Inter-Agency Mechanisms and Activities
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Background
Launched in 2017 with an initial investment of over 500 million USD from the European Union, Spotlight Initiative is the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Impact Initiative to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Recognized as one of 12 UN High-Impact Initiatives – driving progress across the sustainable development goals – Spotlight Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to address violence against women and girls at scale.
During its first phase (2017- 2023), Spotlight Initiative helped cohere the UN system to implement 34 programmes across five regions. This included two civil society grant-making programmes – established in collaboration with the UN Trust to End Violence against Women and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund – which helped channel additional resources directly to civil society. By fostering a “One UN” approach under the leadership of the Resident Coordinators at the country level, Spotlight Initiative has leveraged various UN agencies’ complementary expertise, deepened collaboration, and streamlined operational processes, allowing for stronger programme delivery and better results for women and girls.
Through its deep partnerships at country and regional level – including with governments, civil society, faith-based and traditional leaders, academic institutions, media, the private sector, and others – Spotlight Initiative drove significant progress across response and prevention efforts. A strong commitment to meaningful engagement with civil society in particular, including local and grassroots organisations and feminist and women’s rights groups, has been central to the Initiative’s approach, as well. Under its first phase, nearly half of the Initiative’s activity funds were channeled directly to civil society, ensuring local ownership, buy-in, and sustainability of the Initiative's investments. At the global level, the Initiative forged a range of strategic partnerships, including with the Group of Friends, a coalition of 93 UN Member States advocating to end violence against women and girls, and the UN Foundation, which helped launch the WithHer Fund to channel more funding directly to local organizations.
Through its comprehensive approach – working to pass progressive laws and policies, strengthen institutions, deepen prevention programming, improve access to services, and generate data, and by centering partnerships – particularly with civil society – the Initiative has been shown to be 70% to 90% more effective at reducing the prevalence of violence against women and girls than siloed, single-pillar approaches. By aligning its interventions with national and local priorities, Spotlight Initiative works to deepen capacity, political will, and long-term commitment to ending violence against women and girls and advancing gender equality and women’s rights.
Areas of Focus
Unique to the Initiative is a whole-of-society approach that places ending violence against women and girls at the heart of national development priorities and supports local communities with the tools they need to address violence in their specific context. The model works by rolling out evidence-based interventions holistically: gender responsive laws and policies; strengthening institutions and data collection on VAWG; promoting gender-equitable attitudes and positive social norms, and providing quality services for survivors of violence and their families. It does this work in partnerships with government and, critically, with civil society - including particularly women's rights organisations – at every level, enhancing civic space and driving sustainable, transformative change.
In response to the UN Secretary General’s Campaign for ending violence against women, UNDP country offices organized a series of awareness raising events, such as webinars and discussions, as well as publishing Op-Eds.
UNDP with other UN agencies actively participated in the global campaign for the ’16 Days of Activism against violence against women and girls’ 2020. A video and thematic sheets were produced to raise awareness against violence against women and girls. The thematic sheets covered the impact of COVID-19 on violence, childhood, migration, refugees, health, rural women and access to employment.
Under the lead of UN Women and in partnership with other UN agencies, UNDP participated in the celebration of International Women's Day 2021. A number of inspiring women were interviewed to share their journeys and success stories while raising awareness on a number of issues, including gender-based violence.
Under the UN/EU Spotlight initiatives, UNDP in partnership with local governments and communities have strengthened national programmes and increased policy coordination and multi-stakeholder cooperation to address violence against women and girls.
WFP participated at a global level in the various meetings and initiatives led by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Action (IASC). This includes contributions to the development and facilitation of an E-learning course on GBV risk mitigation and prevention and inviting the IASC colleagues to participate in WFP led webinars.
WFP celebrated both Orange Days as well as the 16 Days Campaign against GBV, in collaboration with the other Rome-based agencies (FAO and IFAD).Extensive webinars and events were held with various member states, ambassadors, and key actors from other agencies.
In 2020,WFP continued to advocate for dedicated financial and human resources for country offices to be able to integrate protection and gender. WFP maintained humanitarian advisors at the regional bureau level, dedicated protection and gender officers in selected countries and at the HQ/global level a gender office, a protection and AAP team and a PSEA team. WFP also advocated for the allocation of funding to meet GBV survivor food security and nutrition needs and mitigate the adoption of negative coping mechanisms.
WFP also continued to actively participate in the GBV the GBV Accountability Framework and the Call to Action on Protection from GBV and multiple for a related to promoting gender equality. At the national level WFP participated in the GBV sub-cluster.
WFP also continued to participate in relevant global UN/interagency coordination on PSEA.
The United Nations Trust Fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women (UN Trust Fund) is a global, multilateral grant-making mechanism that supports effort to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The UN Trust Fund, which was established in 1996 by the General Assembly in the resolution 50/166, is administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. With the strong institutional support of UN Women and its regional, multi-country offices, and working closely with the rest of the United Nations system through its inter-agency Programme Advisory Committee, the Trust Fund plays a vital role in driving forward collective efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
UN Women continued to actively participate in the UN system-wide SEA Working Group PSEA WG, which is being coordinated by the Office of the Special Coordinator on improving the UN response to SEA.
View MoreUNODC contributed to the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women Campaign, by providing thematic briefs for the Orange Day/ UNiTE Campaign Action Circular on the core topics of the Secretary-General’s Political Engagement Strategy on GBV and COVID-19 (Prevent, Respond, Collect).
UNODC is an active member of the United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict and contributed to enhanced interagency coordination by actively participating in its Core Groups on Prevention and Advocacy and by co-leading the Core Group on the nexus between sexual violence in conflict and terrorism / violent extremism, in partnership with the UN Team of Experts on the Rule of Law and Sexual Violence in Conflict. UNODC participated in a policy dialogue on conflict-related sexual violence crimes associated with slavery and trafficking, organized by the Team of Experts.
UNODC coordinates the Inter-Agency Coordination Group Against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), which ensures policy coherence among its membership in their responses to human trafficking.
UNODC also participates in the UN Joint Programme on Essential Services and the EU-UN Spotlight Initiative.
The year 2020 is a pivotal year for advancing gender equality worldwide, as the global community takes stock of progress made for women’s rights since the adoption of the Beijing Platform for Action. This information note explores UN Women's upcoming actions throughout 2020 including its multigenerational campaign: “Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future”, Generation Equality Forums and Action Coalitions. Generation Equality and 2020 information note from ECA available here.
Almost all the countries in the ESA region have functional GBV Working Groups led by UNFPA and the PSEA Task Forces led by UN Women and the UNRCO.
To bring the global commitments to the field and to create an enabling safe, secure and equitable environment in line with the UN Secretary-Generals guidance, a Training of Trainers program on “Gender Parity” and “Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (PSEA)” was organized in partnership with UN Women HQ with participation by 42 participants from 12 countries in the region representing UN Women, UNPFA, UNHCR, IOM, ICAO and UNDSS in Mombasa, Kenya. Following the training at least 5 countries have replicated the training in their countries and also took initiatives to establish and strengthen the PSEA task forces.
In Burundi, UN Women supported the development of UNCT gender strategy which serves as a frame of reference for in planning process within UNS in Burundi.
The United Nations Trust Fund in support of actions to eliminate violence against women is a global, multilateral grant-making mechanism that supports efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls. The Trust Fund, which was established in 1996 by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/166, is administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. With the strong institutional support of UN Women and its regional, multi-country and country offices, and working closely with the rest of the United Nations system through its inter-agency Programme Advisory Committee, the Trust Fund plays a vital role in driving forward collective efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls.
In collaboration with UN Women, the ILO published the Handbook “Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work” on March 2019. This manual, launched on the occasion of the annual session of the UN Committee on the Status of Women, provides a glimpse into emerging good practices to address violence and harassment against women in the world of work, by governments, employers and workers and their organizations, and civil society.
During 2019, the ILO has been involved in the Spotlight Projects in Argentina, Zimbabwe and Timor Leste, as well as in the Safe and Fair Project in the ASEAN Region, therefore joining efforts with UN entities and other actors to end violence against women.
In the framework of the WeEmpower Project, the ILO is elaborating illustrative good practices for businesses and policy makers including covering the topic of violence and harassment (V&H) against women and a guidance note for business on this theme.
UNRWA field offices in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank participate regularly in the cluster and sub-clusters related to GBV and PSEA. They also play an active role in inter-agency activities marking the 16 days campaign of activism to end gender-based violence and the “UNiTe to End Violence against Women”.