A UNDP guidance note

Conflict analyses that overlook gender miss critical drivers of violence, exclusion, and resilience. Gender inequalities not only deepen in crises—they often fuel them. To design interventions that build sustainable peace, UNDP requires conflict analyses that examine how gender roles, relations, and power dynamics shape both conflict and recovery processes.

This Guidance Note equips UNDP staff with a comprehensive and practical framework to integrate gender perspectives into conflict analysis and across crisis prevention, response, and recovery programming. It ensures that UNDP interventions are gender-transformative—addressing not only the symptoms of crises but also the structural inequalities that drive them.

Grounded in principles of participation, conflict sensitivity, intersectionality, and the “do no harm” approach, the Gender-Responsive Conflict Analysis (GRCA) framework offers a step-by-step methodology adaptable to diverse contexts, from rapid-onset emergencies to protracted crises.

• Module 1 – Why GRCA matters: Links gender-responsive analysis to the WPS agenda, SDGs, and the UNDP Strategic Plan, showing how women’s participation strengthens peacebuilding.
• Module 2 – What GRCA is: Defines core principles and clarifies what GRCA is – and is not – providing a structured process for transformative analysis.
• Module 3 – Planning and preparation: Offers tools for scoping, team assembly, and partnerships with governments, civil society, and UN agencies.
• Module 4 – Conducting a GRCA: Details participatory methods, ethical safeguards, digital tools, and analysis techniques.
• Module 5 – Translating analysis into action: Guides practitioners in validating findings, developing recommendations, and integrating gender indicators into planning, budgeting, monitoring, and evaluation frameworks.