Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Training Course

Duration 5 days 10 modules · 33 contact hours
Level Intermediate Certificate on completion
Who attends Protection Officers, Humanitarian Programme Managers and others
Fee from USD 1,100 KSh 95,000 for Kenyan organisations
Where 52 cities + online See dates by city
Next start 9 Nov 2026 Course code SD-HR-038

Before you join: Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, protection, health, safeguarding or community programmes.

Dates & prices

Two start dates a month in every city, and live online on weekdays or weekends. Fees are per participant; classroom fees include tuition, materials, lunch and refreshments, and the certificate.

Suggest a date or city

Showing the next six months. Later dates, other cities and private deliveries for your team are available on request.

Course overview

Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) is a protection, health, safeguarding and operational risk requiring disciplined action. Poorly managed disclosures, unsafe referrals, weak data controls or inaccessible complaints channels can expose survivors to further harm. Humanitarian personnel need to recognise risks early, communicate without pressure, connect survivors to appropriate services and build prevention measures into programme decisions. They must also understand where their role ends and when specialist case management, clinical care or formal investigation is required.

This course develops practical capability for preventing and responding to SGBV in humanitarian settings. Participants examine survivor-centred practice, informed consent, safe identification, referral pathways, case management boundaries, protection risk assessment, safeguarding and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse. They apply the IASC Guidelines, GBVIMS principles, LIVES first-line support and interagency coordination arrangements to realistic scenarios involving displacement, cash assistance, shelter sites, health services and partner delivery.

Teaching combines concise instructor briefings, guided case analysis, group decisions, role-based simulations and structured planning. Participants work with realistic information constraints, including service gaps, confidentiality risks and competing operational priorities. They leave with a practical SGBV response and risk-mitigation pack containing a referral pathway design, risk assessment, information-sharing protocol and implementation plan that can be adapted to their programme or duty station.

The course suits professionals with direct responsibility for humanitarian programmes, protection, safeguarding, community engagement, health, accountability or partner management. It is particularly relevant for staff who need to make safe operational decisions without acting as specialist clinical or legal providers.

What you will be able to do

  • Apply survivor-centred principles and informed consent during SGBV disclosures and referrals
  • Conduct an SGBV risk assessment using safety audits, consultation protocols and risk matrices
  • Design safe referral pathways linking clinical, psychosocial, legal and protection services
  • Integrate IASC GBV risk-mitigation actions into humanitarian programme design and delivery
  • Use LIVES first-line support techniques within appropriate professional role boundaries
  • Establish safeguarding and PSEA reporting arrangements that protect survivor safety and confidentiality
  • Apply GBVIMS data responsibility principles to collection, analysis, reporting and information sharing
  • Produce a time-bound SGBV preparedness and response action plan for a programme team

Benefits of attending

For you

  • Greater confidence responding appropriately when a survivor discloses abuse
  • A clear understanding of referral boundaries and specialist escalation points
  • Practical methods for identifying SGBV risks in programme activities
  • Stronger safeguarding judgement when reviewing complaints and allegations
  • A reusable action plan for improving SGBV preparedness in current work

For your organisation

  • Safer programme design that reduces predictable exposure to SGBV risks
  • More consistent survivor-centred referrals and information-handling decisions
  • Clearer PSEA and safeguarding accountability across staff and partners
  • Better coordination with health, protection, legal and psychosocial service providers
  • Actionable preparedness measures for displacement, insecurity and service disruption

Course modules

10 modules over 5 days

Participants can identify SGBV forms, drivers, affected groups and contextual risk patterns.

  • Forms, drivers and patterns of sexual and gender-based violence harm
  • Intersectional risk analysis using age, disability, displacement and identity factors
  • Ecological model links individual, relationship, community and societal drivers
  • Power analysis identifies control, coercion, dependency and exclusion mechanisms
  • Distinguishing gender norms, harmful practices, exploitation, abuse and violence
  • SGBV terminology aligned with IASC and survivor-centred principles

Participants can make ethically sound decisions that prioritise survivor safety, choice and dignity.

  • Survivor-centred approach prioritises safety, confidentiality, respect and non-discrimination
  • Do No Harm applied to disclosure, referral and information handling
  • Four guiding principles tested against difficult response decisions
  • Informed consent scripts distinguish adults, adolescents and children
  • Best interests procedures for child survivors and safeguarding concerns
  • Data responsibility limits collection, access, retention and secondary use

Participants can assess SGBV risks and gather information without increasing harm.

  • Rapid gender analysis identifies risks, capacities, services and barriers
  • Safety audits map unsafe locations, times, routes and actors
  • Consultation protocols prevent retaliation, exposure and tokenistic participation
  • Washington Group questions inform disability-inclusive assessment sampling decisions
  • Risk matrix scores likelihood, impact, exposure and mitigation options
  • Secondary data review tests source bias, gaps and relevance

Participants can provide appropriate first-line support and recognise case-management limits.

  • GBV case management steps from identification through safe case closure
  • First-line support uses LIVES: Listen, Inquire, Validate, Enhance safety, Support
  • Active listening avoids interrogation, promises and pressure to disclose
  • Risk assessment distinguishes immediate danger, threats, coping and protective factors
  • Case action plans record survivor choices, priorities and consent
  • Safe closure criteria confirm referrals, safety and agreed follow-up

Participants can design and maintain safe, accessible and consent-based referral pathways.

  • Service mapping verifies clinical, psychosocial, legal and protection referral options
  • Referral pathways define eligibility, consent points, transport and feedback limits
  • Clinical management of rape referral windows and survivor choices
  • Memoranda of understanding set roles, focal points and confidentiality boundaries
  • Warm referrals reduce repetition, delays and unsafe survivor movement
  • Referral directory maintenance checks availability, accessibility, quality and inclusion

Participants can integrate SGBV risk-mitigation measures into sector programme design and delivery.

  • GBV risk mitigation integrated within shelter, WASH, food and cash assistance
  • Inter-Agency Standing Committee guidelines assign sectoral mitigation actions
  • Safety design reviews lighting, locks, queues, privacy and site layouts
  • Cash assistance risk analysis addresses control, theft and retaliation
  • Accountability mechanisms provide accessible complaints, feedback and response routes
  • Mitigation tracker assigns owners, deadlines, indicators and review cycles

Participants can establish survivor-safe safeguarding and PSEA prevention, reporting and response arrangements.

  • Six Core Principles guide prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse
  • Safeguarding risk assessments identify recruitment, travel and partner vulnerabilities
  • Codes of conduct define prohibited behaviour and reporting duties
  • Complaint channels accommodate language, disability, literacy and power differences
  • Allegation handling separates survivor assistance from administrative investigations
  • Partner due diligence checks policies, focal points and reporting capacity

Participants can contribute safely to SGBV coordination and community-based protection arrangements.

  • GBV Area of Responsibility structures coordinate specialized humanitarian action
  • Interagency case conferences protect consent, need-to-know access and confidentiality
  • Information-sharing protocols specify purpose, minimum data and authorization
  • 5Ws mapping clarifies service coverage, gaps and referral links
  • Cluster coordination aligns GBV actions with protection and sector plans
  • Community-based protection partnerships strengthen safe participation and accountability

Participants can handle SGBV information responsibly and use monitoring data without creating disclosure risks.

  • GBVIMS intake forms apply incident classification and informed consent
  • GBVIMS data-sharing protocol governs aggregation, access and disclosure decisions
  • Incident data never determines prevalence or population-level risk alone
  • Disaggregated monitoring tracks age, sex, disability and referral outcomes
  • Outcome indicators measure safety, access, quality and survivor satisfaction
  • Dashboard design suppresses small cells and avoids re-identification risks

Participants can prepare a practical SGBV improvement plan for disruption, escalation and sustained delivery.

  • Scenario planning anticipates displacement, service disruption and heightened GBV risks
  • Contingency plans protect referral continuity during insecurity and access constraints
  • Minimum preparedness actions assign stocks, contacts, protocols and trigger points
  • Personal boundaries and supervision reduce vicarious trauma and burnout
  • Team application plans prioritise actions, owners, resources and review dates
  • Thirty-day implementation commitments connect learning to operational decisions

Exercises and examples are adapted to each cohort's sectors and roles.

What you take back to work

  1. Survivor-centred disclosure response checklist
  2. SGBV risk assessment and mitigation matrix
  3. Service mapping and referral pathway template
  4. SGBV information-sharing protocol template
  5. PSEA complaints-channel accessibility checklist
  6. Thirty-day SGBV implementation action plan

Who should attend

  • Protection Officers — need to identify risks, manage referrals and coordinate survivor support
  • Humanitarian Programme Managers — need to embed SGBV mitigation within programme decisions
  • Safeguarding Focal Points — need safe reporting, escalation and survivor assistance arrangements
  • Health and Psychosocial Staff — need role-appropriate first-line support and referral skills
  • Accountability and Community Engagement Staff — need accessible complaints and consultation methods
  • Partner Management Staff — need to assess safeguarding capacity and referral readiness

Skills and tools covered

Survivor-centred responseSGBV risk assessmentSafe referral designGBV risk mitigationSafeguarding accountabilitySensitive data management

Tools and standards

IASC Guidelines for Integrating Gender-Based Violence Interventions in Humanitarian Action, Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS), LIVES first-line support, Interagency Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming

How the course runs

Training methodology

The course uses short instructor briefings to establish standards and role boundaries, followed by case work based on displacement sites, aid distributions, health referrals and partner-managed services. Participants assess risks, make referral decisions, review complaint channels and practise survivor-centred communication through structured simulations. Small-group work applies named tools to realistic operational materials, including service maps, incident scenarios and programme plans. Each participant completes an application plan linked to their own responsibilities, organisational procedures and likely implementation constraints.

Requirements and prerequisites

Participants should have basic experience in humanitarian, development, protection, health, safeguarding or community programmes. They should understand their organisation's purpose, reporting lines and the populations they support. Prior exposure to gender concepts, protection principles or referral work is useful but not essential. This is not an entry-level course in humanitarian action; participants should be comfortable discussing programme decisions and handling sensitive issues professionally. No clinical qualification, counselling licence, legal training, prior case-management certification or GBVIMS experience is required.

A typical training day

08:30 – 10:30First session
10:30 – 10:45Refreshment break
10:45 – 12:30Second session
12:30 – 13:30Lunch and networking
13:30 – 15:00Third session
15:00 – 15:15Refreshment break
15:15 – 16:30Workshop and daily review

Live online deliveries follow the same structure in East Africa Time, with shorter screen blocks and longer breaks.

What the fee includes

  • Instruction by a practitioner facilitator
  • Full course workbook and materials
  • Exercise files, templates and case studies
  • Refreshments and lunch on classroom deliveries
  • Certificate of completion
  • Post-course application plan

Frequently asked questions

Participants should have experience in humanitarian, development, protection, safeguarding, health or community programmes. They do not need counselling, clinical, legal or specialist GBV case-management qualifications.

Bring any non-sensitive programme materials that may help with application planning, such as referral procedures, safeguarding policies or project plans. Do not bring identifiable survivor records, incident reports or confidential case files.

It is suited to programme, protection, safeguarding, health, accountability, community engagement and partner-management personnel. It is useful for staff who must make safe decisions but are not designated specialist case managers.

This course covers first-line support, referral and programme risk mitigation alongside safeguarding, PSEA and information management. Specialist case-management training prepares designated practitioners for sustained individual case work, documentation and supervision.

Participants leave with templates and an action plan for reviewing risks, referral pathways, complaints channels and staff responsibilities. The materials can be adapted to programme procedures, partner arrangements and available local services.

The course contains ten modules delivered in teaching order, with about 6.5 contact hours each day from 08:30 to 16:30. Time is divided between instructor input, case analysis, simulations, group work and implementation planning.

Questions about this course?

Ask about dates, fees, group bookings or running it for your team. Our training team replies by email.

Ask on WhatsApp info@skillsetdevelopment.com

Related courses in Humanitarian Response