Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence: How Do Support Programs Work?

A survey of approximately 1,200 women in eastern DRC indicates that survivors of sexual violence feel less socially included than non-survivors. While support programs like USHINDI and Dorcas Rural significantly improve perceived economic wellbeing—particularly for survivors—their positive effect on social inclusion is not stronger for survivors than for non-survivors, suggesting a need for community-focused interventions.

• Survivors of sexual violence in eastern DRC report lower levels of social inclusion across various social settings compared to women who have not experienced such violence.
• Support programs for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) lead to a general increase in perceived social inclusion and economic wellbeing for participants.
• The positive impact of support programs on perceived economic wellbeing is more pronounced for survivors of sexual violence than for non-survivors.
• Support programs do not provide a greater positive effect on perceived social inclusion for survivors compared to non-survivors, indicating that these programs struggle to bridge the inclusion gap for survivors.

APA

Nordås, R., Østby, G., Rustad, S. A., Amisi, C., Biaba, R., Quattrochi, J., Alldén, S., & Cikara, A. (2016). Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence: How Do Support Programs Work? Peace Research Institute Oslo. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/70ca5c23-cb55-4168-bbf3-67df620d4586/Nordås et al - Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence PRIO Paper 2016.pdf?inline=true

Chicago

Nordås, Ragnhild, Gudrun Østby, Siri Aas Rustad, Christine Amisi, Rosalie Biaba, John Quattrochi, Susanne Alldén, and Aline Cikara. Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence: How Do Support Programs Work? Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2016. https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/70ca5c23-cb55-4168-bbf3-67df620d4586/Nordås et al - Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence PRIO Paper 2016.pdf?inline=true.

Wikipedia

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BibTeX

@techreport{nords2016social, author = {Nordås, Ragnhild and Østby, Gudrun and Rustad, Siri Aas and Amisi, Christine and Biaba, Rosalie and Quattrochi, John and Alldén, Susanne and Cikara, Aline}, title = {{Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence: How Do Support Programs Work?}}, institution = {Peace Research Institute Oslo}, year = {2016}, url = {https://cdn.cloud.prio.org/files/70ca5c23-cb55-4168-bbf3-67df620d4586/Nordås et al - Social Inclusion of Survivors of Sexual Violence PRIO Paper 2016.pdf?inline=true}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }