The United Nations, Council of Europe and European Union have all recommended training programs as a vital part of efforts to combat sexual assault. A comprehensive training program should focus on a variety of professionals whose work is connected with sexual assault and include training initiatives that range from general awareness-raising to specific policy development and implementation.

The Beijing Platform for Action recommends that governments take action to "create, improve or develop as appropriate, and fund the training programmes for judicial, legal, medical, social, educational and police and immigrant personnel, in order to avoid the abuse of power leading to violence against women and sensitize such personnel to the nature of gender-based acts and threats of violence so that fair treatment of female victims can be assured." The Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women also urges States to "[t]ake measures to ensure that law enforcement officers and public officials responsible for implementing policies to prevent, investigate and punish violence against women receive training to sensitize them to the needs of women" (Article 4(i)). Other key actors who would benefit from training programs include politicians, the media, students and the general public.

This site offers sample introductory-level training sessions on the definition of sexual assault as a violation of women's human rights, as well as more in-depth sessions that address the causes, effects, and dimensions of the problem. The sample training sessions included here are intended to illustrate a few training exercises and are not meant to be exhaustive.

All training programs, whether aimed at general education or high-level strategizing, should be part of a comprehensive and coordinated approach to combating sexual assault. Training agencies themselves should cooperate in the development of training programs. In addition, training programs should be adapted to the local needs of each country and reflective of the specific country situations and target audience(s). For example, facilitators should be aware of the existence of laws against sexual assault, initiatives to assist victims of sexual assault and regional cooperative programs that include the country in which the training will take place.

Finally, advocates may find it useful to familiarize themselves with a general training methodology, included in Guidelines for Developing a Training Program. The Guidelines provide the necessary background information for understanding the sample training materials on sexual assault included on this site.