Agencies

In 2025, the UN Trust Fund continued supporting women-led and women’s rights organizations operating in crisis, displacement and humanitarian settings, including through survivor-centred services, psychosocial support, legal aid, referrals and community-based prevention initiatives. Funded initiatives directly reached 12,727 refugee and internally displaced women and girls in 2025, while flexible and adaptive funding approaches enabled frontline organizations to sustain critical services amid escalating humanitarian and funding crises.

In 2025, UN Women continued to support the strengthening of legal frameworks addressing violence against women and girls, translating global standards into national legislation and reinforcing accountability.

In2025, UN Women’s support translated into 32 countries adopting, revising or repealing laws to strengthen the national legal framework on EVAWG. Cumulatively over UN Women’s 2022-2025 strategic note, 148 VAWG-related laws across 29 countries strengthened legal protections, benefiting an estimated 1.36 billion women and girls.

Progress included major normative advances at regional and global levels, notably the adoption of the African Union Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, as well as regional instruments such as the Inter-American Model Law on digital violence, contributing to increased legal harmonization and responsiveness to emerging forms of violence. A regional panorama of comprehensive laws on violence against women was conducted across Latin American and Caribbean countries, providing an evidence base to inform public policy design and decision‑making by policymakers.

UN Women also supported legislative reforms addressing evolving challenges, including technology-facilitated violence, conflict-related violence and harmful practices, while working to safeguard existing legal gains in a context of backlash. These efforts were supported by strengthened engagement with civil society, including through the EU-funded ACT programme, which enabled feminist priorities to shape legal and policy outcomes.

Country-level examples include strengthened legislation in Albania, improving protections against violence and enabling women’s political participation.

Overall, these legal reforms enhanced accountability, strengthened protections for survivors, and ensured greater alignment of national legislation with international human rights standards, while improving responsiveness to new and evolving forms of violence against women and girls.

In 2025, UN Women expanded training and capacity-building to strengthen institutional responses to EVAWG, building on the Essential Services Package and focusing on coordinated, survivor-centred service delivery across health, justice, policing and social sectors.

Across 40 countries, UN Women supported large-scale capacity development, with over 650 organizations strengthening their ability to deliver quality services, goods and resources for women and girls. Targeted initiatives focused on frontline actors, including police, prosecutors, justice officials, service providers and civil society organizations, enhancing capacities in areas such as gender-responsive policing, case management, and psychosocial support.

Concrete results included:

• Distribution of 8,900 gender-sensitive investigation guidelines in Viet Nam, alongside training of police officers
• Training of 60 police personnel in Pakistan on survivor-centred approaches
• Awareness-raising for 80+ members of the UN Strategic Police Advisory Group
• The European Union and UN-Women ACT to End Violence Against Women programme reinforced the leadership, advocacy and capacities of 757 women’s rights organizations, funding 60 of them.

Institutional learning and coordination were further strengthened through innovative approaches, including peer exchange, regional knowledge-sharing and tailored training programmes. The High-Level Network on Gender-Responsive Policing expanded to 22 Member States, reinforcing senior-level commitment to survivor-centred and gender-responsive approaches.

These efforts contributed to improved institutional readiness, enhanced coordination across sectors, and strengthened the quality, consistency and accessibility of services for survivors, including in crisis and complex settings, while supporting the scaling of best practices across regions.

In 2025, UN Women strengthened data systems and research on violence against women and girls to support evidence-based policy and programming, focusing on improving the availability and use of prevalence, administrative and qualitative data and advancing global standards, including the statistical framework on femicide. 

As part of broader investments in gender data, UN Women increased SDG 5 data availability by over 60% since 2022, supported by 110 data initiatives in 2025. Key EVAWG data achievements included updating the Global Database on VAWG with country profiles for 154 countries, producing new global, regional and country estimates on intimate partner and non-partner violence in partnership with WHO, and strengthening institutional capacity through methodologies, consultations, and dissemination. UN Women complemented this with innovative pilots on femicide and technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (see under respective thematic measures) and technical support to national data production initiatives in 33 countries.

Innovations advanced measurement and methods on femicide, technology-facilitated violence, sexual harassment, and violence based on diverse SOGIESC, alongside regional and global capacity strengthening—reaching 319 data producers and users through workshops and knowledge exchange. Evidence generated through these efforts supported policy influence, with gender data informing 60 policies, plans and programmes in 2025, including reforms and improved survivor services linked to survey evidence in countries such as Georgia, Kyrgyzstan and the United Republic of Tanzania. 

Overall, these advances strengthened the global evidence base for targeted interventions, accountability and more effective prevention and response to violence against women and girls.

In 2025, UN Women continued shaping global normative frameworks on EVAWG through sustained engagement in intergovernmental processes and policy platforms. Support to United Nations General Assembly and Human Rights Council processes, alongside engagement with the EDVAW Platform and its members from independent global and regional mechanisms, strengthened international standards, including emerging issues such as technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.

These efforts contributed to concrete normative advances, including 205 Member State commitments under the Beijing+30 Action Agenda, of which a third were made under the Zero Violence Agenda, and strengthened integration of gender equality considerations in 45% of General Assembly and 82% of Human Rights Council resolutions. UN Women also contributed to the adoption of the African Union Convention on the Elimination of Violence Against Women and Girls, reinforcing global and regional legal frameworks.

Partnerships with regional bodies, justice networks and civil society further supported the development of investigative standards and strengthened implementation of human rights frameworks addressing violence against women. Through the EU-funded ACT programme, 179 women’s rights organizations helped shape the outcomes of 20 global and regional normative and policy processes on ending violence against women and girls, strengthening accountability and service delivery through amplified feminist advocacy.

Overall, these efforts reinforced international norms and standards, ensured continued global commitment to advancing EVAWG agendas, and strengthened the coherence and responsiveness of policy frameworks to emerging and evolving forms of violence, including through an analytical review of latest global and regional normative developments on technology-facilitated violence against women and girls. 

In 2025, UN Women advanced a comprehensive response to technology-facilitated violence against women and girls (TF VAWG), strengthening legal, policy, research and advocacy frameworks while consolidating its global leadership in this rapidly evolving area.

Key achievements included the development of the first corporate strategy on TF VAWG, alongside the production of model legal frameworks through global guidance resulting from extensive global and regional expert consultations and the development and adoption of the Inter-American Model Law on Digital Violence by the States Parties to the Belém do Pará Convention, as well as police guidance, global surveys and analytical tools to support Member States in integrating TF VAWG into national legislation and policy frameworks. This work was reinforced through engagement in global processes such as the Global Digital Compact and through partnerships with governments, civil society and the private sector, including by acting as the policy lead of the Global Partnership for Action on Gender-Based Online Harassment and Abuse. 

These efforts built on comprehensive analysis and evidence-generation, notably on global and regional normative frameworks, government efforts to tackle TF VAWG, and emerging practices globally from relevant stakeholders. UN Women also spearheaded critical research including on AI-enabled violence and a global study on online violence against women in the public sphere. These efforts contributed to advancing standardized definitions and measurement, strengthening the global knowledge base on digital violence.

Through programmes such as the EU-funded ACT initiative, UN Women also strengthened the capacity of feminist movements and civil society actors to address online violence and counter backlash. Prevention efforts included global advocacy campaigns, engagement with men and boys, and partnerships targeting online misogyny and harmful digital norms.

Concrete results included capacity-building and awareness-raising at scale, such as over 10,000 girls trained on digital safety in Nigeria and Kenya, and expanded outreach through global campaigns, with the UNiTE campaign reaching 3.5 million web users (+467%) and generating 7.9 million impressions. 

At country level, a few examples include:

• in Bolivia, UN Women supported the national response to TF VAWG by developing a participatory national policy and toolkit, generating new evidence through the first nationwide survey and digital analysis, training over 500 officials with specialized guidance and materials, and implementing a wide-reaching, culturally grounded communication strategy to raise awareness and prevention;
• in Mexico, UN Women strengthened the national response to TF GBV by generating new evidence through a scoping study, co-developing a Strategic Roadmap with the Secretary of Women, and advancing policy recommendations for prevention, access to justice and platform accountability. It also led the “Es Real. #EsViolenciaDigital” campaign, which reached 38.4 million views in Mexico and expanded access to safety and reporting resources.

Overall, these efforts strengthened global standards, enhanced institutional responses, and advanced integrated approaches to preventing and responding to technology-facilitated violence against women and girls.

In 2025, UN Women strengthened survivor-centred responses through expanded access to integrated, multisectoral services, scaling implementation of the Essential Services Package and supporting national systems to improve coordination across health, justice, policing and social sectors.

These efforts reached over 14 million women and girls, including 7.4 million in crisis contexts, and expanded support across 59 countries, strengthening the availability and quality of coordinated services. Innovative delivery models—including one-stop centres, specialized services and digital solutions—enhanced accessibility, particularly in humanitarian and complex settings.

Examples of country level results include: 

• a 51.5% increase in survivors accessing services in Kazakhstan, driven by improved referral pathways and service availability, and
• 10,534 women accessing GBV services in Côte d’Ivoire, illustrating expanded reach in crisis and development contexts.

New global tools further strengthened service delivery, including guidance on survivor-centred counselling and ethical survivor engagement frameworks, supporting improved quality, accountability and inclusiveness of services. Capacity-building initiatives for institutions and frontline providers enhanced consistency and effectiveness of responses across sectors. Investigation protocols were developed in Latin America and the Carribean for gender‑based violence, in collaboration with the gender‑specialized network of public prosecutors, strengthening institutional capacity and coordination within justice systems.

Complementary programming also reinforced safer environments and integrated service delivery, including Safe Cities initiatives implemented in 40+ countries, with new programmes launched in Guatemala, Panama, Zanzibar and India, and engagement of 150+ leaders from 21 countries to advance coordinated action.

Overall, these efforts improved access to justice, protection and support for survivors, strengthened system-wide coordination, and reinforced survivor-centred approaches at scale across diverse contexts.

UN Trust Fund-supported initiatives enabled 74,300 women and girls to access specialist support services; supported 581,198 women and girls to access information, goods and services to prevent or respond to violence; strengthened 738 institutions to improve survivor-centred service provision; and facilitated access to justice for 7,960 women and girls in cases of violence. The portfolio also prioritized women and girls facing intersecting forms of discrimination and exclusion. In 2025, funded initiatives directly reached over 39,000 women survivors of violence, 12,727 refugee and internally displaced women and girls, 7,444 women and girls with disabilities, 8,828 Indigenous women and girls, and 2,736 lesbian, bisexual and transgender women and girls, and in 2025 alone nearly 100,000 cases of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls were reported or referred to local state service providers through support provided by the UN Trust Fund grantee partners. Through support from Wellspring Philanthropic, the UN Trust Fund also initiated a series of briefs on practice-based knowledge on essential services for women and girls, highlighting the key role of civil society organizations as service providers across the humanitarian development peace nexus. 

Overall, these efforts improved access to justice, protection and support for survivors, strengthened system-wide coordination, and reinforced survivor-centred approaches at scale across diverse contexts.

UN Trust Fund’s SHINE hub, a multilingual (100+ languages) virtual exchange and convening platform, was leveraged to host a global consultation with civil society partners on technology-facilitated gender-based violence, and practitioners shared their prevention and response strategies and their experiences in tackling this specific form of violence. 

The UN Trust Fund's model combines advocacy and financing with convening, learning and evidence generation. In 2025, this included an independent meta-analysis of evaluations completed across its 2021–2025 Strategic Plan, which confirmed that sustained investment in civil society delivers measurable results, including shifts in harmful social norms, improved access to survivor services, more responsive justice systems and stronger, more resilient women's organizations. The meta-analysis found that 100 per cent of initiatives reviewed demonstrated effectiveness, and nearly two thirds showed measurable impact on violence against women and girls, including in some cases reductions in rates of violence and prevention of harmful norms. This pattern is consistent over more than a decade of UN Trust Fund support. 

The UN Trust Fund also continued to expand its Evaluation Library, as a shared learning asset for partners and the broader ecosystem to end violence against women and girls. It now houses nearly 200 evaluations in English, French and Spanish, 25 added in 2025 alone and is home to one of the largest repositories on what works on EVAW/G.  Finally, 2025 was also a crucial year of funding cuts and backlash, and through the year, the UN Trust Fund continued to elevate how feminist CSOs are confronting growing political resistance, shrinking civic space, and the rollback of hard-won progress.