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During the reporting period UNRWA trained 2,278 staff in all its fields of operations as part of the roll out of the capacity building plans. The trainings focused on anchoring the survivor centred approach in the UNRWA response to GBV and on rolling out the tools for GBV risk mitigation in emergencies.
Cuba Country Office : While carrying out sensitization workshops in the field on various gender issues (i.e. masculinities and gender stereotypes), WFP always included a section to advocate on the importance of preventing gender-based violence and on the organization’s commitment in this area. WFP is also supporting small initiatives for women’s empowerment in selected cooperatives (i.e. a vegetable garden and poultry farming), which ultimately will also contribute to reduce...
View MoreCuba Country Office:
- While carrying out sensitization workshops in the field on various gender issues (i.e. masculinities and gender stereotypes), WFP always included a section to advocate on the importance of preventing gender-based violence and on the organization’s commitment in this area.
- WFP is also supporting small initiatives for women’s empowerment in selected cooperatives (i.e. a vegetable garden and poultry farming), which ultimately will also contribute to reduce gender-based violence at the local level.
WFP Headquarters
The Gender Office organized two “training of trainers” workshops on Social Norms in HQ.
These training sessions equipped field officers with skills to address discriminatory gender norms, including harmful masculinities and femininities, to create transformational changes at the individual, organisational and societal levels for gender just outcomes.
In June 2018, the workshop was attended by 18 participants from 13 Country Offices, and three participants from Dakar Regional Bureau.
In October 2018, the workshop was attended by 11 participants from 9 Country Offices, and one participant from Bangkok Regional Bureau.
Iraq Country Office:
In September 2018, WFP / Iraq / Baghdad conducted an awareness session for our cooperating partner Mercy Hands on Social Norms and the transformation of gender.
Nicaragua Country Office
- Let's Paint the World of Orange: Support Survivors of Gender-Based Violence.NICO´s efforts have focused on prevention actions through training and empowerment of members of cooperatives, women and young people, which allows greater awareness and address this problem within the organizations of producers.
- In addition, as part of this campaign, NICO makes efforts to involve men in the processes of accompaniment and learning about the construction of new masculinities, social norms and new leaderships in order to achieve the transformation of gender relations in the workplace and personal life.
- Talks: “Aprender, Involucrarse y estar Alerta para prevenir la Violencia Basada en Género”; “Introducción a la charla sobre Normas Sociales”; Aprendiendo sobre Mitos y Realidades de la Violencia Basada en Género (VBG).
Syria Country Office:
In June 2018, WFP facilitated two-days training on discriminatory social norms for 26 staff of Gender Results Network members and senior management, the training was facilitated by Ahmad Hammoud and Fatema Hammadi with support of Alan Gerieg. The training focused on interactive activates and exercises which promote great participation and better understanding of the norms and the way to address the patriarchal masculinities inside WFP workplace, social live as well as through WFP’s activities across Syria country, thus ensure that different needs for women, girls and men, boys are addressed.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNDP, UNFPA, and UN WOMEN, launched the study on Gender Justice and the Law in the Arab States Region. This study provides a base line assessment of laws and policies affecting the realization of gender equality and the protection of women from violence in the region. The 18 country reports highlight successful legal provisions and identify gaps that countries can target to meet their international obligations and commitments.
ESCWA presented a paper on the “missing links” in research on women’s economic empowerment in Arab States at the conference on “Economic Empowerment of Women and the Promotion of the Values of Peace, Justice and Citizenship” in Oman in December 2018. The paper argues that salient forms of discrimination, such as violence against women, are insufficiently analysed as barriers to women’s economic participation in the region. The paper suggests pathways to better integrate violence against women in the region’s economic research and policy agenda, including through national costings of the economic impact of violence against women.
ESCWA, in partnership with UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women, and the National University of Ireland, Galway, is currently developing a model to cost the economic impact of child marriage in the Arab region.
ESCWA, in partnership with the League of Arab States and UN Women, organized a training workshop focused on the “Guidance Note for Comprehensive National-Level Reviews” to support participating member States in the timely preparation of their national-level reviews on progress made and challenges encountered in the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action.
ESCWA participated in the Inter-Agency and Expert Group on Gender Statistics (IAEG-GS) in the Arab Countries. The meetings brought together experts from the National Statistical Offices, Women Machineries, regional and international experts to review and discuss development of gender statistics for evidence-based policy making. This included: (i) methods for compiling and calculating the Sustainable Development Goal 5 (SDG5) indicators, and (ii) the final version of the ESCWA Household Survey Questionnaire on Violence against Women.
1. Intervention to address VAW in antenatal care setting : WHO and the Wits Institute for Reproductive health have finalised a randomised control trial of an empowerment counselling-based intervention in antenatal care for pregnant women experiencing abuse in Johannesburg, South Africa. The trial found that the intervention was efficacious in reducing IPV, and was acceptable but delivering it would require further efforts.. The findings and intervention training manual will be published in 2018 2. Building on field testing of the WHO clinical handbook for the response to intimate partner violence and sexual violence, WHO is carrying out implementation research to identify effective approaches to roll out WHO clinical guidelines and derivative tools on the health sector response to violence against women. 3. The questionnaire developed for the WHO multi-country study on women’s health and domestic violence against women has been updated and now includes questions on non-partner sexual violence, sexual harassment and updated questions on social norms and mental health. The questionnaire will be published in 2018 along with an accompanying question-by-question manual. 4. WHO updated its database on intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence and established a technical advisory group for the VAW inter-agency working group on estimation and data as part of the UN-wide SDG monitoring efforts
UNV captures sex-disaggregated data.
There is increasing momentum to address the evidence gap on the impact and effectiveness of volunteerism for sustainable development. The State of the World’s Volunteerism Report (SWVR) is UNV’s flagship publication, produced every 3 years. The SWVR 2018 considers how volunteerism and community resilience interact across diverse contexts. It adds to the evidence on inclusive, citizen-led approaches to resilience building – including from a gender lense. It examines how wider actors can build from communities’ self-organization in a complementary way, nurturing the most beneficial characteristics of volunteerism while mitigating against potential harms to the most vulnerable, including women and girls.
Several of the research institutes of the United Nations University (UNU) have conducted research projects on EVAW. The UNU World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) has explored the effects of conflict-induced displacement on gender norms in Turkey, finding an increased tolerance towards domestic violence among women who were forced to migrate. Another research project discovered that underlying the preferences of a population effected the impact of legal bans against harmful practices, such as female genital cutting and domestic violence. These papers, among others, will appear in the book “Towards Gender Equity in Development” to be published in October 2018. The UNU Computing and Society (UNU-CS) has undertaken research to understand the potential of ICT on efforts to end VAW, including forced labor and sexual exploitation in the context of migration, and cyber harassment. The research develops practical and policy tools to support victims and survivors, and to assist advocacy and policymaking institutions. The UNU Centre for Policy Research (UNU-CPR) has conducted research on states’ leniency and accountability measures toward individuals accused of association with jihadist groups. The project considers, inter alia: the roles women and girls play in association with jihadist groups; the sometimes coercive conditions under which they may develop associations; and the extent to which female relatives of men connected with jihadist groups are penalised for their indirect association.
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.
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.
Gender unit: A compendium of WPS indicators and a dashboard was developed as a platform to track progress of WPS mandates, including specific indicators on addressing SGBV prevention and protection
. A Mission wide roll out of these indicators is expected to take place through 2018
DDR: During the reporting period, DDR/CVR teams in peacekeeping operations have increased efforts towards collecting gender disaggregated data both regarding the disarmament and demobilization of female combatants, and the participation of women in community-based projects. The information has been used as a reference for the implementation of CVR projects, some of which specifically target women and address their needs (see below). Noting that CVR initiatives aim at preventing and reducing violence at the local level, it is also expected that it directly contributes to mitigating violence against women.
UNMAS: SADD Mine/ERW victim data collection: UNMAS makes every effort to collect sex and age disaggregated data on victims of mines and explosive remnants of war, to ensure programming, such as risk education, is tailored according to the specific risk profiles.
UNRWA GBV indicators are a part of the Agency-wide monitoring framework and are reported on periodically.