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Launched in 2017 with an initial investment of over 500 million USD from the European Union, Spotlight Initiative is the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Impact Initiative to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Recognized as one of the 12 High-Impact Initiatives – driving progress across the sustainable development goals – Spotlight Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to address violence against women and girls at scale.
During its first phase (2017- 2023), Spotlight Initiative helped cohere the UN system to implement 34 programmes across five regions. This included two civil society grant-making programmes – established in collaboration with the UN Trust to End Violence against Women and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund – which helped channel additional resources directly to civil society. By fostering a “One UN” approach under the leadership of the Resident Coordinators at the country level, Spotlight Initiative has leveraged various UN agencies’ complementary expertise, deepened collaboration, and streamlined operational processes, allowing for stronger programme delivery and better results for women and girls.
Through its deep partnerships at country and regional level – including with governments, civil society, faith-based and traditional leaders, academic institutions, media, the private sector, and others – Spotlight Initiative drove significant progress across response and prevention efforts. A strong commitment to meaningful engagement with civil society in particular, including local and grassroots organisations and feminist and women’s rights groups, has been central to the Initiative’s approach, as well. Under its first phase, nearly half of the Initiative’s activity funds were channeled directly to civil society, ensuring local ownership, buy-in, and sustainability of the Initiative's investments. At the global level, the Initiative forged a range of strategic partnerships, including with the Group of Friends, a coalition of 93 UN Member States advocating to end violence against women and girls, and the UN Foundation, which helped launch the WithHer Fund to channel more funding directly to local organizations.
Through its comprehensive approach – working to pass progressive laws and policies, strengthen institutions, deepen prevention programming, improve access to services, and generate data, and by centering partnerships – particularly with civil society – the Initiative has been shown to be 70% to 90% more effective at reducing the prevalence of violence against women and girls than siloed, single-pillar approaches. By aligning its interventions with national and local priorities, Spotlight Initiative works to deepen capacity, political will, and long-term commitment to ending violence against women and girls and advancing gender equality and women’s rights.
Unique to the Initiative is a whole-of-society approach that places ending violence against women and girls at the heart of national development priorities and gives local communities the tools they need to address violence in their specific context. The model works to support the development and revision of gender responsive laws and policies; strengthen institutions and data collection on VAWG; promote gender-equitable attitudes and positive social norms, and provide quality services for survivors of violence and their families. It does this work in partnerships with government and, critically, with civil society and women’s movements at every level, enhancing civic space and driving sustainable, transformative change.
United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict
In June 2007, the Secretary-General’s Policy Committee endorsed UN Action as “a critical joint UN system- wide initiative to guide advocacy, knowledge- building, resource mobilization, and joint programming around sexual violence in conflict”. Security Council resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009) 1960 (2010), 2106 (2013), and 2467 (2019) have shaped UN Action’s 2020 – 2025Strategic Framework, which sets goals for the network. UN Action’s joint catalytic projects implemented in countries where CRSV is a concern are also hinged upon agreements signed by the SRSG-SVC on behalf of the UN with the Government focused on the response to CRSV, where they exist.
The UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict network (UN Action) unites the work of 26 UN system entities with the goal of ending sexual violence during and in the wake of conflict. Launched in 2007, it is a concerted effort by the UN system to improve coordination and accountability, amplify programming and advocacy, and support national efforts to prevent sexual violence and respond effectively to the needs of survivors. UN Action is chaired by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict (SRSG-SVC), a post currently held by Pramila Patten. UN Action structures its planning and activities around three pillars: (i) Operational Impact, which, to date, includes over 60 joint catalytic projects across 18 conflict settings, enabling thousands of survivors to access multi-sectoral services; supporting UNCT to incorporate early-warning indicators of sexual violence into systems to monitor, analyse and report on patterns and trends in conflict-related sexual violence as a means to target perpetrator impunity and improve service provision for survivors; (ii) Advocacy for Action by; generating political will on this issue, including by contributing to and shaping messaging for the Secretary-General’s annual report, which serves as a global advocacy instrument; and supporting the public engagements, statements and missions of the SRSG-SVC; and (iii) Knowledge-Building, through serving as the global knowledge hub on conflict-related sexual violence, a resource for practitioners and the public
UN Action website: www.stoprapenow.org
Framework for the Prevention of CRSV (2022): https://www.stoprapenow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/PREVENTION-FRAMEWORK-Final-.pdf
Early Warning Indicators of CRSV Matrix (2012): https://www.stoprapenow.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Matrix-Early-Warning-Indicators-of-CRSV-Online-Version.pdf
TFCRSV Resource Page: https://www.stoprapenow.org/our_projects/technology-x-crsv/
Economic Empowerment X CRSV Resource Page: https://www.stoprapenow.org/our_projects/economic-empowerment-x-crsv/
UN ACTION can be contacted at "martinl@un.org"
UN Action’s area of focus is conflict-related sexual violence. Conflict-related sexual violence is an issue that lays bare the horrors and human costs of war. Its persistence points to a wider set of continuing challenges including disregard for international humanitarian and human rights law, the challenge of engaging non-State actors, the rise of violent extremism, increasing inequality, mass displacement, and the proliferation of arms. The continuously evolving nature of conflict requires the international community to identify innovative strategies not only to respond to sexual violence, but ultimately to prevent it. Sexual violence is a preventable part of the repertoire of conflict, coercion, political repression, violent extremism, and trafficking. It is often deliberately employed as a tactic of war, torture, terrorism, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
In 2023, UN Action developed a resource page on technology-facilitated gender-based violence as seen in contexts of conflict-related sexual violence. Through a working group made up of member entities UNODC, UN Women, UNFPA, and UNICEF, UN Action looks forward to exploring how it can contribute knowledge building and operational impact in this area of work.
All of UN Action’s work focuses on preventing and responding to conflict-related sexual violence and addressing its root causes.
UN Action has provided support and guidance, including to Senior/Women’s Protection Advisors, on the implementation of the Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements for CRSV (MARA), or similar mechanisms, where they have been established. UN Action is currently undergoing an analysis of the operationalisation of the MARA since Security Council resolution 1960 (2012) and conceptualising improvements to the MARA (or the MARA 2.0) to better fit the needs of a changing context.
UN Action has supported over 60 joint catalytic projects across 18 conflict-affected countries focused on providing holistic, comprehensive support to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, and addressing the root causes of sexual violence. UN Action is currently funded through the Conflict-related Sexual Violence – Multi-Partner Trust Fund (CRSV-MPTF), which was set up in 2020. The CRSV-MPTF has since supported projects in: Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan DRC, Mali, Ukraine, South Sudan, and Sudan.
Following UN Action’s publication ‘Early Warning Indicators of CRSV Matrix’, which lists the early warning signs that allow prompt action to prevent instances of CRSV, and its socialisation in-country, UN Action developed and launched the Framework for the Prevention of CRSV, which serves as guidance to better understand what it means, and what it takes, to prevent conflict-related sexual violence at its onset (primary prevention) and to prevent further harm from happening once it has occurred (secondary prevention).
UN Action serves as the global knowledge hub on conflict-related sexual violence. Leveraging the expertise and experience from its 26 member entities, it develops new, gap-filing, knowledge, guidance, and tools to support practitioners, policymakers, and others to respond to conflict-related sexual violence and disseminates/socialises this knowledge for practical implementation.
UN Action is an inter-agency mechanism that brings together 26 UN entities across the humanitarian-development-peacebuilding spectrum to coordinate a one-UN response to conflict-related sexual violence. UN Action’s activities on political advocacy, operational impact through catalytic projects, and knowledge building are implemented jointly by at least two, though often more, member entities.
In Somalia, UNODC is implementing a project funded by UN ACTION to pilot the UNODC/WHO tool on strengthening the medico-legal response to sexual violence. Police officers were trained on criminal justice response to gender-based violence in conflict.