Support for Policy Development

Robust legal and policy frameworks are foundational to advancing gender equality and eliminating violence against women and girls. When national legislation is aligned with international standards grounded in inclusive, consultative processes, and responsive to diverse communities, it strengthens protections against and response to violence against women and girls. Ensuring that laws and policies are implemented and upheld is critical to promoting tangible outcomes for women and girls.

In 2025, Spotlight Initiative programmes supported progress in advancing legal and policy reforms. In Sierra Leone, the programme supported the review of the Matrimonial Causes Act (1960) through a nationwide participatory process engaging over 700 participants, informing proposed amendments to strengthen protections against economic and psychological violence and reinforce women's rights to marital property, particularly for rural women. Another example, in Uganda, six districts enacted GBV and violence against children ordinances, embedding enforceable local-level protections across district governments.

In 2025, UN Women supported Member States in strengthening multisectoral national policies and action plans on EVAWG, ensuring they were evidence-based, costed and aligned with international standards. Across regions, countries advanced gender-responsive governance frameworks that integrated EVAWG into national planning processes and strengthened institutional coordination mechanisms.

UN Women’s support translated into the adoption of 98 EVAWG policies and action plans across 41 countries, with an additional 93 countries advancing prevention strategies and 59 countries strengthening survivor-centred service systems.

These efforts translated into tangible results, including 2 billion women and girls living in countries taking new steps to prevent violence, and 43 countries improving service delivery systems for survivors.

Policy innovation also linked EVAWG to broader development agendas, including social norms change, care systems, economic empowerment and political participation, contributing to more integrated, comprehensive and sustainable national responses.

This scale of policy support reflects UN Women’s sustained contribution to institutionalizing prevention and response frameworks, strengthening enabling environments and advancing coordinated national action to end violence against women and girls.

UNFPA Algeria has made significant progress in strengthening its national response to GBV by developing and finalising Intersectoral Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). These SOPs establish a formal bridge between the Ministry of Justice, the National Gendarmerie (DGSN), and the Ministry of Health, creating a unified framework for prevention and response.

Complementing strong and comprehensive legal frameworks, UN Women supports the development and implementation of national action plans (NAPs) for EVAWG that are critical for a coordinated approach to implementing national laws. The Handbook on multisectoral national action plans68 and the Handbook on Multisectoral National Action Plans to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls69 have been guiding UN Women’s work and supporting governments on developing responsive, evidence-based and well consulted NAPs to prevent violence against women and girls. Between 2022- 2023, UN Women supported 64 multi-sectoral strategies, action plans and policies adopted to support EVAWG. 

Specific examples of UN Women’s work include:

• Trinidad and Tobago: Led the creation of the first  costed National Strategic Action Plan on GBV (2023–2027).
• Fiji: Guided the National Action Plan to Prevent VAWG (2023–2028), based on consultations with 2,000+ stakeholders.
• Samoa: Developed a National Prevention Framework, integrating EVAWG into national planning.
• Cambodia: Provided technical assistance for its National Action Plan on VAWG (2019–2023).

With the Initiative’s support, 50 countries strengthened their National Action Plans to eliminate violence against women and girls. National Action Plans can help ensure that policies are adequately funded and importantly implemented, leading to increased accountability, including in vulnerable and marginalized communities. Additionally, since Spotlight Initiative’s inception, 311 new sectoral strategies, plans, and programmes addressing VAWG have been developed across 13 countries. 

Examples of achievements in the development and implementation of policies to strengthen protections for women and girls include the following: 

• Malawi: Spotlight Initiative supported the development of the Gender and Anti-Sexual Harassment Policy in higher education. Adopted by 22 universities, the policy further institutionalizes response to sexual and gender-based violence and improves access to sexual and reproductive health and rights services in higher learning institutions. The policy outlines referral pathways available at individual institutions in cases of sexual assault or harassment, facilitates access to family planning and HIV services, and prohibits discrimination against women who are pregnant.  
• Zimbabwe: Similarly, Spotlight Initiative supported the development of the first-of-its-kind policy on combating sexual assault on college campuses across Zimbabwe. The policy provides a framework for higher education institutions to prevent and respond to cases of sexual violence, establishing reporting mechanisms and protections for survivors, and ensuring that institutional policies align with national laws on gender-based violence. 
• Papua New Guinea: Working with policymakers and others, Spotlight Initiative supported the launch of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Gender-Based Violence, leading to the first-ever public inquiry into GBV in the country. This process provided a direct avenue for civil society to engage with policymakers and resulted in national funding and dedicated budgets to operationalize the National GBV Secretariat. The inquiry also marked the first instance where the police and justice sector had to formally answer for inaction and impunity in GBV cases.  
• Philippines: Spotlight Initiative Safe and Fair programme supported the development of the Department of Migrant Workers Act (Republic Act No.11641 in the Philippines). The Act establishes a new department to regulate the recruitment and service provision of overseas migrant workers, regardless of their legal status, and provides reintegration and skills development for returning migrant workers. Importantly, the Act designates that gender focal points–with a specific remit to focus on ending violence against women and girls–be instituted in Philippine missions abroad, representing the first time a major labour migration law in the Philippines includes a specific provision to address violence against women and girls (regardless of the survivors’ legal status).  
• Niger: In 2021, Spotlight Initiative engaged National Assembly deputies in capacity-building on gender budgeting and gender mainstreaming. This led to a parliamentary resolution ensuring that gender is systematically considered in national plans, budgets, and policies. 
• Guyana: The Initiative supported the development of a new Family Violence Bill, which replaces the outdated Domestic Violence Act and significantly improves support for survivors through a more robust, survivor-centred response. A new harassment bill is also in development. 

As a result of the Initiative's contributions (noted above, and across its programmes): 

• Governments are increasingly allocating resources to address VAWG, ensuring that commitments translate into tangible action.  
• Institutions now have clearer mandates, protocols, and accountability mechanisms, improving response systems and survivor support.  
• Survivors of violence have greater access to justice, protection, and essential services, particularly in higher-risk environments such as campuses, workplaces, and informal sectors.  
• Civil society organizations and local actors are more empowered to advocate for systemic change, leading to stronger, community-driven approaches to VAWG prevention. 

By investing in and strengthening policy frameworks, the Initiative helped expand protections for women and girls and further institutionalize efforts to prevent and respond to VAWG into national and local governance structures. Cross-sectoral, well-resource commitments to end violence helps to ensure progress continues long after direct programme support concludes.  

UNFPA provides direct technical assistance to governments in developing, strengthening, and implementing policies for GBV prevention, response, and survivor support. This includes legal frameworks, national action plans, standard operating procedures (SOPs), emergency preparedness and response plans, and gender-sensitive policies across humanitarian, peace, and development contexts. UNFPA collaborates with ministries, parliamentarians, and other stakeholders to integrate GBV prevention into national development plans, social protection systems, and SRHR policies, including Universal Health Coverage. 

At the global and regional levels, UNFPA supports key international frameworks such as the Beijing Platform for Action, the SDGs, and UN Security Council Resolutions. 

Notable achievements include: 

• Nigeria: Strengthened partnership with the First Lady, leading to the first National Summit on Social Norms and GBV, which resulted in a national commitment to upholding the dignity and rights of women and girls. 
• North Macedonia (2021–2024): Supported a Multi-Sectoral Response Protocol, facilitated 11 bylaws (7 adopted), developed SOPs for Sexual Assault Referral Centres, finalized a survivor reintegration program, and supported the evaluation of the National Action Plan on implementing the Istanbul Convention (2018–2023), endorsed in 2024. 
• Latin America & the Caribbean: Advanced survivor-centred approaches in multi-sectoral response protocols across nine countries (Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ecuador). 

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Declaration on Human Rights, OHCHR launched a campaign to encourage meaningful actions by Member States, with the dedicated aim to show commitment towards improving communities, nations, everyone’s human rights. As a result, 56 States have pledged on women’s rights and gender equality, with a strong focus on the elimination of gender-based violence.

In Panama, UNODC developed a gender-responsive litigation manual for public defenders and delivered training to judiciary members on handling gender-based violence cases. 

UNODC provided advisory support to the government of Mauritania on implementing gender-responsive policing practices.  

IOM has significantly scaled up advocacy efforts around addressing Gender based violence, the safety of migrant women and girls, alongside enhanced risk mitigation of women and girls affected by conflict and displacement across the contexts we operate. As one example, in 2024 IOM co-authored a joint advocacy report with UNHCR and UNFPA on the risks facing women and girls at risk of being repatriated which outlined clear and actionable policy recommendations for the respective Governments involved and other stakeholders. 

Internally, IOM continues to advance the integration of Gender, GBV Risk mitigation, PSEA and safe and ethical handling of disclosures within all relevant institutional Policies, inclusive of Data Protection and Protection Mainstreaming policies. 

In 2022, FAO published the Practical guide on how to eliminate gender-based violence and protect rural communities through food security and agriculture interventions. This guide is designed to support country offices, FAO staff and strategic partners in the fight against any form of gender-based violence, facilitate the integration of protection issues in an FAO project cycle, and support the collection and analysis of data disaggregated by sex and other social variables for generating the evidence for policy-making and planning of gender-responsive and gender-transformative interventions. It provides the needed tools and promising approaches and experiences of the last decade used successfully to address GBV and eliminate protection risks in the field.