United Nations Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life. UNDP works with countries to build their own solutions to global and national development challenges and achieve the Millennium Development Goals. UNDP helps developing countries attract and use aid effectively and encourages the protection of human rights and the empowerment of women in all its activities. UNDP chairs the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict.
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UNDP’s role is to contribute strategically and catalytically to growing national ability to promote equality and capability of all citizens. All UNDP program personnel, working in every focus area, are obliged to mainstream GBV considerations into their work because it has major implications for the successful attainment of the MDGs, and is a component of the fight against gender discrimination, an endeavor which cuts across all UNDP activity. UNDP focuses on all types of violence against women, including vulnerabilities arising out of trafficking in women and children, HIV/AIDS, disaster, conflict and post-conflict situations.
In 2017, UNDP launched the “Ending Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Achieving the SDGs” global project. This project aims to take violence prevention to scale by bringing new partners, strategies and sources of financing to the table. Over three years, it will: design, test and evaluate initiatives that will reduce GBV in select pilot sites; and develop new knowledge, skills and tools to reduce GBV in other contexts.
In 2017, UNDP launched the “Ending Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Achieving the SDGs” global project. This project aims to take violence prevention to scale by bringing new partners, strategies and sources of financing to the table. Over three years, it will: design, test and evaluate initiatives that will reduce GBV in select pilot sites; and develop new knowledge, skills and tools to reduce GBV in other contexts.
In 2017, UNDP launched the “Ending Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Achieving the SDGs” global project. This project aims to take violence prevention to scale by bringing new partners, strategies and sources of financing to the table. Over three years, it will: design, test and evaluate initiatives that will reduce GBV in select pilot sites; and develop new knowledge, skills and tools to reduce GBV in other contexts. Pilots will integrate GBV into broader UNDP sectoral programming (such as environment and livelihoods) and/or will focus around the principle of leaving no one behind.
In Latin America, OHCHR in coordination with UNDP Regional Virtual School, finalized the design of a self-learning on-line course on the Latin American Protocol for the investigation of gender-related killings of women. The virtual course was successfully tested by 28 participants from the region (academia, Judiciary, Public-Attorney’s Offices, forensics, psychologists and OHCHR staff). Related traning courses have been organised by OHCHR RGA in Panama, in Bolivia, and other countries from the region.
The UNiTE Group for the Americas and the Caribbean, including 9 agencies -PAHO, UNDP, OHCHR, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR, ECLAC, WFP and UN Women- and the IDB and the OAS, developed 12 Key Messages to Eradicate Violence Against Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. This unprecedented effort led by UN Women, systematized the lessons learned from all the publications and knowledge produced in the context of the UNiTE Campaign in the last 7 years.
UN Women is working with UNDP in the finalization of a policy and programming guidance for prevention of violence against women in elections (VAWE). The guidance aims to fill gaps in current knowledge by providing an overview of the specific forms of VAWE, including scope, types, victims and perpetrators, and the range of actions that can be taken at each phase of the electoral cycle to prevent and mitigate it.
In South Sudan, UNDP supported in 2014 special policy units that included women police and which were able to handle 1,137 Sexual and Gender Based Violence cases. In 2015, UNDP helped to increase safety and security for all. The Special Protection Units processed 113 cases, 39 related to GBV and 74 related to children in conflict with the law.
In Fiji, Training workshops for Markets for Change Projects (M4C) are held in marketplaces to ensure that marketplaces are gender friendly and safe places for women. The successfully piloted mobile service delivery by Fiji REACH for community education on economic, social and legal rights, in which 1,994 people participated (69% women; 5% children) and provided advisory services to 394 people (75% women) for issues including prevention and support for Sexual and Gender Based Violence.
In Kenya, UNDP has supported the training for 35 senior prison officials on the link between Gender Based Violence and HIV and a seminar for National Human Rights Institutions (NHRI) on HIV, GBV, human rights and the law-one of Kenya’s NHRIs has since development a Gender and Diversity Strategy. Furthermore, 121 officials from the peace (district peace committees) and security (National Police, Administrative Police, Directorate of Criminal Investigations) sectors have been trained on SGBV in the context of emergencies through UNDP’s support.
In 2015, UNFPA and UNDP Burkina Faso supported the creation of a universal form allowing police units and offices for the promotion of women’s rights on decentralized level to collect data on violence against women and girls. Data collection is on-going, again with the support of UNDP. Moreover, UNDP also supported the creation of a tool for data collection and analysis, allowing the monitoring of violence on a regional and national basis.