Paper details

Paper authors	Tanya Wood
In panel on	ProTECt - Community interventions and technological avenues against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Harassment (SEAH)
Paper presenter(s) will be presenting	In-Person / Online

Abstract

Since renewed attention to sexual exploitation, abuse and harassment (SEAH) was sparked in 2017, many initiatives have taken to address SEAH. Significant efforts have been undertaken to improve formal, organisational approaches to preventing SEAH, with a growing commitment to standards like the Core Humanitarian Standard (CHS), attention to policy and guidelines, and improving HR initiatives to deal with abusers. Yet, more work is needed to ground these in the lived experiences of survivors and bottom-up approaches, tailored to local contexts and led by communities. Aid organisations need a better understanding of the local context, including national and local legislation, place the needs of survivors and victims at the centre and empower them to design and drive their own solutions. We must also challenge and uproot authoritarian, patriarchal and hierarchal organisational cultures if we want to bring about the changes needed.

This paper reports on research from a pilot project conducted by the CHS Alliance, the International Institute of Social Studies together with researchers and civil society actors in three countries-Bangladesh (BRAC University), the Occupied Palestine Territories (WCLAC) and Ethiopia (Human Rights Council). The project focuses on researching local experiences and views of SEAH, galvanizing key stakeholders to form advocacy platforms to transform the humanitarian field with an overarching goal of improving inter-agency accountability throughout the aid sector

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