News & Events

The Centre for Law, Religion and Society (CLRS) and the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR) are pleased to host the second lecture in the Gender and Human Rights Lecture Series, featuring Róisín Gallagher, Coordinator of the Irish Consortium on Gender-Based Violence (ICGBV).

Title: From Survivor-Centred to Survivor-Led: Lessons from Promising Survivor-Led GBV Initiatives

Date: Wednesday, 22 October 2025
Time: 1:00–2:00 pm
Venue: Seminar Room, Irish Centre for Human Rights, University of Galway

The Irish Consortium on Gender Based Violence (ICGBV) is an alliance of Irish humanitarian and development organisations, including Irish Aid and the Irish Defence Forces, formed in 2005 to respond to widespread sexual violence in Darfur, Sudan. We work collectively to increase understanding of gender-based violence (GBV), strengthen the role and leadership of grassroots and women’s rights organisations, and ensure high-quality programming and policy responses across humanitarian and development contexts.

From Survivor-Centred to Survivor-Led: Lessons from Promising Survivor-Led GBV Initiatives

Survivor-centred initiatives, dating back to at least the 1970s, have come to be regarded as the gold standard in Gender-based Violence (GBV) accountability across many parts of the globe, particularly since they were endorsed by the United Nations Security Council through Resolution 2467. However, recent research highlights the ambiguity of the concept of survivor-centredness and suggests that it is often not realised in practice. The Irish Consortium on Gender-based Violence (ICGBV) commissioned research to seek evidence of established and emerging good practice, with which to inspire a pivot within policy and practice from survivor-centred to survivor-led gender-based violence (GBV) accountability initiatives.

At the moment of attack, a victim is rendered powerless. Well-meaning systems, structures and initiatives aimed at their recovery but without their involvement, can exacerbate this powerlessness further. The ICGBV took critical steps towards addressing that power imbalance, both through the research and in subsequent events with survivor leaders and organisations: our international 16 Days Webinar in 2024 and at the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025, in partnership with Irish Aid and the National Women’s Council. By their lived experience, survivors are the experts. Our ground-breaking research found that when survivors lead, the outcomes are more transformative, delivering greater sustainability, accountability and cost-effectiveness.

The ICGBV has plans to build on this research by going deeper into survivors’ own perspectives and producing guidance for organisations. This further research aims to sharpen the definition of survivor leadership, explore the conditions that help it thrive, and set out how NGOs can effectively support it.

Speaker Biography

Róisín Gallagher is the Coordinator of the Irish Consortium on Gender-Based Violence, bringing over 20 years of humanitarian and development experience across Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Latin America, and the Caribbean. She has held management, advisory and programme roles with Christian Aid, Concern, Trócaire, International Rescue Committee, FilmAid International, ChildFund International, and GOAL.

Róisín has presented ICGBV research and moderated a panel at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (2024, 2025). She represents ICGBV on the DFA Human Rights Committee, the Inter-Agency GBV Guidelines Reference Group, and the National Observatory on Violence Against Women.

Her work is driven by a deep commitment to human rights, social justice, and gender equality, with a particular focus on women, girls, and LGBTQI+ communities.

Róisín holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from NUI Galway, where her thesis examined accountability for GBV survivors in Sierra Leone, and a Bachelor of Design in Communications (Film & Video) from IADT, Dún Laoghaire.