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While mapping services is an integral part of developing referral pathways, ensuring appropriate, safe, and effective referral options that practice a survivor-centred approach is a critical element of systematically addressing the needs of survivors. Fractured referral pathways or services that do not employ a survivor-centred approach can cause harm and re-traumatise or re-victimise the survivor.

Read more in our pages on mapping existing services and strengthening referral systems here.

It is important to train and mentor programme staff and volunteers with the knowledge and skills to treat survivors with dignity and respect, ensure that their safety and needs are prioritised, and support their self-determination and respect choices. When hiring or onboarding new staff and volunteers, it is important to include attitude-based questions in interview protocols to measure how strongly candidates align with a survivor-centred approach. Survivor-centred attitudes and practices require repeated and appropriate training and skills development to ensure adherence. This should include…

During the initial design of a new VAWG programme, developing standard operating procedures (SOPs) for service providers can help to institutionalise a survivor-centred approach and ensure that all staff understand processes and ways of working relating to confidentiality, safety planning, referrals, case management, and data management.

In turn, safeguarding policies provide clarity on how to prevent, mitigate or respond to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment, including how to (anonymously) report grievances. Staff should receive regular training on these policies and procedures, and…

When designing a programme or intervention, it is important to consult with women and girls in all their diversity, not only to get their input but also to empower them to make decisions about programming types and approaches. To do this, programmes should engage early and often with various women’s organisations, including locally-led women’s organisations, LGBTQI+ organisations, disability rights organisations, refugee women-led organisations, and other constituency-led organisations working on GBV programming. It is particularly important to understand which groups if survivors may be…

To ensure a survivor-centred approach is adhered to at every stage of the programme cycle, it’s important for survivors to meaningfully participate and co-create programming at every stage, including design, implementation, monitoring, evaluation, exit and sustainability strategies. This applies to all programmes that work on VAWG, whether focusing on prevention, mitigation or response.

Even the most well-designed VAWG programmes can be thrown off course by unforeseen events like the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict situations, natural disasters, or humanitarian emergencies. These external shocks can have a profound impact on programme activities and can exacerbate violence against women and girls in target communities. To address emerging challenges, it is important to build the capacity and resilience of relevant actors through technical training and support, as well as fostering a culture of innovation and flexibility that allows programmes to adapt, innovate and pivot to…

Adapting an EVAWG programme usually takes between 12-18 months to adapt the design, pre-test material and pilot, allowing enough time to identify any challenges before rolling out the programme more widely. The pre-testing and piloting can help you to determine whether the adapted intervention is acceptable to the new community, has maintained fidelity to the core components of the original programme and is able to be implemented effectively and to a high quality.

Pre-testing involves testing specific components of the programme, such as content, training/workshops, staffing, scheduling and…

Once a suitable programme to adapt has been identified, it is important to plan carefully. Modifying components, developing new materials and investing in organisational capacity and skilled implementers requires adequate time, budget (flexible funding structures), and resources. Additionally, it is critical to obtain feedback from key stakeholders and technical advisors to ensure programme quality and contextual fit. Mapping VAWG actors can also help improve understanding of key entry points within institutions and systems, identify promising partnerships, and raise awareness of the new…

When adapting a programme to your context, it is important to engage with the organisation that created the original approach, also known as the programme originator. These organisations bring valuable experience in how to implement programmes, as well as adapt to diverse contexts. Unfortunately, in some cases, originators are not consulted during programme adaptation or scaling, and this can result in misunderstanding of key programme elements and how to implement them effectively. For example, a common error is not implementing interventions with the intensity required to achieve changes in…

Adaptation involves changing the design and/or implementation to fit the local context, while keeping the elements of the original programme that made it successful. Before adapting an EVAWG programme, review evidence of its impact, understand key aspects, and identify what worked and how it could be improved. Effective adaptation needs to consider changes in the language, content, activities and delivery mechanisms to suit the new context and population.

It is important to maintain fidelity to core design elements of the original programme such as the frequency and intensity of…