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UNICEF and OCHA completed phase 1 of a joint project to prevent use of sexual violence by armed groups. In October 2011, UNODA New York provided expertise to a meeting of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) on ‘Why Women? Effective Engagement for Small Arms Control’ that launched a report on why it is important to include women in small arms control and disarmament initiatives. Hide

A 2011 study “Sex and Age Matter” produced by the Feinstein International Center and sponsored by OCHA and CARE International demonstrates that the humanitarian community needs to greatly increase its collection and use of sex and age disaggregated data (SADD) to better inform programming. Researchers thoroughly reviewed numerous published reports from academia, the UN, non-governmental organizations on the effects of natural disasters and armed conflict on civilian populations, with a focus on publications that used SADD, gender and generational analyses to document and analyze those effects. The report can be found at: http://www.unocha.org/what‐wedo/ policy/thematic‐areas/gender‐equality. Hide

UNICEF has been leading a mapping exercise on the activities of different actors at the field level to increase the safety and security of women and children, girls especially, and to prevent gender-based violence related to conflict and disasters. This information will be used to inform an overall gender-based violence prevention framework. Through the initiative “Together for Girls” – a public/private sector partnership to address sexual violence against girls–UNICEF has supported the undertaking of two surveys on violence against children in Tanzania and Kenya, with a particular focus on sexual violence against girls. In January 2011, UNICEF officially joined, IRC, UNFPA and UNHCR in the Steering Committee of the Gender-Based Violence Information Management System (GBV IMS). UNICEF finalized an inter-agency training package “The Caring for Survivors of Sexual Violence in Emergencies”, that has been endorsed by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Sub-Working Group on Gender in Humanitarian Action with support from the Gender-based Violence Area of Responsibility (GBV AoR). The training package provides information and skill development, for various stakeholders, in relation to treatment of sexual violence survivors in conflict-affected countries or complex emergencies, including medical treatment. Hide

With sponsorship from the Government of Norway, OSAGI, now part of UN Women, collaborated with INSTRAW and ECLAC, to develop an online training course entitled Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) in Latin America and the Caribbean to be distributed by the Peace Operations Training Institute (POTI). A second course on the Implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) in Africa, is being finalised for distribution. The courses will provide students with an overview of the resolution as well as context-specific issues and challenges that impact effective implementation, and will outline the process of developing a National Action Plan on resolution 1325 (2000).As chair of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Women, Peace and Security former OSAGI and UNIFEM- now both part of UN Women, in consultations with Member States and UN entities, led and coordinated the development of both the framework and the set of indicators to track the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). Hide

In Serbia, UNDP supported the development of strategies to address sexual gender-based violence and a draft document on this topic was finalized. In Bosnia and Herzegovina, strategies to address sexual gender-based violence were also developed as a part of the transitional justice strategy, which includes a focus on survivors of sexual gender-based violence from the 1992-95 armed conflict. Hide

In Sri Lanka, UNDP’s “Equal Access to Justice” project launched its “Community Legal Empowerment for Women” project in November 2010. The project targets also men and includes initiatives, such as legal awareness workshops, which address prevention and response mechanisms related to sexual gender-based violence; benefits of formally registering marriages. The workshops also seek to build effective referral pathways for those who are interested in accessing the projects. Two programs of training of trainers have already been conducted. Hide

UNFPA provides support to the Kofi Annan Peace Institute in Ghana to develop capacities of grassroots women to implement SCR 1325 components in select African countries. Hide

The launch of the UNFPA’s 2010 State of the World Population Report (SWOP) was held in October 2010 and it links Peace, Security and Development to Women’s Rights and Empowerment and its release coincided with the 10th anniversary of the SCR 1325 landmark resolution. Hide

In Nepal, informal legal aid desks, operating in police stations, were supported by UNDP. Mobile legal aid clinics in three districts provided free legal services and information to 1524 people (80% were women). The paralegal programme, at the community level, was expanded in 2010 and the paralegal committees received training on gender-based vioelnce and justice, helping to mainstream a national awareness initiative on sexual gender-absed violence. Hide

With the support of UNESCO’s Research and Documentation Centre for Women, based in Kinshasa (the Democratic Republic of Congo), a three-day workshop on “Sociocultural Approaches to Combating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence” was organised in Kinshasa from 9 to 11 December 2010. Several stakeholders discussed about the root causes of sexual violence and the role of stakeholders to combat it. Socio-cultural messages, strategies and activities to prevent violence against women were elaborated and stakeholders to implement those were identified. Hide