Many humanitarian organisations have introduced complaints mechanisms or whistleblowing systems to enable communities, staff and other stakeholders to safely raise issues of sexual violence, exploitation, abuse of power, or any other form of misconduct. Implemented effectively, they can help to identify problems and misconduct at an early stage.
When sensitive allegations of misconduct are reported, organisations have to take appropriate action to investigate them. Still, it remains a challenge to prepare and conduct in-depth and confidential investigations. This training will give an overview on how to plan, conduct and report on internal investigations on staff misconduct regarding sexual exploitation and abuse.
Contents
- Principles and key considerations for a survivor centered investigation
- Steps of an investigation and sources of information
- Preparing and adapting an investigation and interview plan
- Interviewing techniques for interviewing witnesses and the subject of complaint
- Interview simulation
- Procedural fairness and biases
- Preparing an investigation report
- Communication of investigation results
Format
The training will be conducted in a blended-learning format and consists of two online sessions (half day) as well as one face-to-face session (three days) including interview simulations. Between the last two sessions, participants will be engaged in self-organised group work on report writing. After the training, participants will have the chance to take part in individual online coaching sessions with the trainer.
Target group
The training is directed at staff of German humanitarian NGOs that are or will be part of an internal investigations team. Basic knowledge on topics like PSEAH in general as well as complaints and response mechanisms is required.
Trainers
The training will be facilitated by Ester Dross and Karoline Krähling. Ester is an accountability, PSEA, gender and child protection specialist with long experience in the humanitarian field. She has extensive expertise in conducting investigations into allegations of staff misbehavior including sexual exploitation and abuse, fraud and corruption. Karoline is policy advisor on humanitarian topics at VENRO.
Registration
Registration is already possible here. The programme will be available on this website soon. The sessions will be in English. Participation is free of charge. The number of participants is limited. We will inform you about your final admission two to three weeks after your registration.
The seminar is part of a joint project of the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) of Ruhr-University Bochum and VENRO. It is financially supported by the German Federal Foreign Office.
For further questions please contact Karoline Krähling (k.kraehling(at)venro.org).