Measures

Two Global Strategic Priorities of UNHCR for the coming two years will focus on SGBV by addressing provision of support to SGBV survivors as well as prevention and protection of SGBV survivors through community involvement. In order to strengthen its accountability, UNHCR also began focusing on joint monitoring and evaluation for the implementation of its three strategies on Education, Child Protection, and SGBV, as these three areas are complementary and often overlapping, and organized a seminar for protection and programme officers to this end. Hide

Four UNHCR Senior Regional Protection Officers who are dedicated to SGBV prevention and response took up their posts in Dakar, Nairobi, Beirut and Panama with the responsibility to provide technical support to the development and implementation of country-level multi-sectorial strategies on SGBV prevention and response. As a result, an additional seventeen countries have begun developing and implementing SGBV strategies. Hide

UNHCR continued its work, in partnership with with civil society, to ensure a holistic response for survivors of SGBV, including through establishment of safe spaces in centres in Lebanon, which are not specifically created for services provision to SGBV survivors, in order to avoid stigmatization of SGBV survivors seeking support; establishment of “centres d’écoute” for counselling services to SGBV survivors in Mali; establishment of family counselling mechanisms and community protection committees in Yemen to address domestic violence among Somali refugees; training in Burkina Faso for its staff and partners working with camp-based and urban refugees resulting in revisions to the SOP on SGBV in light of the changing situation in the Malian crisis. Hide

Between August and December 2013, UNHCR carried out a comprehensive review of the 2012 Participatory Assessments (PAs) in 42 different countries. This review looked at the process used in different locations to carry out PAs, the content of the assessments, and their outcomes in terms of strategic planning. With PAs being one of the elements of UNHCR’s participatory approach and AGD being a strategy to promote gender equality and respect for human rights which informs all stages of strategic planning, the review makes recommendations for addressing the identified weaknesses, mainly through a revision of the UNHCR Tool for Participatory Assessments in Operations. Hide

UNHCR carried several awareness-raising activities which culminated in the 16 Days of Activism Campaign, which focused on the theme Safety in School: Teachers and Students Unite to Make Schools SGBV-Free. Hide

UNHCR, as part of the Global Team responsible for the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBVIMS) provided technical support in data collection and analysis to 10 countries including missions to Jordan and Lebanon. Hide

The UN Trust Fund on EVAW-funded joint programme ‘Multi-Sectoral Gender Based Violence Response at the District Level in Nepal’, the first UN joint programming initiative to address VAW in Nepal, was completed in 2013 and the evaluation concluded that the programme has helped create a forum for different stakeholders to address VAW collectively. Hide

The UN Trust Fund organized a number of events in order to raise its visibility, build new partnerships and expand its outreach to the corporate sector. On 25 November, the UN Trust Fund announced its 18th call for proposals and launched its 2014 fundraising drive with the message “They count on us, we count on you”. Hide

In 2013, the UN Trust Fund received 2,410 applications from 145 countries, the majority of them from civil society organizations, with total funding requests of over $1.1 billion. In its 17th grant cycle, the UN Trust Fund continued engaging its inter-agency Programme Advisory Committee, at the global level, and sub-regional programme advisory committees and through its competitive process, awarded $8 million for 17 grants, covering 18 countries and territories. Sixteen civil society organizations and the Government of Antigua and Barbuda received grants that are expected to reach 2.3 million beneficiaries by 2017. In line with the UN Trust Fund’s Thematic Window on preventing and addressing violence against adolescent girls, five of these grants will focus on their specific needs.UN Trust Fund programmes are mobilizing communities in order to change beliefs, attitudes and practices that perpetuate and normalize violence. These initiatives are opening up safe spaces for girls in which they can thrive and develop their potential. They are promoting strategies to end impunity for gender-based violence in conflict situations, including by gathering evidence, strengthening prosecution systems and establishing non-judicial, truth-telling mechanisms. Through the Trust Fund’s support, grantees have made great advances in enabling the implementation of legislation that addresses all forms of violence against women and girls. In 2013 alone, the Trust Fund supported programmes that reached more than 3 million women, men, girls and boys around the world, including more than 30,000 survivors of violence. The work of the Trust Fund remains vital in closing the gap between promises and action.Given the promising results of community-based approaches and the central role of social mobilization to enact change, in the 18th grant cycle the UN Trust Fund will specifically and strategically invest in grass-roots women’s organizations and youth-led organizations, in addition to well-established civil society organizations, Governments and United Nations country teams. Programmes that engage groups facing discrimination and exclusion, such as internally displaced persons, refugees, women and girls living in conflict, post-conflict and transitional settings as well as women with disabilities, will also receive special consideration. Hide

UNESCO developed a global review of school-related gender based violence and conducted a regional review on the topic the Asia Pacific region. UNESCO also commissioned five country studies on the links between HIV/AIDS and gender-based violence in the Great Lakes Region of Africa and conducted a regional workshop on the topic in Tanzania (material available online). Hide