United Nations Population Fund

UNFPA prioritizes staff capacity-building in the areas of GBV prevention, response, and risk mitigation, ensuring alignment with global standards and enhancing the organization’s ability to effectively address GBV. This includes training on essential frameworks such as the IASC GBV Guidelines, ethical data collection, and survivor-centered case management, equipping staff with the knowledge and skills to deliver impactful programs. 

UNFPA also invests in strengthening staff capacity to generate and analyze data, including prevalence and administrative data, ensuring that evidence-based programs and policies are at the forefront of their interventions. One example of this is the kNOwVAWdata initiative, which provides comprehensive training and support to countries to gather and use VAW data effectively. 

In addition to technical expertise, UNFPA fosters cross-regional learning through communities of practice and knowledge-sharing platforms, facilitating the exchange of insights and innovations across regions. The organization also promotes intersectional approaches that address emerging forms of violence, such as technology-facilitated GBV and coercive control, ensuring comprehensive strategies for all forms of violence. 

By embedding VAW prevention and response across its policies, programs, and staff competencies, UNFPA enhances its ability to drive inter-agency coordination, support national systems, and advance global efforts to eliminate violence against women. 

Key Capacity-Building Efforts in 2024 

• WCARO Regional Capacity-Building: In 2024, UNFPA WCARO provided targeted capacity-building support to Country Offices on social norms and harmful practices. This included in-person and virtual training, as well as a regional workshop with SWEDD, where participants from 14 countries were equipped with essential knowledge on social norms, programming, and GBV response. 
• Global Training on Technology-Facilitated GBV: In 2024, UNFPA facilitated global in-person training on Technology-Facilitated GBV (TFGBV), strengthening global capacity to address this emerging issue and ensure the implementation of evidence-based programming. 

UNFPA is committed to strengthening the capacity of governments, implementing partners, and its own staff to prevent and respond to GBV effectively. Through comprehensive training and capacity-building initiatives, UNFPA equips all actors involved in GBV prevention and response with the necessary knowledge, skills, and systems. 

• As of February 2025, 300 participants from 67 countries have completed the kNOwVAWdata course, focusing on safe, ethical VAW data collection, analysis, and reporting. 
• ASRO supported Al-Azhar in conducting TOT workshops for students from Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, and Yemen, training future religious leaders to address GBV, FGM, and child marriage. ASRO also helped develop a framework for a Religious Leaders Network to enhance collaboration in combating harmful practices. 
• In EECA, UNFPA strengthened multi-sectoral responses to GBV through regional ToT workshops, training 35 stakeholders per country and developing tools for monitoring and implementing standard operating procedures. 
• PSRO developed and rolled out a GBV Risk Mitigation Curriculum for the Pacific Sub-Region, focusing on climate disaster contexts, across 4 countries. 
• WCARO conducted capacity-building workshops on the Essential Services Package and GBV case management in The Gambia and Equatorial Guinea for UN personnel, government officials, and partners. 
• ​​​In LAC, UNFPA developed 3 self-administered virtual courses on the Essential Services Package, clinical management of sexual violence, and child marriage prevention, reaching over 10,000 public servants across 15 countries. From these courses, a community of practice was established, running from 2020 to 2022 and generating 20 webinars on GBV, with 1.6k subscribers and 198k views.  Moreover, since 2021, UNFPA and PAHO have developed a course on the clinical management of sexual violence in Latin America. The course has been disseminated at the regional level and is currently being rolled out by the ministries of health in four countries: El Salvador, Brazil, Guatemala, and Ecuador. 

UNFPA leads the GBV Area of responsibility under the global protection cluster which is part of the IASC established coordination mechanism/architecture in humanitarian settings. As of 2021, UNFPA coordinates GBV response and prevention programmes in 35 humanitarian settings.

UNFPA contributed to Inter-Agency Humanitarian Evaluation (IAHE) Steering Group Review of Progress on Mainstreaming Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women and Girls into the Humanitarian, Development, and Peace Nexus Agenda and in the work going forward to promote strengthened mainstreaming in the triple nexus process.

UNFPA actively engages with the 16 Days of Activism with concerted efforts to move from activism to accountability. To reinforce accountability frameworks, we support training for health workers, police and judges to help them respond sensitively and appropriately to GBV survivors; and support the creation of laws and protocols that ensure the protection of survivors.

Since 2008 UNFPA, jointly with UNICEF, leads the largest global programme to accelerate the elimination of female genital mutilation (FGM) in 17 countries.

Since 2016 UNFPA, jointly with UNICEF, has been implementing the Global Programme to End Child Marriage across Africa, the Middle East and South Asia in 12 of the highest-prevalence and/or high-burden countries.

UNFPA is implementing with the The European Union and other UN Agencies the Spotlight initiative, focused on eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls in 26 countries. UNFPA leads or co-leads a number of programmes related to prevention, strengthened provision of comprehensive GBV and SRHR services,collection and use of data, as well as contributing to interventions across all pillars of the initiative.

On 12 March 2021, as part of the 65th session on the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), UNFPA, in collaboration with the European Commission and the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), held a virtual inter-ministerial dialogue that resulted in countries committing to 10 points to action towards ending GBSS. 

Together with UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund, UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States launched the “Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence” in October 2016 in the United Arab Emirates. The package of services was introduced to the Arab States for the first time as the launch took place on the side of the second “Investing in the Future” conference organized in the UAE by UN Women and the UAE’s “The Big Heart Foundation” under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Dr. Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Member of the Supreme Council and Ruler of Sharjah. The launch was an opportunity to emphasize the importance of coordination among various multi-sectoral responses for women and girls subject to violence and offered the space for over 100 participants from civil society, academia and governmental institutions to exchange experiences about violence against women in the region.

The UNiTE Group for the Americas and the Caribbean, including 9 agencies -PAHO, UNDP, OHCHR, UNICEF, UNFPA, UNHCR, ECLAC, WFP and UN Women- and the IDB and the OAS, developed 12 Key Messages to Eradicate Violence Against Women and Girls in Latin America and the Caribbean. This unprecedented effort led by UN Women, systematized the lessons learned from all the publications and knowledge produced in the context of the UNiTE Campaign in the last 7 years. These messages were launched in the framework of the Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, which took place in Montevideo in October of 2016. Thereafter, the messages were the basis for the celebrations of November 25th at regional and country level.

The UN Women Regional Office for the Americas and the Caribbean, in partnership with the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), hosted the meeting “Preventing and Responding to Violence Against Women and Girls in Latin-America and the Caribbean: Lessons learned across the globe”, which was held in Panama City from December 5 to 7 of 2016. This event provided a unique space, bringing together several UN agencies, government officials, diplomats, civil society organizations, global researchers and other experts in the field of preventing and responding to violence against women and girls to exchange experiences and explore ways to implement effective and promising practices to address violence against women. This approach sought to drive change in the region, which has been characterized by the lack of evidence-based interventions and rigorous evaluations. A total of 25 countries were represented in this meeting and UN women key guidance documents such as the UN prevention Framework to End Violence against Women and Girls as well as the Essential services guidelines were disseminated.

As part of UN Women’s collaboration with Phase II of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C, to strengthen the inter-linkages between VAWG and harmful practices such as FGM/C, and address the root causes of such form of violence, UN Women has finalized and published the policy paper titled “Female genital mutilation/cutting and violence against women and girls: Strengthening the policy linkages between different forms of violence”, with the support of a technical advisory group in February 2017. The paper – which is accompanied by an also published background paper -  explores policy and programming interlinkages and considers entry points in the areas of (i) national legislation, (ii) prevention strategies, (iii) response for survivors, and (iv) data and evidence, for increased coordination and collaboration to advance the objectives of ending FGM/C and other forms of VAWG, in particular intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence. It is intended for multiple audiences, including those directly involved in policy development, planning and implementing initiatives, those providing technical support, and advocates for ending all forms of VAWG, including FGM/C. A training module on gender and FGM/C, to accompany the UNFPA-UNICEF Manual on Social Norms and Change will be finished in March 2017.

In Jordan, through the support of the Governments of Norway, UN Women - in partnership with UNFPA and UNICEF - implements the second phase of the joint project “Hemayati: Promoting Women and Girls’ Health and Well-being”. The project is also implemented in collaboration with the Ministry of Social Development (MoSD), Ministry of Health (MoH) and partner NGOs including the Jordanian Women Union and Un Ponte Per (UPP). The project’s overall aim is to increase sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) survivors’ access to comprehensive lifesaving protection services, including health, psychosocial and legal services. Building on a successful first phase (2013-2014), the second phase of the project is being implemented in five governorates of Jordan (Amman, Irbid, Zarqa, Mafraq and Maan) benefiting from the expertise of all participating UN agencies and partners. The objective is to bring all the services necessary for women and girls who have experienced violence in a one-stop shop to ensure that they receive quality, survivor-centered support when they need it most.

UN Women, in collaboration with UNFPA and the Turkish Government, held a Global Meeting on “Ending Violence against Women: Building on Progress to Accelerate Change” in December 2015 in Istanbul, Turkey, at which over 150 high-level representatives from over 40 Member States, the Council of Europe, civil society and United Nations entities attended. At the meeting, participants exchanged experiences and renewed their committment to ending violence against women, such as strengthening Government mechanisms for the prevention of and responses to VAW; implementing comprehensive national programmes and involving men and boys as part of the solution.

As part of the Phase II of the UNFPA-UNICEF Joint Programme on FGM/C, to strengthen the inter-linkages between VAWG and harmful practices such as FGM/C, and address the root causes of such violence, UN Women has developed is developing policy document on essential elements to end FGM/C as a form of VAWG, in addition to a training module on gender and FGM/C, to accompany the UNFPA-UNICEF Manual on Social Norms and Change.