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UNODC established a new professional network on violence against women, composed of staff working on gender-based violence across UNODC, in order to more effectively assist countries in preventing and responding to violence against women. 

UNODC conducted an internal survey on efforts and potential progress regarding gender equality and the empowerment of women in accordance with Sustainable Development Goal 5 of the 2030 Agenda. The results indicated increased internal knowledge and understanding due to the provision of accessible and regular information, as well as gender being included more clearly in the 2030 Agenda and given greater priority. Respondents indicated that further training was needed, especially regarding project development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Furthermore, the appointment of a dedicated gender focal point and the adoption of a clear gender strategy were mentioned as helpful to facilitating greater progress. 

UNHCR has improved data management and analysis on SGBV, which strengthened programming and enhanced services for survivors and those at risk. Moreover, UNHCR has deployed senior-level protection staff to ten emergency operations in 2019, covering all L3 emergencies, where they strengthened coordination among partners, ensured access to quality of SGBV services, trained staff, and worked with diverse communities to address SGBV. An evaluative review found that this technical support increased the efficiency of SGBV programming from 35% to 82%, and increased coverage of SGBV programming from 25% to 59%. Moreover, SGBV mainstreaming projects have been implemented in areas such as livelihoods, energy and cash-based interventions.

UN Women capacities at the regional and national level have enhanced through its triple mandate and technical leadership on EVAW in Africa region. This is evidenced through the leadership on Africa Spotlight Initiative at both regional and country levels, steep increase in the mobilization of resources, strengthening of partnerships with AUC, regional and national CSOs, government and other partners.   UN Women in Africa also by leveraging on the Africa Strategy and harnessing the technical capacities of the team through establishment of a regional EVAW Community of Practice (COP) and sharing of innovation and technical knowledge through South-South learning.  This helped immensely in initiating, strengthening and up-scaling programs on ‘safe markets and safe public spaces’ in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania and Zimbabwe; addressing tech violence against girls in education institutions through a research and advocacy document; partnerships with regional traditional leaders in establishing a movement of “Council of Traditional Leaders in Africa (COTLA)” and its launch in the sidelines of the African Union Summit in February 2019 through the President of Zambia in grassroot advocacy and prevention of child marriage, FGM and other harmful practices.   Strengthened partnerships with the government and CSOs also helped in technical support in legislative reform, strengthening institutions, establishment of referral pathways and multisectoral responses in EVAW in the region. 

UN-Women continued to support the mainstreaming of gender and development of training sessions on violence against women in politics, which were delivered in the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) 2019 courses on Political Approaches to Preventing and Responding to Election-Related Violence.

WFP actively participates in the interagency group, with contributions in the revision of the Spotlight strategy

During the reporting period UNRWA developed capacity building plans to extend and improve its capacity to respond, mitigate and prevent GBV in emergencies. The capacity building plans include tools to improve staff knowledge, attitude, and practice when addressing GBV. Further a monitoring and evaluation framework is in place to measure the change generated by the capacity building efforts. 

The UN Trust Fund cooperates closely with 24 UN organs and bodies through Regional and Global Programme Advisory Committees.

During the implementation and monitoring stage, the UN Trust Fund provides training to UN Women field colleagues on the reporting requirements for the grantees, as well as on EVAW programmatic and technical aspects of the grantees’ project implementation. 

In November 2018, the SRVAW and the CEDAW Committee agreed on a Framework of Cooperation as a means of strengthening already established cooperation on combating violence against women in line with their respective mandates, and to advance the rights of women and girls by preventing and combating gender based violence, and supporting the implementation of the Convention and its General Recommendation 35.

UN Volunteers are an important component of capacity on the ground in the global pursuit of gender equality. The gender ratio of UN Volunteers improved from 43% female in 2015 to 47% female in 2017.

The UN Trust Fund as a UN system wide grant giving mechanism, specialized in ending violence against women, coordinates and collects inputs from 21 UN agencies present at the Program Advisory Committee of the UN Trust Fund’s governance body throughout the grants selection stage. 

During the implementation and monitoring stage, the UN Trust Fund provides training to UN Women field colleagues on the reporting requirements for the grantees, as well as on EVAW programmatic and technical aspects of the grantees’ project implementation.