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Advocacy tool

Fact sheet: Healing

Healing

About this fact sheet

This fact sheet is one of the Out of the Shadows Index advocacy tools. It explains what the Healing pillar measures, what the scores mean, and how to use the findings in your advocacy. 

It is designed for civil society organizations (CSOs), survivor advocates, youth advocates, and anyone engaging with policymakers or the government on services for children and adolescents who have experienced sexual violence.

Download this healing pillar fact sheet

Learn about what this pillar measures and how to interpret the scores

Humanizing governance

This vignette spans the entire Prevention theme and allows you to humanize what good prevention means for the lives of children and adolescents. Use it when you want to tell the full story of what happens when the systems fail and what it looks like when they work, in a way that does not require any survivor’s personal disclosure.

WHAT IS

A 12-year-old discloses sexual violence to a teacher. The teacher contacts the family, who take the child to the nearest hospital. There is no protocol for what happens next. The doctor on duty has no training in forensic examination and no clinical guidelines to follow. No evidence is collected. The family is told to come back another day for sexually transmitted infection testing, but no appointment is made. No one mentions counselling. No one explains the child’s legal rights.

Three months later, the nightmares have not stopped. The family asks about mental health support and is referred to a private clinic they cannot afford. The nearest free service is in another city. The child stops attending school. A neighbor suggests they try to press charges, but the family has no lawyer and no idea how to begin. No one follows up.

WHAT COULD BE

A 12-year-old discloses sexual violence to a teacher. The teacher follows a clear referral protocol. At the hospital, a trained health worker receives the child in a private room, follows national clinical guidelines, conducts a medical examination with forensic evidence collection, and provides testing and treatment in a single visit. Through the integrated service delivery model a referral is made to a free, community-based counselor who specializes in supporting children. A social worker explains the family’s legal options and connects them to a legal aid service. The child’s family or caregivers do not pay for any of this.

Three months later, the counselor is still checking in. The child or adolescent is back in school. A lawyer is representing the child’s interests at no cost. A compensation mechanism exists if the family needs further support. The system, through the integrated service delivery model, stayed with the child — it did not leave the family to navigate alone.

Bridge to action

This is the gap the Index helps us close. Each step in this journey maps to a scored Healing indicator: medical care (3.1), integrated victim and survivor services (3.2), health sector guidelines (3.3), legal aid (3.4), and compensation (3.5). [Country] scores [X] across these indicators. We are asking [Ministry] to [specific action] by [year] — so that no child or adolescent’s recovery depends on what their family can afford or where they happen to live.

How to use this in your advocacy

In a meeting with government

Share the country’s Healing score and use it to anchor your ‘ask’. For example: “Your country scored [X] on health sector guidelines. This means there are no guidelines for health care professionals on child-friendly and trauma-informed clinical examination of children who experience sexual violence, nor standards in place for how to collect forensic evidence.

In a campaign or public statement

Lead with a human-centered framing: “Right now, a child who reports sexual violence in [country] may wait months for mental health support — or never receive it at all due to a lack of integrated service delivery. The Out of the Shadows Index shows that healing services are falling short. We’re calling on [government] to act.”

At a budget advocacy moment

Pair the Healing score with a costed proposal: “Investing [amount] in [specific service] would address [specific gap identified by the Index]. Here is the evidence and here is the ‘ask’.”

Where to go next

This fact sheet gives you the evidence. The other toolkit components help you turn evidence into action:

ComponentWhat it does
Meeting toolkit10-minute meeting script, 2-minute intervention, accountability questions
Email templatesReady-to-adapt outreach and follow-up emails
Finance advocacy: PreventionInvestment arguments, budget line mapping, submission template

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