United Nations Development Programme

In Sri Lanka, the Equal Access to Justice Project, supported by UNDP, has provided training to women and men working as ‘first respondents’, including welfare officers, crèche attendants, midwives and CBO officers, in order to support victims at village level. The programmes have been targeted in the estate (plantation) sector, where relatively high incidences of alcoholism contribute to high rates of GBV, and the former conflict affected areas, where they have been conducted in tandem with livelihood support projects. Hide

UNDP continued to play a key role in increasing access to justice for women, girls and survivors of gender-based violence in crisis and post-crisis countries. Hide

In Sierra Leone, the UNDP-supported project “Strengthening Access to Justice” promotes awareness of gender equality laws and GBV among traditional chiefs in Bo and Makeni. The priority is to ensure that the components of the Gender Acts to address GBV issues are contextualized within traditional law and culture. The project has produced legal education material on the prevention of GBV in communities, such as radios spots and drama. Hide

UNDP launched a public campaign with a message “A Real Man Never Hits a Woman” in Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia; supported the organisation of men leaders who are artists, athletes, politicians and writers to send a strong message against VAW in Ukraine; fielded a campaign to change the behavior and attitudes of actual and potential perpetrators of GBV in Venezuela. Hide

In every sub-region, UNDP, in partnership with national partners and United Nations Country Teams, provided support to the development of a strategy and national action plan on domestic violence. UNDP also assisted efforts to develop and implement strategies and action plans to combat trafficking in persons in Serbia and Kosovo. Hide

To mark the “16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence” a number of initiatives were conducted and supported by UNDP, such as a joint UNDP/UNFPA initiative targeting secondary school pupils and school communities in Albania; a joint UNDP/UNFPA/UNHCR initiative including press conferences, public hearings, public service announcements broadcasting, film screenings and roundtable discussions in Armenia;, a documentary on SGBV, screened on two of three national TV stations in Kosovo; a special session of the Committee for Gender Equality on SGBV to raise awareness of MPs in Serbia; the presentation of the global survey findings on domestic violence in Turkmenistan. Hide

UNDP supported initiatives for better data collection and national and local statistical monitoring on gender based violence in Cambodia, Mauritius, Venezuela, El Salvador, Albania, Kosovo, Serbia. UNDP continues a baseline study on domestic violence prevalence, in Albania; a report on judicial responses to domestic violence was conducted in Kosovo; a research on methods for data gathering on SGBV cases, as well as a compilation of best practices for dealing with perpetrators of domestic violence, and a mapping of existing services provided to victims of SGBV, were initiated in Serbia. A report of a GBV study "An Exploratory Study of GBV in Mongolia: Responses and Implications" was published in January 2010. Hide

In support of the regional component of the Secretary General campaign “UNiTE to end violence against women” in Latin America, UNDP organized a Knowledge Fair on Violence against women, consisted in systematization of experiences from governmental and nongovernmental actors in the region; organization of experiences exchange and dialogue roundtables in different issues and exhibition of the experiences; creation of a virtual space with all the information about the Knowledge Fair to get access to everyone. Hide

In Somalia, UNDP continued to support the project “Access to Justice Project in Somalia” and the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) in Hargeisa, Somaliland, now operates as a ‘one-stop’ location, where victims of GBV can receive medical care and counselling. In Democratic Republic of Congo, the project “Support Community Development for Women Associated with and Affected by Armed Conflicts” supports leadership development and economic empowerment of women associated with or affected by armed conflict. In Croatia, the project “Assistance in the Development of a Witness and Victim Support System” supports services for victims and witnesses of major criminal offences, including rape. Hide

In Timor-Leste, the UNDP National Parliament Project is providing technical support to the National Parliament as it deliberates the draft Law on Domestic Violence. Through the UNDP-supported project “Equal Access to Justice” in Sri Lanka, a cabinet committee in the Ministry of Justice is supported to look into reforms of existing laws applicable to Muslims, especially those laws that do not provide equal status to women. Hide