Accountability on GBV in Emergencies

The Real-Time Accountability Partnership

Gender-based violence (GBV) is a widespread and well-recognised threat to the health, well-being, opportunities and lives of women and girls worldwide. The risks and realities of GBV are greatly exacerbated when a disaster strikes. Recognising the need for broad-based, fast and mutually responsible action to address GBV prevention and response in humanitarian responses, six key global-level humanitarian agencies - the International Rescue Committee (IRC), OCHA, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNHCR, and USAID’s Office of United States Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) - have formed the Real-Time Accountability Partnership (RTAP).

The RTAP aims to ensure that all individuals, particularly women and girls, are free from the threat of GBV. The RTAP's goal is that all actors prioritise and coordinate GBV response services and integrate GBV prevention across sectors from the outset of an emergency. The centrepiece of RTAP is the Action Framework.

To promote system-wide accountability for GBV prevention and response in emergencies, RTAP members have outlined roles, responsibilities and actions related to prioritisation of GBV that should be taken during an emergency, captured in the RTAP Action Framework. These actions fall within the responsibility of donors, humanitarian coordinators, humanitarian country teams, GBV coordination leads, agencies with responsibility to mainstream GBV, and entities with specialised GBV programming and expertise. The Action Framework is predicated upon a baseline assessment of GBV programming in five country-based humanitarian responses as well as existing international guidelines, best practice, and learning from the RTAP baseline assessment carried out in 2016.