Interagency Guidelines on Establishing Gender-Based Violence Standard Operating Procedures have been developed by GBV technical experts under the auspices of the IASC Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action. The purpose of this “SOP Guide” is to ensure multi-sectoral response to GBV in humanitarian contexts.  As a companion document to the IASC Guidelines for GBV Interventions in Humanitarian Settings: Focusing on Prevention of and Response to Sexual Violence in Emergencies, the Guide supports coordination of humanitarian action to effectively address GBV.

Project results

A summary of workshop outcomes in relation to planned outcomes and outputs include the following;

• By the end of the workshop most participants were in a position to return to their field sites and facilitate the development / revision of SOPs with their GBV team members and colleagues locally and nationally using the SOP Guide. In particular South Sudan team (ARC, IRC and UNHCR) were able to strategize and influence the development of their SOP which was already underway. However, the CAR team was not in a position to initiate the SOP process as only UNHCR participants were present and they lacked the technical capacity to take the process forward.

• The participants were in position to return to their field sites to share key information about the GBVIMS and possibly propose the implementation of the GBVIMS during inter-agency working group meetings. South Sudan in particular has shared a request for support for the deployment of the GBVIMS. There has been a level of discussion on the same for Chad but with not communication to the global team on consensus.

• The materials on the GBVIMS i.e. a practical, inter-active workbook on the critical steps agencies and inter-agency GBV coordination bodies must take in order to implement the System; an Excel database (the “Incident Recorder”) for data compilation and trends analysis; a recommended standard intake form and a standard incident classification system, were all shared with participants except for the incident recorder. In 2010 a more streamlined approach to rolling out the GBVIMS is being developed.

• SOP development has been included on the work plan of the GBV Area of Responsibility (AOR) 2010.

• Draft training modules on the SOP including power point presentations were developed and used during the workshop. These were shared with the participants to use in their country specific work. However, in the course of the workshop several sessions had to be modified and some sessions evidently required more content. The finalization of these training materials is still pending.

• SOP guide was translated into French and has been distributed electronically.

• The development of SOPs is already part of the “Coordination of Multi-sectoral Response to Gender-Based Violence in Humanitarian Settings” held at Ghent University by UNFPA. The materials developed and used during this workshop will feed into future Ghent trainings.