparison data available for this indicator, before Women Lead 21% of members held leadership positions within their community. This had increased to 40% by the time of this evaluation. However, there is scope to enhance this work further and for there to be more consistent promotion of women’s leadership through work around political representation, leadership style and horizontal/inclusive decision-making processes.
September 2022 – Global Evaluation Report vii
4. Women take collective action: The Women Lead approach both helps empower women and serves to address complex barriers to their meaningful participation. Women Lead action plans are a useful tool to mobilise women for collective action to advocate for women’s needs and wants, organise peer support and solidarity activities, and improve their communities by engaging power-holders. Action has also frequently been taken to tackle the preconditions for participation and, in the action plans available for analysis, 42% of actions related to livelihood and income generation. This highlights the importance of women being free to prioritise according to their needs, to ensure they can tackle the preconditions of participation where necessary. We can also see clear qualitative evidence of women taking collective action to make change within their communities. This includes:
• Influencing humanitarian actors and local authorities to address the needs of women and the community: In Uganda, group members successfully advocated for humanitarian response actors to move the food distribution site closer.
• Advocating to address an injustice: In Niger, women had difficulty accessing maternity services owing to high costs. The Women Lead groups advocated to the district medical officer and the head of the hospital – and achieved a considerable reduction in the cost of accessing hospital services.
• Connecting and complementing community actors: In Uganda, Women Lead groups took a lead in addressing community tensions. For instance, when there were tensions around access to land and firewood, women worked with leaders from different communities to put in place agreements on the use of natural resources.
• Direct delivery and problem-solving: We see examples of women working to respond directly to the needs of their peers. In the Read More...
The Women Lead model looks to address fundamental gaps in humanitarian response that result in the exclusion of women from meaningful participation and leadership in the decisions that affect their lives.
Since 2018, CARE has piloted Women Lead in 15 locations in Colombia, Mali, Niger, the Philippines, Tonga and Uganda. In 2020, Women Lead worked directly with 804 women’s groups. Through piloting this approach in diverse locations and within different types of humanitarian crisis, Women Lead has sought to understand challenges, barriers and enablers regarding this kind of programming in different contexts.
Women’s confidence, knowledge and self-efficacy: The evaluation identifies considerable qualitative evidence of increases in confidence, knowledge and capacities. Participants identified the Women Lead model as being relevant to their needs and accessible to them. We can see evidence of women identifying Women Lead as an important enabler of collective action – supporting women to raise their voice, advocate for their needs and engage more effectively with stakeholders. Quantitative surveys support these findings. In Niger, 88% of Women Lead participants feel confident in their knowledge of their rights compared with 58% of non-participants. In Uganda, 58% of Women Lead participants reported ‘confidence in accessing services’ compared with 40% of non-participant women who said the same.
2. Women’s presence and meaningful participation in decision-making: The evaluation finds that Women Lead increases women’s presence, regularity of attendance, and meaningful and effective participation in decision-making community settings. In Niger, 91% of women who participated in Women Lead had attended formal community meetings and almost 60% said they had attended these meetings regularly compared with only 34% of non-Women Lead participants. This had occurred despite men in the community previously challenging women’s presence at these meetings. The Women Lead model appears to normalise women’s presence in decision-making spaces, and we see some evidence of women forming their own decision-making forums and creating opportunities for themselves to make decisions, take action or hold leaders to account. In Uganda, the South Sudanese Refugee Women’s Association has formally registered to become the first recognised women's community-based organisation in Omugo settlement. We also see the incorporation of Women Lead groups in Colombia, where groups have formally registered and started to offer services to other women.
3. Women’s informal and formal leadership: We see strong evidence of women feeling empowered to take up leadership positions within their community, both formally and informally. In Niger, women are significantly more likely to be leaders in their communities than non-participants (31% of Women Lead participants compared with 9% of non-participants). In Uganda, 22% of Women Lead participants hold leadership positions in their communities compared with 14% of non-participants. In Colombia, for which we have pre- and post-comparison data available for this indicator, before Women Lead 21% of members held leadership positions within their community. This had increased to 40% by the time of this evaluation. However, there is scope to enhance this work further and for there to be more consistent promotion of women’s leadership through work around political representation, leadership style and horizontal/inclusive decision-making processes.
September 2022 – Global Evaluation Report vii
4. Women take collective action: The Women Lead approach both helps empower women and serves to address complex barriers to their meaningful participation. Women Lead action plans are a useful tool to mobilise women for collective action to advocate for women’s needs and wants, organise peer support and solidarity activities, and improve their communities by engaging power-holders. Action has also frequently been taken to tackle the preconditions for participation and, in the action plans available for analysis, 42% of actions related to livelihood and income generation. This highlights the importance of women being free to prioritise according to their needs, to ensure they can tackle the preconditions of participation where necessary. We can also see clear qualitative evidence of women taking collective action to make change within their communities. This includes:
• Influencing humanitarian actors and local authorities to address the needs of women and the community: In Uganda, group members successfully advocated for humanitarian response actors to move the food distribution site closer.
• Advocating to address an injustice: In Niger, women had difficulty accessing maternity services owing to high costs. The Women Lead groups advocated to the district medical officer and the head of the hospital – and achieved a considerable reduction in the cost of accessing hospital services.
• Connecting and complementing community actors: In Uganda, Women Lead groups took a lead in addressing community tensions. For instance, when there were tensions around access to land and firewood, women worked with leaders from different communities to put in place agreements on the use of natural resources.
• Direct delivery and problem-solving: We see examples of women working to respond directly to the needs of their peers. In the Read More...
Gender-Sensitive Conflict Analysis in South and East Darfur States, Sudan, 2022
CARE International in Sudan is implementing the project “Enhancing resilience through improved food security, disaster risk reduction and peaceful co-existence in South and East Darfur states, Sudan” (1 September 2021 – 31 August 2025) through funding from the German Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The project addresses the specific needs, vulnerabilities, and capacities of women, youth, and persons with disabilities to strengthen their resilience to buffer, adapt, and respond to future shocks at an individual, family, and community levels. This gender sensitive conflict analysis in East and South Darfur – representing eight villages – is to understand the causes, power and gender dynamics, and actors of conflicts in the project area.
The conflict in Darfur is escalating rapidly, with eight times more people killed and displaced in 2021 than in 2020. Inflation rose by 359% in 2021. Climate change—marked by devastating floods and prolonged droughts—combined with food insecurity and a lack of services leaves people feeling violence is their only choice.
A profoundly unequal and harmful set of social norms that do not value women, and even refer to them as vessels of the devil, coupled with laws that do not protect women and their rights, are pushing many burdens of this crisis onto women. A common saying is, “Almara mamlouka ela malak Almout” or “A woman is owned to death.” As the situation gets more extreme and livelihoods and service get scarcer, women are more likely to be working outside the home to help meet family needs. Men have not increased their involvement in household chores and childcare to compensate for these shifts—leaving women with even higher burdens than before. The shifts in women having to work outside the home have not translated into corresponding improvements in women’s rights, engagement in politics, or access to public life.
This research draws from 20 focus groups and 20 Key Informant Interviews that represent the views of 193 people (45% of whom were women) in eight villages in July of 2022. It also looks at 44 secondary sources.
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The conflict in Darfur is escalating rapidly, with eight times more people killed and displaced in 2021 than in 2020. Inflation rose by 359% in 2021. Climate change—marked by devastating floods and prolonged droughts—combined with food insecurity and a lack of services leaves people feeling violence is their only choice.
A profoundly unequal and harmful set of social norms that do not value women, and even refer to them as vessels of the devil, coupled with laws that do not protect women and their rights, are pushing many burdens of this crisis onto women. A common saying is, “Almara mamlouka ela malak Almout” or “A woman is owned to death.” As the situation gets more extreme and livelihoods and service get scarcer, women are more likely to be working outside the home to help meet family needs. Men have not increased their involvement in household chores and childcare to compensate for these shifts—leaving women with even higher burdens than before. The shifts in women having to work outside the home have not translated into corresponding improvements in women’s rights, engagement in politics, or access to public life.
This research draws from 20 focus groups and 20 Key Informant Interviews that represent the views of 193 people (45% of whom were women) in eight villages in July of 2022. It also looks at 44 secondary sources.
Read More...
Hunga-Tonga Hunga-Ha’apai Response Program Baseline May-June 2022
The purpose of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai Volcano and Tsunami Response program is to support the immediate and early recovery needs of people directly affected by the eruption of the Hunga Tonga–Hunga Haʻapai volcano. Read More...
Evaluating Systems-level change and impact Findings from the evaluation of the Humanitarian Assistance Program (PAH) in Ecuador
CARE’s ten-year strategy, Vision 2030, seeks to deepen the organizational focus on systems-level change and impact, recognizing that this is essential to expanding CARE’s reach and fulfilling our mission to save lives, defeat poverty and achieve social justice. To support this, CARE launched a systems-level impact initiative to measure the effect of our programs that have influenced or changed systems, and the impact of this systems-change on people’s lives. The initiative also increased capacity across the CARE confederation to design, finance and implement high-quality systems change programs, and to strengthen the focus on systems-level change within our Country Office organizational frameworks and strategies. Four CARE Country Offices were selected to evaluate a project or program, and to synthesize the results for national and global learning. Read More...
CARE Guatemala Food Security Rapid Assessment 2022
EVALUACIÓN RÁPIDA DE INSEGURIDAD ALIMENTARIA SAN BARTOLOMÉ JOCOTENANGO, QUICHÉ
Rural families in Guatemala face one of the most severe food shortage seasons, mainly due to the high cost of meeting their basic needs, the effects of international conflicts and COVID-19 prevention measures, low hiring of temporary labor, the slow recovery of the impact of storms Eta and Iota, and the rainy season 2022 that has started with rains above normal, causing water saturation in the soil, which affects subsistence agriculture. This is worst for families who live in the dry corridor.
In this context, the Municipal Coordinator for the Disaster Reduction –COMRED- and the Municipal Directorate of Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management -IMGIRD of the municipality of San Bartolomé Jocotenango, department of Quiché, with the technical support of CARE Guatemala and TECHO, surveyed 163 households in 33 rural communities to know the availability and access to food, the economic situation, gender roles and strategies of survival that families are implementing. This report shares the results of the analysis of the data collected in July 2022
• 42% of households do not have any remaining grain from the previous harvest, and a further 33% only have remaining grain reserves for further 3 months or less.
• Women earn 56% less than men. On average, men earn $143 per month, and women earn $62.
• 21% have gone into debt to be able to buy food
• 38% are reducing the size of their meals; 22% of people are eating less (or have stopped eating) to make sure their children can eat
• 31% are now skipping at least one meal per day
• 3.7% have spent entire days without eating
• 2% have sold their land to buy food
• In 45% if the households, at least one member has migrated outside the community to find jobs elsewhere.
• Women and young girls are doing 94% of the work preparing food, cleaning, and taking care of family members. Read More...
Rural families in Guatemala face one of the most severe food shortage seasons, mainly due to the high cost of meeting their basic needs, the effects of international conflicts and COVID-19 prevention measures, low hiring of temporary labor, the slow recovery of the impact of storms Eta and Iota, and the rainy season 2022 that has started with rains above normal, causing water saturation in the soil, which affects subsistence agriculture. This is worst for families who live in the dry corridor.
In this context, the Municipal Coordinator for the Disaster Reduction –COMRED- and the Municipal Directorate of Comprehensive Disaster Risk Management -IMGIRD of the municipality of San Bartolomé Jocotenango, department of Quiché, with the technical support of CARE Guatemala and TECHO, surveyed 163 households in 33 rural communities to know the availability and access to food, the economic situation, gender roles and strategies of survival that families are implementing. This report shares the results of the analysis of the data collected in July 2022
• 42% of households do not have any remaining grain from the previous harvest, and a further 33% only have remaining grain reserves for further 3 months or less.
• Women earn 56% less than men. On average, men earn $143 per month, and women earn $62.
• 21% have gone into debt to be able to buy food
• 38% are reducing the size of their meals; 22% of people are eating less (or have stopped eating) to make sure their children can eat
• 31% are now skipping at least one meal per day
• 3.7% have spent entire days without eating
• 2% have sold their land to buy food
• In 45% if the households, at least one member has migrated outside the community to find jobs elsewhere.
• Women and young girls are doing 94% of the work preparing food, cleaning, and taking care of family members. Read More...
The crisis we can still avert
By September of 2022, the global food crisis had gotten so extreme that 205.1 million people urgently need humanitarian food assistance just to survive. Tragically, if we do nothing, the crisis could grow by another 620.9 million people in the next 6 months. That is the crisis we can still avert. Investing in food production, increasing resilience, and functioning markets can stave off this crisis if we act fast.
A recent report from Gro Intelligence and CRU Group estimates that the impacts from the Ukraine crisis on nitrogen fertilizer availability in the global agriculture system will lead to a total loss of 72 trillion calories of food produced in 2022 alone. That loss would cause 620.9 million MORE people who are already struggling to meet their basic food needs to lose at least one more meal a day for the next 6 months. This is the crisis that is coming—growing the current crisis by more than three times higher the 205.1 million people already experiencing food crisis.
Gender inequality will play a significant role in this crisis. Based on current trends in gender equality and food security, 332.8 million of these people will be women. That means 44.7 million more women than men could miss one meal a day for the next 6 months. Women could miss 8.5 billion more meals than men.
This is not a foregone conclusion. We can still act to prevent the worst of the crisis. The number of calories lost is only part of the story. Food insecurity is as much as story of inequality as it is of food production. Read More...
A recent report from Gro Intelligence and CRU Group estimates that the impacts from the Ukraine crisis on nitrogen fertilizer availability in the global agriculture system will lead to a total loss of 72 trillion calories of food produced in 2022 alone. That loss would cause 620.9 million MORE people who are already struggling to meet their basic food needs to lose at least one more meal a day for the next 6 months. This is the crisis that is coming—growing the current crisis by more than three times higher the 205.1 million people already experiencing food crisis.
Gender inequality will play a significant role in this crisis. Based on current trends in gender equality and food security, 332.8 million of these people will be women. That means 44.7 million more women than men could miss one meal a day for the next 6 months. Women could miss 8.5 billion more meals than men.
This is not a foregone conclusion. We can still act to prevent the worst of the crisis. The number of calories lost is only part of the story. Food insecurity is as much as story of inequality as it is of food production. Read More...
Making the Invisible Visible – An evidence-based analysis of gender in the regional response to the war in Ukraine
The escalation of the war in Ukraine began on 24 February 2022, causing thousands of civilian casualties; destroying civilian infrastructure, including hospitals, and triggering the fastest growing displacement crisis in Europe since World War II. The demographic profile of Ukraine, combined with the implementation of martial law and conscription policies, led to an awareness of gender- and age-related factors within the regional humanitarian response that recognised the pre-crisis situation of persons of all genders and diversities and how the war and subsequent regional crise s were compounding the risks that they face.
From the early days of the response, Rapid Gender Analyses (RGA) and other analyses and assessments were conducted, and the Regional Gender Task Force (RGTF) recognised the emergence of common themes and concerns within these that required a closer examination. It was identified that the solutions to the concerns identified required national, regional and cross-border solutions rooted in broad changes in policy and the humanitarian architecture. However, at the time, gender themes, including trends, gaps and specific challenges faced by women and men belonging to different socio-economic and ethnic groups, across the
humanitarian and refugee response in the region had not been captured adequately. Read More...
From the early days of the response, Rapid Gender Analyses (RGA) and other analyses and assessments were conducted, and the Regional Gender Task Force (RGTF) recognised the emergence of common themes and concerns within these that required a closer examination. It was identified that the solutions to the concerns identified required national, regional and cross-border solutions rooted in broad changes in policy and the humanitarian architecture. However, at the time, gender themes, including trends, gaps and specific challenges faced by women and men belonging to different socio-economic and ethnic groups, across the
humanitarian and refugee response in the region had not been captured adequately. Read More...
Sistematización del modelo de respuesta sanitaria desde la comunidad – FORS
CARE Perú en asociación con la compañía minera Antamina implementó el Proyecto de Fortalecimiento de la Respuesta Sanitaria Local a través de la Movilización y Reactivación Social (FORS), con el objetivo de fortalecer las capacidades de respuesta organizada de los sistemas de salud locales y las comunidades/territorios del Área de Influencia Operativa (AIO) de Antamina, frente a la emergencia de la CODIV-19, priorizando a la familia como unidad de vigilancia, información y cambio de hábitos, a través de dos componentes: 1) Movilización local de respuesta a la COVID-19 y Reactivación Social; y 2) Fortalecimiento de los Establecimientos de Salud locales para la atención de la pandemia según nivel de atención. Read More...