Number of service providers trained to identify, refer, and care for SGBV survivors

Number of service providers trained to identify, refer, and care for SGBV survivors

Number of service providers trained to identify, refer, and care for SGBV survivors

The number of health service providers trained in a sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) training program during a specific time (e.g. the past year).

Data Requirement(s):

Type of provider trained; sex; community, region, or province; area in which they work (urban or rural)

If targeting and/or linking to inequity, classify trainees by areas served (poor/not poor) and disaggregate by area served.

Evaluators may want to disaggregate by sex of provider trained.  Because few SGBV trainings include male survivors of SGBV, evaluators may want to disaggregate by type of training received (i.e. female victims of SGBV, male victims, or both).  See the Purpose section below for more details.

Records of the training program that reflect training program participants among current staff. The record should reflect, at minimum, what type of provider the participant was and where they practice.

Health service delivery programs are key in the prevention and response to SGBV. Every clinic visit made by a SGBV survivor presents an opportunity to address and ameliorate the effects of violence as well as help prevent future incidents. In order to take advantage of these opportunities, providers need to be prepared to deliver appropriate services, including identification of survivors, necessary health services, counseling, and referrals to community-based resources such as legal aid, safe shelter and social services. This indicator is an output measure for a program designed to provide training to health service providers in SGBV service provision. This will provide a measure of coverage of trained personnel per geographic area of interest, and will help monitor whether or not a program is attaining its target number of providers trained.

To be comprehensive, this indicator should capture number of providers trained in SGBV against females and males. According to UNHCR’s report on Working with Men and Boy Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Forced Displacement (2012), “Entrenched gender norms combined with cultural and religious taboos, and scarce services, make it very difficult for males to disclose that they are survivors of sexual violence, while service providers may not recognize the male experience of SGBV.”  Because healthcare providers are rarely trained to identify, treat and care for male SGBV survivors, without specifying that they have been trained to address male SGBV survivors, it will not be possible to adequately monitor programmatic changes for men.

This indicator will provide a count of providers trained, but not how well they integrate the information disseminated or how well they use it later in their own practice. Presumably, if they are allowed to participate in the training program, there is a level of support in the health unit in which they practice for service provision to SGBV survivors. This is one among several factors that may influence overall care provided in any place by any one provider.

Only a follow-up indicator, such as number/percent of service providers providing SGBV services, will assess if the providers are actually practicing what they were trained on.  Even then, it is important to observe if all presenting clients of SGBV abuse are receiving the necessary care since prevailing attitudes toward certain groups, such as male survivors of sexual violence, grossly undermine the necessary care and services they receive.

violence, training, female genital cutting (FGC), access

People’s reactions to SGBV can be greatly influenced by personal and societal gender stereotypes.  These may include the belief that a woman who dresses provocatively is to blame for being sexually assaulted; it’s not rape if the couple is dating or is married; women cannot be perpetrators of SGBV; and men cannot be victims of SGBV.  Training providers specifically in SGBV is essential for ensuring that clients’ needs are handled with sensitivity, compassion, and impartiality.

Bloom S.  “Violence Against Women and Girls: A Compendium of Monitoring and Evaluation Indicators.”  USAID, IGWG, and MEASURE Evaluation, 2008.

UNHCR. Working with Men and Boy Survivors of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Forced Displacement, Geneva, Switzerland, 2012.

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