Gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH) remains one of the most challenging workplace issues to address and prevent. Across markets, efforts to confront it have historically been undermined by stigma, fear of retaliation, and reporting systems that retraumatise rather than protect survivors and witnesses.
While many companies have made public commitments to prevent GBVH, there is often a gap between policy and practice, due to limited understanding of how to put effective GBVH risk management measures into place.
At British International Investment (BII), we recognised the scale of the challenge. We set out to make GBVH risk management a core element of responsible investing.
This case study documents how we have translated that ambition into practice by strengthening systems to monitor, reduce, and address GBVH. Based on 15 in-depth interviews with our employees, other development finance institutions (DFIs), GBVH experts, and our investee companies, it also demonstrates how our efforts have influenced DFIs and the private sector more broadly, contributing to sector-wide changes in practices and norms.
Beginning with the UK’s 2018 safeguarding push and our early GBVH guidance in 2020, this case study traces the journey from defining our approach to implementation. It outlines our approach, the operational roll-out, the outcomes across our portfolio, and the broader influence on the DFI ecosystem, before concluding with the lessons we’ve learnt and remaining challenges.
