Measures
In 2020, WFP also focused on capacity building, prioritising dedicated resources for protection from sexual exploitation and abuse (PSEA) and adapting its current practices to the COVID19 context. A few examples of the work WFP did to translate exiting guidance into practice and the outcome of these initiatives are outlined below.
WFP provided feedback and supported the development of material for the GBV IASC online course that was launched in 2021. This material includes videos from WFP country offices in India, Colombia, and Uganda on how they mainstream GBV mitigation into food security and nutrition assistance/services.
WFP facilitated a webinar for the WFP Cash-based Transfer (CBT) learning series on mainstreaming GBV mitigation into cash-based assistance. This was an opportunity for the Women Refugee Council (WRC) and CARE subject experts to introduce WFP to existing guidance that complements the IASC Guidelines and present country-level good practices.
WFP used the opportunity to develop new commitments for the Call to Action on Protection from GBV 2021-2025 Roadmap to engage country offices, regional bureau (RB) and the foods security cluster to raise awareness about the IASC Guidelines, review existing practices and initiatives and jointly define priorities and indicators to measure the impact of the new commitments. The commitments were approved in April 2021 and will be officially launched in June 2021 in a webinar addressed to dedicated protection and gender personnel and in a broader event in December 2021.
WFP conducted regional online training sessions for PSEA Focal Points in all six-regional bureau (RB), co-hosted by NGO Unit, the Office on Inspections and Investigations (OIGI) and the respective RB, with participation from approximately 60 Country Offices.
As part of its interagency engagements, WFP committed to designating Inter-agency PSEA Coordinators in Afghanistan, Colombia, Mozambique, Sudan and Nigeria WFP supported their recruitment and induction.
Integrating PSEA into core WFP Training Initiatives-The Ethics Office worked closely with the Field Security Division to integrate a PSEA module within the WFP Safe and Secure Approaches in Field Environments (SSAFE) Training Course to support WFP employees that are part of processes.
Supported the dissemination of the Harmonised UN IP PSEA Assessment -The Ethics Office and NGO Unit co-hosted a session to introduce the tool to field colleagues which was attended by over 150 participants across WFP. In addition, WFP initiated a field pilot of the Assessment Tool with selected Country Offices.
The IASC “Say No to Sexual Misconduct” learning package was developed and launched to equip partner organizations with the awareness and skills to define, detect and respond to SEA. WFP had a lead role in adapting the package, working together with UNHCR, other UN agencies and IASC members, from an earlier initiative by IOM.
Some highlights from the country level: in Nepal, WFP supported the development of a facilitator guide that incorporates gender and inclusion including gender-based violence with updated facts supported by data and reporting mechanism in place to address sexual exploitation and abuse. The session is developed particularly for the participants of emergency logistics trainings. In Myanmar, guidance was prepared based on GBV risks in cash-based interventions in Rakhine State. In Nicaragua, WFP implemented an initiative call "the construction of new masculinities for the transformation of gender relations in WFP and the smallholder farmers”. WFP’s male staff and smallholder farmers’ organizations sensitized and trained on issues of violence prevention and new masculinities.
The Facilitator Guide on Mainstreaming GBV Risk Mitigation was launched in 2020 and until September 2021 a total of 124 participants from sectors have been trained on the topic.
Another 24 colleagues from 15 country operations and HQ graduated from the 2020 Cohort of the GBV Training of Trainers and more than 210 participants were brought together for the 2020 GBV Global Workshop, which was adapted to online modalities.
Across UNHCR, 2,617 UNHCR learners completed at least one level of the GBV e-learning in the period between January 2020 until September 2021.
UNHCR released its Gender Equality Toolkit in 2020 and provided operational support towards the institutionalization of gender equality and women’s empowerment initiatives. To facilitate cross-operational learning and seize opportunities to advance gender equality, UNHCR and partners documented emerging and promising practices in sub-Saharan Africa and collaborated with the Population Council to document community-based protection practices in East and Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes Region.
In October 2020, UNHCR released its first agency-wide Policy on the Prevention of, Risk Mitigation and Response to Gender-based Violence. The Policy institutionalizes the work on GBV through nine core actions that respond to its gaps and advance on quality programming and coordination across the organization, while consolidating the progress made to prevent, mitigate and respond to GBV in various operational contexts by UNHCR’s and partners. With this Policy, UNHCR reiterates that GBV as a serious human rights violation rooted in power imbalances, which disproportionally affects diverse women and girls around the world. It recognizes that the risk of experiencing GBV increases in situations of displacement and conflict and promotes gender equality in all aspects of its work, ensuring that all programming and coordination efforts contribute to strengthening efforts to respond to protection needs, promoting gender equality and the prevention of GBV.
The GBV Policy completes the UNHCR Policy on Age, Gender and Diversity, launched in 2018 and which has 5 actions on addressing gender inequality.
In 2020, 64,796 GBV survivors received psychosocial counselling, 3,297 received legal assistance and 5,736 medical assistance through services provided by UNHCR and partners.
Through the Global Humanitarian Response Plan to COVID-19 (GHRP), over 2 million women and girls reached UNHCR via hotlines and other mechanisms to support GBV, while some 1.18 million women and girls were provided with sexual and reproductive health services.
During the last quarter of 2020, UNCHR's registration and case management system, ProGres v4, was upgraded. The operationalization of the CP and GBV modules was supported through a series of trainings and tailored technical support provided to country operation to increase their awareness and understanding of the new enhancements. The continued deployment of the ProGres v4 CP and GBV modules has increased the ability of operations to standardize and disaggregate the GBV and CP Case Management data for program quality and trend analysis.
The collection of survivors' personal data concerning GBV incidents is carried out only if the survivor has consented and wishes to be referred for protection or assistance in accordance with the GBV Guiding Principle and data protection principles, as outlined in UNHCR's GBV Policy. In the case of children, specific procedures for obtaining consent/assent from parents/caregivers and/or children are required, in adherence with the best interests of the child.A standardized GBV Safety Audit tool has been developed to assess and monitor overall safety and GBV risk mitigation and response measures in operations, and to collect site-level information. Operations are utilizing the tool to inform programming.
In 2020, through the Safe from the Start programme, UNHCH deployed gender-based violence specialist staff to 12 operations such as Burkina Faso, Burundi, Mali, Yemen and Sudan, including L2 and L3 emergencies. From quarters 1 to 3 of 2021, GBV experts have been deployed in Mali, Central African Republic, Burkina Faso, Sudan and Trinidad and Tobago, among others. It is estimated that from the launch of the programme in 2012 until 2019, this technical support increased the efficiency of GBV programming from 35% to 82%, increased coverage of GBV programming from 25% to 59% and facilitated the access of 1.56 million additional persons of concern to GBV programming and services.
During 2020-2021, UNHCR has continued its proactive engagement with numerous commitments and Inter-Agency initiatives at the global level. UNHCR supported the revision and made renewed commitments to the revised roadmap of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies.
UNHCR engaged with the Gender-based Violence Area of Responsibility (GBVAoR) and its Task Teams, particularly on the GBV Minimum Standards, Localization and the Policy and Advocacy Reference Group, supporting the development of the GBViE Minimum Standards Facilitation Guide and Contextualization tool, the development of Covid-specific guidance, as well as several advocacy pieces.UNCHR also participated regularly in the Inter-Agency standing committee (IASC) Gender Reference Group (GRG) and in the IASC Guidelines Reference Group.UNHCR serves as a member of the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict and has supported the SRSG SVC’s Office with human resources to support coordination.UNHCR co-chairs Results Group 2 on Accountability and Inclusion supporting humanitarian leaders and responders in demonstrating system change through collective approaches to accountability and inclusion. It includes PSEA as well as ensuring consideration of diversity characteristics such as gender.UNHCR is a member of the GBVIMS Steering Committee and its technical team, PRIMERO coordination committee and PRIMES.
UNHCR developed a Guidance Note on the International Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The Guidance Note aims to serve as a resource for UNHCR staff with regards to: understanding the overall structure and content of the Convention; drafting UNHCR’s confidential comments to the Committee; helping asylum-seeking, refugee, internally displaced and stateless women and girls to understand and claim their rights under the Convention; and, informing other means of advocacy such as judicial interventions, UNHCR comments on draft national legislation, and public communications.
UNHCR has also supported the development of thematic legislation in different operations.
In addition, UNHCR launched its internal UNHCR’s Universal Periodic Review Dashboard. The UPR dashboard is a simple interactive tool that allows UNHCR colleagues to easily visualize, filter and extract data and the text of UPR recommendations which are directly related to UNHCR’s persons of concern. It includes data from OHCHR’s Universal Human Rights Index, but it is specifically limited to UPR recommendations related to persons under UNHCR’s mandate and the data has been tagged to allow filtering by regions and themes of relevance to UNHCR. It also provides quick links to past UNHCR UPR submissions and to States’ official UPR pages on OHCHR’s website.