Women, youth, adolescents and children living in refugee camps, IDP relocation sites and populated urban centers face serious protection issues, one of which is Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in the form of rape, sexual assault, child marriage, deprivation of resources and domestic violence. These types of violence also stem from the toxic social norms and cultural practices prevalent in fragile states and conflict affected communities.
The Empowered to Protect (E2P) approach was been developed to provide non-violent mechanisms to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in the short term, using innovative technology, and long term solutions against sexual and gender-based violence through capacity strengthening of inclusive community structures and protection committees (composed of 60% women and 40% men).
The approach begins with the collective development of an action plan to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, starting with the identification of areas with a high prevalence of various forms of violence. Categories of aggressors are identified and involved in the development of effective prevention mechanisms, which they are also responsible for implementing. Non-violent bracelets to prevent sexual and gender-based violence (which, when triggered, give off a strong odor that gives the victim a chance to escape) are distributed to the most vulnerable populations in a community. In the previous E2P campaign, these were victims of unwanted pregnancies, adolescents, widows, single parents, persons living with disabilities and commercial sex workers.
The E2P approach is reinforced by an awareness campaign involving influential female and male leaders, local authorities and representatives of community structures. Joint statements and action plans are drawn up by this network of key players to tackle the root causes of sexual and gender-based violence, making members of the community concerned the agents of change. Help a Child thereafter continues to equip the community to deliver long-term solutions that effectively prevent sexual and gender-based violence.
During the pilot phase in Burundi and the DRC (including the Musasa refugee camp) in 2022, 93% of men and 96% of women were empowered and they took ownership of their roles in preventing sexual and gender-based violence in their communities. 96.5% of those surveyed said they felt safer. The E2P pilot projects promoted more egalitarian relationships within households and, as a result, supported community structures successfully reduced cases of SGBV.
In Burundi, Help a Child worked in close collaboration with ONPRA, UNHCR, Invi and refugee camp coordination teams to ensure that the protection and priority needs refugees and asylum seekers were covered by the intervention. As part of this pilot project, Help a Child also conducted a 16-days of activism campaign in collaboration with UNFPA and key stakeholders in the GBV sub sector group within the protection sector. All participants in this campaign signed a joint declaration to promote the prevention of SGBV as a priority in strategic planning documents, including protection of the most vulnerable populations in refugee camps as well as urban refugees and asylum seekers in urban areas.
To read more on E2P, click on this link.
Contributes to SDG: 5 and 10
