Programmes seeking to establish One Stop Centres should start by mapping existing services, the needs of survivors and gaps in service provision. Mapping existing survivor support services helps ensure that One Stop Centres are adequately linked up to other services, with clear referral pathways for survivors, that they are not duplicating existing services, and that they are better placed to fill gaps in service provision.

Survivors of VAWG are at risk of re-traumatisation and other mental health challenges which can be triggered by insensitive service delivery. One Stop Centre staff need to be trained in how to provide survivor-centred care that does no harm. This entails putting the safety and comfort of survivors at the forefront of service delivery, avoiding intrusive questioning, ensuring survivors have access to support at all stages, and ensuring that they are able to navigate the One Stop Centre services at their own pace. Survivors also need to be fully engaged in all decision-making processes that affect them. All staff working in One Stop Centres should remain alert to possible adverse impacts of engagement with survivors and develop mitigation strategies. 

Women and Girls’ Safe Spaces are environments established to ensure women and girls feel emotionally and physically safe. These spaces are designed to ensure VAWG survivors have a place to go where they are able to socialise, build support networks, access response services and access information on women’s rights, health and services, without fear of judgement or harm. Read more about how to establish a Women and Girls’ Safe Space. 

Survivors of VAWG may require multiple services to support their recovery and access to justice. Services they are likely to need access to include but are not limited to: 

• Medical care: Survivors of VAWG may need urgent medical treatment, mental health services, and sexual and reproductive health services. This could be to treat injuries, test and treat sexually transmitted infections and HIV, and to provide prenatal care or contraceptive provision, among other activities. Read more on providing health services.
• Psychosocial support: This support focuses on addressing the psychological and social impacts of VAWG by supporting survivors to heal, supporting families of survivors to heal, supporting survivors build resilience to distressing events, supporting survivors to be active agents in rebuilding communities. Read more on providing mental health and psychosocial support.
• Legal/ Justice support: Activities related to legal and justice support could include support filing police complaints, accessing legal services from voluntary lawyers, NGOs and State Legal Services, support during Court Trials from Public prosecutors, and medico-legal support, among other activities. In some contexts, where legal and justice systems have been disrupted, One Stop Centres may decide not to include security and justice actors such as courts and police in referral pathways. It is essential that service providers provide survivors with full and up-to-date information about justice and security actors and processes so they can make fully-informed decisions about which institutions to engage with. Read more on accessing justice and legal support. 
• Social support: VAWG survivors often face higher risks of discrimination from communities. To support them to address this, One Stop Centres should consider providing or referring survivors to shelter, safety planning, rehabilitation, safe spaces for children, financial aid, income generation, and skills development. Read more on how to support the reintegration of survivors.

The ability of a One Stop Centre to meet the needs of survivors of VAWG is highly dependent on factors including government support, funding available, availability of trained staff, and the existence of complementary Women and Girls’ Safe Spaces. The GBVAoR Helpdesk produced an overview of the comparative advantages and disadvantages of each model, which is summarised below. However, it is important to note that with the right funding, commitment and resources, each model has the potential to provide contextually-specific services for survivors.

Service providers working with survivors of VAWG are likely to be exposed repeatedly to distressing situations which can cause vicarious trauma. In order for staff to be able to provide high quality care to survivors, without experiencing burnout, they must have access to a supportive environment and care themselves. When working to develop a culture of self- and collective care, consider the following:

• Work with staff to identify self-care suggestions. For example: being intentional about the media and information sources we engage with; prioritising time to engage in activities that bring us joy; looking after our whole body, mind and spirit through dancing, exercise, prayer, meditation, intimacy, cooking etc.; reaching out to others and practicing small acts of kindness.
• Integrate self and collective care within programme culture. For example: introducing flexible working hours where possible; setting a limit on extended workdays; establishing a wellbeing officer and facilitating personal check-ins with staff; offering support services such as counselling for staff; celebrating staff for their efforts; facilitating joint meditations such as breathing exercises or dances; establish clear processes for identifying burnout and redistributing work appropriately. 
• Work with staff to identify risks of backlash and implement mitigation strategies. For example: providing safe transport for staff moving to and from safe spaces; ensuring the outside area of safe spaces are well lit and secure; ensuring any staff engaging with online promotion of safe spaces have a designated person they can go to if they face online abuse and harassment; establish protocols for how to support staff if they have experienced online or in person backlash due to their involvement within safe spaces. Read more on handling resistance and backlash.
   

It is important to understand what types of One Stop Centre approaches work best in different contexts and why. Thus, One Stop Centres should establish effective monitoring, learning and evaluation processes, which will help them to adapt their approaches to better serve survivors, learn lessons and produce evidence of impact. Seeking feedback from survivors who use the services, as well as those who accompany and support survivors is a key element of this.