United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women
Background
UN Women is at the forefront of global efforts to eliminate violence against women and girls (VAWG), leveraging its unique triple mandate of normative support, UN system coordination, and operational activities. Through strategic partnerships, evidence-based programming, and advocacy, UN Women works to prevent violence, support survivors, and promote gender equality worldwide. Violence against women and girls remains one of the most pervasive human rights violations globally, impeding progress toward gender equality and sustainable development. UN Women's Strategic Plan 2022–2025 outlines a comprehensive approach to address VAWG, emphasizing prevention, survivor-centered responses, and the transformation of harmful social norms. The organization collaborates with governments, civil society, and other stakeholders to implement policies and programs that protect women's rights and promote their empowerment.
On behalf of the United Nations system, the UN Women administers the United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women (UN Trust Fund), which provides core, flexible and long-term funding along with technical and strategic support services for civil society and women’s rights organizations across the humanitarian-development-peace nexus. As the secretariat of the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls VAWG, UN-Women will coordinate system-wide efforts to end all forms of VAWG, including in advocacy for sustainable financing.
Policy framework
UN Women's work to end VAWG is firmly anchored in international human rights instruments and political commitments. These include the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, particularly Goal 5: Achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.
UN Women supports Member States to uphold these commitments by aligning national legislation, policies, and programs with international standards. The organization plays a central role in global norm-setting spaces such as the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW), where it supports the negotiation and implementation of agreed conclusions on gender equality and the elimination of VAWG. UN Women also contributes substantively to the Secretary-General’s reports on VAWG and related topics, helping ensure that these issues remain central to the international policy agenda.
Through its Strategic Plan (2022–2025), UN Women emphasizes the elimination of violence as one of its core impact areas, promoting integrated, survivor-centered, and multisectoral approaches that are responsive to intersecting forms of discrimination and grounded in feminist values.
There are a number of internationally agreed norms and standards that relate to ending violence against women, including:
- The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women does not explicitly mention violence against women and girls, but General Recommendations 12, 19, and 35 clarify that the Convention, as per Article 2 on non-discrimination, extends to violence against women, and also makes detailed recommendations to States to address violence against women.
- The 1993 World Conference on Human Rights recognized violence against women as a human rights violation and called for the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on violence against women in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action.
- The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women was the first international instrument explicitly addressing violence against women, providing a framework for national and international action.
- The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development drew links between violence against women and reproductive health and rights.
- The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action identifies specific actions for governments to take to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. Ending violence is one of 12 areas for priority action. In 2020, a major stock-taking UN Women report revealed that more than 80 per cent of countries (of 166 in total) reported that action to implement, and enforce, violence against women laws had been achieved in the previous five years, and 87 per cent of countries reported introducing, or strengthening, services for survivors of violence.
- In 2006 the Secretary-General’s In-Depth Study on All Forms of Violence against Women was released, the first comprehensive report on the issue.
- The 2011 Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence became the second legally binding regional instrument on violence against women and girls.
- The UN General Assembly adopts biannual resolutions on the issue of violence against women. The resolutions, first adopted in 2012, include the intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, trafficking in women and girls, and intensifying global efforts for the elimination of female genital mutilations. These resolutions are renegotiated biannually, and the most recent reports were submitted on these resolutions during the 75th session of the UN General Assembly.
- The UN Human Rights Council first adopted a resolution on accelerating efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women in 2012.
- In 2020, at the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women, leaders pledged to ramp up efforts to fully implement the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, including ending all forms of violence and harmful practices against women and girls.
Areas of Focus
Response
UN Women leads global efforts to strengthen survivor-centered responses to VAWG through its support to essential services and multisectoral coordination. It plays a critical convening and technical role in promoting the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, developed in collaboration with WHO, UNFPA, UNDP, and UNODC. This package outlines a coordinated, quality approach to providing health, justice and policing, and social services for survivors. UN Women supports countries in adapting and implementing the package, building the capacity of service providers, and promoting accountability mechanisms.
UN Women also works to ensure that crisis response—including in humanitarian settings and during global emergencies such as the COVID-19 pandemic—integrates measures to prevent and respond to VAWG. It supports the development of national action plans, referral pathways, and inter-agency coordination mechanisms to ensure timely and effective service delivery to survivors.
Prevention
UN Women is a global leader in VAWG prevention, advocating for and operationalizing primary prevention strategies that transform harmful gender norms, challenge patriarchal power structures, and promote gender-equitable relationships. UN Women’s prevention programming is grounded in the RESPECT Women framework, developed with WHO and other partners. The framework outlines seven evidence-based strategies: Relationship skills strengthened; Empowerment of women; Services ensured; Poverty reduced; Environments made safe; Child and adolescent abuse prevented; and Transformed attitudes, beliefs and norms.
UN Women supports governments and civil society to design, implement, and evaluate prevention programs at scale. It fosters social mobilization campaigns, school- and community-based interventions, and engagement with men and boys to shift norms and attitudes. In particular, the organization works with feminist movements and youth-led initiatives to amplify transformative, intersectional approaches to prevention.
Research and Data
As the custodian of knowledge on gender equality and VAWG, UN Women invests significantly in strengthening the global evidence base to inform policy and programming. It hosts and manages the Global Database on Violence Against Women, the only global repository of measures taken by governments to address violence against women. The database enhances transparency and promotes peer learning by providing accessible information on laws, policies, services, and research.
UN Women provides technical and financial support to national statistical offices to collect and analyze prevalence data on VAWG through population-based surveys. It advocates for the regular collection of comparable, quality data disaggregated by sex, age, disability, and other factors, and builds capacity to use data in planning and budgeting. In collaboration with international partners, UN Women has developed guidance and standards to improve the measurement of VAWG, including through the Inter-Agency Group on Violence against Women Data and the UN Survey Module on VAW Prevalence.
Women’s Movements and Leadership
UN Women recognizes that feminist and women’s rights organizations are indispensable actors in efforts to end VAWG. Through the ACT for Feminist Movements programme, UN Women provides long-term, flexible funding and capacity-building support to women-led organizations and networks, particularly those working at the grassroots level.
ACT supports advocacy, coalition-building, knowledge generation, and service provision by feminist movements, enabling them to influence laws and policies, hold duty-bearers accountable, and mobilize communities. UN Women also facilitates platforms for movement-building, such as the Generation Equality Action Coalitions, ensuring that women’s voices are central in decision-making spaces at all levels.
Safe Public Spaces and Sexual Harassment
UN Women pioneered the Safe Cities and Safe Public Spaces Global Initiative—the first-ever global effort to develop comprehensive, multi-stakeholder approaches to preventing and responding to sexual harassment and other forms of sexual violence in public spaces. The initiative is implemented in over 65 cities worldwide, working with local and national governments, transport and other service providers, women's rights organizations, and grassroots groups and the private sector to co-create solutions that reduce sexual violence in public spaces and increase women and girls’ safety and inclusion.
Interventions supported by UN Women include social norms programming (multiple levels), gender-responsive planning in urban and rural settings, , community policing, and the use of data to inform the development and monitoring of comprehensive programmes. The initiative promotes women’s political decision making, policy change, behavior transformation, and infrastructure improvements to ensure that women and girls can move freely and safely in public spaces without fear of violence or sexual harassment.
Harmful Practices: Child Marriage and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM)
UN Women addresses harmful practices such as child marriage and FGM as severe violations of human rights and forms of gender-based violence. The organization works at global, regional, and national levels to support the repeal or reform of discriminatory laws, advocate for strong enforcement mechanisms, and promote comprehensive services for survivors.
Through partnership with UNFPA, UNICEF, and civil society organizations, UN Women supports community-led approaches to change social norms, raise awareness, and empower girls and young women. The organization also contributes to the global evidence base on what works to end harmful practices, including supporting research, policy dialogue, and evaluation of interventions.
Trafficking in Women and Girls
UN Women’s approach to combating trafficking in persons, particularly women and girls, focuses on prevention, protection, and rights-based responses. As a member of the Inter-Agency Coordination Group against Trafficking in Persons (ICAT), UN Women ensures that anti-trafficking strategies are gender-responsive and survivor-centered.
UN Women works with governments to integrate anti-trafficking measures into national development and gender equality plans, supports the provision of legal aid and psychosocial services to survivors, and strengthens efforts to reduce the risks of trafficking in conflict, crisis, and migration contexts. It also advocates for addressing the structural inequalities—such as poverty, discrimination, and lack of access to education and employment—that increase women’s vulnerability to exploitation.
Technology Facilitated Violence Against Women and Girls (TF-VAWG)
Recognizing the rapid rise in online and technology-facilitated violence, UN Women has taken a leadership role in addressing this emerging form of VAWG. TF VAWG includes online harassment, non-consensual image sharing, doxing, cyberstalking, and digital sexual exploitation, disproportionately affecting women and girls—particularly journalists, activists, and public figures.
UN Women supports policy and legal reforms to recognize and criminalize TF VAWG, and works with governments, civil society, and technology companies to develop safe digital environments including the Global Digital Compact, an annex to Pact for the Future. It conducts research to better understand the scope and impact of TG VAWG, and raises awareness through global campaigns such as #SafeSpacesNow and #OrangeTheWorld.
Resources
RESPECT women: Preventing violence against women (2019)
Training Manual on Gender and Female Genital Mutilation and Cutting (2017)
Handbook for National Action Plans on Violence Against Women (2012)
Essential Services Package for women and girls subject to violence (2015)
Femicides in 2023: Global estimates of intimate partner/family member femicides.
Safe consultations with survivors of violence against women and girls (2022)
Handbook on gender responsive police services for women and girls subject to violence (2021)
*See also the resource links to numerous tools referred to in the narrative above and under specific measures.
UN Women’s efforts have significantly advanced the response to VAWG at the global, regional, country and community levels.
View MoreUN Women’s efforts have significantly advanced the response to VAWG at the global, regional, country and community levels. Under the Joint Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, UN Women, in partnership with UNFPA, UNODC, WHO and UNDP, developed, promoted and implemented the Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence,85 the first-ever guidance based on agreed-on global standards for a package of minimum comprehensive services for VAWG survivors in health, policing/justice, social services and the coordination of these services. In addition to providing guidance on coordination and essential actions to be taken by different sectors, the ESP also outlines the enabling environment needed to support the implementation of essential services and provides guidance on estimating resource requirements for a minimum package of services. This is complemented by guidance developed by UN Women and partners on engaging survivors of VAWG safely and strengthening police responses to VAWG crimes during 2021–2022.
In 2022 and 2023, UN Women supported 30 countries to improve the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of essential services for VAWG survivors, by working to scale up survivor services aligned with international standards, through promoting the ESP and related guidance; strengthen the coordination of services; strengthen justice and policing services; expand social services, in addition to strengthening the enabling legislative and policy environment; and conduct data and research-related activities to support VAWG responses, in both development and humanitarian country contexts. As a result, 44 countries saw an increase in the number of women who access services after experiencing violence or discrimination between 2022-2023. UN Women’s commitment to integrating the ‘leave no-one behind’ principle into its interventions has ensured that programming considers the needs of all women and girls, including those most marginalized.
Specific examples of UN Women’s work include:
- Uganda: Trained 1,500+ community leaders in gender-responsive EVAWG interventions.
- Bangladesh: Developed a Strategic Plan for Gender-Responsive Policing.
- Kyrgyzstan: Integrated gender-transformative curricula into four universities, educating 100+ students.
- Strengthened capacity of 770 institutions to provide survivor-centered services
- Training packages were developed for prosecutors, GBV counsellors, and psychosocial workers. These materials supported national rollouts across Asia-Pacific to improve justice, health, and social service responses.
UN-Women designed and facilitated a 3 half-day, scenario-based capacity building workshop specifically for its PSEA focal points from all regions. To additionally ensure alignment with the UN system wide PSEA strategy and its UNCT operationalization, UN-Women invited speakers from the Victims’ Rights Advocate, the UN Development Coordination Office, and the Office of the Special Coordinator for improving the UN response to SEA.
Scenario-based trainings for addressing SEA and SH were developed by UN Women to complement and contextualize the existing mandatory online training for both topics. The case scenarios used were specifically created for the UN-Women contexts to maximize relevance and relatability of the training. UN Women piloted the tow trainings in 4 country offices and is in the process of coordinating their rollout across the organization.
UN Women East and Southern Regional Office has organized a 4-day training for electoral management bodies, political parties, security institutions, and relevant women’s organizations who are major stakeholders in the conduct of elections, on Preventing Violence Against Women in Elections using the UN WOMEN Preventing VAWE in Elections Guide. The training aims to provide election stakeholders and relevant civil society organizations with in-depth knowledge on the nature and consequences of VAWE, and tools and good practices to prevent it and/or mitigate its consequences.
In Zimbabwe UN Women provided technical support and capacity building to key electoral stakeholders, including the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission and the Zimbabwe National Police, to enhance institutional capacities to monitor VAWP. These initiatives include development of knowledge, capacity building efforts, development of partnerships with political parties and key state actors, creating avenues for the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) to work with institutions such as the Zimbabwe Republic Police and civil society to address the problem. UN Women trained 80 (45 women and 35 men) members of the police service and supported the development of the police strategic document for police 2021 to 2025. The initiative equipped the police with skills to monitor VAWP.
At the East & Southern African regional level, to bring the global commitments to the field and to create an enabling safe, secure and equitable environment in line with the UN Secretary-Generals guidance, a Training of Trainers program on “Gender Parity” and “Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse” was organized in partnership with UN Women HQ with participation by 42 participants from 12 countries in the region representing UN Women, UNPFA, UNHCR, IOM, ICAO and UNDSS in Mombasa, Kenya. Following the training at least 5 countries have replicated the training in their countries and also took initiatives to establish and strengthen the PSEA task forces.
In Kenya, UN Women continued to play a key role in convening and leading stakeholders to demand accountability for ending violence against women and girls, while at the same time ensuring access to quality and essential services for survivors. As one of the key highlights, UN Women together with its’ partners convened a National GBV Conference in 2019 bringing together over 450 participants from across the country with the aim to harness accountability for GBV prevention and response. As a result of the Conference a communique with 27 recommendations articulating roles for each duty bearer was finalized.
Standardization of GBV training was improved through UN Women support in the development of the Safe Spaces and Applicability Manual[1], the GBV Service Providers Data Bank tools, and the Model Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centers Guidance Note. These tools are expected to provide a harmonized training curriculum for use by duty bearers while the guidance note will provide a framework for provision of GBV services within a multi-sectoral framework. The Harmonized GBV Training Manual[2] was also finalized. Further KCO led in the development of the “Implementation Guide for the Global Women’s Safety Framework”[3]. The guide to implementation provides a “how to” and a “step by step” guidance for tea chain producers who are keen to address sexual harassment. Prevention and response to GBV by the National Police Service was strengthened through KCO’s support in the development of a National Action Plan (NAP). The NAP provides for the creation of a special gender crimes unit within the policy system and provides opportunities for all actors to strengthen their partnership with the Police, by seeking to support different aspects of the action plan.
A number of capacity building and trainings were undertaken targeting law enforcement and other officials in the ESAR countries. Most significantly, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe also benefited from the Spotlight funding and undertook a number of initiatives aimed at training and capacity building of relevant actors in addressing VAW, HP and promotion of SRHR.
Roll-out of RESPECT
Together with the Prevention Collaborative and WHO, UN Women rolled out the RESPECT framework and Implementation Package in Bangladesh, India and Nepal in early 2021. The workshop series was attended by representatives from UN entities, civil society, academic and governments and resulted in national workplace to take forward initiatives to prevent VAW.
Webinar series on the use of technology for remote service provision to support survivors of violence
Frontline service providers who have been utilizing technology to deliver services to women migrant workers shared their lessons learned and tips to use technology safely especially in the context of COVID-19. The three sessions facilitated linkages between violence against women services and technologies by adapting remote methods used in service delivery to meet the survivor-centered principles of privacy, confidentiality and security. Two technical briefs were launched during the webinar: “Safe Technology for the Provision of Services to Women Migrant Workers at Risk of or Subject to Violence” and “Remote Service Provision for Women Migrant Workers at Risk or Subject to Violence” with the Action Cards: 10 Things to Know About Violence against Women Migrant Workers.
Responsible Representation and Reporting of VAW/VAC
The new Guidelines on Responsible representation and reporting of violence against women and violence against children, developed by UN Women, UNFPA and UNICEF, provide recommendations to media professionals to ensure that media coverage does not contribute to harm. This document offers guidance on interviewing survivors of violence, applying an intersectional and survivor-centered approach to reporting, avoiding victim-blaming or stereotyping, and using gender-responsive language. This guideline emerged from conversations within the regional UNITE Working Group during COVID-19.
Webinar Series on Violence against Women and Girls Data Collection and Use
The webinar series was organized to engage VAWG professionals, national statistics offices and service providers to deepen and exchange practices regarding the collection, analysis and use of data on violence against women with a specific focus on administrative data. The webinar series explored the main types of VAWG data – prevalence, costing data – and strengthen reporting on VAWG-related indicators. The webinar was based on the ASEAN Regional Guidelines on Violence against Women and Girls Data Collection and Use.
Addressing Violence and Harassment in the World of Work: Women migrant workers in ASEAN
A training tool to complement the ILO-UN Women “Handbook: Addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work” was developed to be used in trainings on the continuum of violence faced by women and women migrant workers. The tool specifically targets CSOs and key government stakeholders. This tool focuses on addressing violence and harassment against women in the world of work, featuring examples from ASEAN and highlighting specific risks related to women migrant workers.
With UN Women Albania Support:
- Capacities of 231 service providers increased in ensuring familiarity and use of changes to legal framework on GBV.
- Capacities of 71 service providers from 4 municipalities of the country were increased to address cases of VAWG from vulnerable communities such as Roma women, women with disabilities, women from LGBTQI+ community.
- There is better coordination among actors of the referral mechanisms which address cases of violence against women was ensured through workshops in the municipalities of Prrenjas, Peqin, Cerrik, Belsh, Gramsh and Elbasan with a total of 69 CCR members.
- Staff of 27 administrative units of Tirana increased capacities to respond to violence against women and girls through 11 capacity building sessions.
With UN Women Bosnia and Herzegovina support extensive number of trainings was conducted resulting in: more than 190 individuals have better knowledge on gender equality and GBV including sexual harassment in public space; 21 teacher and 35 high school students have capacities to conduct advanced prevention activities in high schools; and 15 religious' leaders across BiH have in depth knowledge on violence against women and how this can be prevented; and finally, more than 20 media professionals have increased knowledge on responsible reporting on GBV.
As a result of UN Women Ukraine support: 36 (12 men and 24 women) representatives of local authorities and local legal aid providers from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts increase their knowledge on applying a survivor-centred approach when developing policies and implementing services for gender-based violence victims/survivors; 37 persons (35 women and 2 men), Deputy Heads of communities and Heads of Social Protection Departments from target communities of Donetsk oblast and Luhansk oblast increased their knowledge on the international and national legal frameworks on the prevention and counteraction of domestic and gender-based violence, on effective coordination and referral aimed at ensuring quality protection and a coordinated response, through a two-day training; UN Women jointly with the Ministry of Internal Affairs and National Police of Ukraine developed the “Guidelines for police on prevention and response to domestic violence in Ukraine”; 60 (51 women, 9 men) of media representatives from Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts increased their knowledge on gender-sensitive and human rights-based reporting.
Pursuing the goal to increase police capacity to hold domestic violence offenders accountable and better protect the safety of victims and their children, UN Women Moldova CO supported various capacity building and as a result:
- 16 police officers, including 6 women and 10 men, representing different regions from Moldova are certified trainers and have knowledge and skills to deliver EVAW trainings for law enforcement officials, as part of the team of national trainers within Center for Integrated Application of Legislation (CIPAL) (2020).
- In 2021, UN Women CO is supporting a comprehensive capacity building in partnership with the General Inspectorate of Police, the General Directorate of Criminal Investigation, and the National Inspectorate of Public Security for the up 400 police officers. As result of the first phase - 8 two-day training activities 182 police officers, 93 from criminal investigative and 89 public security division, 75 women and 107 men from 36 different regions of the country acquired relevant knowledge and skills to respond promptly and in accordance with the provision of national law to cases of domestic violence.
In addition to that, to support the establishment of a specialist service for victims of sexual violence in Cahul and Ungheni, over 41 law enforcement representatives and medical staff, psychologists, and social assistants have acquired new knowledge and skills for a better response to cases of sexual violence to trauma-oriented approach and coordination of efforts of all specialists involved in response to cases of sexual violence.
In Tajikistan – series of training for WLWH have been conducted to build their leadership skills and adopt transformational leadership approach in advocating for the life free of violence and discrimination. Service providers in SPT pilot districts have been trained in localized case-management system.
25 participants, most of whom are lawyers of human rights organizations or individual practicing lawyers with more than 10 years of experience (68% of participants), have been trained and increased their knowledge and skills on International standards and procedures for the protection of women and girls from gender-based violence and procedures for filing complaints with CEDAW and other UN convention bodies on an online training which was held for lawyers and advocates in Dushanbe and Khujand.
Over 80 of experts, general public, community and beneficiaries in Tajikistan have strengthened their knowledge and understanding on mechanisms of legal protection and assessment of physical and psychological injuries resulting from violence and mechanisms of legal protection and medical documentation from impunity.
In the frames of the 16 Days campaign, the local UN Women partner, NGO Human Right Center, received technical and logistical support from UN Women to conduct two webinars "Mechanisms of Legal Protection and Assessment of Physical and Psychological Injuries Resulting from Violence" (November 25th) and "Mechanisms of Legal Protection and Medical Documentation from Impunity" (December 1st).
According to the report, in total, 84 women, girls, lawyers, health specialists, psychologists, etc. participated in the webinars and increased their knowledge and understanding on the topics and the ways to address violence and related issues. Notably, representatives of WLWH, one of the most marginalized and discriminated group of the Tajik society, have also participated in the webinars. UN Women contributed to this by supporting local NGO Human Rights Center in preparation of those webinars by provision relevant information and data. Several local gender activists and advocates contributed to the webinars by leading thematic sessions and answering questions from participants.
After launching the COVID-19 and EVAWG outreach campaign, the Red Crescent Society in Tajikistan encountered several challenges in capacity building and training of volunteers in EVAWG realm due to social distancing modalities and health-related issues which caused constant turnover of NGO staff and volunteers. The duration of the project was only 5 months and UN Women tried to come up with innovative, promising, and effective service delivery modalities, especially in conveying outreach and VAWG essentials to the volunteers, who have been mainly trained in disaster response and emergency. As a solution to face-to-face training, UN Women developed a digital tutorial for community volunteers and NGOs on outreach essentials, communication skills with the victims of violence and further referral of these victims to the local VAWG service providers. The digital tutorial was adapted to the mobile version and disseminated among volunteers. Volunteers had hands-on guidelines on communication modalities, identification of VAWG cases and referral mechanism in their mobile phones, which they used in a daily work in remote districts. According to the Red Crescent Society and NGOs, work efficiency and coverage have increased as newcomers among volunteers used the tutorial instead of face-to-face induction training.
15 professional lawyers, members of the Tajik Bar Associations enhanced their knowledge in mainstreaming gender in justice sector, criminal, and civil cases, considering a human rights-based approach and consequences of HIV/AIDS.
UN Women Tajikistan strengthened the capacity of NGO staff and volunteers through trainings on VAWG case management and referral mechanism, supporting 12-hour operation of 12 NGO staff for remote consultations and developed information materials on VAWG support services in 6 target districts (Isfara, B. Gafurov, Vose, Rudaki, Gissar and Yavan).
At the East & Southern African regional level, to bring the global commitments to the field and to create an enabling safe, secure and equitable environment in line with the UN Secretary-General's guidance, a Training of Trainers program on “Gender Parity” and “Prevention of Sexual Harassment, Sexual Exploitation and Abuse” was organized in partnership with UN Women HQ with participation by 42 participants from 12 countries in the region representing UN Women, UNPFA, UNHCR, IOM, ICAO and UNDSS in Mombasa, Kenya. Following the training at least 5 countries have replicated the training in their countries and also took initiatives to establish and strengthen the PSEA task forces.
In Kenya, UN Women continued to play a key role in convening and leading stakeholders to demand accountability for ending violence against women and girls, while at the same time ensuring access to quality and essential services for survivors. As one of the key highlights, UN Women together with its’ partners convened a National GBV Conference in 2019 bringing together over 450 participants from across the country with the aim to harness accountability for GBV prevention and response. As a result of the Conference a communique with 27 recommendations articulating roles for each duty bearer was finalized.
Standardization of GBV training was improved through UN Women support in the development of the Safe Spaces and Applicability Manual , the GBV Service Providers Data Bank tools, and the Model Gender-Based Violence Recovery Centers Guidance Note. These tools are expected to provide a harmonized training curriculum for use by duty bearers while the guidance note will provide a framework for provision of GBV services within a multi-sectoral framework. The Harmonized GBV Training Manual was also finalized. Further KCO led in the development of the “Implementation Guide for the Global Women’s Safety Framework” . The guide to implementation provides a “how to” and a “step by step” guidance for tea chain producers who are keen to address sexual harassment. Prevention and response to GBV by the National Police Service was strengthened through KCO’s support in the development of a National Action Plan (NAP). The NAP provides for the creation of a special gender crimes unit within the policy system and provides opportunities for all actors to strengthen their partnership with the Police, by seeking to support different aspects of the action plan.
A number of capacity building and trainings were undertaken targeting law enforcement and other officials in the ESAR countries. Most significantly, Malawi, Mozambique, Uganda and Zimbabwe also benefited from the Spotlight funding and undertook a number of initiatives aimed at training and capacity building of relevant actors in addressing VAW, HP and promotion of SRHR.
Lebanon PP
In 2017, 3 induction/capacity building sessions on GBV tools for around 12 youth-led NGOs active in different areas in Lebanon was organized. The main focus of the induction is Gender Roles & Societal Expectations from both Women and Men in Public and Private Spheres. Furthermore, to support the role of youth-led and women-led organizations, UN Women organized in partnership with ABAAD a GBV/Masculinity TOT training workshop in October 2017 which involved 9 CSOs. The 3 days’ workshop aimed at building the capacities of participating NGOs on the concepts of human security, gender based violence and masculinities and addressing negative coping mechanism. The CSOs were able to utilize their newly acquired knowledge and technical skills while conducting GBV awareness raising sessions within their community to address stigma against GBV survivors and reduce all forms of violence.
The UN Women Gender Specialist secondee to OCHA has been working closely with national and sub-national cluster coordinators, gender focal points and humanitarian funding partners to improve gender outcomes, including conducting training on Gender and Age Marker for 90 participants.
In Algeria, UN Women has reached an important milestone, in strenghtening the Ministry of National Solidarity, Family and Women Condition's (MSNFCF) capacities to collect data on women and girls victims of violence. A modernized and common data collection framework integrating international guidelines and indicators on WSV, with a focus on SDG 5, was developed by UN Women in partnership with the MSNFCF. The new administrative databased named "AMANE" will allow the MSNFCF and its different structures to collect comprehensive data on Survivors seeking aid from its services. All 54 professionals from the Directorates for Social Action and Solidarity (DASS) and from Women Shelter's have benefited from a specific training on how to use AMANE with a component on gender-based violence and gender issues.
As part of UN Women efforts in supporting the Palestinian police to improve the Family Protection and Juvenile Unit (FPJU) performance in dealing with VAW cases, and supporting the implementation of the capacity building plan of the FJPU, a two-day workshop has been conducted in Jan 2018 on cybercrimes against women and girls. 24 police officers from FJPU and the cybercrime unit have been targeted and agreed on recommendations to improve coordination between both units whe dealing with VAW cases. following that, UNW facilitated a meeting between heads of the specialized units of the cyber-crime and VAW, to reflect on the workshops main points and present the findings and recommendations. Both units agreed to discuss internally proposed arrangements, including the assginment of the FJPU as the first responder for the cyber-crime -violence against women and the aspects of coordination mechanisms between the units when dealing with VAW casesto ensure privacy and confidentiality.
UN Women has reinforced and developed partnerships with key departments for the provision of essential services to WSV. Justice professionals (magistrates and legal social workers) were assessed and trained on women’s access to justice and on human trafficking, and benefited from South-South exchanges with their counterparts from Palestine. The training aimed for the magistrates focused on the role of the security services during the investigation phases, the investigation of trafficking cases, and the identification and protection of victims. The dozen magistrates-experts will, following the training cycle, will conduct similar trainings to the rest of the magistrates within the Ministry of Justice thus ensuring national ownership with regards to human trafficking best practices.
UN Women and AWLN held a series of workshops with parliamentarians and legal practitioners on SGBV and women’s access to justice in order to raise awarness of the legal framework, gaps adn challenges, and how to promote services for survivors.
UN Women supported the Jordanian National Commission for Women in strengthening its positioning with female MPs, organizing three capacity building initiatives during the reporting for members of the women’s caucus in the Parliament and adressing issues related to their role in legislative writing, budget design and oversight, implementation of the SDGs, and constituency-building through online outreach. At the margins of one of the sessions, a dedicated session to review the draft cyber crime law was also conducted.
In March 2018, UN Women held two consultation meetings with civil society and government partners in Baghdad (24-26) and Erbil (27-29) to analyze humanitarian response plans from a gender perspective. The meetings also served to build a foundation for improved coordination and communication between government and civil society, resulting in the prioritization of the needs of women and girls.
UN Women Egypt in collaboration with the Office of the Public Prosecution and UNODC organized training workshops for 160 members of the Public Prosecution on how to effectively prosecute crimes related to violence against women. Topics covered included gender sensitive evidence-gathering and investigation, understanding the relevant legal articles in the Penal code and identifying common legal and practical issues faced by women victims/survivors, in addition to the provision of support and protection of survivors. Furthermore, in collaboration with the National Council for Women (NCW), training workshops were conducted for 250 recent law graduates on a career path to becoming judges to elevate their competencies to adjudicate cases related to VAW. Additionally, capacity development support was provided to the Women’s Complaints office of the NCW to strengthen their capacity to provide legal awareness and support services to women victims/survivors of violence, in addition to 80 employees of government-run women’s shelters and the supervisory ministry, to provide protection and support services to women victims/survivors of violence.
All new personnel receive a welcome letter to alert them that they need to complete all mandatory courses within 90 days of starting and these include three online courses related to ethics:
| Course Name | Direct Link /Contact | Modality/ Mandate |
| Prevention of Workplace Harassment, Sexual Harassment, and Abuse of Authority in the Workplace | Online learning programme. | |
| Ethics and Integrity at the United Nations | Online learning programme. | |
| Prevention of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse | Online learning programme. |
In addition to mandatory courses, there are non-mandatory quarterly workshops internally on Ethics and the Workplace provided both to HQ and field-based staff, both in person and online.
DRC
Strengthening of the capacities of several sectoral ministry officials (gender, health, justice, interior, defense) and NGOs in several areas, especially results-based management, protocols for dealing with sexual violence, forensic expertise, etc.
SENEGAL
In Senegal, sector ministry staff benefited from capacity building on GBV. Women leaders, young people through cultural and sports associations and local communities through committees to combat violence.
CABO VERDE
The continuous support provided in training capacities resulted in an increased capacity of key players, namely the police, the justice sector and the civil society organizations in implementing specific activities and actions in alignment with the recommendations of the conducted evaluation of the law implementation, namely spread awareness activities, assessment of the Rehabilitation Program of Men Offenders of GBV and the integration of GBV data and information in the information system of the operational management of the Ministry of Internal Administration.
MALI
UN Women trained 17 young Slam artists, who in turn reinforced the knowledge of 180 young students, girls and boys, who wrote and proclaimed poetic texts on GBV prevention and prevention during a slam contest in Bamako. A pool of 48 police officers was trained on the prevention and management of GBV survivors. 30 men from the media, the written and spoken press benefited from capacity building to raise awareness for prevention and report GBV cases to raise awareness among the population.
The support of the national police in the fight against GBV has been strengthened through a validated action plan that clearly defines the intervention strategy and results by 2020.
CAMEROON
UNW Cameroon training police officers. The capacity and the level of ownership of police forces as a primary protection actor on violence against women issues has significantly increased in 2017. Ministry of gender staff working in the call center/GBV mobile Units had also been trained while magistrate of the ministry of justice had also been trained on GBV principles.
LIBERIA
Liberia: Capacity building for national institutions with training conducted for 83 Women and Children Protection Officers, 65 prosecutors, city solicitors and court officials and 81 health workers.
NIGER
Representatives of sectoral ministries, state institutions, men and women in the media (even a declaration of commitment for the promotion of women's rights in Niger), local authorities have benefited from capacity building of the UN WOMEN office on GBV, gender and the promotion of women's rights.
In Viet Nam, UN Women supported capacity building to better respond to violence against women by assisting the Judicial Academy, the national judicial training institution. With UN Women’s support, the Judicial Academy now has a training modules which will be used to train prospective judges, prosecutors and lawyers on international standards to address VAW. To accompany the training module, a casebook containing 100 cases of domestic and sexual violence and video clips were finalized after being piloted with lecturers, trainers and practitioners from multiple institutions.
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.