POSTGRADUATE DIPLOMA IN GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN EMERGENCIES (GBViE)

PHILOSOPHY OF THE PROGRAMME

This programme is philosophically anchored in Gender, Gender Equality and Rights-Based Approach particularly in Emergencies. It is recognised that Gender-Based Violence tends to happen a lot within emergencies and should be approached from a holistic, multi-sectoral perspective.

Rationale

Justification of the need for  Programme

The Post-Graduate Diploma in GBViE answers the call for the design and implementation of quality GBV response in humanitarian settings at policy and academic levels. The programme provides advanced training in gender-based violence in humanitarian settings that offers an opportunity for practitioners as well as academics to advance their knowledge in the field. Contextually, East Africa is home to some of the largest humanitarian crises in the world (e.g. South Sudan, Somalia, and DRC), the effects of which have greatly increased women and girls’ vulnerability to GBV. Organizations, particularly local and national non-governmental organizations working in hard to reach areas, don’t always have the technical capacity to implement GBV programs that meet global standards of care. Thus, there is a distinct need for more Specialists who can coordinate the delivery of life-saving services to survivors of GBV that meet global standards of care.

This programme underpins the global standards on quality-gender based violence programming espoused by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). Thus, learners are equipped with among other skills, case management, health care, psychosocial support, economic empowerment and livelihoods, and GBV coordination to ensure that survivors of GBV and those at risk of violence receive quality, survivor-centred care amid an emergency. In addition, this is a self-propelling programme that will rely on a blended mode of learning with modules delivered synchronously and asynchronously using a multimedia approach.  

1.3.1 Needs Assessment

The topics included in the curriculum were selected in part based on the findings of a global study by the GBV-AoR that identified the core behavioural and professional competencies that GBV Specialists and Coordinators should embody^[1] , a desk review of lessons learned from existing capacity building initiatives being implemented by members of the GBV AoR, and an anonymous survey that was sent out to GBV specialists working in emergencies. The programme, therefore, aims to fill a recurrent capacity gap in humanitarian settings and is sustainable.

An online desk review of existing GBV capacity building programs and initiatives also revealed that the UoN’s Postgraduate Diploma in GBViE would be the first of its kind in the Eastern and Southern Africa region, and quite possibly in the world. Many institutions have various degree programs in gender studies, but none focuses on GBViE specifically^[2].

 Stakeholder Involvement

A two-day stakeholders consultative workshop was held with national and regional GBV experts to deliberate on the programme content. The actors who participated in the multi-stakeholder workshop were drawn from UNFPA, State Department of Gender, FIDA, UN Women, HIAS, ODEL, QA-UoN and Faculty of Law, among others.

  Justification of the need for  Programme

The Post-Graduate Diploma in GBViE answers the call for the design and implementation of quality GBV response in humanitarian settings at policy and academic levels. The programme provides advanced training in gender-based violence in humanitarian settings that offers an opportunity for practitioners as well as academics to advance their knowledge in the field. Contextually, East Africa is home to some of the largest humanitarian crises in the world (e.g. South Sudan, Somalia, and DRC), the effects of which have greatly increased women and girls’ vulnerability to GBV. Organizations, particularly local and national non-governmental organizations working in hard to reach areas, don’t always have the technical capacity to implement GBV programs that meet global standards of care. Thus, there is a distinct need for more Specialists who can coordinate the delivery of life-saving services to survivors of GBV that meet global standards of care.

This programme underpins the global standards on quality-gender based violence programming espoused by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC). Thus, learners are equipped with among other skills, case management, health care, psychosocial support, economic empowerment and livelihoods, and GBV coordination to ensure that survivors of GBV and those at risk of violence receive quality, survivor-centred care amid an emergency. In addition, this is a self-propelling programme that will rely on a blended mode of learning with modules delivered synchronously and asynchronously using a multimedia approach.  

  GOAL OF THE PROGRAMME

The goal of this programme is to produce graduates who have knowledge and skills and can play multiple roles in Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies.  

EXPECTED LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of this programme, the learner should be able to:

Explain the nature and manifestation of GBV in Emergency Situations;

Apply principles and approaches to GBV in Emergencies;

Develop an understanding of key elements of GBV in emergencies coordination;

Design holistic-multi-sectoral GBV in Emergency programmes;

Apply the principles of coordination among multi-sector actors to ensure humanitarian GBV services are being delivered during each stage of an emergency.