Measures

Violence against women and girls and harmful practices are rooted in harmful social norms, beliefs, and attitudes. To address this, Spotlight Initiative supported prevention strategies that promoted equality and inclusion, including campaigns to end violence against women and transform harmful social norms, beliefs, and attitudes, as well as educational tools.

For example, the Initiative helped develop the mobile app Secrets of Sary Kol, an innovative approach to the prevention of child or forced marriage in Kyrgyzstan. Co-designed with adolescent girls, the game improves players’ understanding of child marriage as a crime, offers suggestions of how to support those encountering child marriage, and raises girls’ confidence to refuse forced unions and make independent decisions. Selected as a finalist in the international competition Games for Change, Secrets of Sary Kol has raised awareness on child or forced marriage and promoted a shift in attitudes and behaviours on gender equality and violence against women and girls in Kyrgyzstan.

Engaging men and boys is a critical strategy for changing behaviours and ending violence against women and girls. With the Initiative’s support, nearly 6 million men and boys have received information on positive masculinity, respectful family relationships, and non-violent conflict resolution. Additionally, over 8,000 villages and communities across 17 Spotlight Initiative programmes have established advocacy platforms to promote gender-equitable norms, attitudes, and behaviours. 

Over the course of the Initiative, over 800 campaigns — organized through events, social media, TV, newspapers, and radio — were launched across 32 countries, reaching an audience of nearly 384 million with locally designed messages and behaviour change methodologies. Additionally, over 6 million people participated in community dialogues supported by the Initiative, fostering change at the community level in harmful social norms, stereotypes, and behaviours over time. 

In Niger, for example, following the African Girls Summit in 2021, the feminist organization Fada de Filles (Girls' Fada) was founded, with the Initiative’s support. A "Fada" is a community space for dialogue, decision-making, and solidarity traditionally reserved for men and boys. Spotlight Initiative supported young girls to “appropriate” this concept and create their own space to raise awareness, and publicly advocate for social norm change. In the spirit of peer-to-peer mentoring, the "Fada des Filles" brings together young girls from various professional and academic backgrounds who lead discussions on a range of intersecting issues - including female genital mutilation, gender-based violence, menstrual hygiene management, and climate change and disaster risk reduction - and advocate for gender responsive solutions (i.e. solutions that center gender equality). These girls serve as role models and "elders" for other young girls and boys, helping to transform social norms and promote gender equality in their communities over time. 

In Honduras, the Cure Violence model was implemented in areas that had a high prevalence of gang wars and trafficking networks. It focused on changing norms through community dialogues, with violence interrupters spending more than over 43,000 hours working with various community members to change social and gender norms over time. Through this work under the Cure Violence model, violence interrupters averted nearly 1,800 volatile incidents involving more than 724 women and girls across 25 neighborhoods in the Choloma and San Pedro Sula areas of Honduras. Out of the total cases managed, nearly 65 per cent of them involved the prevention of femicide. 

Violence against women and girls is preventable, and prevention remains central to UN Women’s work in addressing its root causes, including harmful social norms and unequal gender power dynamics. Risk factors such as limited education, childhood exposure to violence, harmful use of alcohol, and societal attitudes that normalize violence and gender inequality increase the likelihood of experiencing or perpetrating violence against women and girls.75 Effective prevention requires mitigating these risk factors while amplifying protective measures such as promoting healthy relationships, fostering gender equality, and creating supportive environments. UN Women has been instrumental in influencing intergovernmental processes, such as the UN General Assembly76 and CSW,77 to prioritize VAWG prevention. Together with partners, UN Women has integrated prevention into government agendas through the development of NAPs and prevention strategies. Foundational documents like the UN Prevention Framework78 and the RESPECT framework79 have been critical in fostering a shared understanding and a coordinated approach across diverse stakeholders. In 2022 and 2023, UN Women led evidence-based prevention interventions grounded in the RESPECT framework’s seven strategic areas.80 These initiatives addressed the root causes of VAWG through interconnected strategies, including shifting harmful norms in families, through sports and within institutions; mobilizing communities; engaging men and boys, as well as religious and traditional leaders; supporting women’s agency and economic empowerment; and partnering with the private sector to ensure safe workplaces and communities where women and girls can thrive free from violence. 

Specific examples of UN Women’s work include:

• RESPECT Framework was implemented in Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zimbabwe, reaching community leaders and policymakers.
• UN Women ACRO, in collaboration with PAHO, adapted the RESPECT Global Framework to Latin America and the Caribbean and promoted capacity building workshops in Chile and Bolivia with the participation of more than 130 policymakers.
• Sport-based programs:
  • Get into Rugby Plus engaged 629 children and trained 50% female coaches in Fiji and Samoa.
• Community mobilization:
  • SASA! Together expanded in Uganda, training 1,500+ activists to challenge GBV norms.
  • Strengthening Peaceful Village in Kiribati led to 1,200 community-led actions that reduced household violence.
• The UN Women Foundations Programme was rolled out in Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, engaging over 2,000 facilitators and young people on GBV prevention in and out of school programmes
• Evidence-based prevention was promoted through resources like the VAW Prevention Programming Guide, Voices Against Violence curriculum. Prevention efforts engaged youth, and faith organizations to challenge norms and catalyse behaviour change.   ROAP also launched a regional storytelling initiative, empowering women and LGBTQI+ advocates to challenge harmful norms through public speaking.
• In 2024, UN Women expanded its convening role, leveraging the UN-Women and the European Union in 2023 committed to a 22-million-euro Advocacy, Coalition Building and Transformative Feminist Action to End Violence Against Women (ACT) Programme in Latin America and Africa to counter backlash against gender equality and mobilize resources for women’s rights organizations.

UN Women’s efforts have significantly advanced the response to VAWG at the global, regional, country and community levels. Under the Joint Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, UN Women, in partnership with UNFPA, UNODC, WHO and UNDP, developed, promoted and implemented the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence,85 the first-ever guidance based on agreed-on global standards for a package of minimum comprehensive services for VAWG survivors in health, policing/justice, social services and the coordination of these services. In addition to providing guidance on coordination and essential actions to be taken by different sectors, the ESP also outlines the enabling environment needed to support the implementation of essential services and provides guidance on estimating resource requirements for a minimum package of services. This is complemented by guidance developed by UN Women and partners on engaging survivors of VAWG safely and strengthening police responses to VAWG crimes during 2021–2022. 

In 2022 and 2023, UN Women supported 30 countries to improve the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of essential services for VAWG survivors, by working to scale up survivor services aligned with international standards, through promoting the ESP and related guidance; strengthen the coordination of services; strengthen justice and policing services; expand social services, in addition to strengthening the enabling legislative and policy environment; and conduct data and research-related activities to support VAWG responses, in both development and humanitarian country contexts. As a result, 44 countries saw an increase in the number of women who access services after experiencing violence or discrimination between 2022-2023. UN Women’s commitment to integrating the ‘leave no-one behind’ principle into its interventions has ensured that programming considers the needs of all women and girls, including those most marginalized.

Specific examples of UN Women’s work include:

• Uganda: Trained 1,500+ community leaders in gender-responsive EVAWG interventions.
• Bangladesh: Developed a Strategic Plan for Gender-Responsive Policing.
• Kyrgyzstan: Integrated gender-transformative curricula into four universities, educating 100+ students.
• Strengthened capacity of 770 institutions to provide survivor-centered services​
• Training packages were developed for prosecutors, GBV counsellors, and psychosocial workers. These materials supported national rollouts across Asia-Pacific to improve justice, health, and social service responses.

In support of the UNFPA GBV Operational Plan, Flourish, UNFPA leads prevention efforts, emphasizing comprehensive sexuality education (CSE) as a key strategy for GBV prevention and gender equality. The EmpowerED! programme, launched in partnership with Global Affairs Canada, embodies this approach, reaching nearly 7.5 million adolescents and youth across 10 countries (Argentina, Benin, Colombia, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Moldova, the Philippines, Tunisia, and Zambia). Similar initiatives have been implemented in the Pacific, where UNFPA revised CSE curricula in six countries (Fiji, Vanuatu, FSM, Kiribati, Solomon Islands, and Tonga) to align with international standards. 

UNFPA also integrates GBV prevention within health systems, partnering with Ministries of Health through initiatives like the EU4GE Joint Project in Eastern Europe and Central Asia and a regional collaboration with the League of Arab States, supporting training to prevent violence against women and integrate prevention into primary health care. 

Community engagement remains central to UNFPA’s prevention efforts. The Arab States Regional Office has led regional campaigns in partnership with religious institutions such as Al Azhar to prevent GBV and harmful practices. In Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), UNFPA conducted a regional systematization across 18 countries, mapping good practices and sharing findings with 15 governments to advocate for increased investment in evidence-based prevention programmes. 

To further advance GBV prevention in educational settings, UNFPA developed the ‘4 Steps to GBV Prevention’ toolkit, a pedagogical resource implemented in six LAC countries (Bolivia, Argentina, Uruguay, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Peru). 

UNFPA is committed to strengthening the capacity of governments, implementing partners, and its own staff to prevent and respond to GBV effectively. Through comprehensive training and capacity-building initiatives, UNFPA equips all actors involved in GBV prevention and response with the necessary knowledge, skills, and systems. 

• As of February 2025, 300 participants from 67 countries have completed the kNOwVAWdata course, focusing on safe, ethical VAW data collection, analysis, and reporting.
• ASRO supported Al-Azhar in conducting TOT workshops for students from Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, and Yemen, training future religious leaders to address GBV, FGM, and child marriage. ASRO also helped develop a framework for a Religious Leaders Network to enhance collaboration in combating harmful practices.
• In EECA, UNFPA strengthened multi-sectoral responses to GBV through regional ToT workshops, training 35 stakeholders per country and developing tools for monitoring and implementing standard operating procedures.
• PSRO developed and rolled out a GBV Risk Mitigation Curriculum for the Pacific Sub-Region, focusing on climate disaster contexts, across 4 countries.
• WCARO conducted capacity-building workshops on the Essential Services Package and GBV case management in The Gambia and Equatorial Guinea for UN personnel, government officials, and partners.
• ​​​In LAC, UNFPA developed 3 self-administered virtual courses on the Essential Services Package, clinical management of sexual violence, and child marriage prevention, reaching over 10,000 public servants across 15 countries. From these courses, a community of practice was established, running from 2020 to 2022 and generating 20 webinars on GBV, with 1.6k subscribers and 198k views.  Moreover, since 2021, UNFPA and PAHO have developed a course on the clinical management of sexual violence in Latin America. The course has been disseminated at the regional level and is currently being rolled out by the ministries of health in four countries: El Salvador, Brazil, Guatemala, and Ecuador. 

UNFPA plays a pivotal role in data collection, analysis, and research to enhance understanding and response to VAW. 

One of its flagship initiatives, kNOwVAWdata, provides technical support and capacity-building for ethical and robust VAW prevalence studies. Launched in 2016 in Asia-Pacific, it has since expanded to Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America and the Caribbean. The initiative helps countries collect and use data to inform programming and monitor SDG 5 on gender equality. 

In humanitarian settings, UNFPA leads GBV administrative data collection through the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS), ensuring ethical handling of sensitive data to improve response efforts. In 2024, the UNFPA Humanitarian Response Division conducted an external review of GBVIMS, assessing progress and UNFPA’s role as a lead agency. 

Regional Data and Research Efforts 

• West & East Africa: In partnership with UNICEF and the Innocenti Center, UNFPA launched an operational study in 2024 to develop technical guidance for FGM and child marriage programming in humanitarian settings.
• Arab States: Published "Voices from Syria" and "Voices from Sudan," providing qualitative insights into GBV in crisis settings.
• Asia-Pacific: Supports VAW prevalence studies, ensuring ethical and robust methodologies. From 2021-2024, APRO supported national surveys in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Indonesia, and Vanuatu—with 32 out of 36 countries having conducted at least one study, and 12 with comparable data to track changes over time. In 2024, APRO and the University of Melbourne published research on technology-facilitated GBV in Asia, including in-depth studies in three countries. UNFPA also ran GBV data learning sessions in four countries in the Pacific under the Spotlight Initiative, hosted a GBV data course in Fiji, and developed the GBV Administrative Data Toolkit for the Pacific.
• Latin America & Caribbean: Conducted the first regional qualitative research on child marriage and early unions (CMEU) in eight countries, in collaboration with Plan International, making the issue more visible. Based on this research, UNFPA and UNICEF launched an inter-agency strategy to eliminate CMEU, including the Allies for Children and Adolescents Free of Harmful Practices regional platform. 

Through these initiatives, UNFPA strengthens evidence-based policies and interventions, ensuring accountability in the global fight against GBV and harmful practices. 

UNFPA plays a pivotal role in addressing sexual violence in conflict by adopting a comprehensive approach focused on prevention, response, and survivor support, ensuring that survivors’ needs are met and their rights upheld. UNFPA collaborates with governments, humanitarian organizations, and civil society to provide essential services to women and girls affected by conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV). 

As the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) mandated agency for GBV prevention and response, UNFPA leads and supports multi-sectoral responses to GBV, including CRSV, coordinating efforts across health, legal, protection, and psychosocial sectors. This includes establishing GBV Sub-Clusters in humanitarian settings to coordinate responses, share information, and prevent duplication of efforts. 

As a member of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict and other global initiatives, UNFPA works to strengthen system-wide responses, supporting UN Security Council Resolutions on Women, Peace, and Security (1325, 1820, 1888, 1960) and collaborating with UNICEF, UN Women, and UNHCR to ensure a comprehensive approach to sexual violence in conflict. 

In 2024, UNFPA, with funding from the UN Action Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF), directly supported CRSV survivors in Sudan, South Sudan, Ukraine, and Mali. Data collected through the GBVIMS on CRSV is shared with the Monitoring, Analysis, and Reporting Arrangements (MARA), adhering to strict safety and ethical protocols in countries such as South Sudan, Mali, Central African Republic, Somalia, and Iraq. UNFPA also co-leads MARA Working Groups in Myanmar, Mali, and the Central African Republic, strengthening responses through a survivor-centered approach. 

2024 highlights:  

• ASRO provides tailored support to seven crisis-affected countries (Sudan, Palestine, Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, Libya), offering essential medical supplies, GBV survivor assistance, MHPSS, and safe spaces for women and girls. It also supported 42 women-led organizations and enhanced GBV coordination in humanitarian contexts.
• In Palestine, ASRO partnered with OHCHR for training on CRSV and safe referral processes.
• WCARO worked with WHO to strengthen clinical management of rape (CMR) capacities, conducting ToT sessions in Côte d'Ivoire and Chad, and planning cascade training in Niger, Central African Republic, Chad, and Mali.
• UNFPA Nigeria piloted a national CMR ToT focused on testing the new CMR-IPV inter-agency toolkit. 

In 2024, UNFPA co-hosted a global expert group meeting on femicide alongside UN Women and UNODC, with support from the Centre of Excellence for CRVS and kNOwVAWdata. This meeting brought together experts, activists, and victims' families to address critical issues surrounding femicide. Key topics included: 

• Developing conceptual and statistical frameworks for measuring femicide
• The role of feminist review committees in identifying systemic failures and prevention strategies
• Intersections with emerging issues like technology-facilitated GBV, suicidality, and sorcery-related violence 

The voices of victims' families were central to the dialogue, grounding discussions in lived experiences and underscoring the urgency of addressing femicide as the most severe form of gender-based violence (GBV). The meeting emphasized data-driven approaches, survivor-centred solutions, and multi-stakeholder collaboration to combat femicide globally. 

Follow-up documents are being developed, including a report highlighting key insights around prevention, response, and data, as well as a specific document on the strengths of the statistical framework and potential additional data sources beyond the judicial system. 

UNFPA LAC, under the Spotlight Initiative, conducted a series of multidimensional studies on feminicide in vulnerable contexts across Latin America. Notably: 

• In Peru, UNFPA supported the development of an inter-institutional protocol for addressing feminicide, attempted feminicide, and high-risk intimate partner violence.
• In El Salvador, the campaign "Traces of Absence" raised awareness of femicide.
• In Argentina, the "We Are More Than Numbers" campaign focused on prevention and awareness of femicide. 

Launched in 2024, Making All Spaces Safe is a UNFPA global programme supported by Global Affairs Canada, aimed at addressing the growing threat of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). The programme focuses on critical gaps in preventing and responding to TFGBV by integrating targeted activities into existing gender-based violence (GBV) programming and advancing rights-based laws and policies, as well as safety-by-design standards in technology development. The programme is structured around three key pillars: 

• Response
• Prevention
• Law and Policy 

Additionally, it includes two cross-cutting pillars: 

• Research and Evaluation
• Convening Efforts 

Key Activities and Regional Efforts 

• UNFPA’s Role in Global Initiatives: UNFPA is an active member of the Technology and Innovation Reference Group under the global GBV Area of Responsibility.
• Gender Analysis and Legislative Roadmaps: In 2024, a Gender Analysis of national legislation on TFGBV was conducted in the Pacific sub-region, as well as in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Serbia, and Kosovo. As a result, Legislative Roadmaps for preventing GBV through information and communication technology (ICT) were developed in these countries.
• Bodyright Campaign: Several UNFPA country offices have adapted and launched the Bodyright Campaign, including in Moldova, Costa Rica, Argentina, the Western Balkans (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, North Macedonia, Kosovo), Nigeria, and Mali.
• Regional Initiatives in the Arab States: In the Arab States, UNFPA has focused on various approaches to address TFGBV. In Jordan, UNFPA partnered with the National Commission for Women to create a community awareness guide. In Egypt, UNFPA conducted multiple trainings on TFGBV for GBV service providers and university representatives.
• Investing in Technology for Women’s Safety: UNFPA is also leveraging technology for women’s safety. For example:
• Safe YOU app: Launched in Iraq and Romania, the app provides emergency support and a peer discussion platform.
• Netopoly: In Tunisia, UNFPA developed Netopoly, an online board game aimed at educating adolescents on cyberbullying and online safety. 

UNFPA provides direct technical assistance to governments in developing, strengthening, and implementing policies for GBV prevention, response, and survivor support. This includes legal frameworks, national action plans, standard operating procedures (SOPs), emergency preparedness and response plans, and gender-sensitive policies across humanitarian, peace, and development contexts. UNFPA collaborates with ministries, parliamentarians, and other stakeholders to integrate GBV prevention into national development plans, social protection systems, and SRHR policies, including Universal Health Coverage. 

At the global and regional levels, UNFPA supports key international frameworks such as the Beijing Platform for Action, the SDGs, and UN Security Council Resolutions. 

Notable achievements include: 

• Nigeria: Strengthened partnership with the First Lady, leading to the first National Summit on Social Norms and GBV, which resulted in a national commitment to upholding the dignity and rights of women and girls.
• North Macedonia (2021–2024): Supported a Multi-Sectoral Response Protocol, facilitated 11 bylaws (7 adopted), developed SOPs for Sexual Assault Referral Centres, finalized a survivor reintegration program, and supported the evaluation of the National Action Plan on implementing the Istanbul Convention (2018–2023), endorsed in 2024.
• Latin America & the Caribbean: Advanced survivor-centred approaches in multi-sectoral response protocols across nine countries (Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Panama, the Dominican Republic, Bolivia, Guatemala, Honduras, and Ecuador).