Search

The importance of up-scaling efforts to prevent violence against women is increasingly being acknowledged both by the international community and by civil society organizations. The SASA! methodology is a ground-breaking community mobilization approach developed by Raising Voices for the primary prevention of violence against women and HIV transmission. The methodology has been rigorously evaluated through a randomized controlled trial which demonstrated that SASA! is an effective approach, leading to a 52 per cent reduction in the risk of physical partner violence against women in communities where it was implemented. As a result, a wide range of actors, including NGOs, governments, UN agencies and faith-based groups are up-scaling implementation of this innovative and evidence-based approach. Currently, the SASA! methodology is being implemented in over 20 countries by more than 60 organizations. From 2010 to 2012, the UN Trust Fund supported Raising Voices’ first cohort of organizations across Eastern and Southern Africa to up-scale the SASA! methodology. Building on the learning from this previous grant as well as the increasing requests around the world to implement SASA!, this project works to meet the need for improved learning from, and guidance for, the wide range of organizations using and/or planning to use the SASA! methodology. Raising Voices collaborates with three partner organizations implementing SASA!—in rural Tanzania, in refugee camps in Kenya and in a community in Haiti—to improve guidance on how to adapt the methodology most effectively, maximizing the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of interventions. To date, two rounds of data collection have occurred in the research sites leading to key lessons about how to adapt the SASA! methodology in diverse settings. For example, in Kenya, SASA! is being adapted in the Dadaab Refugee Camp by the International Rescue Committee across their prevention work. Overall the methodology has been highly regarded by project staff and participants. The data collected to date shows that behaviours and attitudes are changing and community members are explicitly denouncing all forms of violence against women as unacceptable. Important lessons are also being learned though, on the importance of actively involving religious leaders and adapting the materials to suit the Somali culture prevalent in the camp. Tools will now be developed for use by other NGOs to help adapt the successful methodology to other contexts.

Data Collection
UNHCR utilises the Gender Based Violence Information Management System, an inter-agency initiative enables humanitarian actors to effectively and safely collect and analyse SGBV incidents reported by survivors. This system helps informs improvements in response services, in SGBV prevention, and in coordination. It has been introduced in 20 UNHCR operations, 7 of which were in 2017. 

Analysis and research 
UNHCR conducted a population-based assessment of the impact of solar-powered street lights in Uganda’s Rhino Camp. The assessment indicated perceptions of prevention of violence and crime, improvement of safety, and productive night-time activity in the refugee settlement was carried out in 2017 in cooperation with refugees who led the collection and analysis of the data. The study represents the first known research on the protective effect of community lighting in a refugee settlement. 

A study by the Population Council, UNHCR and local Ugandan organizations, tested the effectiveness of implementing a community-based SGBV prevention model in emergency settings - the Zero Tolerance Village Alliance intervention, in Western Uganda, proved to be particularly effective in moderating negative gender attitudes and beliefs related to SGBV and positively changing perceptions of community SGBV norms. 

A compilation of promising practices to address Gender Equality in the Middle East and North African region was released in 2017.  This report contains in-depth information on seven gender equality promising practices that are part of UNHCR’s response to the Syria crisis in the Middle East and North Africa. It reflects catalytic initiatives that seek to address specific gender-related protection needs and risks of diverse Syrian women, men, boys and girls implemented by UNHCR and partners. 

UNRWA GBV indicators are a part of the Agency-wide monitoring framework and are reported on periodically. 

ESCWA provided technical support on estimating the cost marital violence through a national consultation with the State of Palestine and a training with the Palestinian Central Bureau for Statistics on developing relevant questions on costing marital violence for a forthcoming prevalence survey on violence. The data gathered within the survey will assist the State of Palestine in developing a comprehensive response to marital violence. 

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women and the Institute for Women’s Studies in the Arab World (IWSAW) at the Lebanese American University, published the study “Status of Arab Women Report 2017: Violence Against Women: What Is at Stake?” The study focuses on intimate partner violence and its economic costs to Arab states, and advocates for costing as an innovative approach and advocacy tool to assess the full impact of such violence on women, families, communities and the state.

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, published the technical paper, “Estimating the Costs of Marital Violence in the Arab Region: Operational Model,” which was informed by the earlier study on the “Status of Arab Women Report 2017: Violence Against Women: What Is at Stake?”  The paper proposes three different entry points for costing marital violence in the region in an effort to encourage member states to strengthen their socio-economic and legal responses to such violence. 

ESCWA published the study "Women, Peace and Security: The Role of Institutions at Times of Peace and War." This study explores the women, peace and security agenda and the response in the Arab region, including an analysis of national women’s machineries, national human rights institutions, the security sector, and civil society institutions during times of stability and conflict and includes case studies on Libya and Yemen. 

ESCWA published the study “The State of Gender Justice in the Arab Region,” which maps the barriers and opportunities to achieving gender justice in the Arab region, including formal and informal mechanisms for addressing violence against women. The study calls on Member States to create a more enabling legislative environment, enhance the capabilities of accountability institutions, and foster an empowering socio-economic environment for true gender justice. 

In Haiti, priority is given during monitoring activities on collection of disaggregated data by sex on the number and proportion of persons held in police custody without charge for more than 48 hours.
In Guatemala, OHCHR carried out a study to analyse the judgments of the specialized tribunals on the crime of femicide and other forms of violence against women.
In CAR, OHCHR regularly monitors, analyses and reports on patterns and cases of conflict related sexual violence. Data collect and analysis have been done through gender and human rights perspectives owing to the consolidation of protection functions in peace missions

To support education sector responses to early and unintended pregnancy (EUP)  while supporting the continuing education of adolescent mothers, UNESCO in Eastern and Southern Africa has carried out a 10-country situation analysis on EUP (conducted 2017; published 2018), the findings and recommendations of which will inform follow up country level actions for policy, programmes and advocacy. UNESCO also participates in the Indicator Working Group for the thematic indicators of SDG4, which among other aspects, continues to identify and define indicators for country reporting against the SDG thematic indicator 4.a.2 – Safe, non-violent, inclusive and effective learning environments, ensuring that data is not only sex-disaggregated but also to ensure that reporting captures the gendered dimensions of violence in learning spaces.

Gender Studies Research Network in China: UNESCO launched a project to look at policies and programs through a gender lens, identifying how they impact women and men, and then proposing policy and programmatic recommendations to address the gaps and challenges.  This Gender Studies Research Network which brings together policy and decision makers, researchers and academics, and NGO leaders aims to address issues of violence against women and girls in a wider perspective.

Field research and analysis by country research teams in China, India, Indonesia for the research project “When and Why Do States Respond to Women's Claims? Understanding Gender-Egalitarian Policy Change in Asia” (2013-2016; final publications 2018).
http://www.unrisd.org/80256B3C005BB128/(httpProjects)/FFDCCF9EE4F2F9C6C1257BEF004FB03E?OpenDocument

Joint research activity with the Unicef Office of Research Innocenti on “Transformative Change for Children and Youth and the SDGs” (2017-2018) includes topic of violence against girls.

The December 2017 UNECE Work Session on Gender Statistics ( http://www.unece.org/index.php?id=45133) included seven contributions dealing with statistics on violence against women. Experts from national statistical offices and international organizations exchanged knowledge and ideas about survey methodology, harmonization, garnering political support for conducting specialized surveys, and other topics in the measurement of violence against women.

Gender analysis is at the core of OCHA’s central strategic planning and field-focused operational planning. The IASC Gender Marker, introduced in 2010, also guides OCHA-managed funding and financing. OCHA’s Country Offices has also played a key role in further mainstreaming gender in the Humanitarian Needs Overviews (HNOs) and Humanitarian Response Plans (HRPs).  In 2017, in 25% of HRPs gender analysis fully defined how HRP implementation took into account distinct needs/risks related to gender, and in 70% of HRPs gender analysis partially informed implementation.  

In 2017, out of the 397 projects funded by CERF, 280 (71%) had a Gender Marker 2a indicating strong gender mainstreaming. A total of 77 (19%) had a 2b indicating a targeted gender action and 22 projects (6%) had a Gender Marker 1, meaning limited gender consideration. Eighteen (18 or 4%) were marked “Non- Applicable” as they dealt with the provision of common services to humanitarian partners (air operations, logistics, emergency telecommunications, safety and security), and none (0) were marked 0 which means that all CERF-funded projects for 2017 considered gender to an extent or another in their design. Gender Based Violence was the focus action of 27 projects (7%) of all the 397 projects funded by CERF in 2017, 234 projects (59%) had a GBV component, and 135 projects (34%) had no GBV related activity or component one (1) project was not marked for GBV.

All OCHA managed Country Based-Pooled Funds (CPBFs) apply the Gender Marker in all project proposals. In 2017, 79% of CPBFs projects were designed to contribute significantly to gender equality (76% in 2016), equivalent to $511 million. CBPFs provide the largest source of direct funding for local NGOs, including women’s organizations

 In OCHA’s core digital assets – unocha.org, reliefweb.int and HDX – particular attention was given to highlighting how humanitarian crises impact women and children. For example, on ReliefWeb 1,835 documents were posted in 2017 on Gender-Based Violence and 1,288 Women, Peace and Security documents. 

In 2017, UNDP launched the “Ending Gender-based Violence (GBV) and Achieving the SDGs” global project. This project aims to take violence prevention to scale by bringing new partners, strategies and sources of financing to the table. Over three years, it will: design, test and evaluate initiatives that will reduce GBV in select pilot sites; and develop new knowledge, skills and tools to reduce GBV in other contexts. Pilots will integrate GBV into broader UNDP sectoral programming (such as environment and livelihoods) and/or will focus around the principle of leaving no one behind. 

All pilots will be implemented at the local level, but their lessons will be global. The project will translate evidence from the pilots into policy and advocacy tools, along with instruments such as new financing modalities.