About Lauren Gerken
Lauren is a gender and education in emergencies specialist with international experience across North America, Europe, and Africa involving English language teaching, teacher professional development, and school management. Her background in teaching informs her interactive, participatory approach to curriculum development, capacity building and exchange, and project management. With credentials from Teachers College, Columbia University and University of California, Berkeley, she considers herself a lifelong learner, eager to both build on her academic foundations in education, gender equity, and linguistics and to stay up date with the latest in pedagogical and androgogical innovations.
A self-proclaimed crazy cat lady, Lauren enjoys baking, salsa dancing, and travelling to places that worry her mother. Lauren is currently employed as the Gender Coordinator for the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE), where she leads their work in gender and girls’ education and manages their partnership with Global Affairs Canada on the impacts of the Charlevoix Declaration on Quality Education. Lauren is always interested in taking on new, challenging projects.
Reach out to gerken.lauren@gmail.com to connect!
Recent Projects
Bridging the Gap: Strengthening the Evidence Base for Gender-Responsive Education in Emergencies
COVID-19: Gender and Education in Emergencies blog and infographic
Lauren developed this advocacy brief, in collaboration with the INEE Gender Task Team, in response to global calls for more and better data and evidence on gender-responsive EiE. The brief highlights key gaps in the evidence base on gender and EiE, provides strategic guidance and thematic content for new research initiatives, and promotes collaborative action and knowledge-sharing among key actors working on gender and EiE.
This blog and infographic highlight key challenges faced by women and girls during the COVID-19 pandemic and provides guidance on how to address these challenges in a gender-sensitive manner, by applying a gender lens to COVID-19 preparedness, response, and recovery.
Online course: Introduction to the INEE Guidance Note on Gender
INEE Psychosocial Support and Social and Emotional Learning Training Module
This self-guided online course is designed to help education practitioners understand the content and structure of the INEE Guidance Note on Gender. The course enables practitioners to use the key messages from the Guidance Note to inform education in emergencies programming and create advocacy messages on gender and education. This course can be used as an introductory, pre-orientation activity for a more in-depth training.
This module outlines 3-5 hours of training activities and materials related to psychosocial support (PSS) and social and emotional learning (SEL) in emergency contexts. The Facilitator Guide provides the materials, facilitator notes (including main ideas and activity instructions), and a suggested script for the accompanying presentation. Facilitators are encouraged to first review the Instructions prior to training, which provides guidance for contextualization of the training resources.
Social and Emotional Learning Curriculum
Lauren developed this peer learning curriculum for WISER Girls School in Muhuru Bay, Kenya in collaboration with her colleagues from Teachers College Columbia University. The curriculum focuses on understanding and developing social and emotional competencies in order to strengthen young women’s abilities to make informed decisions and advocate for their sexual and reproductive rights.
Supporting Learners with Learning Disabilities Teacher Training Curriculum
Lauren developed this teacher training curriculum to supplement the Teachers in Crisis Contexts (TiCC) training pack. The curriculum provides teachers with practical strategies for identifying learning disabilities in their classes, adapting their planning and pedagogy, and advocating for the equitable treatment of learners with learning disabilities in their schools and communities.
