Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap)
The Gender Standby Capacity Project (GenCap) is an Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) initiative that was established in 2007. Its mission is to strengthen inter-agency capacity and leadership to deliver on commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment in humanitarian action.
Through the provision of expertise, guidance and tools, GenCap meets a widely recognized need for senior gender staff to support Resident Coordinators and Humanitarian Coordinators (RC/HCs) and Humanitarian Country Teams (HCTs) in their efforts to prioritize gender at the country level.
The main modalities used by GenCap in its work are:
Deployment of Senior Protection Advisers (SPAs)
Capacity-building
Sharing of influence and good practices
About (GenCap)
Established in 2007, GenCap is managed by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in long-standing partnership with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).
GenCap deploys Senior Gender Advisers (SGAs) to humanitarian field operations, as well as at the global and regional levels, to help ensure that gender equality and women’s empowerment are placed at the centre of humanitarian action.
GenCap SGAs represent an independent, inter-agency resource that is dedicated to supporting strategic and operational humanitarian response.
GenCap is engaged in a diverse set of crises, including sudden-onset emergencies, protracted situations and transitional contexts.
How we work
GenCap focuses on strengthening leadership and capacity within the humanitarian system to deliver on commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Senior Gender Advisers (SGAs) deploy as inter-agency resources to address capacity needs in gender equality programming efforts, in addition to providing capacity development, policy advice and guidance on best practices.
As a catalyst dedicated to supporting the humanitarian system’s efforts to fulfill its global gender equality commitments, GenCap recognizes that continued investment is needed to advance gender equality in all aspects of operational response and to support effective leadership.
Roles and Approaches
Under the direct supervision of the Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC) and in close collaboration with the Humanitarian Country Team (HCT) and key stakeholders, including national actors, the Senior Gender Adviser (SGA) works with humanitarian partners, Inter-Cluster Coordination mechanisms and other inter-agency forums to enhance accountability and strengthen the framework and skill sets required to sustainably place gender at the centre of humanitarian operations.
The work of GenCap is guided by the IASC Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Action (2017) and the IASC Gender Handbook (2018).
GenCap also promotes the IASC Gender with Age Marker (GAM), which enhances gender equality programming by improving gender analysis to show how needs, capacities and vulnerabilities of women, girls, men and boys are considered throughout the Humanitarian Programme Cycle (HPC).
The inter-agency approach, which pools senior level expertise and strategic support, is recognized as the project’s added value and comparative advantage. As an independent resource to the whole of operations, SGAs help to identify practical solutions to complex gender issues.
- ProCap and GenCap Appeal 2023-2024
- ProCap and GenCap Appeal 2021-2022
- ProCap and GenCap Appeal 2020-2021
- GenCap Annual Report 2022
- GenCap Annual Report 2021
- GenCap Annual Report 2020
- GenCap Annual Report 2019
- ProCap and GenCap Evaluative Review
- ProCap and GenCap Strategic Framework 2018-2021
- IASC Policy on Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Action (2017)
- IASC Gender Policy Accountability Framework
- IASC Gender Handbook