Practice-based learning: Observations on One-Stop Centers in refugee settings

‘One-Stop Centers’ (OSCs) have grown in popularity for responding to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in the East, Horn, and Great Lakes regions of Africa. OSCs attempt to provide an integrated, multi-sectoral response to SGBV survivors’ needs in one physical location. A sole location for a multisectoral response eases survivors’ access to critical services during a traumatic time, and can help mitigate survivors’ trauma by ensuring survivors are attended to by fewer providers and do not have to repeatedly narrate their traumatic experience to different professionals. Where it is not feasible to provide services from all critical sectors under one roof or in one main location, a referral system connects survivors to any services not available at the primary location.