About
Putting Survivors at the Center
Gender-based violence (GBV) in conflict and humanitarian settings continues to be a primary concern for national and international aid actors around the world. For non-GBV specialist organizations—which are defined as organizations that do not implement GBV response programs and who are not specialized in GBV service provision—the increasing rates of GBV means handling spontaneous disclosures of violence from women and girls, and men and boys.
Recognizing that specialist GBV actors and organizations do not always exist in areas where GBV is occurring, non-specialist organizations must be equipped with the knowledge and tools to appropriately and safely handle these disclosures to ensure that survivors are treated with respect and are properly referred onward to receive specialized services.
Our Goal
Putting Survivors at the Center’s goal is to strengthen the capacity of non-GBV specialist organizations to receive disclosures from GBV survivors, meet survivors’ basic and immediate needs, and facilitate access between GBV survivors and response services in accordance with best practices and local realities.
Our Approach
Putting Survivors at the Center is using a participatory action research (PAR) approach to engage with local and international stakeholders representing GBV specialist and non-specialist organizations, as well as with survivors, to develop a set of guidance tools to strengthen the capacity of non-GBV specialist organizations to respond to immediate disclosures.
Together, the Global Women’s Institute (GWI) and Women for Women International (WfWI), with support from the USAID Bureau of Humanitarian Assistance, are working to develop a set of guidance documents and tools to strengthen non-GBV specialist organizations to better support GBV survivors through the Putting Survivors at the Center: Creating New Programming Models for Non-GBV Specialist Organizations to Support GBV Survivors program. The project is taking place in three countries: the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Iraq, and South Sudan.
Putting Survivors at the Center is a three-stage project
Phase I
(Sep 2022-Aug 2023)
PSAC began with a PAR research report that documented the barriers preventing survivors from accessing specialized GBV services in all three project countries (DRC, Iraq, and South Sudan) and compared these with barriers reported from actors in other conflict settings. This PAR research included a three-day workshop in each of the project countries as well as interviews with marginalized groups.
Phase II
(Sep 2023-Feb 2025)
Six new program models have been developed based on the PAR conducted during Phase I of PSAC. The new program models address three thematic areas that emerged from the research of Phase I: the improved immediate handling of GBV disclosures, connecting to and supporting existing GBV specialist services, and strengthening medium and long-term support to GBV survivors. The piloting process is iterative, and feedback collected at both the local and global levels is used to constantly update and improve the new program models.
Phase III
(Mar 2025-Aug 2025)
During the final stage of the program, the team will focus on consolidating learning and sharing out of best practices. The program will culminate with the publication of a set of final guidance documents and several case studies on the new programming models.
This project and website are made possible by the generous support of the American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). The contents are the responsibility of The Global Women's Institute and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.