Spotlight Inititative
220 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10017
Background
Launched in 2017 with an initial investment of over 500 million USD from the European Union, Spotlight Initiative is the United Nations Secretary-General’s High Impact Initiative to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Recognized as one of the 12 High-Impact Initiatives – driving progress across the sustainable development goals – Spotlight Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to address violence against women and girls at scale.
During its first phase (2017- 2023), Spotlight Initiative helped cohere the UN system to implement 34 programmes across five regions. This included two civil society grant-making programmes – established in collaboration with the UN Trust to End Violence against Women and the Women’s Peace and Humanitarian Fund – which helped channel additional resources directly to civil society. By fostering a “One UN” approach under the leadership of the Resident Coordinators at the country level, Spotlight Initiative has leveraged various UN agencies’ complementary expertise, deepened collaboration, and streamlined operational processes, allowing for stronger programme delivery and better results for women and girls.
Through its deep partnerships at country and regional level – including with governments, civil society, faith-based and traditional leaders, academic institutions, media, the private sector, and others – Spotlight Initiative drove significant progress across response and prevention efforts. A strong commitment to meaningful engagement with civil society in particular, including local and grassroots organisations and feminist and women’s rights groups, has been central to the Initiative’s approach, as well. Under its first phase, nearly half of the Initiative’s activity funds were channeled directly to civil society, ensuring local ownership, buy-in, and sustainability of the Initiative's investments. At the global level, the Initiative forged a range of strategic partnerships, including with the Group of Friends, a coalition of 93 UN Member States advocating to end violence against women and girls, and the UN Foundation, which helped launch the WithHer Fund to channel more funding directly to local organizations.
Through its comprehensive approach – working to pass progressive laws and policies, strengthen institutions, deepen prevention programming, improve access to services, and generate data, and by centering partnerships – particularly with civil society – the Initiative has been shown to be 70% to 90% more effective at reducing the prevalence of violence against women and girls than siloed, single-pillar approaches. By aligning its interventions with national and local priorities, Spotlight Initiative works to deepen capacity, political will, and long-term commitment to ending violence against women and girls and advancing gender equality and women’s rights.
Areas of Focus
Unique to the Initiative is a whole-of-society approach that places ending violence against women and girls at the heart of national development priorities and gives local communities the tools they need to address violence in their specific context. The model works to support the development and revision of gender responsive laws and policies; strengthen institutions and data collection on VAWG; promote gender-equitable attitudes and positive social norms, and provide quality services for survivors of violence and their families. It does this work in partnerships with government and, critically, with civil society and women’s movements at every level, enhancing civic space and driving sustainable, transformative change.
Addressing violence against women and girls requires a whole-of-society approach, ensuring that all key actors–civil society organizations (CSOs), government institutions, law enforcement, judicial systems, and media–have the knowledge and skills to prevent and respond effectiv
View MoreAddressing violence against women and girls requires a whole-of-society approach, ensuring that all key actors–civil society organizations (CSOs), government institutions, law enforcement, judicial systems, and media–have the knowledge and skills to prevent and respond effectively. Capacity-building is essential to fostering sustainable, systemic change. Without proper training, institutions risk reinforcing harmful norms, mismanaging cases, or failing to allocate adequate resources to address gender-based violence.
Spotlight Initiative made strategic investments in training and capacity development to strengthen the ability of CSOs, policymakers, and law enforcement agencies to advance gender equality and effectively address violence against women and girls. These efforts included training parliamentarians on gender-responsive budgeting, equipping police forces with survivor-centred investigative techniques, and strengthening civil society organizations to engage with government entities and drive change at the grassroots level.
CSOs play a critical role in driving accountability, advocating for policy reforms, and providing essential services to survivors. Over the course of the Initiative, more than 5,500 women’s rights organizations, social movements, and civil society actors received support to enhance their capacity to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. This included training on advocacy strategies, financial management, programmatic implementation, and engagement with government institutions to secure policy commitments and funding. In the Pacific Regional Programme, Spotlight Initiative partnered with 39 national, local, and grassroots women’s organizations across ten countries to establish new and unique partnerships with government entities through the Pacific People’s Advancing Change (PPAC) grant-giving programme. In Niue, the Makefu Women’s Council collaborated with public safety and health sector officials to ensure their 24-hour helpline was operational for LGBTIQ+ communities, expanding access to vital services.
Ensuring that commitments to gender equality are backed by sustainable funding requires policymakers who understand how to integrate gender considerations into national budgets. Since 2019, Spotlight Initiative has trained 1,992 parliamentarians and 9,297 government officials in gender-responsive budgeting, enabling them to advocate for and secure increased budget allocations to address gender-based violence. In Liberia, capacity-building efforts led to the establishment of gender-responsive budgeting units within multiple ministries, increasing national budget allocations for sexual and gender-based violence from zero in 2020 to USD 500,000 in 2022. In Papua New Guinea, technical assistance and training efforts helped secure the country’s first-ever national budget line for violence against women and children, which was subsequently increased in the following year. These investments demonstrate the power of training to drive policy change and ensure sustained funding for violence prevention and response efforts.
Law enforcement officers are often the first point of contact for survivors, making their training critical to ensuring that responses are survivor-centred, effective, and aligned with human rights principles. However, without proper training, police forces may perpetuate stigma, discourage survivors from reporting, or fail to handle cases effectively. Spotlight Initiative supported police training efforts in multiple countries to strengthen institutional responses to gender-based violence. In Trinidad and Tobago, over 400 police officers received training in gender analysis, equipping them with the skills to provide survivor-centred services and referrals. The Initiative’s “training of trainers” model ensured that knowledge was institutionalized, leading to broader cultural shifts in policing. Similarly, in El Salvador, training for judicial actors and law enforcement personnel contributed to the adoption of a national protocol for investigating and prosecuting femicide cases, strengthening accountability within the justice system.
Training and capacity-building efforts must be sustained across all sectors to ensure a comprehensive and effective response to violence against women and girls. By strengthening the knowledge and skills of civil society organizations, parliamentarians, law enforcement, and judicial actors, Spotlight Initiative contributed to long-term institutional change. These efforts ensure that national policies were properly funded, that survivors receive justice, and that systemic approaches were embedded at all levels to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.