BASIC is pleased to announce the convening of a Community of Practice (CoP), tasked with measuring the impact of existing approaches to gender in the nuclear policy field. Members of the CoP will participate in four online collaborative workshops over the course of 2024, evaluating your organisation’s current approach to gender and sharing insights on what works when gendering nuclear policy across different sectors.
Why are we convening this CoP?
The conversation around gender and nuclear weapons has been dynamic, with multiple programmes and initiatives dedicated to the topic emerging over the past half decade or so. Approaches to addressing gender and nuclear weapons vary from online workshops, mentorships for young women in nuclear policy and written tools on implementing gender-sensitivity and gender analysis. Yet, it is unclear which approaches and methods to gendering nuclear weapons policy generate impact, and what this impact looks like. This creates a disconnect between the everyday programme work on gender and nuclear weapons, and the rationale for it. The extent to which these workstreams collaborate, or even have knowledge of one another, is limited, and, in an organisational context, gender approaches can be side-lined. This CoP creates an opportunity to collaborate with both individuals and ideas that have traditionally been marginalised within nuclear weapons policy.
What will the CoP do?
This Community of Practice (CoP) will ask a question which has been missing in projects dealing with gender in nuclear policy so far:
- How are current approaches to gendering nuclear weapons policy anticipated to work in practice?
Relying on tools of policy and impact evaluation, members will be guided through the evaluation of their work and reflections on gender and nuclear weapons, critically engaging with the theories of change, assumptions, and the necessary conditions for success in their organisations and for nuclear policy writ large.
What will be required of me?
Members of the CoP will participate in four workshops (1.5 hours long with short break) over 10 months starting in February 2024, as well as a short introductory meeting. These will be scheduled at two month intervals by the project lead in collaboration with CoP members to find the most suitable times for all.
Members will have the opportunity to consult and share feedback on the drafting of an evaluation framework intended for dissemination across the nuclear policy community in late 2024. This will be a publicly available resource intended to add longevity to the dialogues that take place amongst the CoP. The CoP will follow the Chatham House rule.
What will I gain from participating?
You will have an opportunity to evaluate your organisation’s current work on gendering nuclear weapons policy, drawing on policy evaluation tools to understand the theory of change of your work with a view to bolstering its impact. In addition, the CoP will provide a chance to meet other stakeholders working on gendering nuclear policy, stimulating cross-sectoral collaboration, and learning in a supportive and inclusive environment.
Interested in joining?
We are seeking between 15-20 professionals across the breadth of nuclear policy, security and defence, from government, academia, advocacy organisations and beyond. All levels of experience are welcome to join the CoP. It is expected that in some way your work engages with gender approaches, broadly understood. To express your interest in joining the CoP, or for any questions, please contact Laura Rose Brown by email. You can download more information on the CoP here.
Project Lead: Laura Rose Brown, Policy Fellow (BASIC), PhD Researcher, University of Leeds.
This project has been generously funded by the Nuclear Threat Initiative.