United Nations Development Programme

In 2013, UNDP progressed work on a forthcoming publication “UNDP Support for Domestic Violence Law Reform” to assist staff and partners to support national and other partners to undertake domestic violence law reform.UNDP supported several initiatives to enhance capacity of the UN system in addressing VAW through a training to UNCT members on their professional and personal roles in addressing VAW and in changing societal attitudes (Albania); compulsory online training course for UNDP staff on “UN Programme on the Prevention of Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Abuse of Authority in the Workplace” (Serbia); support by Women Safety and Security Initiative (WSSI) to institutions to establish a secure environment for women and young girls (Kosovo) 2; development of a Gender Equality Strategy with several priorities on violence against women (Afghanistan); revision of the UN Gender Theme Group Terms of Reference to include responses to gender-based violence in emergencies and in situations related with HIV and AIDS (Namibia). Hide

UNDP supported the provision and improvement of multi-sectoral services through the establishment of referral systems in Somalia; a UN Trust Fund to End VAW project as well as development of guidelines and training in Serbia; increased access to justice for survivors in Sierra-Leone as well as in Somalia with the expansion of mobile courts to remote areas; enhanced legal aid in LAC, Montenegro, Pakistan, Somalia, and Sri Lanka; capacity development of shelters in Albania; development of minimum standards for SOS hotline services provision and capacity development of service providers in Serbia, as well as support to perpetrators programmes; support to networks of women living with HIV in Cambodia to highlight issues such as forced abortions and sterilizations; a Rapid Assessment of Institutional Readiness to Deliver GBV/HIV Services; and counselling in Madagascar. In India, following the gang rape case in December 2012, UNDP provided technical assistance to the Government to set up a model One Stop Crisis Centre in Delhi and provided global best practices to the Justice Mehra Committee on the issue. Hide

The new UNDP Strategic Plan (2014-17) includes for the first time specific reference to sexual and gender based violence. The second corporate gender equality strategy (2014-17) also prioritizes actions to prevent and respond to SGBV. Hide

UNDP also organized numerous activities to raise awareness on the issue such as national campaigns on VAW in Albania, on trafficking in Argentina and Kosovo; the “From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World” campaign in Uzbekistan, as a part of the UNCT; sensitization of population in Cambodia and Madagascar, of pupils in Sierra Leone, university students in Timor-Leste, religious leaders in Afghanistan, and journalists in Algeria; production of awareness-raising material(videos, leaflets etc) in Argentina, Europe and CIS, Uzbekistan, Peru, as well as advocacy material on CSW 57 in Ghana; information sharing about procedures and available services for survivors of VAW in India. Hide