Learning Brief #4: Fostering survivor-centred response services

Oxfam's "Creating spaces to take action on violence against women and girls" project (2016-2021) aims to reduce violence against women and girls (VAWG), including the prevalence of child, early and forced marriage (CEFM) in Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Pakistan, and the Philippines. The project is implemented by local partner organisations, with support from Oxfam country offices and Oxfam Canada.

Following the socio-ecological model on violence prevention, the Creating Spaces project applied a multi-pronged, multi-stakeholder approach, at the individual, household, community and societal/ institutional levels, to prevent and respond to VAWG and CEFM.

In the project districts, girls and women experiencing violence were often unaware of their most fundamental human right to live free from violence, as enshrined in international and national laws. Access to survivor-centered response services (eg, psycho-social, legal, shelter, livelihoods, health) especially in underserved areas was very limited, inadequately resourced to meet immediate needs and stigmatised by communities.

Based on project successes and challenges, this document shares lessons learned from Creating Spaces' strategies to improve the access, use and quality of response services for survivors, and to build community support against gender-based violence (GBV).