Why, when and how do survivors currently access services?

Address barriers survivors face in accessing services

Efforts to respond to VAWG largely focus on providing formal services and reporting mechanisms for survivors. However, it is important to remember that in many contexts, survivors face multiple and complex barriers to reporting violence and accessing and using formal services. These include practical, social or personal factors which lead survivors to decide not to access services even when available. This is particularly the case for survivors who are often socially excluded such as those with disabilities, adolescent girls and members of the LGBTQI+ community, who may face multiple, intersecting and specific barriers to accessing services.

Personal or community acceptance of VAWG, Community stigma against surivors, Financial dependency on perpetrators, Lack of trust in service providers and the police, Lack of access to services and reporting systems, Lack of knowledge or trust in services

Programming to support survivors of VAWG must start with a comprehensive analysis of these realities, working with survivors to understand their decision-making and identify and mitigate against barriers to reporting and accessing services. Otherwise, programmes risk reaching only the few that are able to or choose to access services and report violence, leaving the majority of survivors without the support they need. The factors that may prevent survivors accessing services include those opposite.

Personal or community acceptance of VAWG
In several contexts, there is widespread acceptance of certain types of VAWG, such as Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), including among women. In contexts where community acceptance of VAWG is high and there are high levels of victim blaming, survivors who speak out may be dismissed, reducing the likelihood that they or other women report again. In addition, where a survivor considers it acceptable for a husband to be violent towards his wife, she may be reluctant even to speak out about the violence to a close friend and the likelihood of her reporting violence and seeking support is low.
Community stigma against survivors
In some contexts, survivors face community-wide stigma. This is often significant in cases of sexual abuse or rape. In communities where a woman’s virginity is considered core to her value as a woman. For example, acknowledging that a girl or woman has been abused may lead to them being considered “unmarriable”, to their husband divorcing them, or to families and communities ostracising them. In some cases, VAWG survivors have lost their jobs, and lost custody of their children. Women with children or dependents may be particularly apprehensive about reporting or seeking support for fear that this stigma will impact their children or make it harder for them to support those dependent on them.
Financial dependency on perpetrators
Many survivors of intimate partner violence are financially dependent on perpetrators, especially in low-income countries with rigid gender norms. In these contexts, reporting violence or accessing services may risk backlash from perpetrators, including escalations of violence, loss of financial support for her and her children, and in some cases, being thrown out of her home, divorce and loss of access to her children. In addition, without financial support or income or safe shelter, a woman leaving a violent situation may be at risk of destitution and lead them to unsafe coping mechanisms that put them in further danger.
Lack of trust in service providers and the police
In many contexts, survivors of VAWG do not have confidence that the police will take reports of violence seriously, act on reports and investigate the case. In addition, some survivors may not trust that the police will provide confidential, non-judgemental, survivor-centred support. This risk is exacerbated for survivors with disabilities, who are often less likely to be believed, and survivors with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, who are at higher risk of abuse and harassment linked to homophobia and transphobia. Furthermore, in contexts where the police are known to have been violent themselves, survivors may also fear reporting due to risks of further violence by police officers.
Lack of resources to access services and reporting mechanisms
Survivors with limited resources may face barriers in accessing services and reporting mechanisms. In many rural contexts, existing services are far away and survivors may struggle to afford transportation, childcare costs, overnight shelter or other costs associated with accessing these. In some cases, services may have direct, indirect or hidden costs and this risks excluding survivors without the means to pay.
Lack of knowledge or trust in services available and how to navigate these
Many survivors lack knowledge of what services are available, how to access these and navigate the referral system. They may also be reluctant to access these without support. This is especially the case in contexts where there is a lack of trust in the ability or willingness of service providers to support survivors of VAWG. In addition, in contexts with high levels of stigma, survivors may fear being treated in a hostile manner by service providers. This lack of knowledge and trust may prevent survivors acting a variety of services including medical and justice services.

Guiding Principles

Survivor-Centred Approach

Do no harm approach

Leave No One Behind, Equity and Non-Discrimination

Universal design

Participatory Approach

Spotlight Initiative

Approach and Learning

Spotlight Initiative programmes have worked to understand and address the specific barriers that diverse groups of women and girls might face in accessing services. Key approaches and learnings include:

Providing survivor support funds. Spotlight Initiative is committed to supporting survivors without the financial means to access services, by establishing and distributing funds. In Malawi, they did this through the establishment of community funds.

Mobile service provision for survivors in hard-to-reach areas. Spotlight Initiative also supports survivors in remote locations with mobile service provision through the use of specially designed trucks, and has established transport links and shuttle buses for survivors in rural areas to access mobile services. Read more on providing remote or mobile services.

Training volunteers to identify and accompany survivors. Spotlight Initiative has trained community volunteers to help identify potential survivors and offer them support. In Zimbabwe, Spotlight Initiative funded data and airtime packages that enable volunteers to offer continuous two-way conversations with survivors accessing services. In Uganda, Spotlight Initiative trained 900 women’s rights activists in refugee communities to strengthen capacity to report and reduce violence within their communities.

Supporting disability inclusive services and referral pathways. Spotlight Initiative has worked with local partners to conduct mapping of disability inclusive GBV services, in order to improve their disability-inclusive programming. For example, they worked with Disabled Women Included in Zimbabwe to map where services were accessible to women and girls with disabilities. This mapping was used to train community stakeholders and service providers on disability inclusive service delivery and referral pathways. Read more on strengthening referral mechanisms.

Supporting child-friendly service provision: Spotlight Initiative has also worked to develop child-friendly one stop centres for child survivors of sexual violence. In Guyana, these child-friendly one stop centres were developed in collaboration with the Child Protection Agency of the Ministry of Human Services and Social Security and Child Link, a local NGO focused on child rights. These partnerships were key to developing services that met the needs of children, since the partners had a strong understanding of the needs of children locally.

Top Tips

How to address barriers survivors face in accessing services – top tips based on wider learning in the sector.

Click a tip for more information.

Work with survivors to conduct a comprehensive analysis of barriers to access

Ensure information about services is produced in accessible formats

Establish services that are welcoming and safe for children and young people

Distribute funds to survivors without the financial means to access services

Train community members to accompany survivors to access services and reporting mechanisms

Provide mobile services for survivors who unable to access stationary services

Establish a culture of respect and non-discrimination amongst service providers

Address the specific barriers faced by survivors with disabilities

Consider offering some services to women and girls more broadly

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Case Studies

Dismantling Economic Barriers to Justice through Community Funds, Malawi

Spotlight Initiative

In 2020, the Spotlight Initiative programme in Malawi received reports that many survivors from the rural communities in which they worked were unable to access justice and essential services because they lived long distances from these services and couldn’t afford the cost of public transport. In response, Spotlight Initiative developed funds to help survivors overcome these economic barriers. They worked with traditional authorities to establish community committees which oversaw the distribution of these funds.

These committees sat within the Ministry of Gender, Social Welfare and Community Development. They included up to 15 stakeholders including a social welfare officer, representatives from the women’s movement, disability rights movement and mothers’ groups, a psychosocial counsellor, and a representative from the police, among others. All members of the committee were trained on how to manage funds and in resource mobilisation. In addition, to promote accountability, the managing committee was required to report to the traditional authority periodically, about how much was spent, how the funds were used, the type and number of cases, and the expenditure per survivor.

By establishing these committees within existing community structures dedicated to handing cases of Gender Based Violence, the committees were in a strong position to identify survivors who might be in need of financial support. To promote sustainability of the initiative, Spotlight Initiative supported committees to invest part of the funds as seed money in order to help the fund grow and support more survivors. For example, some committees are offering Village Savings and Loans with an interest of 20%. Of these profits, 15% goes back into the Survivors’ Fund while 5% goes to cover administration costs for the committee.

Region: Africa

Stakeholders: Service providers, Vulnerable groups, Survivors, Women’s Rights Organisations, Faith & traditional leaders, Local government

Setting up a Mobile One-Stop Centre for Multi-Sector GBV Service Provision in Remote and Hard to Reach Areas in Zimbabwe

Spotlight Initiative

In December 2019, the United Nations in Zimbabwe established a fleet of Mobile One Stop Centres across the country to help dismantle the barriers the survivors in remote and hard to reach areas faced to accessing GBV response services. As part of this, they supported volunteers engaged in GBV referrals by providing them with data and airtime packages, to enable continuous two-way communication between volunteers, survivors, hotlines, and Mobile One Stop Centre teams. They also supported the coordination of shuttle services and fuel to support survivors to travel to Mobile One Stop Centres as needed.

Results and feedback from survivors and service providers: In 2022, a total of 5,862 survivors had accessed GBV services through the Mobile One Stop Centres across 12 target districts, 78% of whom were women. Survivors who had accessed these services responded positively to the Mobile One Stop Centres, explaining that these had helped eliminate the challenges they faced to reaching static provincial and district-based services. Community volunteers working to raise awareness of GBV and refer survivors to services also celebrated the introduction of Mobile One Stop Centres, explaining that they had significantly improved their capacity to conduct outreach and refer survivors to services.

Opportunities for scale up: In Spotlight Initiative’s experience, the Mobile One Stop Centre approach is highly versatile and can be adapted to respond to an ever-changing context. For example, teams can modify the type of service provided (direct services or referrals to higher levels of care), they can change the location and frequency of visits, and they can coordinate with other mobile services in development and humanitarian contexts. This coordination could include vaccination campaigns, food distribution, WASH sensitisation points, and mobile health clinics.

Opportunities for sustainability: By engaging with the Government of Zimbabwe during the design and roll out of the Mobile One Stop Centres, Spotlight Initiative was able to generate government buy-in which contributed to the effectiveness of the model and also enhanced opportunities for sustainability. These Mobile One Stop Centres are also run by nurses seconded from district hospitals, local police officers from specialised survivor units, and legal support officers from Zimbabwe. By engaging existing service providers from the local areas rather than individuals from different locations, these Mobile One Stop Centres are well placed to retain staff.

Region: Africa

Stakeholders: Local government, Service providers, Survivors, Vulnerable groups, Justice Sector, Police, Health Sector