Training and Capacity Building

Sustained, systemic change to end violence against women and girls requires governments, civil society, implementing partners, and UN Country Teams to have the knowledge, skills, and resources to prevent violence and respond effectively. Spotlight Initiative makes strategic investments in training and capacity development to strengthen institutional performance and deepen accountability across these sectors. As a cross-cutting enabler, capacity development underpins results across all of the Initiative's intervention areas; the examples below illustrate selected investments in 2025.

In 2025, across Spotlight Initiative programmes, more than 10,000 service providers spanning frontline health and psychosocial workers, justice personnel, law enforcement, and community actors were trained to deliver quality, survivor-centred services. Spotlight Initiative strengthened the capacity of more than 50 women's rights organizations and relevant civil society organizations to end violence against women and girls[1]. In Ecuador, this included capacity strengthening for Indigenous organizations through intercultural mediation and translation, reducing barriers to participation. In Zambia, women's rights organizations reported increased capacity to promote gender-responsive governance and support community members in reporting GBV cases. At the global level, Spotlight Initiative delivered inception training to UN colleagues in three Spotlight Initiative programme countries, strengthening the quality of comprehensive EVAWG programme delivery from the outset.

These investments strengthened the capacity of frontline institutions, civil society organizations, and UN Teams to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in ways that are survivor-centred, coordinated, and increasingly embedded within national systems.

[1] As of 15 May 2026, the aggregated number of civil society organizations with strengthened capacity has been corrected from 46 to 53. This figure supersedes all previously reported results, and should be considered the official result.

UNFPA has continued to strengthen national and regional capacities to generate, analyze, and use data on violence against women: 

• For the kNOwVAWdata initiative, this includes a comprehensive learning programme that prioritizes safety and ethics in data collection and  use and   tailored technical support. Particular emphasis is placed on building sustainable in-country expertise, supporting national statistical offices, line ministries, and research institutions to institutionalize high-quality VAW data systems.
• Training and capacity-building activities under the Women at the Centre programme were implemented across all project countries to strengthen gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response systems. These trainings were delivered to caseworkers, social workers, educators, health personnel, outreach workers, and community leaders. Key areas included GBV case management, survivor-centered approaches, referral systems, and Psychological First Aid. In El Salvador and Indonesia, structured certification and accreditation pathways were advanced, including university-based training systems and national institutional partnerships. Specialized training addressed health sector responses, including clinical care for survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence, as well as adolescent-specific GBV risks and prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEAH). In Madagascar, capacity building also covered disability inclusion and ethical GBV data management, while Zimbabwe emphasized community outreach and curriculum integration into social work education.
• UNFPA has also organized a dedicated internal technical session on the WHO global estimates on violence against women, aimed at strengthening understanding of estimation methods, data limitations, and their implications for national policy and programming.
• The UNFPA regional office in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) developed a virtual course on strategies to prevent Child Marriage and Early Unions (CMEU)
• In  2024, UNFPA led the successful launch of the GBV Case Management (GBV CM) e-learning program, in collaboration with UNHCR, available in four different languages (English, French, Spanish and Arabic). The program has seen widespread interest and participation, reflecting its value and relevance in  strengthening GBV response capacities. This  milestone highlights UNFPA’s collective commitment to enhancing skills and knowledge to better support  survivors of GBV in humanitarian settings.
• UNFPA ASRO completed a regional mapping of SBC approaches and joint tool review and co-joined a six-day Regional SBC ToT, with UNICEF MENARO, for 8 COs (Iraq, Sudan, Egypt, Yemen, Somalia, Jordan, Djibouti, Lebanon) producing actionable work plans and establishing a Regional SBC Community of Practice.
• UNFPA ASRO developed a “UNFPA's Foundational Women-Led Organization Capacity Strengthening Curriculum” a practical training resource designed to bolster the organizational and administrative capacities of women-led and women's rights organizations (WLOs/WROs) in humanitarian and development contexts. Developed through consultations with WLOs across the Arab States, the curriculum addresses capacity gaps identified directly by these organizations.   

In 2025, UN Women expanded training and capacity-building to strengthen institutional responses to EVAWG, building on the Essential Services Package and focusing on coordinated, survivor-centred service delivery across health, justice, policing and social sectors.

Across 40 countries, UN Women supported large-scale capacity development, with over 650 organizations strengthening their ability to deliver quality services, goods and resources for women and girls. Targeted initiatives focused on frontline actors, including police, prosecutors, justice officials, service providers and civil society organizations, enhancing capacities in areas such as gender-responsive policing, case management, and psychosocial support.

Concrete results included:

• Distribution of 8,900 gender-sensitive investigation guidelines in Viet Nam, alongside training of police officers
• Training of 60 police personnel in Pakistan on survivor-centred approaches
• Awareness-raising for 80+ members of the UN Strategic Police Advisory Group
• The European Union and UN-Women ACT to End Violence Against Women programme reinforced the leadership, advocacy and capacities of 757 women’s rights organizations, funding 60 of them.

Institutional learning and coordination were further strengthened through innovative approaches, including peer exchange, regional knowledge-sharing and tailored training programmes. The High-Level Network on Gender-Responsive Policing expanded to 22 Member States, reinforcing senior-level commitment to survivor-centred and gender-responsive approaches.

These efforts contributed to improved institutional readiness, enhanced coordination across sectors, and strengthened the quality, consistency and accessibility of services for survivors, including in crisis and complex settings, while supporting the scaling of best practices across regions.

In January and February 2025, UNODC conducted training workshops on the use of non-custodial measures in Bangladesh, in partnership with the Judicial Administration Training Institute, delivering training to criminal justice professionals on gender-responsive alternatives to imprisonment in line with the Tokyo Rules and the Bangkok Rules. 

Effective monitoring and reporting of cases of gender-based violence contributes to increased accountability and reduced impunity in order to better prevent such violence in all contexts where OHCHR operates. OHCHR has developed a blended training on monitoring/investigating and reporting on gender-based violence for human rights officers, including from field presences, peace mission, investigative bodies and HQ sections, adopting a human rights- and evidence-based approach. OHCHR also developed tools to enhance the capacity of field presences in monitoring gender-based violence, enabling colleagues and other human rights protection actors to highlight and address such acts as human rights violations. OHCHR has tailored training sessions to the needs and specificities of each context, with a focus on country offices participating in the Gender Accreditation Programme (GAP) also led by OHCHR. 

In emergency contexts—including Ukraine, Afghanistan, Palestine, Ethiopia, and other L2 and L3 countries FAO has increasingly integrated training on GBV risks and resilience into its gender analyses, vulnerability assessments, and the formulation of gender-responsive, inclusive policies and humanitarian projects. These sessions specifically aim to equip staff with the knowledge and practical tools needed to anticipate, prevent, and address GBV in crisis situations.

During the reporting period, UNODC provided training and capacity building on crime prevention and criminal justice responses to gender-based violence against women for criminal justice professionals in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, State of Palestine, Somalia and Viet Nam. 

For instance, in Kyrgyzstan, 200 police officers and 50 prosecutors received gender-responsive training to support victims of violence, and the Office assisted the Government in establishing a “one-window centre” in Bishkek where victims of gender-based violence against women can access essential multisectoral services.  

UNODC also strengthened justice sector responses to violence against women by enhancing judicial capacities through workshops. In the Dominican Republic, the Office conducted a technical needs assessment on access to justice for women in cases of gender-based violence and trained 103 criminal justice professionals through a capacity-building workshop for judges, prosecutors and police officers.  

In Egypt, UNODC organized nine training workshops for 178 judges on facilitating access to justice for women victims of violence and two workshops for 40 administrative prosecution judges focused on violence against women. 

IOM has continued to strengthen GBV programming across diverse operational contexts. IOM conducted 930 capacity-building intiatives for IOM staff, national authorities, and partners to ensure all stakeholders understand how to safely and ethically respond to a disclosure of GBV.  

Through coordination calls, capacity-building initiatives, and deployments, IOM has provided technical support to over 40 country missions in 2024. The support included developing and disseminating materials, offering guidance on GBV-specialized programming, supporting protection scale-ups, and resolving complex GBV challenges.  

As part of these efforts, IOM also launched an e-course “Introduction to gender-based violence (GBV) in crisis” in 2023 and an upcoming e-course on “Introduction to IOM Intersectional Gender Analysis” is planned in 2025. 

Furthermore, IOM reviewed 405 proposals, concept notes, reports, Regional Migrant Response Plans, and Crisis Response Plans from over 70 countries. These reviews ensure alignment with IOM’s institutional standards for addressing GBV, adherence to the Do No Harm principle, and the promotion of gender equality. 

The UN Trust Fund’s signature wraparound support model responds to the complex and evolving needs of civil society organizations working in challenging and often under-resourced contexts. Alongside funding, the UN Trust Fund offers organizational development support; capacity strengthening; tailored accompaniment; visibility and advocacy; and evidence-based knowledge production.

Between 2021 and 2024, the UN Trust Fund has delivered 81 webinar sessions in support of grant management and compliance of EVAW/G projects, including thematic sessions on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence (CRSV) and Technology-Facilitated Gender-Based Violence (TFGBV) among others, recording a total of 5,449 attendees. In 2024, after the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN Trust Fund resumed the yearly in-person training tradition, allowing grantee organizations to share experiences, network and foster a sense of community among EVAW/G practitioners. 

Addressing violence against women and girls requires a whole-of-society approach, ensuring that all key actors–civil society organizations (CSOs), government institutions, law enforcement, judicial systems, and media–have the knowledge and skills to prevent and respond effectively. Capacity-building is essential to fostering sustainable, systemic change. Without proper training, institutions risk reinforcing harmful norms, mismanaging cases, or failing to allocate adequate resources to address gender-based violence.  

Spotlight Initiative made strategic investments in training and capacity development to strengthen the ability of CSOs, policymakers, and law enforcement agencies to advance gender equality and effectively address violence against women and girls. These efforts included training parliamentarians on gender-responsive budgeting, equipping police forces with survivor-centred investigative techniques, and strengthening civil society organizations to engage with government entities and drive change at the grassroots level.  

CSOs play a critical role in driving accountability, advocating for policy reforms, and providing essential services to survivors. Over the course of the Initiative, more than 5,500 women’s rights organizations, social movements, and civil society actors received support to enhance their capacity to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. This included training on advocacy strategies, financial management, programmatic implementation, and engagement with government institutions to secure policy commitments and funding.  In the Pacific Regional Programme, Spotlight Initiative partnered with 39 national, local, and grassroots women’s organizations across ten countries to establish new and unique partnerships with government entities through the Pacific People’s Advancing Change (PPAC) grant-giving programme. In Niue, the Makefu Women’s Council collaborated with public safety and health sector officials to ensure their 24-hour helpline was operational for LGBTIQ+ communities, expanding access to vital services.  

Ensuring that commitments to gender equality are backed by sustainable funding requires policymakers who understand how to integrate gender considerations into national budgets. Since 2019, Spotlight Initiative has trained 1,992 parliamentarians and 9,297 government officials in gender-responsive budgeting, enabling them to advocate for and secure increased budget allocations to address gender-based violence. In Liberia, capacity-building efforts led to the establishment of gender-responsive budgeting units within multiple ministries, increasing national budget allocations for sexual and gender-based violence from zero in 2020 to USD 500,000 in 2022. In Papua New Guinea, technical assistance and training efforts helped secure the country’s first-ever national budget line for violence against women and children, which was subsequently increased in the following year. These investments demonstrate the power of training to drive policy change and ensure sustained funding for violence prevention and response efforts.  

Law enforcement officers are often the first point of contact for survivors, making their training critical to ensuring that responses are survivor-centred, effective, and aligned with human rights principles. However, without proper training, police forces may perpetuate stigma, discourage survivors from reporting, or fail to handle cases effectively. Spotlight Initiative supported police training efforts in multiple countries to strengthen institutional responses to gender-based violence. In Trinidad and Tobago, over 400 police officers received training in gender analysis, equipping them with the skills to provide survivor-centred services and referrals. The Initiative’s “training of trainers” model ensured that knowledge was institutionalized, leading to broader cultural shifts in policing. Similarly, in El Salvador, training for judicial actors and law enforcement personnel contributed to the adoption of a national protocol for investigating and prosecuting femicide cases, strengthening accountability within the justice system.  

Training and capacity-building efforts must be sustained across all sectors to ensure a comprehensive and effective response to violence against women and girls. By strengthening the knowledge and skills of civil society organizations, parliamentarians, law enforcement, and judicial actors, Spotlight Initiative contributed to long-term institutional change. These efforts ensure that national policies were properly funded, that survivors receive justice, and that systemic approaches were embedded at all levels to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.