Prevention and Response to Sexual Exploitation & Abuse in Liberia

a major gap countrywide. As a result, capacity
development of national institutions, communitybased
structures and civil society in protection
issues was identified as a key priority for the PCGs
in 2007.
The UNCT PSEA Coordination Officer, in
collaboration with UNHCR, the then-Cluster Lead for
protection, and the Countering Sexual Exploitation
and Abuse in Liberia Project (CISEAL), developed
and implemented a series of three-day training of
trainers (TOT) sessions on SEA for PCG members.
The overall purpose of the ToT was to ensure that
members of the PCG at the county level have the
requisite capacity to carry out the responsibilities
set out in their TOR and that each county has
access to a common training package and a cadre
of skilled trainers to raise awareness on SEA at
the community level. The trainers also steered
activities towards the delivery of the objectives of
the National SEA Awareness Campaign. As a result
of the training, the SEA focal points in the various
PCGs were able to:
• conduct PSEA trainings and awareness activities;
• understand and explain basic concepts related to
SEA;
• use the National GBV Task Force endorsed PSEA
information, education and communication (IEC)
materials effectively;
• explain dynamics related to humanitarian aid
workers and SEA; and
• provide guidance on how organizations can
minimize SEA and effectively deal with SEA cases.
CISEAL Trainings
During the course of its existence in 2007, the
CiSEAL project conducted a five-day investigation
training for 17 participants, a three-day senior
management training on model complaints and
investigation protocols for 20 participants, and fiveday
focal point trainings for 77 participants from
Government of Liberia, INGOs and local NGOs.
CiSEAL provided 116 copies of BSO investigation
handbooks including DVDs and CDs, 116 copies
of BSO guidelines, 173 copies of SG bulletins, and
173 copies of IASC guidelines to the participants.
National-Level Specialized Training for SEA
Focal Points
At a stock taking meeting at the beginning of
2008, the ICN M&R Working Group recognized
the significant gap left by the phasing-out of the
CISEAL Project in December 2007 and came
up with innovative ways to respond. Several
NGOs were found not to have SEA reporting or
investigation systems. While it was acknowledged
that a common SEA reporting system may not
be possible at this time, establishing minimum
standards to which all organizations would adhere
9
would be a significant first step in that direction.
Some NGOs had no SEA focal points identified,
while others had focal points identified but they
required training to discharge their duties. In order
to build on the CISEAL achievements, participants
from the CISEAL training sessions of 2007 were
employed as facilitators to implement another round
of SEA Focal Point TOTs. An innovative training
module was developed utilizing the sample basic
training pack developed for the SEA campaign, the
facilitator’s notes from the previous PCG trainings,
as well as new tools including the film “To Serve
With Pride”.
The training was co-funded by the RC office of the
UNCT, NRC, IRC, ARC, MERLIN, CCF, SCUK,
CONCERN and the MSG. In total, four threeday
sessions were conducted with a total 111
participants.
Achievements:
• Development and implementation of SEA focal point
training sessions for 188 local, international and UN
focal points
• A total of 290 PCG members were trained from 15
counties over the course of 27 training days
• Each county level PCG has received a SEA Training
Pack and hard copies of the facilitator’s guides and
handouts for use by members
• County PCG SEA focal points committed to develop
and implement SEA awareness plans for their
respective counties
• Counties participated in identifying priorities to the
national PCG to respond to SEA at the national level
(See Annex 12), which were shared with the national
PCG for action
• Development of common reporting templates, and
ensuring that members have functioning reporting
systems (See Annex 13)
Challenges:
• Despite the numerous training sessions, awarenessraising
activities and outreach efforts, the level of
SEA reporting remains low, both inside and outside
the humanitarian community
• The SEA Campaign Evaluation Report notes that
many community members still do not know or
understand how to report SEA
• Capacity and logistical constraints remain among
GBV Task Force and PCG members to conduct
regular reporting and information sharing
• Communication between the field and national levels
of coordination is constrained, mainly due to logistical
deficits