On the last day of this year’s 16 Days of Activism Against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Cordaid’s newly appointed expert on gender and sexual and reproductive health and rights, Jacqueline Molho, discusses her determination to challenge harmful gender norms and build stronger partnerships to drive lasting change for those affected.
Jacqueline’s mandate is both internal and external: supporting colleagues across programmes, strengthening partner capacity, and bringing a gender-transformative lens to long-term development work.
In this interview, she reflects on the personal experiences that shaped her, and what she intends to tackle first.
You have a background in medicine and global health topics. Now, you are developing your career in gender justice. What motivated you to step into this new role at Cordaid?
‘I’ve been passionate about gender equality since I was young. Much of that comes from my own experiences: feeling pressure as a girl to behave in a certain way and being subjected to comments or expectations I didn’t choose. Growing up, I always asked myself why the world treats girls and boys so differently.
‘During my studies, I learned about all the gendered dimensions of health, and the huge gender inequalities in research, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease. This strengthened my interest in gender justice, as I realised with time how gender plays a part in how people experience every aspect of society, and the injustices that come with that.
‘For my first project at Cordaid, I worked on a policy brief on pandemic preparedness and gender. This was my first professional assignment related to gender, which led me to focus on this path from then on. Working closely with my colleagues on gender and Women, Peace and Security in the previous years, prepared me for this next step. The transition felt very natural.’
16 Days of Activism is a moment to spotlight sexual and gender-based violence globally. Why does it remain so pervasive?
‘Perhaps we have been focused too much on short-term solutions instead of working on tackling the root causes of gender-based violence. This means we shouldn’t tackle it as a woman’s problem. We haven’t been working enough with young men and boys on prevention and transforming harmful norms. Recently, I have been noticing more attention for this subject. That gives me hope. Cordaid also recently published an interesting paper on transformative masculinities.
‘There are so many structural power imbalances and inequalities that intersect with other vulnerabilities. There is a need for gender transformative work. We shouldn’t just address the consequences of harmful norms; we must also work to change them so that the change is long-lasting. It’s in our policy, but it is often challenging to implement that in practice.’
Why is that?
‘Because they challenge power structures that have developed over long periods of time, they also take a long time to take effect. Also, challenging the status quo often faces significant resistance. Changing behaviours is hard. That’s why it’s essential to start with youth.’
The problems when it comes to gender inequality are so vast and multifaceted. What will your priorities be in the coming months?
‘My focus is twofold. Within the organisation, I want to strengthen how we integrate gender across Cordaid’s programmes. That means working closely with teams so gender isn’t an add-on but part of planning from the start. I’ll be improving our internal tools and policies, connecting with our gender focal points in-country, and supporting proposal development to ensure future projects are strong on gender.
‘Externally, one of my priorities is meeting partner organisations in our programme countries. I want to understand their realities, their challenges, and their goals. Many partners are already doing extraordinary work on gender justice and the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence. My role is to support them through capacity sharing and to ensure their voices are amplified through our publications, events, and other advocacy work. Our partnerships must be shaped by their needs to be effective.’
How do you see Cordaid’s added value in this space?
‘Cordaid sees the importance of gender in its work, and colleagues are usually very keen to integrate these considerations. Thanks to the deep, long-lasting relationships the organisation has built in the communities where it works, it has been able to support partners working on the root causes of inequality, creating spaces for women and men to discuss change in ways that feel safe and culturally grounded. When we combine that with strong internal capacity, staff who understand gender dynamics and can integrate them across sectors, we can make our work more effective and more just.’
What do you hope people take away from a campaign like the 16 Days of Activism?
‘Violence can take so many different forms: sexual, psychological, economic. It can affect anyone, regardless of gender. I want people to reflect on their own assumptions; the jokes, the expectations, the comments we’ve all heard and maybe repeated without thinking. That’s where violence begins: in the small things we normalise, which shape people. Sexual and gender-based violence is not inevitable. This problem affects everyone, and we can all play a role in combating it.’