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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.
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.
In October 2016, UNESCO participated in the first US symposium on “Technology and Women: Protection and Peril” organized at the Evelyn Jacobs Ortner Center on Family Violence, University of Pennsylvania. The Symposium discussed inter alia the connectivity across offender's behavior, effects on victims, criminal justice intervention and ethical issues related to technology and violence against women. UNESCO's contribution was entitled “Through the Magnifying Glass: Technology and Violence Against Women” and it addressed the issue how Internet, mobile phones and social media can magnify gender inequalities in many different ways and how we can take action to magnify the potential of technology to empower women.
In June 2016, UNHCR held its NGO Annual Consultations with a thematic session on “Youth Addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Challenges and Opportunities”. The session placed youth at the centre of the discussion and provided a platform to exchange innovative ways to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). Refugee and internally displaced youth face SGBV, including domestic violence, child marriage, and survival sex. Topics discussed included how diverse youth are taking action to prevent and respond to SGBV and how UNHCR and NGO partners can better involve and support youth in their work to prevent and respond to SGBV. The importance of including survivors, persons with disabilities and sexual minorities into efforts and how to work to better integrating these groups was also discussed, in addition to how can we work together to engage men and boys in SGBV prevention and response.
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.
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.
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.
WFP attended 9 IASC meetings in 2015, in which WFP was playing a pivotal role as a member of the standing committee of the GenCap project & the co-chair of the IASC Gender Reference Group. Gender based violence is a key consideration in WFP's Policy on Humanitarian Protection (2012) that outlines the organisation's position on protection and provides a framework for implementation of its responsibilities in this regard. As part of its modus operandi, WFP seeks to implement food assistance programmes that take the interlinkages between hunger and gender-based violence into account. The objective is to ensure that programmes are safe and dignified, and to support an overall environment in which gender-based violence is reduced and the effects of violence on survivors are mitigated.
UNFPA is a member of IASC and in contexts where the IASC Cluster Approach has been activated, UNFPA and UNICEF are mandated to co-lead the GBV Area of Responsibility. As co-lead, UNFPA is accountable for working closely with national authorities, partners and communities, to ensure that minimum standards are in place to prevent and respond to gender-based violence in emergencies.