What is the link between gender equality and disaster risk? What lessons have been learned in the field and through scientific study? How can this knowledge be applied in practice to reduce risk and respond equitably to disaster events?

The Gender and Disaster Sourcebook is a one-stop user-friendly electronic guide to help answer these questions. This version is a pilot and we welcome feedback of all kinds. The final product will be available in March 2006 on the Gender and Disaster Network website, and we hope it will be widely linked to other relevant websites.


How were materials selected?

What kinds of materials are included?

  • Academic publications
  • In-house reports or documents
  • First-person accounts
  • Research protocols
  • Good practice models
  • Checklists and field guides
  • Gender mainstreaming guidelines
  • Resources for journalists
  • Grassrootswomen’s initiatives
  • Relevant websites
  • Training materials
  • University syllabi
  • Policy guides
  • Bibliographies
  • Strong photos of women
  • Resources for trainers

Who is it for?

We hope the compilation will be useful for those new to a gender perspective and those who have helped develop it. In particular, it is a resource bank for:

  • Practitioners and relief workers
  • Policy makers
  • Technical specialists
  • Government authorities
  • Journalists
  • Funders
  • Activists
  • Survivors
  • Researchers
  • Community organizers
  • Women’s groups

Why is it needed?

Resources developed in an agency or sector or country are often of interest to others but not known or available. The Sourcebook cannot include all gender and disaster materials but will be the springboard for information exchange and networking.


What languages are used?

The Sourcebook is in English. Bilingual documents are noted, and in some cases synopses are provided of non-English materials. We hope and expect that many entries in the Sourcebook can be translated and/or revised and adapted for use in different regions and contexts. It may be possible to translate selected materials from the English version at a later date subject to funding.


Will it be updated?

The Sourcebook cannot be updated by the writing team after the completion of the project. We solicit your thoughts about mechanisms for annual revision, avenues for promotion, and directions for revision and expansion.


How can I contribute?

Submissions are actively solicited, especially materials meeting the selection criteria and materials uploaded. Send your ideas or materials to the project manager or use the on-line submission form.


How can people access the Sourcebook?

The Sourcebook will also be available for the foreseeable future through the Gender and Disaster Network website hosted by Northumbria University Northumbria University, Divisions of Geography and Environmental Management [webspinner Maureen Fordham]. We thank them for making this possible.


What about the Gender and Disaster Sampler and the CD?

Interactive CDs were produced to help make these resources more available. Users will find on the CD a number of PDF files of key documents selected to illustrate the range of documents referenced in the Sourcebook through hyperlinks.

The Sourcebook is intended primarily as an electronic compilation so that new and updated materials can be made available. However, a number of CDs were distributed free of cost to a number of international and national institutions, libraries, organizations and community and women’s groups to make this work more available. Additional copies of the March 2006 CD are available at replacement cost plus postage. Please contact the project manager for more information [eenarson@earthlink.net].