Coalition of Feminists for Social Change (COFEM)

The Equality Institute were engaged by COFEM to research and develop a series of tip sheets that formed the COFEM Feminist Pocketbook - a resource to help practitioners working in humanitarian and development contexts to articulate and implement feminist approaches in addressing violence against women and girls (VAWG), also known as gender-based violence (GBV).

The pocketbook consists of ten concise ‘tip sheets’ on key topics for addressing GBV in humanitarian and development settings, such as shifting interpretations of terminology relating to gender and GBC, male accountability in efforts to address GBV, and working with other social justice movements collaboratively.

This resource is primarily for practitioners, researchers and activists working to prevent and respond to GBV in development and humanitarian settings. It also hopes to help its users engage more effectively with policy-makers, donors and other stakeholders on this issue in a variety of contexts across the globe.

COFEM and the EQI worked collaboratively throughout the process of development and refinement. The EQI undertook literature reviews to form the evidence base for the topics chosen, alongside collecting case studies and stories to inform the resource.

The COFEM Feminist Pocketbook is purposefully accessible and non-academic to remove barriers to feminist learning and approaches. A feminist perspective is essential for understanding and dismantling the underpinning systems of power — including gender inequality — that produce, reinforce and perpetuate gender-based violence.However, there are limited resources that adopt an explicitly feminist perspective and approach, and directly support practitioners not only in implementing a feminist approach, but in influencing and working with others – such as policy-makers or donors – in these areas. The goal of the pocketbook is to empower practitioners to help their colleagues, organisations and other stakeholders improve advocacy, policy and programming efforts by promoting a common theoretical ground for shared understanding.