United Nations Development Programme

Several initiatives in countries in the ECIS region were supported by UNDP to raise awareness and support advocacy work related to sexual gender-based violence. In Kosovo, documentaries were produced and a series of debates were held, including one on the possession of firearms and its potential impact on households and communities in Kosovo. In Kyrgyzstan, multi-stakeholder fora were organized. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, civil society organisations were supported to implement advocacy and awareness-raising campaigns. Several countries organized events and activities around the “16 days of activism” campaign to end violence against women. Kosovo held an SMS campaign and debates with students, Kyrgyzstan hosted a forum promoting the role of women in peace-building, and Croatia organised, in partnership with the Ministry of Interior and Croatian police, a nationwide awareness-raising campaign, where influential Croatian men participated, including the president. Hide

A new space dedicated to gender-based violence was created in Teamworks, UNDP’s extranet web-based platform, which identifies staff working on or interested in gender-based violence, and provides them with resources, and relevant information on gender-based violence and programming.In January 2011, the UNDP Gender Team hosted a learning and information-sharing event for staff of UNDP, UN Women, UNFPA, and UNICEF, in HQs and several countries. Hide

The UNDP project “Access to Justice” in Nepal supports training and the establishment of community-based paralegals to provide information, awareness, and support for women seeking redress in cases of gender-based violence. Hide

In Nepal, informal legal aid desks, operating in police stations, were supported by UNDP. Mobile legal aid clinics in three districts provided free legal services and information to 1524 people (80% were women). The paralegal programme, at the community level, was expanded in 2010 and the paralegal committees received training on gender-based vioelnce and justice, helping to mainstream a national awareness initiative on sexual gender-absed violence. Hide

In Nepal, UNDP has provided assistance with regard to (a) the development of a training manual and provision of five trainings on gender-based violence and gender justice (reporting, investigation and prosecution) for 125 judges and lawyers; (b) a gender-based violence assessment (on-going); (c) transitional and gender justice training of trainers programmes for civil society actors; and (d) a series of district and central level consultations on “gender-sensitive transitional justice”. Hide

As part of the Strengthening Community Safety through Local Government Capacity-Building project being implemented in Kingston, Jamaica in partnership with UN HABITAT-UNDP, a two-day women’s safety audit training for local government community workers and other key stakeholders was organised in October 2010. The trained community workers are conducting safety audits with women in the communities in partnership with Huairou Commission and the University of Technology, Jamaica. With the aim to support and strengthen the capacity of the Nigerian National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) in countering organized crime groups involved in trafficking of minors and young women for sexual exploitation from Nigeria, UNICRI submitted a project proposal based on current assessment of NAPTIP’s requests and operational needs. Hide

In May 2010, seven UN agencies (UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, UNDP, UNHCR, OHCHR, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO) have launched a three-year UN Joint Program "Ending violence against women - a national priority for Kyrgyzstan". Four strategic compenents of the program include: 1) strengthening policy framework, including through the implementation of the recommendations of the UN human bodies and procedures; 2) improving official data collection system and analysis of collected data; 3) awareness-raising, sensititation and capacity-building with the view to change gender stereotypes; 4) protecting and helping survivors of gender-based violence. Hide

In Asia Pacific, the Partners for Prevention (P4P) - an inter-agency initiative of UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM, now part of UN Women, and UNVs- which works with men and boys to prevent gender-based violence– has developed a comprehensive set of research tools on gender-based violence, including questionnaires, research protocols, and training manuals for the “Gender-based Violence Prevention and Masculinities” Collaborative Research Project for Asia and the Pacific. These tools have been shared with partners in Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, Indonesia and Papua New Guinea. In Cambodia, the research findings on GBV and masculinities are informing a public awareness campaign. P4P is also developing the capacity of national partners in China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Bangladesh, and Papua New Guinea to conduct research in this area, in order to develop evidence-based programs and policy initiatives to address GBV across the region. Networks of practitioners have been established in South Asia and Southeast & East Asia to support the civil society and UN advocates to implement initiatives on GBV prevention through work with men and boys. Hide

The UNDP Regional Center in the Arab States, in cooperation with UNIFEM, conducts in Egypt training of trainers and sensitization to gender-sensitive measurements for equitable service delivery. UNDP’s regional HIV programme conducted leadership trainings to women living with HIV from Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Djibouti and Saudi Arabia. A gender and HIV toolkit was also prepared on human rights and religious perspectives demanding equity, taking also a stand against all forms of violence against women. Hide

In Egypt, UNDP’s support has resulted in the enactment of a law under the Egyptian Penal Code which criminalizes female genital mutilation. In Lebanon, UNDP promoted a law on violence against women. In the ECIS region, UNDP Kosovo supported the drafting of a law on domestic violence, which is currently under discussion. Studies are currently underway on “The Prosecution of Violence Against Women in the Arab Region” which will describe the status of relevant laws in pilot countries from a reform perspective, identify the challenges associated with combating this type of crimes, in particular with regards to the issue of honor crimes, and propose solutions on how to deal with them concretely. The study will provide guidelines and recommendations for policy changes and legislative reform to enhance/modernize the Arab women’s rights protection systems. Hide