Measures

The UN Trust Fund is finalizing its Strategy for 2010-2015, entitled “Vision 2015”. Consultations have involved sister agencies and UNIFEM staff at global and field levels; the UN Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE); and representatives of Member States. Furthermore, over 20 UN agencies and funds have to date participated in the UN Trust Fund’s governance through regional and global Programme Appraisal Committees.Since 2008, the UN Trust Fund has funded UN Country Team programming to end violence against women and girls. Currently, the UN Trust Fund supports eight UN Country Teams – in Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, Ecuador, Mexico, Nepal, Panama, Thailand, and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia – fostering a more coordinated and coherent UN system-wide action in this area. In some countries, synergies between UN agencies and NGO grantees of the UN Trust Fund are resulting in leveraged efforts for prevention and response. For example in Albania, UNDP is coordinating programming against domestic violence under the ONE UN pilot in the country and is working closely with a current UN Trust Fund grantee, “Refleksione”, to upscale local-level platforms for community coordination including referral and data collection systems.Under its portfolio of over 80 ongoing initiatives in 70 countries and territories, many UN Trust Fund grantees focus on prevention. For example, in a multi-country initiative implemented in Brazil, Chile, India and Rwanda, UN Trust Fund grantee, Instituto Promundo, seeks to systematically evaluate the most effective approaches to involving men and boys in the prevention of violence – the results and lessons learned from impact evaluation studies in the four countries will provide a significant contribution to the evidence-base for engaging young and adult men in ending violence against women and girls. UN Trust Fund grantee, Equal Access Nepal, won the One World Media Special Award 2010 for its radio programme Samajhdari (“Mutual understanding”) that links media and community mobilization to address the intersection between violence against women and HIV. The radio programme, produced by community radio reporters from vulnerable groups, reached potentially 90 percent of the Nepalese population. Seven UN Trust Fund grantees working on addressing the intersection of violence against women and HIV participated in a Poster Exhibition at the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, bringing in their experience on the critical role of addressing violence as part of the HIV response from Botswana, India, Nepal, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Uganda and the Russian Federation.The UN Trust Fund translated its training curriculum on evidence-based programming, monitoring and evaluation into Spanish and French. The translated curriculums were piloted in two regional skills-building workshops, which were held in Nicaragua and Senegal, in June 2010. The training events were attended by 16 UN Trust Fund grantees throughout Central and South America and the Africa region. As a result of the training, grantees have revised their monitoring and evaluation systems for a stronger tracking of results, for building evidence base, and for demonstrating what works to end violence against women and girls. Hide

In June 2010, the International Labour Conference will hold the first round of discussions on a draft instrument on decent work for domestic workers, and in 2011 will discuss the standard(s) with a view to its adoption. A new standard on decent work for domestic workers will contribute to the effective abolition of child labour within domestic work and help to prevent and eliminate violence against domestic workers of any age. Hide

With the support of UNDP Kosovo, five Legal Aid offices, became fully operational in Gjakove, Dragash, Ferizai, North Mitrovica, and Gracanica, providing legal aid services to residents. Hide

In Sri Lanka, UNDP is preparing to use street dramas to present issues related to VAW. In Sierra Leone, UNDP supported 8 civil society organizations to be engaged in awareness-raising on gender laws, sexual gender-based violence, and harmful traditional practices. In addition, 24 radio programmes were organized by UNDP implementing partners for sensitization messages. UNDP also supported civil society organizations to raise awareness on issues of violence against women and human trafficking and act as monitors/watchdogs; and supported production of documentaries to increase awareness of the broader public on violence against women, including the legal and institutional frameworks in place to provide justice.In the Arab region, a series of Human Development Reports were produced by UNDP, highlighting violence against women, as an issue of concern that affects progress in Arab societies. The most recent report analyzed and researched issues of human insecurities in the region, including gender-based violence. In Iraq, UNDP is working closely with UNIFEM on enhancing women’s security. In Haiti, UNDP works with women and women's organizations in IDPs camps to identify and implement preventive measures against gender-based violence. Hide

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

In Sierra Leone, UNDP provided grants to 6 civil society organisations to provide support services to SGBV victims, including legal aid, primarily in Bo and Makeni. The referral mechanism for SGBV cases has been enhanced across communities and several perpetrators have been convicted. Services provided by civil society organisations to victims of SGBV has also led to the conviction of several perpetrators. UNDP also supported legal aid clinics in the Kivus area, located in Eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, resulting in the conviction of several perpetrators of SGBV. UNDP is supporting the Family Support Units in the Police, both in Sierra Leone and DRC, by developing guidelines on SGBV case management and by ensuring the necessary equipment for their implementation. Hide

In Somaliland, Somalia, the Sexual Assault Referral Centre (SARC) operates in Hargeisa, as a ‘one-stop’ location, where victims of SGBV can receive medical care, counselling, free legal advice and representation. The victims are also given the opportunity to report the assault to the police. In Puntland, in Somalia, the Puntland Elders Network has been established in line with the State Conference for Traditional Leaders of Puntland Declaration, according to which the elders are committed, inter alia, to refer cases of rape to the formal justice system. Hide

In Southern Sudan, women’s security and their access to justice is a top priority for UNDP. Four Special Protection Units (SPUs) were established to provide a secure environment for women to report cases of gender-based violence. UNDP’s law enforcement project supports the SPUs. Through the SPUs, UNDP in close colalboaration with the Southern Sudan Police Service, and other UN actors, including UNIFEM, UNFPA, UNMIS and UNHCR, helps women secure services in protected and confidential environments. The SPUs, along with the training of 120 police officers is expected to increase the number of reported cases of GBV in addition to a number of cases being concluded; to increase cases of gender-based violence that are investigated and prosecuted; to reduce incidents of gender-based violence; to enhance the police responsiveness to community concerns. Hide

A UNDP global programme to support country level work is being developed to implement priority action areas including: work with local government and with traditional entities; multi-sectoral projects, especially comprehensive poverty reduction and governance projects; research on impacts, methods and baseline data; dissemination of research; support to the Secretary General’s Campaign to End Violence Against women; and work with NGOs and local campaigns to develop capacity, end recidivism and provide counseling for survivors. Hide

In every region, UNDP – with its national partners and in collaboration with UN Country Teams- continues to support the development and implementation of strategies and actions plans on domestic violence. As convener of the gender thematic window of the MDG Achievement Fund (MDG-F), UNDP supports and partners in the implementation of a number of joint programs which address gender-based violence in an integrated manner, including in many cases through the development of national strategies. Joint programmes with an explicit focus on gender based-violence are supported by the MDG-F Trust Fund in Bangladesh, Colombia, Guatemala, Morocco, OPT, Timor-Leste and Vietnam.UNDP Kosovo supported the development and implementation of the National Strategy and Action Plan against Trafficking in Human Beings (2008-2011). UNDP works with partners to ensure that background and contextual information on gender discrimination and gender-based violence is included in national plans and through them reflected in Common Country Assessments/United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (CCA/UNDAFs). Hide