Rapid Gender Analysis for Adolescents and Youth: Step-by-Step Guide
This step-by-step guide has been designed to support frontline teams to rapidly assess and respond to the gender-specific needs of adolescents and youth in emergencies and protracted crises.
The Rapid Gender Analysis for Adolescents and Youth: Step-by-Step Guide is based on programme evidence, research findings and good practices shared by humanitarian practitioners working with young people globally.
Understanding and responding to the unique needs of adolescents, particularly girls, in crisis settings is a core part of Plan International’s humanitarian work. Adolescents are chronically overlooked in humanitarian settings and their needs, capacities and aspirations often remain unrecognised in humanitarian action. They face elevated risks of gender-based violence because of the intersectionality of age and gender, and the additional risk factors relevant to emergencies.
The guidance and tools have been developed by Plan International staff working in emergencies and protracted crises, building on extensive experience and consultation with adolescents themselves, and in collaboration with CARE International.
Purpose and application
This step-by-step guide aims to strengthen humanitarian actors’ understanding of how gender inequality impacts the lives of communities and the unique needs, interests, risks and capacities of adolescents and youth. The guide primarily focuses on young adolescent girls (10-14 years), older adolescent girls (15-19 years) and young women (20-24 years old), while recognising that their lived realities are influenced by their broader environment.
Who this guide is for
- Emergency response managers and gender equality advisors leading crisis responses will find this guide essential for ensuring rapid yet comprehensive gender analysis that captures adolescent perspectives within the critical 2-4 week assessment window.
- Frontline humanitarian teams from international NGOs, UN agencies and local organisations can use this toolkit to complement existing adult-focused assessments, ensuring that adolescent voices are not lost in the urgency of emergency response.
- Women’s and girls’ rights organisations working in crisis settings will find valuable frameworks for documenting and advocating for adolescent-specific interventions, with built-in recognition of their expertise and recommendations for meaningful partnership.
- MERL specialists, child protection officers and sector leads can utilise the comprehensive consultation tools and methodologies to gather actionable data that directly informs programme design across education, protection, health, and livelihoods interventions.
Key features
The guide provides practical tools for conducting rapid gender analysis across 4 distinct crisis scenarios, from rapid-onset emergencies to protracted crises with shifting dynamics. It includes specialised consultation methodologies for diverse stakeholder groups, comprehensive safeguarding protocols and specific guidance for working with marginalised populations including LGBTIQ+ youth and adolescents with disabilities.
The toolkit recognises the reality of humanitarian timelines while maintaining ethical standards, offering pre-approved tools that can be rapidly deployed while ensuring meaningful participation and protection of vulnerable participants. It emphasises a socio-ecological approach that examines not just what adolescents need, but how their families, communities, and service providers can become allies in addressing those needs.
Download the guide
English
3 mb
Categories: Emergencies
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