Protection in crisis response

FHI 360 is committed to advocating for and maintaining the centrality of protection in all our humanitarian interventions, and we seek to understand how our actions can affect people’s safety. Our crisis response programs respect the rights of all individuals — without discrimination — in accordance with relevant bodies of law. We integrate protection throughout our areas of expertise — including health and access to care; food security and emergency nutrition; and water, sanitation and hygeine — and everywhere our crisis response team operates.

During times of crises, many national systems, including health and social support systems, weaken or break down entirely — reducing access to lifesaving services. In such contexts, emergency responses that do not consider gender-specific vulnerabilities can further expose individuals to gender-based violence (GBV), including domestic violence, sexual exploitation and abuse, trafficking, and conflict-related sexual violence. We strive to make our protection and GBV interventions survivor-centered by ensuring survivors’ safety and confidentiality and respecting their right to make informed choices.

To ensure that people in crises are accessing and benefitting from FHI 360’s activities equally, we systematically apply an age, gender and diversity approach in our programs, by identifying and addressing social, environmental and institutional barriers to accessing services through our programs — recognizing that some individuals who are at a heightened risk of abuse, violence and exploitation in situations of crisis are often excluded from humanitarian interventions.

FHI 360 currently conducts integrated protection and GBV programming in Ethiopia, Mozambique, Nigeria and Ukraine.

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Protection in crisis response