Gender responsive disaster risk management: Analysis in Eastern and Southern Africa

This report provides an overview of the findings by UNICEF and the IFRC's study to explore the extent of integration of gender considerations, including gender-based violence (GBV) risk mitigation, prevention and response considerations, in national and regional disaster risk management (DRM) legal and policy frameworks in Eastern and Southern Africa. It is based on a desk review, consultations and key informant interviews on DRM legal and policy frameworks and their implementation in Ethiopia, Burundi, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Somalia (including Puntland and Somaliland), South Sudan, Uganda, Zimbabwe, the African Union Commission (AUC), the East African Community (EAC), the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD) and the Southern African Development Community (SADC).

This report finds that The extent of gender integration in DRM legal and policy frameworks across Eastern and Southern Africa reflects global trends: there is increasing attention to striving for gender responsive DRM as an approach; there is growing interest in how gender responsive DRM and CCA can complement one another or be integrated; there is increasing interest for guidance on how best to integrate gender considerations into DRM including identifying the minimum standards and by engaging with leadership of national, womenled, youth-led and other organizations working for the rights of marginalized groups. Similarly, the gaps in attention to GBV reflect global gaps in integrating gender and GBV risk mitigation, prevention and response across all components of DRM. Even in countries where the DRM legal and policy documents are gender responsive, gaps in implementation remain. Whether due to limits in funding, time, human resources or operational constraints moving from national to subnational levels, weak implementation leaves a gender responsive framework merely aspirational.