Oct 2009 - Feb 2010

In September 2009, a workshop, jointly facilitated by UNHCR, UNFPA and the International Rescue Committee, was held on the establishment of standard operating procedures to address SGBV, and on the gender-based violence information management system (GBVIMS). The workshop included participants from the Central African Republic, Chad, Liberia, Nepal, and Sudan. UNHCR and UNFPA conducted GBVIMS technical support missions to the refugee operations in Kenya and Thailand.

The WHO Global Health Cluster tools and guidance integrate prevention of and response to sexual violence as part of the minimum set of actions to be undertaken by the health sector in humanitarian settings. Training on these tools and guidance is ongoing at global, regional, nation and sub-national levels and technical support is provided to country level humanitarian health clusters. WHO with UNHCR and UNFPA, launched an e-learning programme on the clinical management of rape in emergencies settings.

The UNESCO Communication and Information Sector conducted numerous activities in post-conflict countries, where an emphasis was put on women’s involvement in conflict resolution, peace-building, and reconstruction through better access to information. In this context, safety training for women journalists against violence and specific threats to foster security of women journalists in conflict and post conflict situations is strongly supported. UNESCO is following up on the development of its project on school-related gender-based violence in six post conflict countries in Africa.

UNFPA partnered with the Center for Diseases Control (CDC), the Clinton Global Initiative (CGI), UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNIFEM and WHO in a multi-country multi-stakeholder initiative on addressing sexual violence against girls. The initiative is being rolled out in 4 pilot countries.

UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, continued advocacy related to Security Council resolutions 1888 and 1889. UNIFEM participated in UNCT programmes and other inter-agency initiatives in many countries, such as in the development of the UN Action-supported strategy on sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

UNDP continued to play a key role in increasing access to justice for women, girls and survivors of gender-based violence in crisis and post-crisis countries.

The Gender Capacity Standby Roster (GenCap) Steering Committee held its annual planning and strategy meeting in October 2009. It decided to increase the number of deployments from 120 months in 2009 to 170 months in 2010 and to recruit more members to the GenCap roster. The IASC Gender Sub-Working Group (SWG) on Gender and Humanitarian Action, in collaboration with InterAction, developed a certificate-based online course on gender in humanitarian action. The target audience is humanitarian field workers, and prevention of gender-based violence in a key facet of the course.

On behalf of the IASC Sub-working group on Gender, in November 2009 OCHA facilitated a workshop in Panama on gender equality and gender-based violence programming in humanitarian settings for the Central American region. The workshop aimed to roll out the Gender Handbook in Humanitarian Action and the Guidelines for gender-based violence interventions in humanitarian settings.

In December 2009, UNFPA held a training in Mauritius for staff working in regional and country offices to improve their capacity to effectively prevent and respond to GBV in humanitarian settings and to coordinate multi-sectoral responses to GBV in humanitarian settings. In November 2009, UNFPA, in collaboration with the International Center for Reproductive Health at Ghent University in Belgium, organized a 2-week training for humanitarian professionals in Ghent, Belgium, on addressing gender-based violence in humanitarian settings.