Training and Capacity Building

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, UNDP and UNFPA, held a special online meeting with its Committee on Women on “Policy Responses to Protect Women and Girls from the Impact of COVID-19” on 23 April 2020.

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, and UNDP, delivered online training for the National Family Safety Programme (NFSP) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, on “Building and Delivering Effective Hotline Service Provision during the COVID-19 Pandemic” during May 2020.

ESCWA delivered an online workshop for the Republic of the Sudan entitled “Best Practices and Shared Experiences on Shelters for Women Survivors of Violence in the Republic of the Sudan” on 25-27 August 2020.

ESCWA, in cooperation with the Supreme Council for Family Affairs of Kuwait, organized a “Webinar Series on the Women, Peace and Security Agenda in the State of Kuwait” on 28-29 September and 13 October 2020.

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP and UNODC, coordinated and delivered a series of 12 webinars on Violence against Women and COVID-19 for the National Family Safety Programme (NFSP) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, from October-December 2020.

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, the League of Arab States and the Arab Institute for Women at the Lebanese American University, organized a high level virtual meeting on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of UNSCR 1325 on 4 November 2020.

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women, UNFPA, UNDP and the League of Arab States, organized and facilitated webinar sessions on gender justice and the law designed to better inform members of the subcommittee on gender equality and SDGs on tools to examine and align national legislation with international frameworks, most notably CEDAW, Beijing Platform of Action and SDG target 5.1 on 8-10 December 2020.

ESCWA, in partnership with the Arab Women Organization, facilitated “Sub-regional Training Webinars on Reporting to the Committee on All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)” on 12-16 January 2021.

ESCWA, with support from ABAAD, delivered an online workshop for the National Family Safety Programme (NFSP) in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on “Supporting Women between Empowerment and Rehabilitation: Different Approaches” during March 2021.

ESCWA delivered an online workshop for the Sultanate of Oman entitled “Technical support in the field of combating violence against women in the Sultanate of Oman: Ensuring a comprehensive and holistic approach to addressing violence against women through legal/policy frameworks and service provision” on 22-23 June 2021.

ESCWA, in partnership with UN Women and WHO, delivered an online workshop for representatives from National Women Machineries and other relevant stakeholders who provide services for survivors of violence on “Services to Protect Women Survivors of Violence the Arab Region” on 26-29 July 2021.

During the reporting period, UNODC provided training and capacity building on crime prevention and criminal justice responses to gender-based violence against women for criminal justice professional (police, prosecutors, judges, legal aid and other service providers) in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, Guatemala, Iraq, Jordan, Liberia, Mexico, Nepal, Saudi, Arabia, Senegal, Sierra Leone, State of Palestine and Viet Nam.

UNODC also provided training, with a focus on the gender aspect of trafficking in persons and smuggling of migrant, under its GLO.ACT and TRACK4TIP programmes. This included specialized workshops for judges in Kyrgyzstan, the Pakistan Federal Investigation Agency, the GBV police unit of Trinidad and Tobago, Community Justice Homes supporting Dominican-Haitian women, as well as trainings for Venezuelan women to promote early identification of TIP and safe case referral.

In 2019, UNODC trained over 3,500 criminal justice practitioners, governmental officials and civil society representatives under the Global Programme against Trafficking in Persons and provided 25 countries with technical assistance at the national level. 

In Lesotho and South Africa, UNODC enhanced police responses to gender-based violence by conducting two specialisation workshops for 70 police officers on the investigation and case management of cyber- and gender-based violence cases.

In Myanmar, UNODC, in collaboration with UNFPA, UN Women and UNICEF, trained 1,300 officers from the national police force on responding to incidents of gender-based violence. Additionally, UNODC implemented a two-stage training programme in collaboration with the Office of the Attorney General, firstly with a training-of-trainers for senior prosecutors and later with regional roll-out trainings led by the Office of the Attorney General.  

In Namibia, UNODC trained 103 participants (76 female and 27 male) in national training-of-trainers’ workshops on court support, preparation and trial advocacy in cases of gender-based violence.

In Viet Nam, UNODC delivered training on best practices in the provision of legal assistance to survivors of violence against women and girls for 265 police officers, prosecutors and legal aid professionals.

ESCWA in partnership with the Center for Social Protection and Rehabilitation in the State of Qatar (AMAN) organized a workshop to increase the participants’ awareness of pertinent good practices emanating from international standards and norms, and therefore methods and mechanisms to address violence against women on the national level. This workshop comes as part of Qatar's efforts to promote the advancement and protection of women from all forms of violence and the State's commitment to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action and the Sustainable Development Goals, with the aim of introducing international frameworks on combating violence against women and relevant national machineries

ESCWA in partnership with the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs and Population (July 2019) organized a national workshop which discussed international instruments and best practices to address violence against women in Syria, in in cooperation with the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs and Population. The workshop focused on relevant national mechanisms, including legislations, policies, strategies or services, and role of the various stakeholders, both governmental and non-governmental, and service providers involved in this issue. The workshop brought together representatives of government agencies (concerned ministries such as social affairs, labor, health, interior, justice, and the Syrian Commission for Family Affairs) and non-governmental organizations (civil society).

ESCWA, the Council of Europe (CoE), OHCHR, UNFPA, UN Women, ESCWA, and UNODC  contributed to a national conference on the Preventing and combating violence against women: One year after the promulgation of Organic Law 2017-58 on the elimination of violence against women: Implementation challenges and recommendations (Tunisia, March 2019). The conference addressed the status of Law 2017-58, examining interventions in the security, justice, health and psycho-social sectors and developing a way forward. To initiate the discussion, ESCWA provided an overview of the implementation of violence against women laws across the Arab region and discussed Arab States’ international legal obligation to combat all forms of violence against women and conform to the due diligence standard. ESCWA also contributed to a panel on ways to counter gender stereotypes in the media, raise awareness of violence against women, and prevent recidivism amongst perpetrators. The conference closed with a commitment to fully implement Law 2017-58 in a holistic manner.

In its efforts to build the capacities of Arab countries to cost VAW, ESCWA facilitated a national consultation in Iraq and Lebanon with representatives from governmental and non-governmental organisations providing services for women survivors of violence, to share with participants the key findings of the field mission and agree on key elements relating to estimating the cost of violence. The findings of the workshop were used as a basis for the related national operational model to be used for costing VAW.

ESCWA in partnership with Westminster Foundation for Democracy organized a capacity building workshop focused on the role of parliamentarians and the experience in Iraq. Parallel to this, a draft guideline for the role of parliamentarians in costing violence against women is being produced.

The United Nations Regional Centre for Peace, Disarmament and Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (UNLIREC) conducted the Firearms and Ammunition Evidence Management Course (EMC) for national security and justice sector representatives in the Dominican Republic [National Police, Public Ministry, Ministry of Interior and Police, Ballistic Laboratory, Ministry of Defence and Customs], as well as in Costa Rica and in El Salvador. The training incorporates gender perspective into firearms and ammunition evidence management to determine possible cases of violence against women. 
Through the UN Trust Facility Supporting Cooperation on Arms Regulation (UNSCAR) administered by UNODA, Nonviolence International realized a project on Increasing Effective Implementation of the ATT Through Practical Understanding of the Gender-based Violence Criteria, including a 3-day in-person training and two side events. 

As part of efforts to further build the capacity of staff and senior mediation practitioners to implement the WPS agenda, including on issues of conflict-related sexual violence, DPPA in 2019 conducted the 10th UN High Level Seminar on Gender Inclusive Mediation Strategies, one Gender/WPS Staff Training and a pilot workshop on Gender Conflict Analysis. DPPA continues to mainstream gender and WPS into thematic trainings, including in the UN Ceasefire Mediation and Management training. DPPA also continues to disseminate the Guidance launched in 2012 on Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Ceasefires and Peace Agreements. These aim to further build the capacity of staff and senior mediation practitioners to implement the WPS agenda, including addressing issues of conflict-related sexual violence.

Below is a selection of UNHCR’s training and capacity building activities in 2019:

•  UNHCR trained 140 participants from different sectors on SGBV Mainstreaming (both UNHCR staff and external participants), developed a standardized SGBV mainstreaming training package and launched the SGBV Mainstreaming Learning Program.
• Only in 2019, a total of 2,885 UNHCR colleagues completed the SGBV e-learning.
• UNHCR has developed a Training of Trainers (ToT) learning program targeting SGBV specialists in the field. By completing this ToT, SGBV specialists are able to utilize the training materials to train UNHCR staff, refugees and other stakeholders on SGBV prevention, risk mitigation and response.
• In 2019, UNHCR conducted a Gender Equality Learning Programme for colleagues from the operations in Africa with the objective of strengthening gender equality integration in UNHCR’s work through increased gender equality capacity amongst staff.
• At the end of 2019, UNHCR launched the SGBV toolkit, making relevant key materials such as Policies, international legal framework, guidance, tools and training resources accessible to staff and partners.
• The Annual SGBV Global workshop, which took place in Geneva in October 2019, brought together UNHCR staff working on SGBV across protection functions from 30 operations and regional offices. In an effort to strengthen and expand networks and communities of practice addressing SGBV, the workshop was focused on building capacity addressing SGBV knowledge and expertise and on providing SGBV protection staff with the resources and tools to effectively deliver on core areas in SGBV programming.
• UNHCR supported  in coordination with other humanitarian agencies and NGOs and funded the development of an interagency learning package on protection from sexual misconduct which will be made available to partners. UNHCR further developed a new face-to- face training programme on protection from SEA based on materials from IOM and along the same methodology designed a module on addressing SH.

In Nepal UNAIDS (and partners) are providing technical support to the Right to Health Women’s Group to empower HIV affected women and girls against prejudice and discrimination (including violence) in healthcare settings.

A project in Cambodia is being implemented by ADD International in partnership with local organizations to empower disabled women’s networks and strengthen their capacity to lead primary prevention efforts in six districts in which domestic violence is reported to be high. The target of the project is violence committed by relatives and caregivers against women and girls with disabilities. The aim of the project is to strengthen the capacity of women-led organizations that work for people with disabilities so that they may more effectively support women and girls through prevention interventions. Also under that programme, women and girls with disabilities will be trained to become volunteer role models and a methodology will be developed to analyse the incidence and causes of gender-based violence. The methodology will be disseminated in Cambodia and internationally.

At the East & Southern African regional level, to bring the global commitments to the field and to create an enabling safe, secure and equitable environment in line with the UN Secretary-General's guidance, a Training of Trainers program on “Gender Parity” and “Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse” was organized in partnership with UN Women HQ with participation by 42 participants from 12 countries in the region representing UN Women, UNPFA, UNHCR, IOM, ICAO and UNDSS in Mombasa, Kenya.  Following the training at least 5 countries have replicated the training in their countries and also took initiatives to establish and strengthen the PSEA task forces.


In Kenya, UN Women continued to play a key role in convening and leading stakeholders to demand accountability for ending violence against women and girls, while at the same time ensuring access to quality and essential services for survivors. As one of the key highlights, UN Women together with its’ partners convened a National GBV Conference in 2019 bringing together over 450 participants from across the country with the aim to harness accountability for GBV prevention and response. As a result of the Conference a communique with 27 recommendations articulating roles for each duty bearer was finalized. 

Standardization of GBV training was improved through UN Women support in the development of the Safe Spaces and Applicability Manual , the GBV Service Providers Data Bank tools, and the Model Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centers Guidance Note. These tools are expected to provide a harmonized training curriculum for use by duty bearers while the guidance note will provide a framework for provision of GBV services within a multi-sectoral framework. The Harmonized GBV Training Manual  was also finalized. Further KCO led in the development of the “Implementation Guide for the Global Women’s Safety Framework” . The guide to implementation provides a “how to” and a “step by step” guidance for tea chain producers who are keen to address sexual harassment. Prevention and response to GBV by the National Police Service was strengthened through KCO’s support in the development of a National Action Plan (NAP). The NAP provides for the creation of a special gender crimes unit within the policy system and provides opportunities for all actors to strengthen their partnership with the Police, by seeking to support different aspects of the action plan.

A number of capacity building and trainings were undertaken targeting law enforcement and other officials in the ESAR countries.  Most significantly, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe also benefited from the Spotlight funding and undertook a number of initiatives aimed at training and capacity building of relevant actors in addressing VAW, HP and promotion of SRHR.