Survivor Support Toolkit
Free, private toolkit for survivors of violence in Africa: next steps, safety plan, incident diary, laws by country and support from RFLD's network.
Last updated · October 6, 2026
Free · Private · For women and girls across Africa
You deserve safety, support and justice. Take the next step at your own pace.
A private toolkit for survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and trafficking, and for everyone who supports them. Plan your safety, keep a record, understand the law in your country and find help through RFLD’s network of 1,143 member organisations.
Leave to a neighbour, a shop, a place of worship or any public place. Avoid rooms with weapons or no exit.
Call the police or someone you trust. Agree on a code word in advance so they know you need help.
Go to the nearest health centre for injuries, and within 72 hours after a sexual assault.
Survivor Support Toolkit
Free tools for women and girls who have lived through violence, and for the people supporting them. Nothing you type here is saved, sent or stored. It disappears when you close the page.
1. What to do now: your next steps
Choose the situation closest to yours. You decide what to do and when.
- If you are in danger right now, move to a room with an exit and no weapons, or leave to a neighbour, a shop or any public place. Call the police or someone you trust.
- Get medical care for any injury, even if it looks small. Ask the health worker to record the injuries. A medical certificate helps if you file a complaint later.
- Make your safety plan with the tool below: trusted person, code word, documents, money, where to go.
- Keep a private record of what happens, only if it is safe for you. Use the incident diary below and print or send it to someone you trust.
- Talk to a women’s organisation. They can listen, help you think through your options and go with you to the police, the health centre or a lawyer. Start from our Get Support page.
- Know the law in your country with the finder below. Many countries now punish domestic violence and offer protection orders.
- Go to a safe place and, if you can, to someone you trust.
- Seek medical care within 72 hours if possible. A health centre can give treatment to prevent HIV, emergency contraception (most effective as early as possible, up to 5 days), care for injuries and a medical certificate. You can receive care without filing a complaint.
- If you may report later, keep the clothes you wore in a paper bag and avoid washing if you can. It is still your choice.
- Write down what you remember when you feel able: date, place, who, what was said. Use the incident diary below.
- Ask for emotional support. Shock, numbness, fear or anger are normal reactions. A counsellor or a women’s organisation can help. The calming exercise below can help in difficult moments.
- Decide about justice in your own time. A legal aid organisation can explain the steps and time limits in your country.
- If you are held or controlled, look for a safe moment to contact the police, a hospital, a church, a mosque or a trusted organisation. Ask for help in your own language.
- You are not to blame, even if you agreed to travel or to the job. Debts imposed by traffickers are not real debts.
- Your documents belong to you. Nobody has the right to keep your passport or ID card.
- Ask for protection. Most African countries have an anti-trafficking agency or a specialised police unit. International standards say survivors must not be punished for offences they were forced to commit.
- Get care and support: medical care, a safe place to stay, legal advice and help to return home or rebuild your life.
- Before any job or travel offer, check it with a trusted organisation, keep copies of your documents and agree on regular contact with your family.
- Find the laws of your country with the finder below: violence, marriage, family, land and health.
- Know your regional rights. The Maputo Protocol protects women’s right to life, integrity and security, equality in marriage, access to justice and inheritance.
- Keep copies of your identity documents, marriage certificate, children’s birth certificates and any land or property papers.
- Ask for free legal aid. Many women’s organisations and bar associations offer it. Start from our Get Support page.
- Report discrimination. National human rights institutions and, when national remedies fail, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights can receive complaints.
- Believe her and listen without judging. Say: “It is not your fault. I am here for you.”
- Do not confront the abuser or trafficker. It can put her and you in danger.
- Let her decide. Offer options, never pressure her to leave, report or forgive.
- Offer practical help: keep a copy of her documents, a bag or some money, agree on a code word, go with her to a service.
- Protect her privacy. Never share her name, photo or story without her written consent.
- Take care of yourself too. Supporting someone through violence is hard.
2. Build your safety plan
Tick what applies and fill in what helps. Print it or save it as a PDF only if it is safe for you to keep it, or give it to someone you trust.
People I can call
Where I can go
Things to keep ready
My children and me
3. Incident diary
A simple record can support a complaint, a protection order or a medical file. Only keep it if it is safe for you. Nothing is saved on this site.
4. Find the laws that protect you
Choose your country to open its profile with the laws on violence, marriage, family, land and health on RFLD’s Dɔnùesè platform.
5. Stay safer online
- Use private browsing, or delete this page from your history.
- Change passwords and turn on two-step verification.
- Check which apps and people can see your location.
- Do not delete threatening messages: take screenshots with the date and keep them somewhere safe.
- Report intimate images shared without consent to the platform. See our African Digital Safety Compendium.
6. A moment to breathe
When fear or panic rises, follow the circle: breathe in as it grows, out as it shrinks. Then name 5 things you see, 4 you can touch, 3 you hear, 2 you smell and 1 you taste.
You are not alone
RFLD’s 1,143 member organisations in more than 35 African countries support survivors every day. Read survivors’ stories, find help on our SAFE page or contact us at admin@rflgd.org.
Private self-check
Is this abuse?
Tick what has happened to you. Nothing is saved or sent. There is no score to pass or fail: the aim is to help you name what you live and see your options.
Know the risk
Danger signs to take seriously
Research on domestic homicide shows that some signs mean a much higher risk of serious harm. If any of these apply, talk to a support service and plan for your safety before taking big steps, such as leaving, which can be a dangerous time.
Choking or strangling
Even once, even without marks. It is one of the strongest warning signs.
Threats to kill
Threats against you, your children or themselves, including “if you leave me”.
A weapon at home
Access to a gun, machete or knife, or threats made with one.
Violence getting worse
More frequent, more severe, or starting during pregnancy.
Extreme jealousy and control
Constant checking, accusations, isolation from family and friends.
Forced sex
Sexual violence within the relationship, including marital rape.
Stalking
Following you, watching your home, tracking your phone.
Violence when you try to leave
Separation can raise the risk. Plan it with support.
Your health first
Medical care after violence
Care is your right even if you never report to the police. Go as early as you can and ask for the following.
Within 72 hours
- Treatment to prevent HIV (post-exposure prophylaxis)
- Care for injuries, including injuries you cannot see
- Prevention or treatment of sexually transmitted infections
Up to 5 days
- Emergency contraception: the earlier the better, and some methods work up to 5 days after
- A medical certificate describing your injuries, useful for a complaint
In the following weeks
- Follow-up tests, including HIV tests
- Psychological support or counselling
- A referral to legal aid or a women’s organisation
Only if it is safe
Keeping evidence safely
Evidence can support a complaint, a protection order or a custody case. Never put yourself at risk to collect it.
Photos
Injuries and damaged property, with the date. Repeat over several days as bruises change.
Messages and calls
Screenshots of threats, voice notes and call logs. Do not delete them.
Medical records
Medical certificates, prescriptions and clinic cards. Ask for copies.
Witnesses
Names and contacts of people who saw or heard what happened.
Your diary
Dates, places and facts, written soon after. Use the incident diary above.
Safe storage
Keep copies with someone you trust or in an account the abuser cannot open.
Justice
The legal path, step by step
Procedures differ from one country to another. These are the usual steps. A legal aid organisation can tell you what applies where you live.
Get advice
Talk to a legal aid service, a paralegal or a women’s organisation before or after filing a complaint.
File a complaint
At the police, the gendarmerie, a gender desk or the prosecutor’s office. You can ask to be accompanied.
Ask for protection
Where the law allows, ask for a protection order or emergency measures to keep the abuser away.
Investigation
Your statement, the medical certificate and witnesses are collected. Keep copies of everything you sign.
Court
You can ask for support during hearings. Some laws allow closed hearings for sexual violence cases.
Remedy and reparation
Compensation, care and support are part of justice under the Maputo Protocol.
Protection orders
A court order that keeps an abuser away
A protection order can forbid an abuser to contact you, come near your home or workplace, or use violence, and can sometimes cover your children. Breaking it is an offence.
Check your country’s lawExamples of laws that provide protection orders
- Ghana: Domestic Violence Act, 2007
- Nigeria: Violence Against Persons (Prohibition) Act, 2015
- Kenya: Protection Against Domestic Violence Act, 2015
- South Africa: Domestic Violence Act, 1998
Many other African countries have similar measures. If yours does not, women’s organisations are pushing for reform under the Maputo Protocol.
Children
Keeping children safe
Children who live with violence are harmed by it, even when they are not hit. Small steps help them feel safe.
- Teach them a safe word, a safe place and who to call.
- Tell them it is not their fault and that they do not have to choose a side.
- Do not ask them to keep secrets or to watch the other parent.
- Tell the school who is allowed to collect them.
- Keep their birth certificates and health cards ready.
- Child protection services can help if a child is at risk.
Economic safety
Protecting your money and property
Taking your income or stopping you from working is economic violence. Planning ahead gives you more choices.
- Open a mobile money or bank account in your name, with a PIN only you know.
- Put aside a little cash in a safe place or with someone you trust.
- Keep copies of land, house and marriage papers.
- Learn your rights to marital property, maintenance and inheritance in your country’s profile.
- Ask about savings groups and economic support from women’s organisations near you.
Phone and online safety
Is someone watching your phone?
An abuser may track your location or read your messages. If you change settings, they may notice, so plan first and use a safe device if you can.
Warning signs
- They know where you are or what you said in private.
- Unknown apps, or the battery drains fast.
- Your accounts show logins you do not recognise.
- Location sharing is turned on without your choice.
What you can do
- Check “Linked devices” in WhatsApp and log out unknown ones.
- Turn off location sharing in your phone and apps.
- Change passwords from a safe device and turn on two-step verification.
- Keep screenshots of threats before blocking.
- Read the African Digital Safety Compendium.
Wellbeing
Your feelings are normal reactions
Fear, shame, anger, guilt, numbness, trouble sleeping or remembering: these are common after violence. They do not mean you are weak.
If you have thoughts of harming yourself or ending your life, please talk to a health worker or someone you trust right away.
Things that can help
- Talk to one person you trust.
- Keep simple routines: meals, rest, a short walk.
- Use the breathing exercise in the toolkit above when panic rises.
- Faith or community groups, if they support you without judgement.
- Counselling through a health centre or a women’s organisation.
For family and friends
What to say, and what to avoid
Helpful words
- “I believe you.”
- “It is not your fault.”
- “You decide what happens next.”
- “How can I help you right now?”
- “You can call me any time.”
Words that hurt
- “Why don’t you just leave?”
- “What did you do to make him angry?”
- “Think of the family’s honour.”
- “Let’s settle this within the family.”
- “Are you sure it happened like that?”
Myths and facts
What people get wrong
Tap a myth to see the fact.
“It only happens in poor families.”
Violence happens in every income group, religion, region and level of education.
“If she stays, it cannot be that bad.”
Women stay for many reasons: fear, children, money, family pressure, nowhere to go. Leaving can also be the most dangerous moment.
“Marriage means consent.”
Consent is needed every time. The Maputo Protocol covers forced sex in private life, including within marriage.
“Most rapes are committed by strangers.”
Most sexual violence is committed by someone the survivor knows: a partner, relative, neighbour or colleague.
“Trafficking always means crossing a border.”
Many women and girls are trafficked inside their own country, from villages to cities.
“Online abuse is not real violence.”
Online threats, stalking and image abuse cause real fear, harm and loss of income, and often lead to offline violence.
For organisations and service providers
Working with survivors: four principles
Every service, from a health centre to a police desk, can follow these guiding principles used by the World Health Organization and UN agencies.
Safety
Her safety and that of her children come first in every decision.
Confidentiality
Share information only with her informed consent, and only what is needed.
Respect
She decides. Your role is to inform, support and refer.
Non-discrimination
Equal care whatever her age, status, ethnicity, disability or situation.
Glossary
Words you may hear
Consent
A free, informed and clear yes, which can be withdrawn at any time. Silence, fear or marriage are not consent.
Gender based violence (GBV)
Violence directed at someone because of their gender, or that affects women and girls disproportionately.
Intimate partner violence
Physical, sexual, psychological or economic violence by a husband, partner or former partner.
Protection order
A court decision that forbids an abuser to contact or approach a survivor.
PEP (post-exposure prophylaxis)
Medicine taken within 72 hours after a risk of exposure to prevent HIV infection.
Trafficking in persons
Recruiting, moving or holding a person by force, fraud or abuse of vulnerability in order to exploit them.
Survivor
A person who has lived through violence. RFLD uses this word to recognise her strength and her right to decide.
Maputo Protocol
The African Union treaty on the rights of women in Africa, adopted in 2003.
Questions
Frequently asked questions
Is this toolkit safe to use?
Nothing you type in the toolkit is saved, sent or stored by RFLD. It disappears when you close the page. If someone checks your device, use private browsing, delete this page from your history and press the Escape key to leave at once.
Who is the toolkit for?
It is for women and girls in Africa who have lived through domestic violence, sexual violence or trafficking, and for family, friends and organisations who support them.
Does RFLD provide emergency services?
RFLD is a network of 1,143 women’s organisations. It does not run an emergency line, but its members accompany survivors in many countries. In an emergency, contact the police or the nearest health centre, then a women’s organisation.
Can I use the toolkit in French?
Yes. Choose FR in the site’s language menu and the toolkit is translated automatically.
Stand with survivors
Help us reach more women and girls
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Women-led organisations can join RFLD’s 1,143 members in more than 35 countries.
Join RFLDQuestions or a partnership idea: admin@rflgd.org
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