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Support for SGBV survivors in Burundi

28-05-2019

Maastricht School of Management in collaboration with experts from Living Peace Institute (DRC) and Burundian Trainers trained by ICGLR-RTF (Uganda) will help Seruka Centre in Burundi to provide support for survivors of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) in Burundi.

The mission of Seruka Centre is to end and prevent SGBV and guarantee access of survivors to proper medical and psychological care, as well as access to justice. Seruka works in collaboration with different, governmental and non-governmental, actors in Burundi providing assistance and care to SGBV survivors seeking help at Seruka. Professionals working in medical, legal and psychosocial services often lack specific information and knowledge on root causes and consequences of SGBV. Medical care remains restricted to physical care, police and legal apply the rule of law and psychosocial counsellors assist survivors in dealing with trauma but they hardly work together. Moreover, lack of gender sensitivity and understanding the multiple interactive causes and consequences of SGBV result in re- victimization, rejection and even stigmatization of survivors by service providers. The lack of gender sensitivity is also a reason for survivors for not to seek help. Whereas the employees of Seruka are relatively skilled in the areas of SRHR and SGBV they have to rely on a network of professionals that often lack adequate knowledge and skills to effectively deal with SGBV cases. Since Seruka has to rely (for certain medical referrals, legal help, and police interventions) on other actors, the existing knowledge and skills gaps on how to treat SGBV survivors is inadequate and the lack of gender sensitive approaches is often harming survivors' recovery.

The tailor made training comprises 8 training courses. Each training session has around 15 participants with a mix of four different professional groups (the service providers): medical staff, police officers, legal experts and psychosocial workers. In total around 120 professionals working in public services for survivors of sexual and gender based violence are trained. The implementation is coordinated by Maastricht School of Management. The training is facilitated and developed by Burundian trainers, supervised by experts from Living Peace Institute and based on the SGBV training manual of ICGLR-RTF.

The tailor made training will run from July 2019 until June 2020 and will be managed by Dr. Astrid ter Wiel, Associate Consultant at Maastricht School of Management.

Nuffic Orange Knowledge Programme
The Orange Knowledge Programme is a €195-m Dutch global development programme, available in 53 developing countries and managed by Nuffic, a Dutch non-profit organisation for internationalisation in education. Launched mid-2017, it aims to have provided tens of thousands with the possibility to change their future through education and training by mid-2022.

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