Social protection “can change social norms and role models – and thus have a gender-transformative effect”. Svenja Schulze, German Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development opens this new guidance on the transformative power of social protection to support gender outcomes in crisis contexts.

• An estimated one in five forcibly displaced women in humanitarian crises have been subjected to sexual violence.
• Approximately 11 million girls may not return to school after the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Single female-headed households may have higher expenditures than male-headed households to respond to climate disasters.
• Less than one in five global social protection measures during COVID-19 addressed specific gender inequalities, such as supporting women in informal employment, mitigating risks of violence, and confronting the unequal distribution of care work.
• As inequalities are exacerbated during crises, the guidance note identifies concrete steps how social protection can help reverse, and even transform, the disadvantages faced by women and girls in these contexts.

The guidance note was written by Rebecca Holmes and Paola Pereznieto with valuable inputs from Valentina Barca and Helene Juillard and in consultation with members of the SPIAC-B gender working group. It was produced through STAAR Facility as commissioned by GIZ on behalf of BMZ.