Gender-based violence programming stands on three legs — and programmes limp when they build only one.
Prevention
Prevention changes the conditions that produce violence: community norms work, economic empowerment, safe infrastructure, and engaging men and boys as allies rather than afterthoughts.
Response
Response serves survivors: health care, psychosocial support, safety planning and justice — delivered through a survivor-centred approach where the survivor’s wishes, safety and confidentiality govern every step.
The referral pathway
The referral pathway is the connective tissue: the mapped, agreed, tested route from disclosure to services. A pathway that exists on paper but not in practice is where survivors fall through.
Three principles carry all of it: safety, confidentiality, and respect for the survivor’s choices — including the choice not to report. And in humanitarian settings, GBV risk mitigation is everyone’s job: WASH siting, distribution design and shelter layout all change a woman’s risk long before a GBV specialist arrives.
Our Gender Based Violence course builds the full programming foundation; GBV in Humanitarian Action adapts it to emergency operations under the IASC GBV Guidelines; and GBV, SEA & SH at the Workplace equips organizations to face the risk inside their own walls. Cohorts run monthly across our training cities and online.