Creating space for gender in the Grand Bargain and the humanitarian system

The Friends of Gender Group (FoGG) is a collaborative platform of humanitarian agencies working to advance gender equality within the framework of the Grand Bargain, the global agreement created by humanitarian agencies in May 2016 to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of humanitarian action. Established during the Grand Bargain Sherpa Meeting in Bonn in September 2016, the group evolved from a small cohort of Grand Bargain signatories to a diverse network co-chaired by two local women leaders representing women-led organisations (WLOs) in the Global South: Naomi Tulay-Solanke of the Community Healthcare Initiative (Liberia) representing the Feminist Humanitarian Network, and Fatima Shehu Imam of Rehabilitation Empowerment and Better Health Initiative (REBHI) in Nigeria. Like the Grand Bargain, FoGG’s membership is made up of a cross-section of humanitarian actors: donor governments, international organisations and non-governmental organisations (NGOs), though FoGG membership has also been open to WLOs who are not formal signatories to the Grand Bargain since 2019.

During the past eight years, members of the group have advocated for the integration of gender perspectives across Grand Bargain initiatives, urging signatories to integrate gender considerations into their policies, programmes and funding mechanisms. FoGG members engage with political, technical and bureaucratic structures of the Grand Bargain in the spirit of the platform’s mission: solving seemingly impossible obstacles and challenges impeding humanitarian response by tackling difficult discussions with donors, United Nations agencies and NGOs together. The FoGG has worked persistently to leverage the Grand Bargain platform in order to institutionalise gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls across all phases of humanitarian response and recovery, using it as a catalyst for the implementation of existing global commitments and standards on gender equality, particularly through accurate and timely reporting by signatories.

The FoGG’s contributions to the Grand Bargain are documented through the Annual Independent Report on the Grand Bargain, most recently prepared by ODI. Convening regularly to share ideas and look strategically across Grand Bargain commitments to advocate for the strengthening of individual and collective commitments, FoGG members developed priority areas of engagement (formerly known as workstreams) to advance gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in humanitarian settings consistently across Grand Bargain initiatives. FoGG members have advocated for:

• gender-sensitive approaches in needs assessments to mitigate the impact of pre-existing gender inequalities during crisis and to promote more inclusive and effective response efforts;
• gender-mainstreaming in all sectors of humanitarian response, including shelter, health, food security, education and livelihoods, by advocating for the integration of gender analysis and gender-responsive programming across sectors to address the specific needs and priorities of women and girls;
• enhancing the leadership and participation of women affected by crisis in humanitarian decision-making processes, particularly through the work of FoGG members in the localisation workstream and caucus.
• Engagement of FoGG members in the original workstreams on localisation, cash, participation revolution, and needs assessments yielded positive outcomes, but reporting and results were more varied.

Addressing the gender gap

The central issue around which the FoGG was formed is the absence of explicit gender commitments within the Grand Bargain. In 2018, FoGG successfully advocated for the inclusion of increased self-reporting on gender for signatories in the annual reporting process. Resistance from some actors to the increased reporting option cited the lack of explicit gender commitments in the Grand Bargain. This structural gap within the platform has been repeatedly raised by group members, including at annual meetings, particularly during the development of the Grand Bargain 2.0 in 2021.

The lack of a central point of leadership or accountability for gender within the Grand Bargain has posed a significant hurdle to FoGG members since its inception. While the FoGG was formed to initiate discussions among signatories regarding the structural gaps on gender within the Grand Bargain, the formation of the group was not seen as an end in itself, but as a modality for advocacy, coordination and knowledge-sharing among like-minded humanitarian actors who saw the potential of the Grand Bargain platform to promote gender-transformative humanitarian action. However, the work of the group has continuously been dominated by carving out space for gender within the Grand Bargain, so that it has not been able to move past addressing the structural concerns of the platform. While some progress was made in increasing attention on the importance of gender commitments under the tenure of Grand Bargain Eminent Person Sigrid Kaag between 2019 and 2021, the absence of sustained leadership undermines efforts to institutionalise gender-mainstreaming. Furthermore, gender equality and women’s empowerment have received less prominence in Grand Bargain processes and dialogues in the 2.0 framework. Despite the adoption of gender-specific actions in the 2.0 framework, the same challenges remain in holding signatories accountable for implementation and self-reporting.

One of the factors that has impeded the progress of the FoGG is the absence of a regular champion within the Grand Bargain Steering Committee to table and promote proposals for the advancement of gender considerations. As part of the Grand Bargain 2.0 drafting process, the group proposed the development of a monitoring framework integrating gender indicators throughout its pillars, to enable tracking and reporting on collective commitments to advance gender equality and women’s leadership, which did not gain traction. Following successive attempts to lobby Steering Committee members to bring Grand Bargain structures and initiatives into line with normative frameworks incorporating gender commitments, such as Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) policies and Good Humanitarian Donorship (GHD), FoGG began to appeal more broadly to Grand Bargain signatories to each establish agency-specific targets to report on progress made towards gender commitments. Members continue to encourage Grand Bargain stakeholders to scale up strategic action, including funding for the advancement of gender equality in crisis and humanitarian settings, despite the challenge of competing against multiple priorities for signatories’ attention without a political champion.

Conclusion

The FoGG, seeking to advance a more equitable humanitarian agenda through the Grand Bargain platform, has worked strategically to strengthen synergies between Grand Bargain commitments and global normative frameworks, prioritising intersectional approaches, and enhancing accountability mechanisms. By fostering partnerships and collaboration among local, national and international gender-responsive actors, the strategy of the group has been to utilise Grand Bargain structures and openings to build a more gender-responsive humanitarian system better equipped to meet the diverse needs of crisis-affected populations. In the absence of space to realise these objectives through Grand Bargain 2.0 structures, the FoGG is now evolving to better support the work of its members in driving change in the humanitarian system.

Naomi Tulay-Solanke is Founder and Executive Director of the Community Healthcare Initiative.