This gender assessment is informed by the fact that women, men, girls and boys experience conflict-related crises differently. As a result their respective responsibilities and priorities are often different. Understanding how gender roles, power relations between women and men, and the positioning of women and girls determine women and men’s experiences of conflict, their coping methods, and needs. Appreciation of this reality is key to the design and implementation of gender responsive and rights-based humanitarian action. The Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC), a forum for coordination and policy making for UN and non-UN humanitarian actors explains that in crisis situations, mainstreaming a gender focus from the outset.