Search
In 2016, a regional workshop was held in Kenya on Community Engagement in Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) Prevention and Response emphasizing the importance of community based protection and its impact on SGBV. The event was organized in partnership with the Council of Kenya who launched the outcome of their research projects conducted in Uganda. The event sought ultimately to strengthen SGBV prevention and response programming through systematic and active community engagement. The aim was also to strengthen and facilitate technical exchange and information-sharing among UNHCR and Partners in the region. The workshop discussed findings from relevant baseline reports. The “Zero Tolerance Village Alliance Intervention”, a community based SGBV prevention model found to be effective in emergency settings, highlighted important issues with implications for SGBV programming in emergency settings in sub-Saharan Africa. Issues discussed included gender attitudes and beliefs amongst women and men, the concept of rape and physical violence against both men and women, the consequences of low levels of formal education and justifications for gender based violence.
ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, ABAAD Resource Centre for Gender Equality and the Lebanese American University, has commemorated the 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence campaign (25th November-10th December 2016) and organised a series of awareness raising activities. These include a video competition among the youth in the Arab region to send a message on 'how to stop violence against women', a panel discussion with experts and CSOs on estimating the cost of VAW, and a public event to promote civil engagement on the topic.
UN Women is working with UNDP in the finalization of a policy and programming guidance for prevention of violence against women in elections (VAWE). The guidance aims to fill gaps in current knowledge by providing an overview of the specific forms of VAWE, including scope, types, victims and perpetrators, and the range of actions that can be taken at each phase of the electoral cycle to prevent and mitigate it. The Guide is targeted at the key stakeholders and actors who are positioned to act to prevent and mitigate VAWE, and to international organizations and those providing programming support on electoral assistance, women’s political participation and ending violence against women. It is also targeted at members of political parties, particularly the leadership of those parties, civil society organizations (CSOs), women’s groups and gender equality activists.
On 14 April 2016, representative of UNESCO participated in the Round table “Trafficking in Human Beings” with a presentation entitled “Gender Perspectives of Trafficking in Human Beings”. Although trafficking affects both men and women, women and men are affected in different ways with respect to the types of trafficking they are subjected to, the forms of abuse they suffer from and the consequences thereof, women being subject more often to violence and sexual abuse. The discussion urged for an integrated and multi-sectoral approach.
UN Women established a Community of Practice (CoP) for stakeholders working on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls. Specific objectives of the Flagship Programming Initiatives (FPI) CoP include: Making existing knowledge, tools and approaches on the practice available and easily accessible to members of the CoP, allowing members to share concrete experience, challenges and good-practices on the implementation of the FPI so that members can “learn from others”, and generating new knowledge and tools. This community of practice, which follows various channels of communication (knowledge online platform, webinars, email helpdesk and a focal points’ meeting) will be strengthened based on its users’ experience and on new developments within UN Women’s programmes.
In 2016, UNRWA has worked on the development of a GBV prevention framework which consists of two parts: the first provides a series of processes that need to be put in place to strengthen GBV prevention from an organisational perspective; the second part includes an outline of the key components/ steps in designing successful GBV prevention activities.
On 3 October 2016, UNESCO organized a Round Table on “Education and Gender Equality: The Perfect Partners for Development - Reflections on child, early and forced marriage – effects on school drop-outs.” During the event, the 2016 Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Report Gender Review was also launched. The Round Table was part of UNESCO’s celebration of the International Day of the Girl Child and aimed at reflecting on the fundamental link between gender equality and education, with a specific focus on the impact of child, early and forced marriage on education prospects for girls.
During 2016, in Cameroon, Djohong, UNHCR worked to use education and peer support to address SGBV experienced by young women. The aim is to reduce the rate of forced and/or early marriage and early pregnancy among young women through peer education and support. The project aims also to reduce the number of youth without work in refugee camp communities through peer support network and art training. In addition, the projects sought to reduce the use of drugs and involvement in crime by providing training and leadership opportunities.
As part of UN Women’s collaboration with Phase II of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C, to strengthen the inter-linkages between VAWG and harmful practices such as FGM/C, and address the root causes of such form of violence, UN Women has finalized and published the policy paper titled “Female genital mutilation/cutting and violence against women and girls: Strengthening the policy linkages between different forms of violence”, with the support of a technical advisory group in February 2017. The paper – which is accompanied by an also published background paper - explores policy and programming interlinkages and considers entry points in the areas of (i) national legislation, (ii) prevention strategies, (iii) response for survivors, and (iv) data and evidence, for increased coordination and collaboration to advance the objectives of ending FGM/C and other forms of VAWG, in particular intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. It is intended for multiple audiences, including those directly involved in policy development, planning and implementing initiatives, those providing technical support, and advocates for ending all forms of VAWG, including FGM/C. A training module on gender and FGM/C, to accompany the UNFPA-UNICEF Manual on Social Norms and Change will be finished in March 2017.
UN Women collaborated with UNESCO to develop a guidance toolkit on prevention of and response to violence against women and girls in the educational sector: “Global Guidance on School-related Gender-based violence” in December 2016 (http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0024/002466/246651E.pdf). UN Women continues its collaboration with UNESCO to develop similar toolkits to engage the media and sporting organizations in prevention of and response to VAW. These technical documents provide key information to governments, policy-makers, practitioners and civil society who wish to take concrete action against violence against women and girls. It introduces approaches, methodologies, tools and resources that have shown positive results.