World Bank

The World Bank continues to support various initiatives in post-conflict and emergency settings, including: the Sexual Violence Against Women and Girls in Haiti’s Reconstruction project, through institutional strengthening, enhancement of women’s civi participation,and project coordination, monitoring and evaluation; the Knowledge Exchange Program on Women’s Access in Fragile Contexts, by developing tools to strengthen the operational competence and capacity of client country partners and Bank Staff to design interventions that address the needs of women in fragile and conflict-affected settin

In Sub-Saharan Africa, the Learning on Gender and Conflict in Africa (LOGiCA) Multi-Donor Trust Fund (totaling over US $8 million) aims to contribute to peace and security in Sub-Saharan Africa by supporting gender-sensitive activities related to insecurity and violence in conflict-affected and post-conflict countries in the region.

“The Hive: A Knowledge Platform on Fragility, Conflict and Violence” was launched in the Fall of 2011 by the World Bank to connect policymakers and practitioners, and it includes a focus on gender-based violence.

In South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the World Bank supports a program providing medical, psychological, and legal assistance to survivors of gender based violence (GBV) and their families, as well as community-led prevention activities. A similar project in Cote d’Ivoire is expected to run until March 2012. Both projects incorporate impact evaluation to measure the effectiveness of the interventions.

In post-earthquake Haiti, a project funded by the Rapid Social Response Multi-Donor Trust Fund provides technical assistance to promote women and girls’ safety and addresses sexual violence through community-based interventions. The project has the following components: 1) public education to promote awareness and prevention of GBV; 2) institutional strengthening to enhance resources and outreach for GBV; 3) knowledge sharing and exchange of experiences on GBV in post-disaster or post-conflict settings; and 4) project coordination and monitoring and evaluation.

In 2009, the World Bank launched the study “Risky Business for Poor Women Traders in the Great Lakes Region”, and the results of the study were captured in a report in January 2011. It identified challenges, including harassment and physical violence against women, and opportunities for cross-border trade between the Eastern Democratic of Congo (DRC), Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, and brought both national and regional technical and political recommendations to key stakeholders.

UNECE, together with the World Bank Institute, published a 15 minute video on gender-based violence and issues in its measurement (www.unece.org/stats/video/violence.htm).

The World Bank’s Post-Conflict Fund (FCF) is supporting a “Risk Assessment of Schools in Afghanistan and Identification for Mitigatory Action”. The objective is to assess the specific local context of attacks on schools, teachers and students (attacks primarily target females) and to identify sustainable models for community involvement in protection of schools. This research is being conducted by CARE International.

In India, a 2011 World Bank report entitled “Poverty and Social Exclusion in India” explores the association between domestic violence and health outcomes for women and their children. An upcoming gender study in Brazil will analyze gender equality and the impact of several home-grown policies and programs on protection of human rights and gender-based violence prevention in particular.

The World Bank’s first global study of urban violence, “Violence in the City” (2010), included analysis of gender based violence (GBV) in urban neighborhoods of Port-au-Prince, Haiti; Dili, Timor-Leste; Nairobi, Kenya; Johannesburg, South Africa; and Fortaleza, Brazil. The study reported lifetime sexual violence victimization ranging from 08.% to over 20% in some neighborhoods, with over half of all incidents occurring in public spaces.