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Good practice Imported

Isange One Stop Centre — Rwanda's Integrated Medical-Police-Legal GBV Response Model

Rwanda · Kigali · See the Rwanda profile · See the Kigali profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 42% 74/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Piloted in Kigali in 2009, Isange One Stop Centre co-locates medical care, forensic exams, police and legal support, and counselling for GBV survivors in one visit. Expanded to 23 centres by 2016, it served over 49,000 survivors between 2015 and 2018.

4,845 people
Survivors served by the flagship centre (as of 2013)
23 centres
Centres nationwide (by 2016)
49,000+ people
Survivors assisted network-wide (2015–2018)
1,200,000+ people
People reached through community prevention outreach (2015–2018)
500+ people
Legal advocates and security officers trained (2015–2018)
Isange One Stop Centre — Rwanda's Integrated Medical-Police-Legal GBV Response Model Isange One Stop Centre — Rwanda's Integrated Medical-Police-Legal GBV Response Model

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Rwanda National Police, Ministry of Health & Ministry of Justice (Government of Rwanda), with UN Women and UNFPA
Period
2009–present
Keywords
gender-based violence, health, policing, justice, child protection

Context

Piloted in June 2009 at Kacyiru Police Hospital in Kigali's Gasabo District, the Isange One Stop Centre (IOSC) was developed by Rwanda's National Police, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice, with UN Women and UNFPA support, to give gender-based violence and child-abuse survivors 24-hour medical care, forensic evidence collection, psychosocial counselling and police/legal assistance in a single location.

Objectives

The model aims to reduce re-traumatisation and service fragmentation for survivors by co-locating medical, police and legal response under one roof.

Activities

Between 2014 and 2016 the model expanded to 23 centres nationwide with support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, alongside community prevention outreach and training of legal advocates and security officers.

Results

A 2013 UN Women/UNEG evaluation found the flagship centre had served approximately 4,845 survivors and praised its close medical-police-legal collaboration. Between 2015 and 2018 the network collectively assisted over 49,000 GBV survivors, while community prevention outreach reached more than 1.2 million people and trained over 500 legal advocates and security officers.

Conclusions

The same 2013 evaluation flagged persistent challenges worth weighing: inconsistent community awareness-raising, weak follow-up care after initial treatment, limited legal-aid capacity, heavy reliance on external UN/donor funding that raises sustainability concerns, and gaps in systematic case-data management.

Implementation
Indicative cost
High (€500k–€5M) — Multi-agency (police/health/justice) national network expansion (2014–2016) funded with support from the Kingdom of the Netherlands; per-centre or aggregate cost not disclosed.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Piloted June 2009; expanded to 23 centres nationwide 2014–2016; ongoing to present.
Staffing & skills
Co-located, multidisciplinary staffing across Rwanda National Police, Ministry of Health and Ministry of Justice at each centre, Developed and expanded with technical and financial support from UN Women and UNFPA, and funding from the Kingdom of the Netherlands for the 2014–2016 expansion

Conditions for success

  • Co-location of medical, police and legal services in one site to reduce survivor re-traumatisation from multiple visits
  • Community prevention outreach and training of legal advocates and security officers to build a supporting referral pipeline

Common failure modes

  • Inconsistent community awareness-raising limits uptake
  • Weak follow-up care after initial treatment
  • Limited legal-aid capacity
  • Heavy reliance on external UN/donor funding raises sustainability concerns
  • Gaps in systematic case-data management

Where it fits

Governance type
national government with UN/donor co-funding
Scale
national network (23 centres)
Income level
low income

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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