Tools and Resources

The cover page of the article titled, "Empowered Aid Contextualization Toolkit".

This toolkit was developed to support aid actors in applying the Empowered Aid approach, by centering crisis-affected women and girls in SEA risk mitigation. This ensures contextually-relevant risks are flagged and the steps taken to address them reflect local realities, and are grounded in the priorities of those most targeted by this form of abuse. This guide was designed to be used by local and international humanitarian actors who are willing and ready to challenge themselves to share power with women and girls in designing and monitoring safer aid programming. This toolkit and accompanying materials are available in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic.

Empowered Aid: Reducing Risks of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Aid Delivery - Jordan Practice Brief

This brief shares findings and recommendations from participatory activities with Syrian women and girls living as refugees in Al Azraq camp, Jordan. It condenses learning from “contextualization workshops” with a core group of 34 women and girls, as well as participatory group discussions (PGDs) with 40 refugee men and boys, on risks for sexual exploitation and abuse when accessing different types of aid. This brief is also available in Arabic.

The cover page of the article titled, “Empowered Aid: Using Contextual Safeguarding to Make the Delivery of Humanitarian Aid Safer | Applying the Empowered Aid Approach to Mitigate Risks of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse - Turkiye Results Report".

Empowered Aid: Using Contextual Safeguarding to Make the Delivery of Humanitarian Aid Safer | Contextualizing Empowered Aid Findings to Better Mitigate Risks of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse - Türkiye Results Report

This report the results of Empowered Aid’s participatory action research to humanitarian programming in Türkiye. The contextualization of SEA risks and mitigation strategies represents the collective expertise of Syrian and Turkish women and girls of host and refugee communities in Nurdağı and Islahiye districts of Gaziantep, as well as boys and men from these communities, who participated in workshops and group discussions to contextualize Empowered Aid’s findings.

The cover page of the article titled, “Empowered Aid: Using Contextual Safeguarding to Make the Delivery of Humanitarian Aid Safer | Contextualizing Empowered Aid findings to better mitigate risks of sexual exploitation and abuse - Jordan Results Report".

This report shares a summary of findings from applying the Empowered Aid approach with Syrian refugees living in Al Azraq camp in Jordan. This report represents findings from implementing the “Contextualization toolkit” developed by GWI to support aid actors in applying the results of Empowered Aid’s participatory action research to their humanitarian programming. It also captures findings from the administration of monitoring tools to capture feelings of safety and risk throughout the distribution process as implemented by World Vision Syria Response in Jordan. This report is also available in Arabic.

Empowered Aid: Using Contextual Safeguarding to Make the Delivery of Humanitarian Aid Safer | Applying the Empowered Aid Approach to Mitigate Risks of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse - Kenya Results Report

This report represents findings from implementing the Empowered Aid Contextualization Toolkit developed by GWI to support aid actors in applying the results of Empowered Aid’s participatory action research to their humanitarian programming. This report also captures findings from the administration of monitoring tools to capture feelings of safety and risk throughout the distribution process as implemented by World Vision Kenya in partnership with the Global Women’s Institute at the George Washington University. The findings of this report represents the collective expertise of the women and girls living in Kakuma and Dadaab camps who participated in the contextualization of the findings of Empowered Aid in Kenya.

Empowered Aid in Emergencies: Prioritizing SEA Risk Mitigation in Gaza

Since 2019, the Union of Relief and Development Associations (URDA) has put in place Empowered Aid risk mitigation measures in different aspects of their work in Lebanon and beyond. This case study examines how they are currently applying Empowered Aid's approach in their emergency response work in Gaza.

Empowered Aid Overview Brief

The Empowered Aid Overview Brief provides a brief background on our approach, core activities, timeline, achievements to date and future plans. The Overview brief is also available in Spanish, French, and Arabic.

Empowered Aid Roadmap: How Can I Use Empowered Aid in My Work

The Empowered Aid Roadmap provides step-by-step guidance on how to incorporate Empowered Aid findings into your work. This one pager document links to several SEA risk mitigating resources and is also available in Spanish, French, and Arabic.

Empowered Aid: Our Resources

The Empowered Aid Resources sheet holds a summary of available resources, including research finding reports and briefs, training manuals and facilitation guides, sector tip sheets, webinars and panel presentations. This resource is also available in Spanish and French.

Monitoring and Evaluation Tip Sheets

Empowered Aid Monitoring and Evaluation Tip Sheets serve as preliminary guides for those who are interested in learning more about the tools used in the Empowered Aid Toolkit for Planning and Monitoring Safer Aid Distributions. Empowered Aid has Tip Sheets available for our Household Survey, Safety Audit, Focus Group Discussion, and Point of Distribution Questionnaire tools. The Tip Sheets are also available in Arabic, Spanish, and French.

Empowered Aid Animated Video of the Phase 2 Pilot Findings to Mitigate SEA in Lebanon

The Empowered Aid Lebanon team in CARE International in Lebanon with the support of the GWI team developed an animated video to summarize the findings of the Phase II aid distribution pilots implemented in partnership with Union of Relief & Development Associations (URDA) in Lebanon. The animated video is an example of how to communicate back findings visually and creatively with women, girls, and affected communities, in which literacy may be a barrier.

Video Citation: Karim Koleilat, Independent animator, and CARE International in Lebanon. Beirut: Lebanon.

Empowered Aid Research Reflection Workshop Facilitation Guide

The Reflection Workshop Facilitation Guide outlines processes for holding space to reflect and share feedback on the research process. These workshops were conducted halfway through the qualitative fieldwork, providing the opportunity for the research team to adjust the process as needed and in response to feedback from women, girls, and humanitarian staff feedback.

Empowered Aid Action Analysis Workshop: Facilitation Guide for Women and Girl Researchers

The Action Analysis Workshops facilitation guide outlines the process through which participatory data analysis was conducted with a special emphasis on visual methods for use with low-literacy populations. This guide is for the Women and Girl Researchers who took part in the data collection process.

Cover photo of the article titled, "Child Protection and Practice"

Co-Creating Accompanying Systems to Improve Adolescent Girls' and Women's Access to Services

This article summarizes Empowered Aid's work in Jordan, implemented through a partnership between the Global Women's Institute and World Vision Syria Response. It captures how participatory approaches were used to center women and girls in identifying context-specific risks of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) and actions to address them, while engaging other community members and holding aid actors accountable for taking action. It describes how the creation of accompaniment systems can enhance refugee women and girls' safety and access to services as they navigate gender-unequal environments.

Image of the first page of the Dadaab case study

Using Empowered Aid Recommendations to improve Awareness of Communities on SEA and GBV

This case study outlines how the World Vision team in Kenya, with support from the GWI team, facilitated awareness sessions on SEA and GBV with community members based on recommendations from women and girls living in Dadaab refugee camp.

Using Empowered Aid Recommendations to Improve Women's and Girl's Safety to Access Aid

This case study outlines how to take a recommendation from affected communities; in this case a request for sex-segregated distribution lines from refugee women and girls in Kakuma refugee settlement, and work with a distribution team to implement a logistics-based recommendation.

Picture of the first page of the case study

Using Empowered Aid Recommendations to Improve Women's & Girls' Travel to Access Services

This case study describes the process the World Vision team in Jordan, with support from the GWI team, approached the decision to create and the process of implementing formal and informal accompanying systems for girls to travel to activities at the Peace Center in Al Azraq camp in Jordan, and reflections on providing information sharing around moving in groups.

Picture of Empowered Aid Case Study titled "EMPOWERED AID IN ACTION: SUPPORTING HUMANITARIAN ACTORS TO MITIGATE SEA RISKS IN THEIR CASH-BASED INTERVENTIONS"

Supporting Humanitarian Actors to Mitigate SEA Risks in their Cash-Based Interventions

This case study is based on a one-day training that took place in Dakar for the WFP and their regional partners. This training was an opportunity to facilitate for PSEA staff and Cashed Based Transfers staff to jointly identify areas of collaboration to better mitigate SEA risks in their activities, and determine key actions, roles and responsibilities, and timelines to achieve them.

Image of Empowered Aid Sector Tip Sheet for Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene. Image includes text detailing risks of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Empowered Aid Sector Tip Sheets

Empowered Aid Sector Tip Sheets serve as concise guides for those interested in mitigating sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in humanitarian settings by outlining sector-specific indicators and risk factors of SEA, and subsequently providing sector-specific recommendations to mitigate risks of SEA. Empowered Aid currently offers Tip Sheets for Food, Shelter, Cash, Fuel & Firewood, and WASH sectors, and each sector sheet is available in English, Spanish, French, and Arabic.

Empowered Aid: Reducing Risks of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Aid Delivery

This brief shares findings and recommendations from Empowered Aid's implementation with women and girls living in Kutupalong Refugee Camp, in partnership with World Vision U.S. and World Vision Bangladesh. This brief demonstrates how aid actors can improve their accountability to affected populations by putting the expertise of women and girls into action and responding to their feedback with tangible changes to the ways they deliver aid and monitor risks of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) associated with distributions.

Using Empowered Aid to Mitigate SEA Risks in Cash Distributions

This case study serves as a product of World Vision's continued to partnership with GWI in the implementation and uptake of the Empowered Aid model. WV was keen on supporting local actors to strengthen SEA risk mitigation as they work most closely with crisis-affected communities and play a key role in ensuring the voices of women and girls from said communities are heard. As such, WV has been collaborating with Community Empowerment for Rural Development (CEFORD) as a copartner on the General Food Assistance project with funding from the World Food Program.

Integrating Empowered Aid Findings and Recommendations into Strategy and SOPs

This case study outlines how Empowered Aid our resources have been used in several humanitarian responses to mitigate risks of sexual exploitation and abuse through engaging and sharing power with crisis-affected communities. One such response is Lebanon, where World Vision Lebanon utilized Empowered Aid resources to meaningfully scale up prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse in its programs and to center the voices of women and girls in humanitarian response.

Using Participatory Action Research to Mitigate SEA Risks in Ethiopia

In this case study, it is made clear how Empowered Aid resources have been used in several humanitarian responses to mitigate risks of sexual exploitation (SEA) and abuse through engaging and sharing power with crisis affected communities, in particular women and girls. One such response is Ethiopia, where the Inter-agency Network for Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse utilized Empowered Aid resources to meaningfully involve women and girls in humanitarian response planning and strategies.

two women review sticky notes and map on white board

Engaging Refugee Women and Girls as Safeguarding Experts, Using Creative and Participatory Methods

This blog post is based on the Evidence & Policy article, ‘Engaging refugee women and girls as experts: co-creating evidence on sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian crises using creative, participatory methods’, part of the Special Issue on Creativity and Co-production.

Article cover titled, "Global Public Health An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice"

Whose voices matter? Using participatory, feminist and anthropological approaches to centre power and positionality in research on gender-based violence in emergencies

This research paper, co-authored by the GWI Research Scientist Alina Potts, Empowered Aid Lebanon lead Loujine Fattal, and Empowered Aid Uganda lead Harriet Kolli examines ways in which utilizing participatory, feminist, and anthropological methods in gender-based violence (GBV) research can be held accountable to both acknowledging and addressing power disparities. This research uses real examples from the Empowered Aid project.

PSEA Training for Transport Drivers Working in Aid Distribution

This training guide outlines specific ways in which humanitarian actors can provide PSEA training for transport drivers. The aim of conducting this training is to increase aid recipients' understanding of SEA posed to aid recipients related to transportation. The guide includes day one and day two presentations. This training guide and PowerPoint presentation can also be accessed through the Toolkit shared drive. This training is available in French and Arabic.

Cover of the article titled, "Engaging refugee women and girls as experts: co-creating evidence on sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian crises using creative, participatory methods"

Engaging refugee women and girls as experts: co-creating evidence on sexual exploitation and abuse in humanitarian crises using creative, participatory methods

Humanitarian evidence is produced in settings of heightened power imbalances between research stakeholders. Yet evidence production processes often lack explicit reflection of who is shaping the questions asked and making meaning of the answers. This paper highlights our Empowered Aid program, which is participatory action research that seeks to mitigate sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) perpetrated by aid actors. Refugee women and girls in Uganda and Lebanon, as experts on SEA risk, are engaged co-researchers in generating evidence on how to make aid distributions safer.

Empowered Aid Participatory Action Research Toolkit

This toolkit contains key research tools used, such as the Participatory Group Discussion (PGD) and Qualitative Interview guides.

Increasing GBV Sensitization With Global Communities

This case study exemplifies how Empowered Aid training materials have helped several organizations to better understand gendered power dynamics and mainstream gender-based violence (GBV) prevention practices. One such organization is Global Communities, an international development and humanitarian aid organization that operates in a variety of sectors in the areas of Humanitarian Assistance, Sustainable Development and Financial Inclusion. Empowered Aid has supported Global Communities in mainstreaming GBV prevention by providing findings that inform their work and materials to help train local actors and reduce sexual exploitation and abuse and GBV risk in their aid distribution and programming.

Webinar Launch of the Toolkit for Planning and Monitoring Safer Aid Distributions

In July 2021, the Global Women's Institute (GWI) hosted a virtual launch of the Empowered Aid Toolkit for Planning and Monitoring Safer Aid Distributions. This toolkit is based on six pilots conducted in Lebanon and Uganda by GWI and partners CARE and URDA in Lebanon, and IRC and World Vision in Uganda. You can watch the full recording, with team members from GWI and partners in both countries who review the contents of the toolkit, share case studies of using it, and host a Q&A with practitioners and researchers on how to further adapt and apply it. The team provided written answers to the questions during the Q&A portion of the webinar, which can be accessed here.

A shared drive of additional resources and templates to support toolkit users is available at here.

Speakers

GWI: Alina Potts (PI), Research Scientist, Elizabeth Hedge, Empowered Aid Research Associate, & Amelia Reese Masterson, Empowered Aid Research Consultant
Lebanon partners: Loujine Fattal, Empowered Aid Research Manager & Tala Chammas, Empowered Aid Project Officer, CARE Lebanon
Uganda partners: Hope Harriet, Empowered Aid Research Manager, & Fatuma Nafish, Empowered Aid Project Officer, IRC; Godfrey Twesigye, MEAL Coordinator, Brian Matsiko, MEAL Officer, & Fred Nyero, Gender and Protection Officer, General Food Assistance, World Vision

Empowered Aid Webinar Launch: Online Course

On October 12, 2021, The Empowered Aid team held a virtual launch of the new online course to mitigate risks of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in aid distributions, which you can watch the live recording of here. The course aims to help learners gain a better understanding of SEA risks and shares recommendations and tools to mitigate them, drawn from Empowered Aid’s participatory action research with refugee women and girls in Uganda and Lebanon over the last three years. Interactive case studies, quizzes, and video interviews share Empowered Aid’s findings, recommendations, and participatory processes for listening to women and girls and increasing their safety by putting their words into action. In the webinar, our multi-country team who co-designed the course shared “sneak peeks,” demonstrated course features, and hosted a Q&A. If you are interested in enrolling in the course, visit the Course webpage.

Speakers:

GWI: Alina Potts (PI), Research Scientist, Elizabeth Hedge,
Uganda: Hope Harriet, Empowered Aid Research Manager, Brian Matsiko, MEAL Officer, & Fred Nyero, Gender and Protection Officer, General Food Assistance, World Vision
Lebanon: Loujine Fattal, Empowered Aid Research Manager & Tala Chammas, Empowered Aid Project Officer, CARE Lebanon

Image of one of the Empowered Aid case studies on improving PSEA signage

Using Empowered Aid Recommendations to Improve PSEA Signage

This case study provides guidance on using PSEA signage at distribution points. The study was developed by the team in Uganda as part of a set of resources used during the second phase of Empowered Aid, which applied recommendations from women and girls to help make aid distributions safer.

The cover page of the article titled, “RAPPORTS PILOTES DE PHASE 2 AU LIBAN Appliquer les résultats de la recherche participative sur la façon de lutter contre l’exploitation et les abus sexuels durant la distribution de l’aide".

Phase 2 Pilot Reports in Lebanon

This booklet shares the reports from the two pilots conducted in Lebanon – a fuel voucher distribution and a food distribution – to test recommendations made by women and girls that could increase their safety at aid distributions. The booklet contains the summary report for each pilot as well as individual reports for each of the tools used during the distribution. The tools used by the distribution team, and how they planned for the distributions can be found in the Toolkit for Planning and Monitoring Safer Aid Distributions on the “Manuals and Toolkits” tab. This booklet is also available in French.

Phase 2 Pilot Reports in Uganda

This booklet shares the reports from the four pilots conducted in Uganda – the first food distribution, dignity kit distribution, the second food distribution, and a solar lamp distribution – to test recommendations made by women and girls that could increase their safety at aid distributions. The booklet contains the summary report for each pilot as well as individual reports for each of the tools used during the distribution. This booklet is also available in French and Spanish.

Localizing knowledge generation during a pandemic to make distributions safer

Co-authored with our Empowered Aid Lebanon partners URDA and CARE, our latest article is published in the Humanitarian Practice Network's Humanitarian Exchange's May issue on Localization and local humanitarian action. It shares reflections from Jihan Kaisi and Rosy Haddad, Executive Director and Public Relations Officer (respectively) with the Union of Relief and Development Associations (URDA), a Lebanese NGO; Loujine Fattal, Empowered Aid Lebanon Research Manager with CARE in Lebanon; and Alina Potts, Empowered Aid Primary Investigator, of GWI. They reflect on localization in humanitarian research and knowledge generation processes during the COVID-19 pandemic, using our Empowered Aid work in Lebanon as a case study. This article was also an opportunity to support local partners in publishing for the first time, as lead authors--an important aspect of centering local knowledge and decolonizing research processes.

Research: Let's Make It Safe!

Empowered Aid's Primary Investigator Alina Potts, alongside Empowered Aid Lebanon Research Officer Tala Chammas, recently participated in a webinar organized by the UK Government's Safeguarding Resource & Support Hub (RSH). Through this webinar, participants were able to understand and consider what needs to be in place specifically when making research, programs, and monitoring and evaluation safe for both participants and researchers. Alina and Tala share their own experiences on the ground in both Uganda and Lebanon and explore in what ways Empowered Aid utilizes various participatory methodologies in relation to training and risk management, especially given the sensitivity of sexual exploitation, abuse, and sexual harassment (SEAH) in the COVID-19 pandemic. The webinar recording can be accessed here, as well as follow along the Q&A and presentation slides here.

Advocating for Victims' Rights in the United Nations, A Conversation with Jane Connors

Moderated by GW’s Alina Potts, Global Women’s Institute, & Ramin Asgary, Humanitarian Health Program, with a student-led Q&A

The Global Women’s Institute and GWU Humanitarian Health Program at the Milken Institute School of Public Health hosted the United Nation’s first Victim’s Rights Advocate Jane Connors in a conversation on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse in the humanitarian sector and centering victim’s rights in its approach. The Question & Answer portion was hosted by students from the George Washington University, engaging Ms. Connors on challenges, solutions, and next steps for her role and office. You can watch the recording or view more information on the speakers.

Empowered Aid Toolkit for Planning and Monitoring Safer Aid Distributions

This toolkit applies findings and recommendations shared by women and girls from participatory research on how to reduce sexual exploitation and abuse in aid distribution. The distribution monitoring tools contained in this toolkit have been modified to better account for sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) risks. The Toolkit includes four adapted distribution monitoring tools: (1) a safety audit or observational monitoring tool, (2) a point of distribution questionnaire, (3) a household survey, and (4) a focus group discussion tool with guidance on how to plan, train, collect data, and conduct analysis using the adapted tools. These tools can be used to proactively identify and address known barriers and risks for SEA that inhibit aid distributions from being safe for women and girls. A shared drive of additional resources and templates to support toolkit users is available to anyone.

The Toolkit and accompanying shared drive files are now available in Arabic, French, Bangla, and Spanish.

Are You Listening? It's Not Just A Few Bad Apples: Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA) In The Humanitarian Sector

Alongside colleagues in the humanitarian aid sector, GWI Research Scientist Alina Potts discussed the implications of continuous and widespread sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) within the humanitarian aid sector. Utilizing her decade-long experience as a GBV practitioner and key findings from Empowered Aid, Alina asserts the importance in developing and implementing feminist-centered policy change in order to give women and girls a sustained voice and power in the aid system. Key topics discussed include the lack of accountability in the aid sector, a dearth of female representation in positions of power, and the need to shift to a transformative, feminist approach.

Empowered Aid Findings on Cash Assistance Contribute to Grand Bargain Cash Workstream #GenderCash Conversation

On the second day of the Grand Bargain Cash Workstream meetings, GWI Research Scientist Alina Potts joined practitioners, funders, and researchers from CARE, BPRM, the Women’s Refugee Commission, and Oxfam for a conversation on how aid actors can further reduce GBV risks in cash and voucher assistance for women and girls. You can read more about Empowered Aid’s cash findings in Lebanon.

Empowered Aid Findings Presented at the UK Parliament House of Commons Oral Evidence Session on Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in the Aid Sector

GWI Research Scientist Alina Potts served as a witness in the UK Parliament International Development Committee’s first oral evidence session on sexual exploitation and abuse in the aid sector. Alina delivered oral evidence to the committee members from her experience as an aid worker across emergency responses from DR Congo to Syria to Bangladesh, and shared the voices of Syrian and South Sudanese women and girls engaged in Empowered Aid's action research in Uganda and Lebanon. Key aspects of the conversation centered on the importance of contextual safeguarding to prevent SEA before it happens, and addressing the unequal power dynamics and lack of participation across the sector that underpin this type of abuse. View the transcript.

Empowered Aid Webinar: Phase 1 Results & Recommendations Launch

In honor of World Refugee Day 2020, the Global Women's Institute (GWI) hosted a webinar launch sharing Empowered Aid's Phase I findings and recommendations on reducing risks of sexual exploitation and abuse when accessing humanitarian aid in Lebanon and Uganda. You can watch the full recording with the Empowered Aid team, including the presentation and Q&A discussion.

The full reports and other resources mentioned are available on this web page under the "Reports, policy briefs and articles" and "Manuals and toolkits" tabs.

Speakers

GWI: Alina Potts (PI), Research Scientist & Elizabeth Hedge, Empowered Aid Research Associate
CARE International in Lebanon: Loujine Fattal, Empowered Aid Research Manager & Farah Hallak, Empowered Aid Project Officer
IRC Uganda: Harriet Kolli, Empowered Aid Research Manager & Fatuma Nafish, Empowered Aid Project Officer

Please note: The audio of our Uganda project officer, Fatuma Nafish, is a bit difficult to hear; it is captioned however you can also watch Fatuma speak here. You will have the option to turn on closed captions.

Empowered Aid Participatory Action Research (PAR) Training Curriculum & Facilitation Guide

The Participatory Action Research Training Curriculum & Facilitation Guide was used with research team members -- humanitarian staff as well as women and girls from refugee communities -- to guide processes for shared study design and implementation. It includes core trainings around gender, gender-based violence and sexual exploitation and abuse.

Empowered Aid Action Analysis Workshop: Facilitation Guide for Research Partner Staff

The Action Analysis Workshops Facilitation Guide outlines the process through which participatory data analysis was conducted, with a special emphasis on visual methods for use with low-literacy populations. This guide is for the research partner staff who will facilitate the workshops with the women and girl researchers.

Shifting Power to Refugee Women and Girls: Using Feminist Participatory Action Research in Humanitarian Crises

Empowered Aid’s Principal Investigator, Alina Potts, and Uganda Research Manager for Phase 1, Harriet Kolli, joined the University of Cambridge Network for Participatory and Collaborative Research Methods to talk about "Shifting Power to Refugee Women and Girls: Using Feminist Participatory Action Research in Humanitarian Crises," based on Empowered Aid’s participatory action research in Uganda and Lebanon.

Empowered Aid: Participatory Action Research with Refugee Women and Girls to Better Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Abuse | Lebanon COVID-19 Brief

This brief summarizes recommendations to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in the context of COVID-19.

Empowered Aid: Participatory Action Research with Refugee Women and Girls to Better Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Abuse | Uganda COVID-19 Brief

This brief summarizes recommendations to prevent and respond to sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in the context of COVID-19.

Toolkit Training for Humanitarian Practitioners

This training guide is accompanies the Empowered Aid Toolkit for Planning and Monitoring Safer Aid Distributions, training humanitarian practitioners how to utilize the tools, design safer distributions, and reduce the risk of SEA associated with distributions. Click here to view the accompanying slideshow. This training guide and PowerPoint presentation can also be accessed through the Toolkit shared drive.

Lebanon Sector-Specific Brief: SEA in relation to cash assistance

Empowered Aid Lebanon Sector Brief: SEA in Relation to Cash Assistance

This brief summarizes key findings around sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in relation to cash assistance and provides targeted recommendations to make cash assistance safer for women and girls. This brief is also available in Arabic.

Lebanon Sector-Specific Brief: SEA in relation to shelter assistance

Empowered Aid Lebanon Sector Brief: SEA in Relation to Shelter Assistance

This brief summarizes key findings around sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in relation to shelter aid and provides targeted recommendations to make shelter-related distributions safer for women and girls. This brief is also available in Arabic.

Lebanon Sector-Specific Brief: SEA in relation to WASH

Empowered Aid Lebanon Sector Brief: SEA in relation to WASH Assistance

This brief summarizes key findings around sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in relation to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH). It provides targeted recommendations to make WASH assistance safer for women and girls.

Empowered Aid Sector Brief: SEA in relation to food aid

Empowered Aid Lebanon Sector Brief: SEA in Relation to Food Aid

This brief summarizes key findings around sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in relation to food distribution and provides targeted recommendations to make food distribution safer for women and girls. This is also available in Arabic.

Empowered Aid: Participatory Action Research with Refugee Women and Girls to Better Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Abuse | Lebanon Policy Brief

This brief shares findings from the first phase of Empowered Aid in Lebanon around risks of sexual exploitation and abuse in relation to food, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), shelter, and cash assistance, throughout the distribution process. It is based on rigorous, longitudinal qualitative research with women and girls living in an urban refugee context in Tripoli, Lebanon. It provides targeted, action-oriented recommendations to make aid distributions safer for women and girls, grounded in their own voices. This brief is also available in Arabic.

Empowered Aid: Transforming Gender and Power Dynamics in the Delivery of Humanitarian Aid | Lebanon Country Report

This report shares findings from the first phase of Empowered Aid in Lebanon around risks of sexual exploitation and abuse in relation to food, WASH, shelter, and cash assistance, throughout the distribution process. It is based on rigorous, longitudinal qualitative research with women and girls living in an urban refugee context in Tripoli, Lebanon. The report also summarizes findings related to other types of distribution-related gender-based violence. It provides targeted, action-oriented recommendations to make aid distributions safer for women and girls, grounded in their own voices.

Uganda Sector Brief: SEA in relation to fuel and firewood distribution

Empowered Aid Uganda Sector Brief: SEA in Relation to Fuel and Firewood Assistance

This brief summarizes key findings around sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) in relation to fuel and firewood and provides targeted recommendations to make fuel and firewood assistance safer for women and girls.

Empowered Aid Uganda sector brief: SEA in relation to Shelter Assistance

Empowered Aid Uganda sector brief: SEA in relation to WASH Assistance

This brief summarizes key findings around SEA in relation to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) and provides targeted recommendations to make WASH assistance safer for women and girls.

Empowered Aid Uganda Sector Brief: SEA in Relation to Food Aid

Empowered Aid: Transforming Gender and Power Dynamics in the Delivery of Humanitarian Aid, Uganda Country Report

Empowered Aid: Participatory Action Research with Refugee Women and Girls to Better Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Abuse | Uganda Country Report

This report shares findings from the first phase of Empowered Aid in Uganda around risks of sexual exploitation and abuse in relation to food, water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), shelter, and fuel and firewood, throughout the distribution process. It is based on rigorous, longitudinal qualitative research with women and girls living in Bidi Bidi and Imvepi refugee settlements in Uganda. The report also summarizes findings related to other types of distribution-related gender-based violence. It provides targeted, action-oriented recommendations to make aid distributions safer for women and girls, grounded in their own voices

Empowered Aid: Reducing SEA in Aid Distribution, Uganda Policy Brief

Empowered Aid: Participatory Action Research with Refugee Women and Girls to Better Prevent Sexual Exploitation and Abuse | Uganda Policy Brief

This brief shares findings from the first phase of Empowered Aid in Uganda around risks of sexual exploitation and abuse in relation to food, WASH, shelter, and fuel and firewood, throughout the distribution process. It is based on rigorous, longitudinal qualitative research with women and girls living in Bidi Bidi and Imvepi refugee settlements in Uganda. It provides targeted, action-oriented recommendations to make aid distributions safer for women and girls, grounded in their own voices.

Presentation at the 2019 SVRI Forum

The Empowered Aid team’s presentation at the 2019 Sexual Violence Research Initiative Forum held in Capetown, South Africa.

Women's Protection and Empowerment Podcast: Empowered Aid

Since its magnitude first came to light in 2002, the aid community’s focus on addressing sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) has primarily rested on establishing reporting mechanisms and only recently shifted toward proactive measures to mitigate risk and prevent such abuses from occurring. In this episode, Alina Potts of the Global Women's Institute, Harriet Kolli of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Uganda, and Loujine Fattal of CARE Lebanon, discuss Empowered Aid: Transforming gender and power dynamics in the delivery of humanitarian aid on an episode of Women's Protection and Empowerment podcast.

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