Inter-Agency Mechanisms and Activities
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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.
The United Nations Trust Fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women is a global, multilateral grant-making mechanism that supports efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The Trust Fund, which was established in 1996 by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/166, is administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. With the strong institutional support of UN Women and its regional, multi-country and country offices, and working closely with the rest of the United Nations system through its inter-agency Programme Advisory Committee, the Trust Fund plays a vital role in driving forward collective efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
The OHCHR supported the work of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women during the first week of CSW63 in March 2019. In particular, support was provided for three side-events:
- Side-event on 25 years of the mandate and the femicide watch initiative, co-sponsored by the Republic of Croatia;
- Side-event on the mandate of the SRVAW and CEDAW General Recommendation 35, co-sponsored by Timor-Leste;
- Side-event on online violence against women and the non-consensual distribution of intimate images, organized jointly with Facebook.
The OHCHR also supported the Special Rapporteur on violence against women in the organization of a working level meeting with the members of the institutional platform of international and regional women’s rights mechanisms created in March 2018.
ESCAP and UN Women co-chair the Asia-Pacific Regional Coordination Mechanism Thematic Working Group on Gender Equality and Empowerment of Women (TWG-GEEW), which has formally integrated the Secretary-General’s UNiTE Campaign into the development and implementation of its regional interagency workplan. Under the auspices of the TWG-GEEW, ESCAP and UN Women co-organized the Regional Commemoration for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women under the umbrella of UNiTE and #HearMeToo on 23 November 2018. The Ted-talk style event named E.Quality Talks: My Story of Ending Violence against Women, involved survivors of violence, survivor advocates, women’s movements representatives and women’s human rights defenders. Hearing directly from those who have endured violence, fought against it, or helped to prevent it happening to others added credibility, and helped put ‘a human face’ on facts and statistics that can provoke the public to take action. Feedback for the event was unanimously positive from both storytellers and listeners.
The event was attended by the diplomatic community, civil society organizations and UN staff. At the Regional Commemoration, the #DontTellMeHowToDress exhibition, which is a Thai version of the #MeToo movement, was launched at the UN compound. The exhibition displayed the clothing victims wore at the time of the assault to challenge the misconception around sexual violence.
From this year's experience, the UNITE Worknig Group learnt that it is very important to provide those who are not usually heard with an opportunity to speak, and platforms to share their messages.
| 1. Secretary-General’s Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women, 2008-2015” (UNiTE Campaign)
3. United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict (UN ACTION) WFP has three dedicated staff at the global level covering protection (including prevention and response to GBV). Furthermore, GBV is a part of the annual work plans of two members of the Gender Office, who work on the Orange Days and annual 16 Days of Activism Campaign.
5. Inter-Agency Standing Committee: Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action (IASC) WFP has actively contributed to and benefited from its engagement in a number of inter-agency initiatives on gender equality and GBV as well as broader interagency engagement on protection.
WFP has a particular interest in continued engagement with the IASC Gender Reference Group and the Gender-based Violence AOR. WFP has also maintained an active presence in the IASC PSEA/AAP task team, the Global Call to Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies, the Global Protection Cluster, the IASC GenCap Steering Committee and the Secretary General’s initiative on Human Rights Up Front. Members of the Gender Office represent WFP in IASC GRG, and the Gender Office serves as Co-Chair of the IASC GenCAP Steering Committee. |