Our hope is that this web page will answer some of your questions. If you have additional question do not hesitate to contact us at post@hhri.org or by skype, our skype name is: Gender based violence manual training.
The manual is a training manual, not a therapy manual. The training is designed for individuals who directly provide care, help and assistance to people who have been exposed to human rights violations and abuse, notably gender-based and sexual violence, and for personnel who support other care providers involved with the same survivor group.
- Personnel working in primary health care settings.
- Humanitarian workers in emergency settings.
- Staff connected to refugee camps or asylum centres.
- Service providers from different agencies.
- Voluntary care providers affiliated to NGOs.
Primary care givers who attend this training are not expected to have any formal background or training as health workers (nurse, psychologist, medical doctor). The participants are expected to have had close contact with survivors through their work as helpers, humanitarian aid workers, etc. By ‘survivor group’ we refer to people who have witnessed or been exposed to human rights violations, including violence or humiliating acts such as:
- Torture, including sexual violence and gender-based violence.
- Cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
- War-related violence.
The manual concentrates on survivors of such violence in situations of disaster and conflict, characterised as emergencies. It focuses particularly on female survivors of GBV. For the purposes of this manual, ‘survivors’ are therefore women whose safety has been seriously endangered, whose human rights have been severely abused, and whose humanity has been threatened, by humiliating or violent acts that deliberately violated their rights and dignity.
Topics to consider
There are several topics to consider dealing with the training of helpers working with trauma survivors. Among these are:
- How to engage men – see our thematic page on gender-based violence.
- Helping the helpers – see our thematic page on helping the helpers.