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.

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 particular marginalised or stigmatised due to their identity or circumstances and pro-actively seek to engage and support them.

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 be held accountable for adhering to them. Survivors should be consulted and involved in the designing of standard operating procedures and safeguarding policies.

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 receptionists, administrative staff, drivers, security staff, and others (not just programmatic staff).

Where a survivor is a child, the best interests of the child are central to a survivor-centred approach; caseworkers and service providers should provide child-centred case management services and coordinate care according to best practice.

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.

Holistic and comprehensive VAWG prevention, mitigation and response requires a multi-sectoral approach, including health, justice, education, security and social services - as well as engagement with women's rights organisations. Strengthening multi-sectoral approaches to VAWG helps address the multiple drivers of violence across individual, social, cultural and structural levels and helps ensure prevention and mitigation more effectively.

For instance, training staff or programme participants on survivor-centred approaches can help ensure that referral networks are established and improve the quality and availability of services. They can also be trained to understand and address risk factor for VAWG, as a contribution to prevention and mitigation.