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In Sierra Leone, UNDP provided grants to 6 civil society organisations to provide support services to SGBV victims, including legal aid, primarily in Bo and Makeni. The referral mechanism for SGBV cases has been enhanced across communities and several perpetrators have been convicted. Services provided by civil society organisations to victims of SGBV has also led to the conviction of several perpetrators. UNDP also supported legal aid clinics in the Kivus area, located in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in the conviction of several perpetrators of SGBV. UNDP is supporting the Family Support Units in the Police, both in Sierra Leone and DRC, by developing guidelines on SGBV case management and by ensuring the necessary equipment for their implementation. 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

With the support of UNDP Kosovo, five Legal Aid offices, became fully operational in Gjakove, Dragash, Ferizai, North Mitrovica, and Gracanica, providing legal aid services to residents. 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

In Albania, UNDP supported the establishment of a community centre in Durrës to assist victims of domestic violence which provides free legal services, and a telephone hotline. A new programme entitled “Economic Empowerment of Women Victims of Domestic Violence” was launched in FYR Macedonia in March 2010. Under this programme, UNDP will assist victims by providing opportunities for self-employment and training for skills in demand in the job market. The project is part of the Joint UN programme “Strengthening National Capacities to Prevent Domestic Violence”, supported by the Government of the Netherlands and the UN Trust Fund for Elimination of Violence Against Women. Hide

In Sri Lanka, the Equal Access to Justice Project, supported by UNDP, has provided training to women and men working as ‘first respondents’, including welfare officers, crèche attendants, midwives and CBO officers, in order to support victims at village level. The programmes have been targeted in the estate (plantation) sector, where relatively high incidences of alcoholism contribute to high rates of GBV, and the former conflict affected areas, where they have been conducted in tandem with livelihood support projects. Hide

A UNDP global programme to support country level work is being developed to implement priority action areas including: work with local government and with traditional entities; multi-sectoral projects, especially comprehensive poverty reduction and governance projects; research on impacts, methods and baseline data; dissemination of research; support to the Secretary General’s Campaign to End Violence Against women; and work with NGOs and local campaigns to develop capacity, end recidivism and provide counseling for survivors. 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

In Morocco, UNDP is working with UNIFEM and UNICEF to strengthen family sections of civil status courts in the implementation of the new family code which provides for much greater rights for women in marriage, divorce and alimony issues, all of which are necessary steps towards guaranteeing violence-free environment for women. In Kosovo, UNDP supported the establishment of the Anti-Trafficking Secretariat in the Ministry of Internal Affairs. UNDP and MINUSTAH are supporting the Haitian National Police to set up special police groups for increasing surveillance in the camps. Hide