United Nations Population Fund

UNFPA participated in the March 2009 Rio Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Achieving Gender Equality; developed a toolkit on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality and sexual and reproductive health (with Instituto Promundo); developed case studies of Engaging Men and Boys in Gender, Sexuality and reproductive health in Asia and Africa (with ICOMP); and, documented good practices on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality and HIV and AIDS. UNFPA represented the UN Team in the drafting committee of the Rio Call to Action and continues the collaboration with the “Men Engage Alliance” as well as respective partners.UNFPA continued its advocacy work on elimination of violence, abuse and discrimination against women and girls, with a special focus on vulnerable and marginalized groups of women and girls. It collaborated with Help Age International, the Global Action on Aging and the NGO Committee on Ageing in advocating for the implementation of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, and contributed to UNAIDS’s guidance note on HIV and sex work. Other instances of work with such groups includes the new UNFPA-AECID Latin America initiative - “Strengthening Indigenous Women’s Organizations and Health Systems to Promote Maternal Health, with an Intercultural and Human Rights-Based Approach”. In Jamaica, in partnership with the government, UNFPA support the launching of the campaign “Sister to Sister”, using popular icons and messages.During the Commission on the Status of Women, UNFPA hosted various events on the inter-sectionality of HIV/AIDS and violence against women. Hide

UNFPA published the technical report of the Global Consultation on female genital mutilation/cutting, held in Addis Ababa, in 2007. Hide

UNFPA, in collaboration with World Education, held an expert workshop to develop a curriculum to address gender-based violence and violence against women in humanitarian/conflict/post-conflict settings. Hide

UNFPA country offices in Ghana, Malawi, Mozambique, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, the Dominican Republic and Peru developed national policies in 2008 to support efforts to end gender-based violence. Hide

In Turkey, more than 2 million soldiers were trained by UNFPA-supported initiatives on gender-based violence and sexual and reproductive health. Also in Turkey, by the end of 2008, 250 police facilitators were trained on domestic violence prevention who, in turn, trained 40,000 of their peers. Hide

During 2008, UNFPA’s Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO) undertook an initiative aimed at improving access of victims of sexual violence to justice through the design of public policies on sexual violence, and the strengthening of legal protection systems and health services in Central America (Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua). The initiative will develop pilot prevention and care models, to be linked to public security, legal, medicine, health and justice institutions. Hide

The initiative by UNFPA Latin America and Caribbean Regional Office (LACRO) on sexual violence in select Central American countries included communication and advocacy strategies at country and sub regional level, in partnership with a wide range of stakeholders. Hide

In September 2009, UNFPA held a regional meeting in Namibia to develop a UNFPA Africa-wide regional strategy on GBV. Hide

Baseline assessments were completed in Rwanda, and first drafts were completed in Fiji, Paraguay, and Kyrgyzstan. National multi-stakeholder workshops to develop joint programming frameworks were held in Jordan, Philippines, Rwanda, Fiji, and Kyrgyzstan, and joint national committees consisting of a wide range of stakeholders, responsible for coordinating and providing technical support, were formed. These workshops are instrumental in developing a multi-sectoral joint programming framework that brings together United Nations system actions in support of national efforts to address violence against women, including the development or the implementation of national action plans on violence against women.Baseline assessments, as well as national workshops to develop multi-sectoral joint programming frameworks, had been initiated or completed in all 10 countries and joint national committees had been formed. Implementation of joint programming activities, led by UNFPA, had commenced in the Philippines and Rwanda. Activities of the joint programming initiative were increasingly linked to the Secretary-General’s Campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” at the national level.UNFPA is leading the implementation of the joint programming activities at the country level in the identified pilot countries under the Inter-agency Task Force on Violence against Women. Hide

As part of UNFPA’s collaboration with the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW) on costing violence against women, workshops were conducted during this reporting period in Bangladesh, Uganda, and Morocco, to test the domestic violence costing model developed under the partnership. Hide