UNRISD

Spotlight Initiative Logo
Address/Websites

220 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017

Background

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.

Areas of Focus

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 Research Institute for Social Development

Item ID
{47B77253-FDF8-4AC4-A9E0-21F9412C525F}
UNAgency ID
{C2FF6351-4A99-444D-A495-28EBCE966CA4}
Background

The United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) is an autonomous research institute within the UN system that undertakes interdisciplinary research and policy analysis on the social dimensions of contemporary development issues. Through our work we aim to ensure that social equity, inclusion and justice are central to development thinking, policy and practice.

Resources

Jacqui True, Ending Violence Against Women in Asia: International Norm Diffusion and Global Opportunity Structures for Policy Change. Working Paper 2016-5, Geneva: UNRISD.

Paola Cagna and Nitya Rao, Feminist Mobilisation for Policy Change on Violence Against Women: Insights from Asia (Gender & Development, 24:2, July 2016, pp. 277-290)

UNRISD. 2016. Confronting Violence Against Women: The Power of Women's Movements (Research and Policy Brief 21), Geneva: UNRISD.

Chigateri, Shraddha; Mubashira Zaidi and Anweshaa Ghosh. 2016. Locating the Processes of Policy Change in the Context of Anti-Rape and Domestic Worker Mobilisations in India. Research Report. Geneva: UNRISD.

Policy Innovations in Response to Gender-Based Violence Are Pushing the International Agenda, UNRISD interview with Jane Hodges: http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BE6B5/(httpNews)/5A4EB81F8691F343C12581CC00557AAC?OpenDocument


War, Gender and Economics: Women at the Sharp End of Neo-liberal Reforms in Post-Conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina (8 Jan 2018) | Think piece by Nela Porobić Isaković
 

Mail Address

Palais des Nations. 1211 Geneva 10. Switzerland

Areas of Work

In the 2016-2020 Institutional Strategy, conflict and associated violence as well as gender inequality are identified among the three overarching challenges (inequalities, conflict, unsustainable practices) the UNRISD agenda and strategy must directly respond to. The gendered implications of violent urban settings for women and girls is mentioned as a potential research topic. Violence against girls is covered in a joint research activity (2017-2018) with the Unicef Office of Research Innocenti on Transformative Change for Children and the SDGs. A joint publication with Unicef is forthcoming. Violence against women featured prominently in the UNRISD project When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia (2013-2016; final publications 2018). Relevant publications are listed below.

Agency Type
Title
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Feb 2017 - Apr 2018 | UNRISD

Field research and analysis by country research teams in China, India, Indonesia for the research project “When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia” (2013-2016; final publications 2018).
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BB128/(httpProjects)/FFDCCF9EE4F2F9C6C1257BEF004FB03E?OpenDocument

Joint research activity with the Unicef Office of Research Innocenti on “Transformative Change for Children and Youth and the SDGs” (2017-2018) includes topic of violence against girls.

 

Feb 2017 - Apr 2018 | UNRISD

Field research and analysis by country research teams in China, India, Indonesia for the research project “When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia” (2013-2016; final publications 2018).
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BB128/(httpProjects)/FFDCCF9EE4F2F9C6C1257BEF004FB03E?OpenDocument

 

Feb 2017 - Apr 2018 | UNRISD

Field research and analysis by country research teams in China, India, Indonesia for the research project “When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia” (2013-2016; final publications 2018). http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BB128/(httpProjects)/FFDCCF9EE4F2F9C6C1257BEF004FB03E?OpenDocument

Joint research activity with the Unicef Office of Research Innocenti on “Transformative Change for Children and Youth and the SDGs” (2017-2018) includes topic of violence against girls.

 

Jul 2007 - Jan 2008 | UNRISD

In the UNRISD research programme for 2005-2009, violence against women is being addressed under the Gender and Development Programme. The Programme has recently launched an edited volume series, co-published with Routledge, the second of which is Gendered Peace: Women’s Struggles for Post-War Justice and Reconciliation, 2008. Its particular focus is on “post-conflict” or “post-war” period.

Jul 2007 | UNRISD

UNRISD undertook research on violence against women in conflict and post-conflict situations, as part of its report on the occasion of the ten-year review and appraisal of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.