Gender-based Violence Training Modules

Download the full PDF: Gender-based Violence Training Modules: A Collection and Review of Existing Materials for Training Health Workers

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Addressing gender-based violence (GBV) successfully has been linked to achieving the Millennium Development Goals related to gender equality, infant and maternal health and mortality, and fighting HIV/AIDS. Yet, UNFPA identifies GBV as one of the most widespread and socially accepted human rights violations. Health workers play a role in screening for and treating the consequences of gender-based violence. Many health workers, especially female health workers, may themselves experience GBV that compromises their ability to work. GBV is a serious threat to women’s health and impacts the health system. Training health workers to identify, treat and respond effectively to GBV is an essential step the health sector must take in fighting GBV.

The Capacity Project has completed a search and review of existing training modules on GBV, particularly those intended for training health care personnel. The purpose of this activity is to identify existing GBV training modules that could be adapted and/or integrated into pre-service education or in-service training curricula in developing countries.

During this activity, the Capacity Project coordinated and exchanged information with Intercambios(1), the Inter-American Alliance for Gender-based Violence and Health. Intercambios was undertaking a similar activity, identifying GBV training modules specifically for Latin America.

Capacity restricted our search to English-language materials and focused on materials that are freely available. The materials were reviewed for content areas covered (e.g., GBV awareness, intimate partner violence, childhood sexual abuse), skills covered (e.g. screening, confidentiality, counseling and communication, referral, community education/outreach, documentation, surveillance, and forensics) as well as accuracy and currency. The materials were also reviewed from an instructional design perspective to determine usability, readability and consistency/ adequacy of their instructional components.

In general, this materials search and review revealed that over the past 5 years an increasing number of current GBV training materials that are relevant to developing country contexts have been developed and are available from international as well as country-based organizations. Previously, the state-of-the art materials on GBV were mostly available from Western organizations and were not always applicable to developing country or low-resource environments.

The attached spreadsheet contains information about each of the items the team identified and collected, and below are summaries of the modules which this activity team considered as reflective of better practices in GBV training, with recommendations as to how each module could be integrated into pre-service education or in-service training.

1 Intercambios is a network of international and local non-governmental organizations who work to strengthen the health sector response to violence in the Latin American region, and to strengthen community-based initiatives to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.