Get support

CHS Alliance is proud to be a part of the launch of the Responder-Perpetrated Sexual Exploitation and Abuse in Humanitarian Crises (RESPONDER) Partnership,  a groundbreaking, seven-year global research initiative that aims to generate robust, survivor-informed data on sexual exploitation, and abuse (SEA) in humanitarian and peacekeeping contexts.

Funded by Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the RESPONDER Partnership brings together a unique consortium of researchers and NGO partners across ten countries, and engages individuals with lived experience of SEA from six of them, to understand the scale and depth of sexual exploitation and abuse within marginalised and stigmatised groups.

Over seven years, the Partnership will conduct case studies in South Sudan, Haiti, the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, Lebanon, and Kosovo. Each context offers unique insights into the social, political, and operational dynamics that shape SEA risks and reporting barriers.

It represents a landmark collaboration between academia and the humanitarian sector, uniting technical expertise, field experience, and community knowledge to tackle the silence surrounding SEA.

To mark the start of this ambitious programme, CHS Alliance hosted the RESPONDER Partnership Workshop from 14–16 September 2025 at the Humanitarian Hub in Geneva. The meeting brought together partners to align methodologies, strengthen ethical frameworks, and plan data collection for the first country studies.

Understanding the Scale and the Silence

Despite years of sector-wide attention and reform, the true scale of SEA in humanitarian contexts remains largely unknown. Official reporting captures only a small portion of incidents, while many survivors, especially those from marginalized or stigmatized groups, face systemic barriers to speaking out.

“Understanding the scale of abuse requires listening to all survivors — especially those our systems have too often overlooked,” said Martina Broström, Co-Chair of the Knowledge Mobilisation Committee within the RESPONDER Partnership and Investigations and PSEAH Manager at the CHS Alliance. “RESPONDER is about generating evidence that fully includes those individuals and drives systemic change.”

To bridge this gap, RESPONDER is pioneering innovative research methods such as respondent-driven sampling (RDS), which uses peer networks and incentives to reach women/girls, men/boys as well as people who are often excluded from traditional studies, including LGBTQI+ individuals and persons with disabilities. This survivor-informed approach not only expands who is heard, but also strengthens the evidence base for meaningful prevention and response.

The findings of the RESPONDER Partnership are expected to fill a critical evidence gap and guide more effective safeguarding practices sector-wide.

“For too long, we have lacked reliable data on the very abuses our systems are meant to prevent,” said Dr. Susan Bartels, Professor at Queen’s University and Co-Director of the RESPONDER Partnership along with Dr. Sabine Lee from the University of Birmingham. “This project is about changing that, ensuring survivors’ experiences, particularly from groups that have been largely under-represented, inform the standards and safeguards that govern humanitarian work worldwide.”

By combining comparative data from these six contexts, RESPONDER aims to provide policymakers and practitioners with actionable findings that inform ethical, survivor-centred, and context-specific interventions across the humanitarian–development–peace nexus.

As the RESPONDER Partnership moves forward, we will continue to update you on progress.

Please contact pseah@chsalliance.org for more information.