Gender-based Analysis Plus Quick Guide job aid
The Gender-based Analysis Plus (GBA Plus) job aid expands on the 5 steps of the GBA Plus process and the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) Quick Guide by including additional questions to prompt deeper reflection and broader consideration when analyzing situations.
Note: Not every single prompt question needs to be answered.
The purpose of the job aid when applying GBA Plus is to help identify and recognize a wider range of issues and options that may be relevant to or affect people and their circumstances, in order to initiate responsive and inclusive results and outcomes.
- Review the social identity factors wheel, then identity relevant social identity factors for the context or situation.
- Review quadrant I of the DND/CAF GBA Plus Quick Guide and for each question, answer the prompts to help define the issue or problem and to provide information on the context.
- Reminder: the focus for quadrant I is to describe the issue or problem, but not to suggest a solution.
Question 1: What is the problem that needs to be solved with the initiative being developed?
Prompt questions:
- What is the problem that needs to be addressed?
- Why is this initiative necessary?
- Why and how is it relevant to CAF or a specific team, unit, or base within CAF?
Question 2: Who has defined the problem?
Prompt questions:
- Is the problem linked to different experiences or applications of the initiative? Are there any previously identified inequities or differences?
- What other initiatives could be related to this problem?
- What risks does the CAF (or a team, unit, or base within CAF) face if the problem identified is not addressed, including risks to specific groups and/or organizations?
Question 3: Are there other ways the issue might be understood or experienced?
Prompt questions:
- Who has defined the problem? Are there other ways the problem might be understood or experienced? Who, how and why?
- What can be done to include a diversity of thoughts and experiences?
- What are potential and relevant assumptions that may exist? What can be done to challenge these assumptions?
- Consult the debiasing techniques in toolkit 2 to challenge and reduce the occurrence and impact of assumptions in your analysis and decisions.
- Review quadrant II of the DND/CAF GBA Plus Quick Guide and for each question, answer the prompts to identify who is impacted by the issue or problem and how.
- Reminder: the focus for quadrant 2 is consider how intersectional analysis can be applied when identifying who is affected by an issue/problem and understand how.
Question 4: What are the relevant social identity factors of populations affected?
Prompt questions:
- Who is impacted by the problem and how?
- What are the needs of affected people/communities?
Question 5: What inequalities may exist based on how social identity factors intersect with power dynamics in group membership, institutions, and systems of power?
Prompt questions:
- How do social identity factors impact who is affected? How do these factors alter the impacts?
- What inequalities exist that are relevant to the problem, who experiences it, and how?
- What social hierarchy and norms, systems and structures, or systems of power (including prejudice and discrimination) contribute to the problem or related inequalities? Is there any evidence of explicit or implicit discrimination against specific groups of people in any legislation, program, service or policy related to the issue?
Question 6: What is included in the research and how does it include people and individuals with lived experiences associated with the issue?
Prompt questions:
- Who is included in the research? Who is missing? Which groups should be consulted and how will results be integrated?
- What is known about the impacted members/people/communities? Are there gaps in the information available?
- How can the analysis be informed by the lived experiences of affected members/people/communities? Is the consultation meaningful, respectful, and inclusive of diverse perspectives and experiences?
- Review quadrant III of the DND/CAF GBA Plus Quick Guide and for each question, answer the prompts to identify and develop options to address or mitigate inequalities experienced by specific groups and communities.
- Note: considering the different needs of specific groups and communities can help minimize barriers to accessing opportunities and initiatives.
Question 7: What options can be explored to address the specific needs of affected populations?
Prompt questions:
- What are the needs and priorities of those impacted by the problem that needs to be addressed?
- How will the proposed solutions be personalized to address the specific needs of affected groups of members and communities?
- Are there specific solutions focused particularly for members and communities who are most marginalized or negatively impacted?
Question 8: How can the responses be tailored to meet the expressed needs of members that are associated with identified relevant social identity factors?
Prompt questions:
- Do the solutions address the inequalities related to this problem?
- What is needed to ensure that the solutions will not maintain inequalities, make them worse, or create new ones?
- Have the options been developed based on certain assumptions or biases, and have they been explicitly stated? How can the biases be checked to ensure that they do not overgeneralize or perpetuate stereotypes, or contribute to systemic discrimination?
Question 9: What solutions can be explored to reduce or eliminate the inequalities identified in the analysis?
Prompt questions:
- What is the final goal you want to achieve, based on the information gathered in the previous steps? What recommendations support this?
- How might each recommendation help reduce risks and different impacts?
- Which courses of action (COAs) have been considered to achieve the final outcomes?
- For each COA:
- Describe the COA
- Explain how the COA addresses the needs of affected members or populations
- Note any risks associated with the COA
- List any support (such as, financial resources, human resources, leadership support) needed to implement the COA
- For each COA:
- Which COA should be selected? What are the reasons for why the COA should be selected?
- Review quadrant IV of the DND/CAF GBA Plus Quick Guide and for each question, answer the prompts to determine how to implement, monitor and evaluate the recommended courses of action (COAs).
- Reminder: This phase involves documentation and communication. Collecting and analyzing data ensures that the COA is not having unexpected negative impacts on specific members or groups of people.
Question 10: Are the actions from the analysis addressing the issue identified, including the specific needs of affected populations?
Prompt questions:
- Are the COAs consistent with the intersectional factors identified earlier in the analysis?
- Has an implementation plan been developed? The plan may include a budget, a team, a work plan, and/or a communications plan.
Question 11: How can people and communities with various social identity factors access, experience, and benefit from the initiative, and have they been engaged with throughout the process?
Prompt questions:
- Does the initiative create inequalities or maintain barriers for specific groups of members?
Question 12: In what ways is the initiative contributing towards operational effectiveness and/or culture evolution?
Prompt questions:
- Did the implementation of the COAs occur as expected?
- Did the solutions address the inequalities related to this issue?
- Were there any unintended outcomes for specific groups?
For each COA:
- What was actioned or implemented?
- What were the results of this action or decision (for example, what were the outputs or deliverables)?
- Who will benefit from these results (for example, who are the affected members and communities)?
- What will change because of the activity/action?
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