A female aid worker who was raped while working in South Sudan is using her experience to help humanitarian organizations get better at preventing staff from experiencing sexual violence and harassment while at work.
Megan Nobert was drugged and sexually assaulted by a colleague while working as a protection and gender-based violence officer for an international NGO in South Sudan in 2015. She blacked out after being drugged by her attacker, who worked for a United Nations sub-contractor at the time, and woke up the next morning terrified and knowing something was very wrong.
What followed were tests and courses of drugs to make sure she was free from sexually transmitted infections and HIV, and then a series of what she describes as humiliating and traumatizing questions from her employer and various U.N. agencies, which ultimately led to no action.
About the author
Sophie Edwards
Sophie Edwards is a Devex Contributing Reporter covering global education, water and sanitation, and innovative financing, along with other topics. She has previously worked for NGOs, and the World Bank, and spent a number of years as a journalist for a regional newspaper in the U.K. She has a master's degree from the Institute of Development Studies and a bachelor's from Cambridge University.
