Safeguarding Capability and Survivor-centred Approaches

Empowering Survivors of Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Sexual Harassment (ES-SEAH) will provide up to £15m over 5 years across multiple countries with the aim of increasing reporting of SEAH perpetrated by aid actors and strengthening survivor-centred responses. Key priorities include:

• Develop effective SEAH reporting mechanisms that are contextual and accessible.
• Partner with women’s rights organisations to receive and respond to SEAH reports.
• Build the evidence base on ‘what works’ for a survivor-centred approach, informed by survivors themselves.
• Support UN efforts to prevent and respond to SEAH perpetrated by UN personnel.

ES-SEAH will have the following expected outcomes:

i. Improved survivor-centred support for victims-survivors building on the internationally-recognised IASC Definition/Principles of a Victim/Survivor Centred Approach and UN OVRA’s Victims’ Rights Statement.

ii. Improved evidence-base on how best to support victims-survivors.

iii. Increased SEAH reporting that is accessible and appropriate to the context.

There will be two components:

Component 1: Engaging Women’s Rights Organisations alongside action research to support prevention and response to SEAH.

WROs will play a critical role in supporting victim-survivors through SEAH cases and engage aid agencies to hold perpetrators to account and provide a survivor-centred response. WROs will support awareness-raising in communities on SEAH. This will be a pilot. We will aim to test this approach in humanitarian, development and peacekeeping contexts. This will provide us with learning on how to improve SEAH reporting and response via WROs in different settings, to inform the wider safeguarding sector.

Participatory action research will be undertaken concurrently to develop the best way to deliver a survivor-centred response, informed by survivors themselves. Research will also be undertaken to test ‘what works’ for effective reporting mechanisms, as well as SEAH prevention in communities. This is critical for the pilot to be effective and course correct as needed.

Component 2: Addressing the rights and dignity of victims-survivors of SEAH committed by UN personnel through supporting survivor-centred UN mechanisms

The UK has in recent years funded OVRA to play a pivotal role in improving the UN system across 35 member entities. UN mechanisms that promote survivor-centred approaches will be considered for funding.

The aim of the EME event is to inform and consult the market of this programme, alongside the Building organisational capability to safeguard against sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment programme, which is also under the Safeguarding Unit’s new portfolio. It follows an EME survey which closed in May 2024.

ES-SEAH will start in 2024 Additional information: This is not a call to competition or tender at this time. This EME is scheduled to take place virtually on Tuesday 23 July @ 14:00 – 17:00 BST. Please register for attendance for the EME via the guidance below.

How to register for this EME:

If you are interested in attending this Early Market Engagement event, then please register via the form at: forms.office.com/e/YT91fS0qTX ↗