Photo By: Aliya Karim is licensed under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license.

October 26, 2022: PSEAH Day of Action

Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day

PSEAH Day of Action: Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day

Sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment (SEAH) is a type of gender-based violence (GBV) that is perpetrated by humanitarian and development workers against program participants, community members, or fellow staff members. Like all forms of GBV, SEAH is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power, and harmful norms.

Humanitarian and development organizations have a particular responsibility to prevent and respond to SEAH. Like all forms of sexual violence, SEAH can have an immeasurable impact on a survivor. When SEAH incidents go unaddressed, it undermines the trust that communities put in our organizations to deliver vital goods and services.

This video is also available with Spanish subtitles here.

October 26 marks the PSEAH Day of Action. This year’s theme is Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day, and is reflective of the centrality of PSEAH to our work as humanitarians and development workers.

Everyone at all levels of an organization is responsible for preventing and responding to SEAH. All staff can ensure that you know your organization’s reporting procedures, and report anything you feel may violate your organization’s PSEAH Code of Conduct. If you interact with program participants, ensure that they know their rights and how to report SEAH violations. Senior leaders can set PSEAH as an organizational priority by making training mandatory, making PSEAH a standing topic at staff meetings, and ensuring that PSEAH is given proper resourcing and staff within your organization.

You can access the social media toolkit for the Day of Action here.

SEAH can occur everywhere.

We need to commit to PSEAH every day.

Resources

InterAction developed several resources for your organizations to use on the PSEAH day of action. Follow the links below to access the resources!

Key Messages

InterAction and our partners will be sharing several key messages in the week leading up to the PSEAH Day of Action:

October 19th: SEAH is a form of gender-based violence
October 20th: SEAH is a human-rights issue
October 21st: SEAH is a continuum, and sexual harassment must be integrated into our PSEAH work.
October 24th: Organizations must be accountable to survivors and keep the survivor at the center of everything we do.
October 25th: PSEAH requires moving beyond compliance to address harmful systems and norms within our organizational culture.

Further Resources

For more information, please visit InterAction's Resource Library! Please note: most resources in the Resource Library are open access and can be accessed without registering for the library. Only InterAction Members can register to access the locked content.

What you need to know about PSEAH

  1. SEAH is a form of gender-based violence. Like all forms of GBV, SEAH is rooted in gender inequality, the abuse of power, and harmful norms.
  2. SEAH is a human rights issue. The communities with whom we work have a fundamental right to receive assistance and interact with our organization’s activities without being subject to this form of violence. Read more about this in InterAction’s Human Rights Framework for PSEAH.
  3. SEAH occurs everywhere – in the United States and around the world, and in both humanitarian and development settings. This is why we Everyone must commit to PSEAH Everywhere, Every Day.

PSEAH Day of Action Events

Everyone, Everywhere, Every Day: CEOs and their role in PSEAH. 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM EST.

Join us for a conversation with Abby Maxman, President and CEO of Oxfam America, Edgar Sandoval, President and CEO of World Vision US, Tessie San Martin, CEO of FHI 360, and Sam Worthington, CEO of InterAction to discuss the importance of Senior Leadership in preventing and responding to sexual exploitation, abuse, and harassment.

Child Safeguarding Book Launch: The Teachings of Tunti. 12:30 - 1:30 PM EST

This event will launch a child safeguarding book, created by the International Rescue Committee with funding from InterAction.

PSEA at the Frontline. 13:00-14:00 GVA.

This event, hosted by WFP and IOM in partnership with Translators Without Borders (TWB) aims to provide frontline workers and partners with critical knowledge on protection from sexual exploitation and abuse in an accessible and easy-to-understand way.

InterAction's CEO Pledge

In 2018, InterAction launched its CEO Pledge on Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (the Pledge). The Pledge contains 16 commitments by CEOs of InterAction Member organizations and sector partners to commit to policies and practices to prevent and respond to SEAH. To date, 141 CEOs have signed the Pledge.

Shortly after, InterAction started the From Pledge to Action Project, which works with InterAction Member organizations to operationalize their commitments to the Pledge.

If your organization would like to sign the Pledge and join our working group, please reach out to Meriwether Beatty, Senior Manager for From Pledge to Action.

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