Professionalising gender and development expertise: innovations in capacity-building and credentialing

Gender training does not adequately prepare gender and development professionals (GDPs) to undertake robust gender integration of development and humanitarian assistance (D&H) policies and programmes and limits their ability to impact gender equity and equality and development overall. In particular, GDPs lack sector-specific and applied technical skills in gender analysis and integration. These limitations undermine GDPs’ own performance and their credibility with employers and colleagues who rely on them for professional guidance in gender integration. To address these shortcomings and advance the field of gender and D&H, this note describes a new model of gender capacity-building that introduces three innovations: (1) sector-specific, job-related and outcome-based gender analysis and integration competencies, (2) a professional development capacity-building short course based on the competencies and applications to D&H policies and programmes and (3) a professional credential that recognizes possession of these critical competencies.