United Nations Development Programme

In Timor-Leste, UNDP, in collaboration with UN Women and the Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT), continued to support the Open Day Dialogue events as recommendations to the Government oand the UN system regarding women, peace and security and GBV. UNDP and UNFPA, supported the Secretary of State for Promotion of Equality to complete the National Action Plan on GBV in East-Timor. Hide

UNDP continues to support legal advancements, including through technical and financial support to the Government of Sierre Leone for passage of the Sexual Offences Act (August 2012) and support to the Government of Tajikistan in drafting the “Law on prevention of Domestic Violence” adopted in December 2012. Hide

UNDP is supporting the development of national plans, including: Sectorial Regional Gender Actions Plans in line with the National Gender Strategy (2012-2020) in Kyrgyzstan; a new National Action Plan on Violence against Women, accounting for the recommendations from the Feasibility Study for One Stop Service Center (OSSC) for Survivors of Violence against Women together with the GBV sub-committee of the gender technical working group in Cambodia; and a a Five Year Plan (FY 2012-2016) against Gender Based Violence in Nepal being implemented with the support of gender desks that have been established in all districts to handle the issues of gender based violence. Hide

Under the “UNAIDS Action for Results: Outcomes Framework “ (2009-2011), UNFPA, UNDP, UN WOMEN, WHO, UNICEF, UNHCR and the MenEngage Alliance (Sonke Gender Justice and the Athena Network), also in close collaboration with the Interagency Working Group on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV – supported countries to address the linkages between GBV and HIV/AIDS in National Strategic Plans; building effective partnerships to achieve this; and strengthening capacity to engage men and boys for promoting and addressing gender equality. Hide

UNDP engaged in a number of prevention, advocacy and awareness-raising initiatives throughout the year. Efforts included: working with Ministry of Justice and women’s groups in Niamey, Niger to reach 1,500 young people through their youth groups; collaborating with CSOs and the Family Support Units in Sierra Leone to reach 8,022 school chidren and their teachers from 54 schools; awareness raising campaigns targeting community leaders, youth and teachers in primary schools in the Democratic Republic of Congo; initiatives using social mobilization techniques and internet platforms to reach broad audiences in Kyrgyzstan, Montenegro, Serbia, India and Cambodia; monitoring of social media platforms under the P4P programme in the Asia Pacific Region to draw practical lessons from the campaigns in New Delhi, Hanoi and Beijing; development of the first ever comprehensive knowledge space dedicated to the Goverhnment’s efforts on violence against women; and continued operation of the “Community Legal Empowerment for Women” clinics in Sri Lanka to improve legal awareness on sexual and gender based violence and rights related to marriage, divorce and maintenance. Hide

UNDP is also working to develop the capacity of service providers, including: integration of specialized and clear rules of conduct in cases of VAW into the General Protocol of Cooperation of relevant institutions, together with the Government in Serbia; technical assistance to the Ministry of Women’s Affairs in Cambodia to pilot the recommendations identified in the One-Stop Service Centre (OSSC) feasibility study; and technical assistance to the Papua New Guinea Family Sexual Violence Action Committee to integrate GBV into the national training curriculum for civil servants in 2012. Hide

UNDP is working to strengthen access to justice, including: in Guinea through training of magistrates and auxiliaries, CSOs and CBOs to establish credibility, professionalism, independence and efficiency of the justice system; in the Dominican Republic,through capacity development of the Justice System on monitoring and integration of citizen safety and security and through the inclusion of gender and GBV in the observatories under the auspices of the Nation’s Attorney General; in Sierra Leone through support to CSOs operating nationwide providing shelter, legal and prosecution assistance; in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where more than 4,500 women have been reached in North and South Kivu through multipurpose community centres offering legal assistance and support for sustainable economic and social reintegration into their community; in Afghanistan providing access to legal support through the Help Centres located in each province reaching 3,000 victims of domestic violence; and in Nepal and Pakistan through legal aid clinics. Hide

A round table on “Public Policies on Gender based Violence” organized by the Dominican Republic Escuela Nacional de Formación Electoral y del Estado Civil, EFEC, in coordination with UN Women and UNDP. Hide

In Liberia: UNDP supported the SGBV Crimes Unit to design and conduct a specialized trainings for 95 Judges, Magistrates, Prosecutors and Public Defence lawyers, on the rape law; UNFPA supported THINK (local NGO) and the Ministry of Health and social Welfare to train 120 health service providers and 90 general community health volunteers in Clinical management of Rape; WHO supported the Ministry of Health and Social Welfare to establish a pool of 52 trainers for the programme on psychosocial counselling; UNICEF supported the Judicial Training Institute in partnership with the Ghana Judicial training institute to train around 100 Judges, Magistrates, County Attorneys and Public Defenders on national and international standards for violence against women and children cases; and UNMIL provided capacity-building support to the Liberian National Police which has included the provision of refresher courses for 212 police officers of the Women and Children Protection Service and other officers, focusing on the management and handling of sexual violence cases reported to the police. Hide

UNDP supported the following initiatives: in Sierra Leone the training of State Counsels on the new Sexual Offences Act and Criminal Procedure Bill, the training of journalists and civil society organizations to report and publicize SGBV cases in a gender-sensitive manner and published the ‘Handbook for the Media on Reporting SGBV Cases in Sierra Leone’; in Kyrgyzstan the first gender training of border officers; in Serbia, the strengthening of capacities of various health and law enforcement officials; in Afghanistan, various workshops to raise awareness on rights of women and strengthen the capacity of the justice sector to provide better services to victims; in Nepal, training of law enforcement officials and lawyers, including on investigations process and sexual harassment at work; in Colombia, awareness-raising about gender-based violence and training on justice, peace; processes related to truth and reconciliation processes, including reparations; in Chile, with the Women’s National Service (SERNAM), a training program for service providers on the National Plan of Domestic Violence; in Panama training to justice sector officials to implement Criminal Accusatory System. Hide