PSEA Guidelines

At the Services of Women Relieve Center for Afghanistan (SWRCA), we uphold a zero-tolerance policy towards all forms of sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA). We are committed to protecting the dignity, rights, and safety of the communities we serve and ensuring that our programs are delivered with respect, accountability, and integrity.

What is Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (SEA)?

• Sexual Exploitation: Any actual or attempted abuse of a position of vulnerability, differential power, or trust, for sexual purposes. This includes profiting monetarily, socially, or politically from the sexual exploitation of another.

• Sexual Abuse: Actual or threatened physical intrusion of a sexual nature, whether by force, under unequal or coercive conditions, or through any form of intimidation.

Both sexual exploitation and abuse are strictly prohibited and constitute gross misconduct.

Our Commitment

SWRCA is dedicated to:

• Enforcing a zero-tolerance approach to SEA across all operations, programs, and partnerships.

• Ensuring that all staff, volunteers, and partners understand their duty to uphold the highest standards of behavior.

• Embedding PSEA principles into all policies, training, and organizational practices.

• Providing safe, confidential, and accessible reporting mechanisms for beneficiaries, staff, and community members.

• Taking immediate and appropriate action against any individual or partner found to have engaged in SEA.

• Working with communities to raise awareness of rights, complaint procedures, and protections against SEA.

Responsibilities of Staff and Partners

All SWRCA staff, volunteers, consultants, and implementing partners must:

• Uphold the Code of Conduct and never engage in SEA.

• Never exchange aid, goods, or services for sexual favors.

• Avoid any sexual relationships with beneficiaries, as they are based on unequal power dynamics.

• Report immediately any suspicion or allegation of SEA, using established reporting channels.

• Support survivors with dignity, confidentiality, and without discrimination.

Our Organizational Promise

At SWRCA, we affirm that protecting communities from sexual exploitation and abuse is a shared responsibility. Through our PSEA Policy, we ensure that assistance is provided safely, respectfully, and ethically, and that the trust placed in us by the Afghan people and our partners is never compromised.