Viktoria Saxby

Viktoria is listed as a level 1 Gender Expert within the following nine areas of expertise: 

1. Social norms and masculinities (men & boys)
2. GPS/WPS - Gender, peace & security (inclusive peacebuilding)
3. WPP - Women’s Political Participation
4. S/GBV - Sexual/Gender-based Violence (including CRSV, Conflict-related Sexual Violence, and Online GBV)
5. PSEAH - Protection Against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment
6. WEE - Women’s Economic Empowerment (Economic development, incl. Gender-lens Investing, GLI)
7. Gender and intersectional mainstreaming 
8. LGBTQIA+ rights 

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The Middle East Investment Initiative - Economic Development and Gender-lens Investment in the MENA-region 
HopeComms developed tailor-made training materials for the leadership and all staff of The Middle East Investment Initiative, a program operating in 5 countries in the MENA region: Tunisia, Palestine, Jordan, Morocco, and Egypt.

HopeComms led interactive training with each Country office for 3 weeks, with assignments between sessions.
Topics included the whys, the whats, and the hows of Gender-lens Investing (GLI), a demand from many investors and grantors today, both public and private investors. 

Each Country office walked away with its own very concrete and hands-on Action Plan for how it will address the lack of funding for women’s entrepreneurship and companies to develop Women’s Economic Empowerment (WEE), thereby significantly strengthening economic development in the MENA region. 

(If full gender parity were achieved in the MENA region (i.e. women and men participate equally in the economy) the GDP of the region would grow by 42%, totaling an amount of 2.7 trillion US dollars by 2025.) 
 

Develop an e-training on PSEAH, Protection Against Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment for Sida,
Sida partners & Swedish Embassies/Consulates abroad. 
HopeComms was assigned to research and develop the content for Sida’s e-training on PSEAH. Sida’s partner organizations will also use the training, and partners’ partners. All Swedish Foreign Missions, such as Swedish Embassies and Consulates abroad, will also use the SEAH training. 

The training was built around the OECD-DAC principles, including the victim-based approach. It included practical cases and examples, as well as clear guidelines and procedures for dealing with transgressions. A large emphasis was placed on preventative work. 

 

LGBTQIA+ rights in Palestine. 
HopeComms has worked on several contracts for advancing LGBTQIA+ rights in Palestine. Collaborations include the Swedish Consulate General of Sweden, Alianza por la Solidaridad (APS Spain), ActionAid, as well as the EEAS and the EU Office of the European Union Representative (West Bank & Gaza Strip, UNRWA). 

 

Addressing and Preventing Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Liberia
HopeComms collaborated with the National Gender Expert on a long-term initiative to address and prevent the prevalent Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Liberia, with a focus on reaching the areas of Liberia with the least availability of service delivery. Also, preventative initiatives working with traditional and religious leaders were supported. 

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Spot-check on intersectional gender inclusion for IM MENA-region
HopeComms was contracted to conduct a spot-check on intersectional gender inclusion for Sida Civsam’s SPO (Strategic Partner Organization) Individuell Människohjälp (IM) in the MENA region, specifically the country offices in Jordan and Palestine.
The work included an extensive desktop review of 63 strategic documents from IM Sweden, IM Jordan, and IM Palestine, including the policies of IM Palestine’s partner organizations, REFORM and Al-Marsad. A field visit was conducted to conduct individual interviews with the organizations and focus group discussions (FGDs) with rights holders from both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. 
The final output was a report with recommendations for Sida Civsam, IM Sweden, IM Jordan, IM Palestine, REFORM, and Al-Marsad, as well as a workshop with Sida and IM Sweden, conducted in accordance with the participatory approach.
 

Preventing and Responding to SEAH in Digital Development Programmes

HopeComms collaborated with SPIDER (the Swedish Program for ICT in Developing Regions), which supports inclusive digital transformation through institutional capacity-building and global knowledge exchange, within the iPRIS initiative. iPRIS (ICT Policy & Regulation – Institutional Strengthening) - a peer-to-peer programme working with telecommunications regulatory authorities across 43 Sub-Saharan African countries.
 

As part of the assignment, HopeComms designed and facilitated an interactive workshop with the SPIDER team and iPRIS project leaders, focusing on preventing and responding to Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH) and identifying practical entry points for implementation across complex, multi-country partner networks. The assignment also resulted in a written report with concrete recommendations to guide continued PSEAH work within SPIDER and iPRIS. The recommendations will inform next steps and be shared across the iPRIS network to support safer and more accountable collaboration.
 

Addressing and Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH) within AIPP

HopeComms was commissioned by Sida to support the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact (AIPP) in strengthening its work on preventing and responding to Sexual Exploitation, Abuse, and Harassment (PSEAH).

The assignment focused on reviewing and assessing AIPP’s existing policies, procedures, and organizational practices, identifying gaps and risks, and providing concrete, practical recommendations to strengthen accountability, reporting mechanisms, staff and partner awareness, and organizational culture. The work aimed to ensure that PSEAH systems are accessible, contextually relevant, and effectively implemented across AIPP’s diverse regional operations and partner networks in over 14 countries in Asia.​

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