Gender Equality in the Humanitarian Response to the Beirut Port Explosion

UN Women and OCHA jointly examine the extent to which issues of gender equality were factored into various stages of the 2020 Flash Appeal in response to the Beirut port explosions. Reviewed against the standards set out in the 2017 IASC Policy on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women and Girls in Humanitarian Settings, this review highlights best practices and key successes, and proposes recommendations where there is scope for improvement to guide upcoming exercises, such as country-wide contingency planning and a nation-wide Multi-Sector Needs Assessment (MSNA), and the implementation of the Lebanon Reform, Recovery & Reconstruction Framework (3RF) co-led by the UN, World Bank Group and European Union. The review suggests that the Flash Appeal response to the Beirut Port explosions maintained some attention to gender equality throughout its duration, with several efforts that can be highlighted as best practices for future activities in both Lebanon and other emergency settings. Issues reviewed include the commitment to gender equality demonstrated by multiple senior leaders; a dedicated Gender Advisor within OCHA via a UN Women secondment; presence of a strong feminist civil society; the integration annd availability of gender analysis and its use by key operational, humanitarian sectors; use of sex and age disaggregated data (SADD) in needs assessments, monitoring exercises, as well as in referral mechanisms; and PSEA and SGBV mainstreaming.