Iraq: Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) prevention, risk mitigation and response - promising practices
OVERVIEW AND METHODOLOGY
Introduction and rationale Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a violation of human rights that denies the human dignity of the individual and hurts human development. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is committed to ending all forms of SGBV. Across all operations, UNHCR employs a range of programming measures to prevent, mitigate and respond to SGBV.
Documenting promising practices on SGBV prevention, risk mitigation and response means creating a record of what works, when it works and how it works, thus contributing to a process of learning, knowledge development and sharing that is beneficial for the whole organization and the wider community of practitioners. A promising practice facilitates learning by generating lessons that are relevant for dissemination and by providing knowledge to inform the broader thinking about SGBV prevention, risk mitigation and response.
UNHCR regularly collects practices from the field for the following reasons:
• to develop and share results across operations, locations, and among practitioners;
• to account for the diverse ways of adapting and working on prevention, risk mitigation and response;
• to enhance learning and accountability;
• to continuously work towards increasing quality documentation of practices from the field.
The summaries collected here are the first instalment in a process that UNHCR plans to undertake regularly to build documentation, results and evidence, as well as to recognize and inspire. It also aims to complement the published volumes of Gender Equality Promising Practices.
It is important to note that some of the practices contained here are already well established in various contexts; this documentation sought to identify the unique aspects of their adaptation and replication in a humanitarian context.
Recognizing a promising practice For the purpose of this documentation a promising practice is defined as a practice that is relevant and effective and has protective and/or transformative potential for SGBV survivors and persons at-risk of SGBV, as well as for the wider community, as demonstrated by quality and reliable results. It is a successful experience and practice that can include a project, a process of one or more steps, a programme or a tool3 that has been tested and validated and deserves to be shared.
