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In Ukraine and Cambodia, OHCHR and UN Women helped the Government to develop a Strategy to prevent and address gender based violence and conflict-related sexual violence.In Honduras, OHCHR supported the implementation of a State-CSO mechanism developed for monitoring the advances of the investigation of crimes of femicide, also providing technical assistance on the drafting of the regulations of such Commission and briefing the institutions that conform it, on the contents of the Latin American Protocol For the Investigation of Femicide.In Mexico, OHCHR’s technical cooperation focused on the incorporation of human rights and gender perspective in Protocols on investigation of cases of gender-related killings and gender based violence crimes. OHCHR also provided technical support for the evaluation and monitoring of the Early Warning Systems for Gender Based Violence implemented at Federal and State level. In Guatemala, OHCHR worked on the development of a public policy to protect human rights defenders
View MoreIn Ukraine and Cambodia, OHCHR and UN Women helped the Government to develop a Strategy to prevent and address gender based violence and conflict-related sexual violence.
In Honduras, OHCHR supported the implementation of a State-CSO mechanism developed for monitoring the advances of the investigation of crimes of femicide, also providing technical assistance on the drafting of the regulations of such Commission and briefing the institutions that conform it, on the contents of the Latin American Protocol For the Investigation of Femicide.
In Mexico, OHCHR’s technical cooperation focused on the incorporation of human rights and gender perspective in Protocols on investigation of cases of gender-related killings and gender based violence crimes. OHCHR also provided technical support for the evaluation and monitoring of the Early Warning Systems for Gender Based Violence implemented at Federal and State level.
In Guatemala, OHCHR worked on the development of a public policy to protect human rights defenders
Building on previous work, UNRWA has developed GBV Roadmaps which are a tool to operationalize its GBV Prevention Framework through concrete activities and accompanying monitoring tools.
Adoption of technology in the communication between WFP and its beneficiaries (mostly women) through the exchange of calls facilitated by the Complains and Feedback Mechanisms (CFMs) is changing the role that beneficiaries play in a given assistance.
Through Cash-Based-Transfers approach from one side and regular use of CFMs on the other, beneficiaries are turning from ‘passive recipients’ into ‘active stakeholders’: today, they have a choice and they have a voice. The combination of choice/voice is resulting in a powerful tool to empower vulnerable women and men. It is a win-win solution where thanks to first-hand information received by beneficiaries, WFP improves the effectiveness of its programmes and beneficiaries have a say in their assistance.
Today, Jordan CO has one call centre managed by a total of 15 operators, with an average of 500 calls per day out of which 80% calls are answered and closed the same day. If operators receive calls and are not able to solve them immediately, they assign them to focal points for actions. Out of 15 operators, 13 are women. This due to the sensitivity and great empathy that women can show when calls come in.
Lessons learnt on the improved communication between WFP and its beneficiaries are several:
- Challenges can be turned into opportunities ( ex.: Complains feedback mechanisms, ETC-Connect project, SCOPE Platform)
- Considering the beneficiaries as ‘direct stakeholders’ is a powerful boost to assistance effectiveness. Give them voice and hear them is a ‘must’
- Leave them the choice to decide how best use the entitlement is the best way to empower them
- Providing women an opportunity to find the right place in a given assistance does not only mean an increase in their income or a solution to their distress but also an honourable status in the household or community for being listened and respected.
In March 2018, a WFP-wide awareness campaign on PSEA was conducted. This was part of an annual awareness campaign, started in January 2018 and running monthly, on WFP’s values, principles and standards, as reflected in WFP’s Code of Conduct, including protection from sexual exploitation and abuse.
1) FAO, together with UN Country Teams, UN Women, UNFPA and other national and international partners, led the “16 Days of Activism to end Violence against Women” campaign in 5 regions of Niger (Maradi, Tillaberi, Dosso, Tahoua and Zinder). In 120 villages where there are Dimitra Clubs, the campaign raised awareness on gender-based violence.
As part of this Campaign”, which began on 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, two further events took place to raise awareness on the links between gender-based violence and its relevance to the work of the Organization.
The first was the ESP-sponsored “Forum theatre around gender-based violence – Out of the box”. Through games and role-plays, participants worked on situations where GBV can occur.
The second event was a UN Rome-Based Agencies event that took place entitled “Ending gender-based violence to end hunger and poverty: The role we play”. As part of the UNiTE campaign, FAO, IFAD and WFP came together to raise awareness of this global pandemic.
2) FAO is actively engaged in the IASC developing global standard operating procedures (SOPs) for community based complaints mechanisms (CBCMs). In addition, FAO made to meet PSEA minimum operating standards, which currently serve as a planning and monitoring tool.
The Department of Public Information’s Development Section worked closely with the European Union to launch a strategic partnership, called Spotlight, for ending violence against women and girls on 20 September 2017. This includes an initial pledge of EUR 500 million from the EU to finance programmes on EVAW. DPI developed a website as well as video, web and social media products to raise awareness and drive advocacy. We conducted interviews with and supported media outreach for high-level officials, including the EU European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development, the Deputy Secretary-General as well as heads of UN Women, UNFPA and UNDP on Spotlight during the 62nd Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.
The Section also continues to support UN Women communications efforts to raise awareness and action around the International Day to End Violence against Women (25 November 2017), cross-promoting advocacy materials across the UN platforms.
All communication messages and products on EVAW were shared across the Department, including with our network of 59 operational United Nations Information Centres who communicate the UN’s work to local audiences in more than 80 local languages.
Gender units invest in targeted SGBV prevention activities that include prevention against VAW across the Missions through targeted capacity strengthening training, implementing gender analysis to identify enablers of SGBV; invest in community based early warning mechanisms and inclusion of specific SGBV indicators and reporting benchmarks across all functions to identify timely identification of SGBV risks; and establish partnerships with women civil society organisations to collectively develop strategies for an enabling environment that prevents and mitigates SGBV
In March 2017 DPKO produces a range of communication materials in line with the new gender policy have been developed to provide coherence and consistent advocacy on SGBV prevention.
DDR/CVR teams across 5 peacekeeping missions (MONUSCO, MINUSCA, MINUSMA, UNAMID and MINUJUSTH ) missions have designed and implemented a series of Community Violence Reduction (CVR) projects, aimed at preventing and reducing violence at the community level in both ongoing and post-conflict scenarios. While interventions target a wide set of actors (e.g. members of armed groups, youth at-risk and community members), these initiates particularly improve security conditions for vulnerable groups, including women and children. Moreover, by ensuring their participation, CVR projects serve to mobilize and empower women within their communities and, as a result, contribute to the constitution of a protective environment.
Gender-specific mine action programming: UNMAS makes every effort to ensure that its mine action programming is tailored according to specific cultures and gender of the beneficiaries. In some settings, this means women conducting single-gender risk education sessions (e.g. in Iraq in 2017).
Recruitment of women in mine action programming: Research in Colombia and Lebanon indicates that women employed in mine action (which is traditionally male -dominated) increase their voice and influence in their communities: http://www.gmap.ch/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/final-report-ARS-2016.pdf
The UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), hosted the meeting “Preventing and Responding to Violence Against Women and Girls in Latin-America and the Caribbean: Lessons learned across the globe”, which was held in Panama City from December 5 to 7 of 2016. This event provided a unique space, bringing together several UN agencies, government officials, diplomats, civil society organizations, global researchers and other experts in the field of preventing and responding to violence against women and girls to exchange experiences and explore ways to implement effective and promising practices to address violence against women. This approach sought to drive change in the region, which has been characterized by the lack of evidence-based interventions and rigorous evaluations. A total of 25 countries were represented in this meeting and UN women key guidance documents such as the UN prevention Framework to End Violence against Women and Girls as well as the Essential services guidelines were disseminated.
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 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.
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.