Trigger Warning: Please note this podcast episode addresses themes of sexual and gender-based violence, which may be upsetting or triggering for listeners. During this episode UK Aid Match grant holder SCIAF and their downstream partner Centre Olame share how they have been supporting survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the DRC with medical care, trauma counselling and legal support, as well as looking at ways to prevent sexual and gender-based violence in the future.
Emma 0:10:
Welcome to The Learning Post, a podcast dedicated to sharing learnings and insights from UK Aid Match. My name is Emma Hayward and I'm a Performance and Risk Manager for UK Aid Match and your host for this episode.
Please note that this episode addresses themes of sexual and gender-based violence, which may be upsetting or triggering for listeners.
Today I'm joined by Louise Joyce, lead for the UK Aid Match Programme at SCIAF and Thérèse Mema-Mapenzi, Director of Centre Olame in the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC, who are SCIAF's downstream partner.
Thank you both for joining us.
My first question is for you Thérèse - could you tell us a bit about the project and in particular the challenges faced by women and girls in the DRC in terms of sexual and gender-based violence?
Thérèse 1:01:
The aim of the project was to prevent sexual and gender-based violence, and to holistically improve the health, legal, socioeconomic, and gender equality status of survivors.
The challenges were many. The high prevalence of sexual and gender-based violence related to key issues like the historical conflict in the region that was using rape as a weapon of war, the strong alcohol, retrograde gender norms, and behaviour that perpetuates sexual and gender-based violence like domestic violence, women and girls accused of being witches, stigma, isolation, and abandonment of survivors.
These and many other consequences reinforce the women and girl's barriers to access care services.
Emma 01:54:
Thank you, Thérèse. It sounds like a very challenging project, but one that's been really successful in both approach and implementation.
Projects of this sensitivity obviously require very thoughtful and careful planning. There are so many layers to sexual and gender-based violence, and it's a highly complex issue that should not be addressed by non-specialist organisations.
Louise, it would be great to hear a bit more about your project design process and how you developed your six-pillar approach to addressing sexual and gender-based violence and supporting survivors?
Louise 02:24:
So SCIAF works through a partnership model, which means we've been collaborating with our local implementing partners in DRC for between six and 22 years. The design was co-created between participants, SCIAF and our partners, Centre Olame, CDJP/Bukavu (The Diocesan Commission for Justice and Peace), AJV (Association de Jeunes Visionnaires), and BDOM (Bureau Diocesain des Œuvres Médicales). Each has a particular specialism in sexual and gender-based violence and an established grassroots base within communities. This means we serve the community's needs now and in the future.
The six-pillar approach is SCIAF's technical and integral human development framework on sexual and gender-based violence. It's effective because it's based on international standards and builds on prior evidence of what works in practice.
The UK Aid Match is the third large programme on SGBV that we've managed in the region.
So the approach aims to prevent sexual and gender-based violence and holistically improve survivors' health, access to justice, emotional and mental well-being, their income and recovery. So it's about the service delivery as well as longer-term systemic change objectives.
03:36:
The first pillar is the protection of survivors and those at risk of violence. So we started by training health, legal and security actors to provide quality SGBV care. We funded 31 listening centres, which are essentially safe spaces in communities offering services like counselling, outreach, and referral to other services.
The second and third pillars are the provision of medical care and psychosocial assistance at one of the health clinics or hospitals we funded and trauma counselling by trained staff at one of the listening centres.
At the same time in parallel, 154 survivors accessed legal support, which is our fourth pillar, in order to take their perpetrators to court and seek financial compensation.
A proportion of survivors were accompanied with socioeconomic activities about nine to 12 months after the programme started - this is our fifth pillar. 900 survivors were accompanied to set up village savings and loans associations so they could take out loans for small trade activities to earn an income. They also learned profitable skills like goat breeding or soap making.
The groups have been invaluable safe spaces for women and girls to motivate each other and hold group therapy to aid their recovery. This pillar is an effective way of working as its self-sustaining and helps to build women's participation in decision-making, leadership and self-esteem.
05:08:
Our recent final evaluation results showed that 94% of survivors felt their lives had improved in these areas after participating in the programme. The increased income has enabled them to feed their families, send their children to school, and even set up businesses.
All this work is underpinned by the sixth pillar of intervention, which is about the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and gender-based discrimination. We conducted activities and strategies to challenge underlying causes, mobilise communities towards positive change in attitudes and longer-term behaviours and norms. So to give concrete examples, we trained key influencers and carried out round table discussions, radio campaigns and theatre productions in communities to raise awareness on key issues.
Emma 05:57:
Thanks, Louise. That’s a really comprehensive overview of the six-pillar approach, and it sounds like it's been very, very effective in this project.
Did you encounter any challenges within the project, in particular around harmful gender and social norms that can perpetuate sexual and gender-based violence, and how did you go about tackling these?
Louise 06:16:
In DRC, there are deep-rooted norms that discriminate against women and girls and contribute to sexual and gender-based violence. This means women's status is perceived as lower than men's. Women and girls often have less access and control of resources, opportunities, and decision-making, as well as unequal power relations. The ongoing conflict in the east of the country has also affected traditional gender roles and norms.
The implications are that women and girls might not have the financial means or agency to seek healthcare when they need it. Where violence against women is accepted, where a culture of impunity prevails, where traditional roles and responsibilities mean husbands or males take control of all the household spending, this can be a further source of conflict in households or deny women and children access to enough food.
Another issue is that the stigma around sexual and gender-based violence can prevent people seeking services like healthcare. This is a particular issue for men and boys who have experienced sexual violence or abuse.
So as part of our six pillar of prevention, we trained youth, local and mixed-faith leaders, and they became key influencers for change at the individual, household and societal level amongst their peers and within their community structures. The training covered theoretical and practical aspects of leadership, human rights, as well as promoting gender equality and positive masculinity. It's very important to include men and boys who are part of the solution.
Emma 07:57:
Interesting. Thank you, Louise. I think addressing deeply embedded attitudes and behaviours is never easy, and change in this area can take a long time, so it's very encouraging to see the impact this project had in such a relatively short timeframe.
Before we move on we'd like to share a short story from a survivor who's taken part in the project. This story is read out by Rachel Mwinja Nyakadekere , Local Community Animator, Centre Olame in the DRC.
Rachel 08:22:
I am a young mother with disability that affect both my legs. I was raped at the age of 24 on the way to mass. At that time, I did not have crutches and walked with my hands. A man deceived me offering to help me to get to church quickly by taking me on his back, unable to defend myself because of my disability, he raped me and I became pregnant that same day.
After giving birth, my whole family had great difficulty accepting my child since I was a burden already to them. But then this project came to me like a Messiah. I first visited the counselling house where I received psychological support every week. I was then integrated into the Village Savings and Loans Group and took a credit of around $25.
Through the projects, I learned cutting, sewing, eventually buying a sewing machine with another group loan. Today I have my own small business selling, repairing and tailoring clothes. I am able to feed my child and support my family as well. I no longer live with trauma because I've been psychologically supported.
My plan for the future is to support girls with disabilities, teaching them to read and write, and then how to cut and sew so that they can take care of themselves like I do.
Emma 09:42:
Thank you Rachel for sharing that story with us. It’s extremely encouraging to hear about a survivor’s successful new business and her plans for the future.
One of the project’s objectives was to ensure that children born to sexual violence survivors were supported to gain their birth certificates. Why was this important, Thérèse?
Thérèse 10:02:
For the children born from rape, the main activities of the project helps to overcome barriers of not being able to get birth certificates and the impact of not having one. In the rape case, the father would not be known which is normally needed for the birth certificate. The children are given legal fathers and the projects support the cost for registration or to physically get to the place of birth registration.
In this situation, having a birth certificate means that the children can become legally registered as a DRC citizen. And the child can get access to some services like education, health services and avoid early marriage.
Emma 10:55:
Thanks, Thérèse. It’s great to hear that the project is able to support survivors with this. Having a birth certificate is clearly a crucial step in ensuring children of survivors can access vital services.
Louise, could you share some learnings with us about managing a project focused on sexual and gender-based violence and perhaps offer some guidance to other grant holders who might be thinking about working with survivors?
Louise 11:19:
Yes. So firstly, we found it important to be flexible enough to adapt to the local context and any learning that emerged during implementation. For example, we encountered significant contextual and practical barriers to providing legal aid to survivors. We incorporated mobile court hearings into our approach, despite not originally planning to do this. This really helped to improve access to justice for survivors, and it sped up the legal process, which, in turn, meant more financial compensation claims could be registered.
Similarly, we encountered barriers to adequately including survivors with disabilities into the programme. Sexual and gender-based violence and disability are very interrelated, so it's important to take time to analyse the intersecting issues.
With our partners, we decided to adapt the original approach by refining our target and ambition in line with the available budget and ensuring that survivors had access to transport, and by using community health relay volunteers to conduct outreach and help to identify people with disabilities.
12:26:
Secondly, our learning was to limit the size and scope. We have learned that it is important that the geographical size of the target area of intervention is not too big, so as to increase the risks for survivors who may need to travel to access services. Mobile services are a good approach, but are not always possible. Also, targeting fewer survivors overall can mean increasing the level of holistic care that can be provided. The results from our programme and final evaluation have highlighted the sustainable and longer term benefits to survivors of the socio-economic empowerment pillar.
Thirdly, it was really important to embed a strong do-no-harm protection and safeguarding approach from the outset. Sexual and gender-based violence is such a high-risk theme with a very vulnerable target group. We found we needed to invest more time, resources and technical accompaniment than we originally envisaged, and also even before implementation actually began. Doing so really helped to improve the system, mitigate programme risks for survivors, as well as invest in the longer-term organisational safeguarding standards of our partner organisations for the future.
Emma 13:42:
Thanks, Louise. Some really practical and important factors to consider there, especially around using learnings to refine the approach, scope and targets as you go along, and in terms of embedding safeguarding standards.
To finish off, we want to hand back over to Rachel to share another story from a participant in the project who's become a role model for positive change in her community.
Rachel 14:03:
I am one of a few girls in our village who has finished high school and currently in their final year of university without having a child. This has long contributed to the illiteracy of girls and women, and thus the existence of sexual and gender-based violence. I received several trainings focusing on gender, female leadership, positive masculinity, human rights, and women's rights. This gave me tools, more courage and strength to go and raise awareness among other girls, parents, and the whole community.
Today, I'm happy having been elected coordinator of a youth group. I'm also president of a mentoring club. This work has been a source of encouragement and awakening for other girls who seeing me feel hope, strength, and courage to follow my footsteps, especially to continue with their studies.
I feel so proud and determined to continue volunteering, to raise awareness so that other young girls can escape the grip of damaging habits and customs.
Emma 15:14:
Thank you so much for sharing that story with us Rachel. It’s wonderful to hear the positive impact the trainings have had on a project participant and how she is empowering other girls to follow in her footsteps.
Thank you, everyone, for talking to us today. This is a difficult topic to talk about, but it's been really insightful and hopefully there'll be some really good learnings for other grant holders who might be considering similar work.
Louise 15:37:
Thank you so much for having us.
Emma 15:40:
To find out more about SCIAF's project, head over to their website at www.sciaf.org.uk, or follow them on their social media channels, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, X, and YouTube.
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