You are not alone in this

Introducing GIWYN’s response to gender-based violence — and the journey we walk with every survivor.

A woman who reaches out to us rarely arrives with a single problem. The violence in her home is tangled with control over her body, her income, her children and her ability to leave at all. For too long, services have asked women to pull those threads apart - to seek help for one crisis while the others go unattended. We have always believed that is the wrong question to ask her.

GIWYN is known for defending access to safe reproductive healthcare, including safe abortion. But over years of walking alongside women, we learned the same lesson again and again: reproductive coercion and gender-based violence are the same story, told in different rooms. So we brought our response to gender-based violence into the heart of our reproductive-health work - and through the Empath Alliance, we now do this across Nigeria and Cameroon.

Today we are sharing two resources that set out, openly and clearly, how we respond. The first — our GBV Response — is the framework of what we do. The second — the Survivor’s Journey — is the path a survivor travels with us, from the very first phone call to a life rebuilt. Together, they are our promise: that no woman who comes to us has to choose which crisis to survive first.

What we do: four pillars of response

Our work rests on four connected pillars. A survivor may enter through any one of them, and move between them as her needs change.

Immediate crisis response and safe spaces: Confidential support that meets danger the moment it is disclosed - a hotline to reach us, emergency shelter to remove a woman from harm, and escorted referrals to trusted medical partners such as the Mirabel Centre.

Justice and legal accountability: Standing with survivors through the systems that so often fail them - accompaniment to the police, legal representation for divorces and protective undertakings, and advocacy against digital and technology-facilitated abuse.

Long-term healing and economic sustainability: Recovery does not end at safety. We provide trauma-informed counselling, and survivor micro-credits that allow women to restart businesses, rebuild their independence, and never have to depend on an abuser to survive.

Prevention and community resilience: We work to change the norms that allow violence to continue - through Artivism, the 16 Days of Activism, and community organising that shifts the culture, not just the individual case.

How it feels: the Survivor’s Journey

Behind the framework is a person. The Survivor’s Journey describes what we promise a woman at each stage of her path with us — five steps, from connection to a future she leads herself.

Step 1: The safe connection We listen. The journey begins the moment she reaches out, through a confidential, non-judgmental first contact.

Step 2: Immediate protection We protect. Where there is danger, we act - emergency shelter and immediate medical care through partners she can trust.

Step 3: The pursuit of justice We stand with you. If she chooses to seek justice, she does not walk into the police station or the courtroom alone.

Step 4: Economic empowerment and recovery We rebuild. Counselling to heal, and micro-credit support to restore the independence that violence tried to take.

Step 5: Community resilience We prevent. Many survivors become leaders - turning their experience into the Artivism and advocacy that protects the next woman.

The destination is not simply survival. It is empowerment, leadership, and reintegration - a woman not just returned to safety, but standing at the front of her own life.

Why this matters now

This is a hard year for work like ours. Around the world, funding for gender-based violence and reproductive health is being cut, and survivor services are closing their doors. In that climate, an integrated, locally-led, survivor-centred model is not a luxury. One woman, one relationship, one journey that holds together instead of falling through the gaps between services.

If you are a funder or a partner, we invite you to read these two resources and to build with us - the GBV Response and the Survivor’s Journey. They are the clearest picture we can offer of what your support makes possible, and of the standard we hold ourselves to across the EMPATH Alliance.

If you, or someone you know, needs support: you can reach our helpline in confidence on +2348000677679 or +2348035859410. You are not alone in this.