Santo Domingo: Creating Safe Spaces for Adolescent Refugee Girls

Interventions for Strengthening GBV Prevention and Response for Urban Refugees

Refugee women and girls are at an especially high risk of GBV because they exist at the intersections of being women and refugees, leading to increased social isolation and discrimination. In 2016, the Women’s Refugee Commission (WRC) partnered with Asylum Access Ecuador to develop a program to mitigate GBV risks and improve response to GBV cases among refugee adolescent girls. This case study describes the activities conducted to accomplish this, including: (1) strengthening the GBV referral pathway; (2) conducting an adolescent program to build protective peer networks, build girls’ capacities by improving self-worth; and (3) enabling the integration of refugees and Ecuadorians.