Measures

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.

FAO has been actively working to assess the gendered impacts of conflict, including GBV, to enhance the effectiveness of response strategies and ensure the needs of women and girls are met in crisis situations. In 2024, FAO published the briefing note “Understanding the gender-related impact of the crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank”  emphasizing the importance of identifying gender-based constraints and vulnerabilities for an inclusive and accountable response. Similarly, in 2022, FAO published the “Complementary Information Note on Gender-Related Impacts of the Ukraine Conflict,” which examined how the war increased risks of sexual violence, exploitation, and other forms of GBV for women and girls.  

 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.  

FAO has been actively working to assess the gendered impacts of conflict, including GBV, to enhance the effectiveness of response strategies and ensure the needs of women and girls are met in crisis situations. In 2024, FAO published the briefing note “Understanding the gender-related impact of the crisis in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank”  emphasizing the importance of identifying gender-based constraints and vulnerabilities for an inclusive and accountable response. Similarly, in 2022, FAO published the “Complementary Information Note on Gender-Related Impacts of the Ukraine Conflict,” which examined how the war increased risks of sexual violence, exploitation, and other forms of GBV for women and girls.  

In 2023, FAO published the Status of Women in Agrifood Systems (SWAF) report. The report evaluates the limited existing evidence on GBV in agrifood systems and offers examples of successful strategies for mitigating, preventing, and addressing GBV. By offering concrete examples and identifying research needs, this report contributes to a deeper understanding of GBV in the agrifood context and supports the development of targeted interventions to mitigate violence against women and girls, particularly in rural agricultural settings.

FAO has enhanced its efforts to prevent and mitigate GBV through community-driven initiatives, including Dimitra Clubs, Farmer Field Schools (FFS), Youth and Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (YJFFLS), Women’s Empowerment Farmer Business School (WE-FBS), and the Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) approach. These programmes empower individuals and foster collective action, effectively addressing gender inequalities and enhancing safety. By engaging both women and men, they create platforms for dialogue, social norms shift education, and shared responsibility, driving positive change in communities and contributing to the reduction of GBV risks. 

In 2022, FAO published the Practical guide on how to eliminate gender-based violence and protect rural communities through food security and agriculture interventions. This guide is designed to support country offices, FAO staff and strategic partners in the fight against any form of gender-based violence, facilitate the integration of protection issues in an FAO project cycle, and support the collection and analysis of data disaggregated by sex and other social variables for generating the evidence for policy-making and planning of gender-responsive and gender-transformative interventions. It provides the needed tools and promising approaches and experiences of the last decade used successfully to address GBV and eliminate protection risks in the field.  

At the global policy level, FAO supports the Call-to-Action on Protection from GBV in Emergencies initiatives and is implementing the commitments towards gender equality and the reduction of GBV made in 2015 by the Committee on World Food Security Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises.

Supporting legislative and policy development is a core strategic priority of the UN Trust Fund, and one of the three outcome areas in its Strategic Plan 2021-2025, reflecting the critical importance of effective legislation, policies, national action plans and accountability systems to ensure survivors of violence have access to justice services and protection under fully implemented laws and policies.

As such, between 2021 and 2024, an average of 46% of initiatives supported by the UN Trust Fund per year included strategies to increase effectiveness of legislation, policies, national action plans and accountability systems to end violence against women and girls.

Between 2021 and 2024, the UN Trust Fund supported 11,904 institutional partners that had increased capacities to develop or implement national and/or local multisectoral strategics, policies and-/or action plans to end violence against women and girls. In total 4,217 local, subnational or national government institutions worldwide increased capacities to design and implement institutional reforms, strategies and /or policies to prevent or respond to violence women and girls. 

For example, in Kenya in early 2022, the Centre for Rights Education and Awareness (CREAW) supported Isiolo County, one of its project sites, to officially launch its own gender policy to guide the mainstreaming of policies and processes to address VAW/G. The policy was drafted by CREAW and the Kenya Women Parliamentarians Association. CREAW also teamed up with local women’s rights groups to advocate for the policy’s adoption. The policy set out specific information on how the County Government can mainstream gender in all county functions to address a number of issues, including public participation and the representation of women and girls in all sectors; economic funds and equal opportunities for women; and a mechanism for gender-based violence prevention and response (such as safety nets, shelters and economic justice).

Supporting legislative and policy development is a core strategic priority of the UN Trust Fund, and one of the three outcome areas in its Strategic Plan 2021-2025. It therefore provides funding to civil society and women’s rights organizations to support legislative development.

As such, between 2021 and 2024, an average of 46% of initiatives supported by the UN Trust Fund per year included strategies to increase effectiveness of legislation, policies, national action plans and accountability systems to end violence against women and girls. Strategies utilized by grantee partners included strengthening the capacity of lawyers, advocating for strong legal protections for women and girls, and the use of strategic litigation to highlight emblematic cases.

For example, in 2024, The Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA) strengthened partnerships with women’s and girls’ rights organizations in Somalia and Somaliland to advocate for legal frameworks that better protect displaced and minority women and girls, who are disproportionately affected by sexual and gender-based violence. SIHA’s coalition has advocated for legislation that guarantees their right to live free from violence, access services and see accountability for perpetrators.

In Mexico, the Grupo de Acción por los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Social established a network of more than 30 feminist lawyers across 17 states to provide legal aid and represent women and girls in cases of gender-based violence. Building on the organization’s experience in strategic litigation, including high-profile femicide cases, the initiative’s participatory model encourages survivors to claim their rights and regain control of their lives. The network is also training new lawyers using a gender-focused, specialized pedagogy that is unavailable in traditional law schools, and strengthening local groups of women survivors.

Based on increasing reports from its grantee partners of cases of technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and in recognition of this growing threat, the UN Trust Fund introduced technology-facilitated violence against women (TFVAW) as a distinct form of violence for the first time in its 2023 Call for Proposals. A total of 239 applications were submitted, collectively requesting $121.6 million in funding — a clear reflection of both the scale of need and the growing demand for feminist, locally driven solutions. 

One of the new partners awarded a grant in 2024 under the ACT Programme, the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Centre, is strengthening feminist movements in Nigeria and Kenya by engaging younger women activists to address TFVAW.

To better understand this emerging trend, in 2024, the UN Trust Fund conducted a comprehensive analysis through a thematic survey of 29 grantee partners, a virtual café attracting over 90 experts, and dedicated discussions on its online hub, SHINE. The findings revealed that 88% of survey respondents reported encountering technology-facilitated violence in their work, and shed light on the realities that civil society and women’s rights organizations are navigating to address this rapidly evolving form of violence. The virtual café further demonstrated the global scope of the issue, with partners from Jordan to Mexico to Tajikistan, amongst others, voicing their concerns and observations on this trending issue.