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UNHCR, as part of the Global Team responsible for the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) provided technical support in data collection and analysis to 10 countries including missions to Jordan and Lebanon. Hide

As part of the efforts to roll-out UNHCR’s updated strategy on SGBV, a total of 103 UNHCR staff, partners and government actors participated in regional workshops on SGBV prevention and response held in Tunis, Amman and Dakar in 2013, which focused on the development and implementation of country specific SGBV strategies, including monitoring and reporting on SGBV. Hide

In June 2013, UNHCR issued the policy paper “Understanding Community-Based Protection” on key lessons from the delivery of community-based protection. It continued to roll-out its global strategy “Action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: An Updated Strategy” and assisted individual country operations to develop country-level strategies in 2013. In this regard, three regional workshops were held in Tunis, Amman and Dakar on sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) in 2013, aimed at strengthening the capacity of UNHCR and partner staff in the field. Hide

UNHCR carried several awareness-raising activities which culminated in the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, which focused on the theme Safety in School: Teachers and Students Unite to Make Schools SGBV-Free. Hide

Four UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officers who are dedicated to SGBV prevention and response took up their posts in Dakar, Nairobi, Beirut and Panama with the responsibility to provide technical support to the development and implementation of country-level multi-sectorial strategies on SGBV prevention and response. As a result, an additional seventeen countries have begun developing and implementing SGBV strategies. Hide

UNHCR held four regional workshops on sexual and gender-based violence, aimed at strengthening the capacity of UNHCR and partner staff in the field of prevention and response, as well as monitoring and evaluation. The workshops also included the 2011 “Action against Sexual and Gender-Based Violence: An Updated Strategy” and will assist individual country operations to develop country-level strategies. UNHCR has also recently recruited four senior protection officers, being also responsible for developing multi-sectoral strategies on sexual gender-based violence at country level. Hide

UNFPA and UNHCR are in the process of supporting the Ministry of Gender in Liberia to develop a GBV Information Management System. The GBV IMS will be modelled on the global GBV IMS which is already being piloted in several countries. The work will be supported by the Global IMS surge team and locally by the Liberia Institute for Geo- Statics and Information (LISGIS). The system aims to harmonise all existing data sources on GBV and strengthen systems for storage and dissemination. Hide

UNHCR field operations continued to collect and analyze data on sexual and gender-based violence incidents in collaboration with partners, according to UNHCR and interagency guidelines and principles. However, SGBV remains widely under-reported and thus it is estimated that the number of known cases represents only a fraction of actual cases. UNHCR is working to strengthen and harmonize data collection on SGBV by rolling out the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) in selected operations in 2012, including in Kenya, Uganda, Ethiopia, and Chad. Hide

UNHCR continued its prevention work, in a coordinated and multi-sectoral approach, and with the participation of multiple stakeholders, including communities. For example, SGBV committees, consisting of both men and women persons of concern, take the lead in conducting awareness-raising campaigns, both en masse and door-to-door, as well as discussions and debates, theater pieces, and caravans related to SGBV prevention themes. In 2012, UNHCR also began a two-year Special Project on the prevention of female genital mutilation (FGM), in Ethiopia, Kenya and Yemen, focusing on awareness-raising relating to FGM and its consequences, and will culminate in the production of a documentary film and health responses. Hide

The establishment of Special Projects is a key development in the UNHCR protection response for survivors. They support multi-sectoral projects in 15 countries and cover a wide range of activities, including strengthening psychosocial response for urban refugees in India, provision of safe houses for IDPs in Haiti, and promotion of livelihoods for refugees in Ethiopia. Other examples include one-stop services to all survivors of SGBV in Jordan, regardless of their legal status; an agreement between the government and Lawyers without Borders to assist UNHCR and partners in facilitating legal services for refugees in Burundi; mobile courts in Uganda and Colombia to ensure that persons in areas lacking judicial infrastructure can have access to justice. Hide