Inter-Agency Mechanisms and Activities
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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.
UNODC is part of the United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality and also has a coordinating role in ICAT, the Inter-Agency Coordination Group on Trafficking in Persons, established by the General Assembly.
IOM continues to host a Training Specialist from the IASC GBV Guidelines Implementation Support Team. The Specialist has, among other things, co-facilitated GBV Guidelines Rollout Trainings in Guatemala and El Salvador, and helped develop guidance for non-GBV specialists on how to respond supportively to a GBV disclosure in field locations where no direct GBV services are available. In addition, IOM continues to strengthen its partnership with the GBV AoR, particularly in the areas of rapid response capacities and information management. IOM is supporting interagency NORCAP, Regional GBV in Emergency Advisors to enhance regional rapid response and capacity building capabilities of the GBV AoR.
UNHCR is a signatory of the Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies and has made 10 commitments aimed at changing UNHCR’s internal institutional policies and implementing SGBV prevention, mitigation and response programmes from the onset of emergencies.
As lead for the Global Protection Cluster, the UNHCR promotes protection as central to the humanitarian response and as a core member of the IASC’s GBV Area of Responsibility, UNHCR works with UN agencies, NGOs and governments to ensure coverage and quality of prevention and response mechanisms in addressing SGBV.
UNHCR is member of the Real Time Accountability Partnership and serves as member of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, an interagency collation aimed at galvanizing coordinated UN effort to address sexual violence in conflict-related settings.
UNHCR co-chairs the IASC Task Team on Accountability to Affected Populations and Protection from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse (AAP/PSEA).
UNHCR is also a member of the UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict Network of Focal Points who support the work of the Special Representatives of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict.
7. “Safe & Fair” delivers technical assistance and support with the overall objective of making labour migration safe and fair for all women in the ASEAN region. This project is part of the multi-year EU-UN Spotlight Initiative to Eliminate Violence against Women and Girls and is implemented by the ILO and UN Women.
See: ILO. 2018. “Safe&Fair: Realizing women migrant worker’s rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region”. Available at: https://www.ilo.org/asia/media-centre/multimedia/WCMS_634369/lang--en/index.htm
8. MESAGEN Peru (Mesa de Género de la Cooperación Internacional) supports the Peruvian Government and civil society in the development of strategies and action to promote gender equality, women empowerment and equal opportunities between women and men in Peru. Together with the EU and actors in the United Nations System, the ILO has worked on promoting the prevention of violence against women, especially in the private sector.