Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations

Since October 2010, FAO is the new Chair of the Regional Inter-Agency working Group on HIV and gender-based violence in emergency settings. The Regional IAWG ensures that HIV and gender-based violence prevention and protection, AIDS treatment, care and impact mitigation are prioritized and scaled up in humanitarian emergency work in Eastern Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes Regions. Hide

A guidance note “Gender-based violence and livelihood interventions:Focus on populations of humanitarian concern in the context of HIV and AIDS” has been developed and widely disseminated through the FAO/DIMITRA network(http://www.fao.org/dimitra/resources-by-theme/violence-against-women/en/). Hide

Since September 2010, FAO is implementing through United Nations Joint Program or with UN partners a regional project “Eastern Africa regional response to food insecurity, HIV and GBV” in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, reaching more than 80,000 beneficiaries. Within the regional project, gender-based violence and the needs of populations affected by gender-based violence and HIV are addressed through the Adult and Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools, at community, national and regional levels. Hide

The workshop “Tackling legal empowerment: the Farmer Life School approach” in which rural Farmer Field Schools (FFS) communities include as topics gender-based violence prevention and support to victims/survivors in Kenya is published at: http://www.fao.org/dimitra/dimitra-workshops/workshop-reports/en/ Hide

FAO has prepared a module to be included in the Junior Farmer Field and Life Schools (JFFLS) and Farmers Field Schools (FFS) Curriculum in order to include gender based violence prevention. This module is being tested in several FFS in Kenya and Uganda, and focuses on legal empowerment. This approach has been scaled up and is being used in the DRC, Burundi and Rwanda. Women farmers’ field schools have also been put in place with additional modules on GBV, reproductive health, rights and other issues.FAO supported the creation of community listeners clubs in Katanga (DRC), involving women and men of the community, including violence against women as a topic. The local community radios have aired several round tables and sketches on gender based violence.FAO’s Dimitra Project partner works on a programme entitled “Synergies of the women and men communicators against HIV-AIDS and sexual violence against women and girls in rural areas”, collaborating closely with rural community radios to raise awareness of women’s role and help women’s voices be heard in South Kivu. The first ever women’s radio, “Radio Bubusa”, has been created. Hide

FAO has organized trainings in DRC and Niger based on a module entitled “Communicating Gender for Development”, involving a wide range of stakeholders, during which GBV and how to address it was discussed, as well as the role community leaders and radios can play in combating domestic violence. Hide

FAO is participating in the implementation of joint programmes in Guatemala and Morocco, under the One-UN initiative. The multisectorial joint Programme in Morocco aims at protecting women and girls against all forms of violence (economic, physical, verbal, psychological, sexual and trafficking) and addresses the linkages with poverty and vulnerability. Hide

Under the United Nations System-wide Work Programme on Scaling-up HIV/AIDS Services for Populations of Humanitarian Concern (PHC), in 2008 FAO analyzed the results of the research undertaken in 2007 in Kenya on the linkages between HIV/AIDS, gender inequality, and sexual and gender-based violence among populations of humanitarian concern (PHC) and refined the research tools to undertake a similar assessment in two provinces in Northern Uganda. This assessment will concentrate specifically on understanding the impact of sexual and gender-based violence on people's livelihood options, particularly among PHC. Hide

FAO encouraged the disaggregation of data by sex and age in the agricultural and rural sectors. Hide

FAO collaborated with the members of the IASC Task Force in the dissemination of "Guidelines for gender-based violence interventions in humanitarian settings: focusing on prevention of and response to sexual violence in emergencies" and the handbook "Women, girls, boys and men: different needs - equal opportunities", which also includes some actions to address gender-based violence. Hide