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UNFPA is committed to strengthening the capacity of governments, implementing partners, and its own staff to prevent and respond to GBV effectively. Through comprehensive training and capacity-building initiatives, UNFPA equips all actors involved in GBV prevention and response with the necessary knowledge, skills, and systems. 

• As of February 2025, 300 participants from 67 countries have completed the kNOwVAWdata course, focusing on safe, ethical VAW data collection, analysis, and reporting. 
• ASRO supported Al-Azhar in conducting TOT workshops for students from Somalia, Djibouti, Sudan, and Yemen, training future religious leaders to address GBV, FGM, and child marriage. ASRO also helped develop a framework for a Religious Leaders Network to enhance collaboration in combating harmful practices. 
• In EECA, UNFPA strengthened multi-sectoral responses to GBV through regional ToT workshops, training 35 stakeholders per country and developing tools for monitoring and implementing standard operating procedures. 
• PSRO developed and rolled out a GBV Risk Mitigation Curriculum for the Pacific Sub-Region, focusing on climate disaster contexts, across 4 countries. 
• WCARO conducted capacity-building workshops on the Essential Services Package and GBV case management in The Gambia and Equatorial Guinea for UN personnel, government officials, and partners. 
• ​​​In LAC, UNFPA developed 3 self-administered virtual courses on the Essential Services Package, clinical management of sexual violence, and child marriage prevention, reaching over 10,000 public servants across 15 countries. From these courses, a community of practice was established, running from 2020 to 2022 and generating 20 webinars on GBV, with 1.6k subscribers and 198k views.  Moreover, since 2021, UNFPA and PAHO have developed a course on the clinical management of sexual violence in Latin America. The course has been disseminated at the regional level and is currently being rolled out by the ministries of health in four countries: El Salvador, Brazil, Guatemala, and Ecuador. 

UN Action has supported over 60 joint catalytic projects across 18 conflict-affected countries focused on providing holistic, comprehensive support to survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, and addressing the root causes of sexual violence. UN Action is currently funded through the Conflict-related Sexual Violence – Multi-Partner Trust Fund (CRSV-MPTF), which was set up in 2020. The CRSV-MPTF has since supported projects in: Somalia, Lebanon, Iraq, Jordan DRC, Mali, Ukraine, South Sudan, and Sudan. All UN Action’s projects take a survivor-centred approach and aim to tackle the root causes of CRSV. 

During the reporting period, UNODC provided training and capacity building on crime prevention and criminal justice responses to gender-based violence against women for criminal justice professionals in Colombia, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iraq, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Mauritania, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, State of Palestine, Somalia and Viet Nam. 

For instance, in Kyrgyzstan, 200 police officers and 50 prosecutors received gender-responsive training to support victims of violence, and the Office assisted the Government in establishing a “one-window centre” in Bishkek where victims of gender-based violence against women can access essential multisectoral services.  

UNODC also strengthened justice sector responses to violence against women by enhancing judicial capacities through workshops. In the Dominican Republic, the Office conducted a technical needs assessment on access to justice for women in cases of gender-based violence and trained 103 criminal justice professionals through a capacity-building workshop for judges, prosecutors and police officers.  

In Egypt, UNODC organized nine training workshops for 178 judges on facilitating access to justice for women victims of violence and two workshops for 40 administrative prosecution judges focused on violence against women. 

In Egypt, the UNODC established the first secure area for female victims of violence at the East Alexandria Court.  

In the State of Palestine, UNODC supported the HAYA Joint Programme, providing comprehensive care for survivors, including psychological counselling and legal assistance.  

In Kyrgyzstan, UNODC developed a one-stop service centre to improve victim assistance strategies and streamline support services. 

IOM has continued to strengthen GBV programming across diverse operational contexts. IOM conducted 930 capacity-building intiatives for IOM staff, national authorities, and partners to ensure all stakeholders understand how to safely and ethically respond to a disclosure of GBV.  

Through coordination calls, capacity-building initiatives, and deployments, IOM has provided technical support to over 40 country missions in 2024. The support included developing and disseminating materials, offering guidance on GBV-specialized programming, supporting protection scale-ups, and resolving complex GBV challenges.  

As part of these efforts, IOM also launched an e-course “Introduction to gender-based violence (GBV) in crisis” in 2023 and an upcoming e-course on “Introduction to IOM Intersectional Gender Analysis” is planned in 2025. 

Furthermore, IOM reviewed 405 proposals, concept notes, reports, Regional Migrant Response Plans, and Crisis Response Plans from over 70 countries. These reviews ensure alignment with IOM’s institutional standards for addressing GBV, adherence to the Do No Harm principle, and the promotion of gender equality. 

Amid the increasing reports of violence against women and girls and the critical need for services that support survivors' recovery, IOM has developed the Survivor’s Support Package to strengthen the second pillar of its institutional framework for addressing GBV in crises (GBViC framework), which aims at addressing the consequences of gender-based violence. This resource provides tools and guidance for a holistic and integrated approach to GBV response services, incorporating and aligning key components such as health, mental health, psychosocial support (MHPSS), and other essential services provided by IOM to support survivors’ recovery and well-being.  The approach is set to be piloted in 2025 in an IOM mission that has a GBV response ongoing.

Addressing violence against women and girls requires a whole-of-society approach, ensuring that all key actors–civil society organizations (CSOs), government institutions, law enforcement, judicial systems, and media–have the knowledge and skills to prevent and respond effectively. Capacity-building is essential to fostering sustainable, systemic change. Without proper training, institutions risk reinforcing harmful norms, mismanaging cases, or failing to allocate adequate resources to address gender-based violence.  

Spotlight Initiative made strategic investments in training and capacity development to strengthen the ability of CSOs, policymakers, and law enforcement agencies to advance gender equality and effectively address violence against women and girls. These efforts included training parliamentarians on gender-responsive budgeting, equipping police forces with survivor-centred investigative techniques, and strengthening civil society organizations to engage with government entities and drive change at the grassroots level.  

CSOs play a critical role in driving accountability, advocating for policy reforms, and providing essential services to survivors. Over the course of the Initiative, more than 5,500 women’s rights organizations, social movements, and civil society actors received support to enhance their capacity to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. This included training on advocacy strategies, financial management, programmatic implementation, and engagement with government institutions to secure policy commitments and funding.  In the Pacific Regional Programme, Spotlight Initiative partnered with 39 national, local, and grassroots women’s organizations across ten countries to establish new and unique partnerships with government entities through the Pacific People’s Advancing Change (PPAC) grant-giving programme. In Niue, the Makefu Women’s Council collaborated with public safety and health sector officials to ensure their 24-hour helpline was operational for LGBTIQ+ communities, expanding access to vital services.  

Ensuring that commitments to gender equality are backed by sustainable funding requires policymakers who understand how to integrate gender considerations into national budgets. Since 2019, Spotlight Initiative has trained 1,992 parliamentarians and 9,297 government officials in gender-responsive budgeting, enabling them to advocate for and secure increased budget allocations to address gender-based violence. In Liberia, capacity-building efforts led to the establishment of gender-responsive budgeting units within multiple ministries, increasing national budget allocations for sexual and gender-based violence from zero in 2020 to USD 500,000 in 2022. In Papua New Guinea, technical assistance and training efforts helped secure the country’s first-ever national budget line for violence against women and children, which was subsequently increased in the following year. These investments demonstrate the power of training to drive policy change and ensure sustained funding for violence prevention and response efforts.  

Law enforcement officers are often the first point of contact for survivors, making their training critical to ensuring that responses are survivor-centred, effective, and aligned with human rights principles. However, without proper training, police forces may perpetuate stigma, discourage survivors from reporting, or fail to handle cases effectively. Spotlight Initiative supported police training efforts in multiple countries to strengthen institutional responses to gender-based violence. In Trinidad and Tobago, over 400 police officers received training in gender analysis, equipping them with the skills to provide survivor-centred services and referrals. The Initiative’s “training of trainers” model ensured that knowledge was institutionalized, leading to broader cultural shifts in policing. Similarly, in El Salvador, training for judicial actors and law enforcement personnel contributed to the adoption of a national protocol for investigating and prosecuting femicide cases, strengthening accountability within the justice system.  

Training and capacity-building efforts must be sustained across all sectors to ensure a comprehensive and effective response to violence against women and girls. By strengthening the knowledge and skills of civil society organizations, parliamentarians, law enforcement, and judicial actors, Spotlight Initiative contributed to long-term institutional change. These efforts ensure that national policies were properly funded, that survivors receive justice, and that systemic approaches were embedded at all levels to prevent and respond to gender-based violence.

Access to survivor-centred, rights-based essential services is fundamental to addressing gender-based violence and breaking cycles of harm. Quality services not only provide immediate support to survivors but also reinforce prevention, protection, and justice mechanisms. The Initiative has worked to improve the availability, accessibility, and responsiveness of essential services, ensuring that women and girls–particularly those from marginalized communities–receive the support they need.  

Since its inception, the Initiative helped 5.7 million women and girls gain knowledge of available services in their communities. Close to 3 million women and girls have accessed gender-based violence services, including psychosocial support, emergency shelter, medical care, legal aid, and long-term recovery assistance. Strengthening justice sector responses has also been a key focus, with conviction rates for gender-based violence doubling across 13 countries since 2019, resulting in over 13,000 convictions.  

Improving service delivery requires investment in frontline responders. More than 100,000 government service providers have been trained to deliver high-quality, coordinated essential services. This training has helped integrate response to violence against women and girls across multiple sectors, ensuring that survivors receive comprehensive survivor-centred care.  

• In Mali, outreach efforts led by non-governmental organization (NGO) partners expanded access to services, directly reaching 217,959 individuals across nearly 360 communities. Community engagement was a key drive of success, with 025 community leaders trained to identify and report cases of violence, participate in initiatives promoting gender equality, and advocate against all forms of violence. These efforts strengthened local accountability structures and helped establish community-led response mechanisms to prevent and address gender-based violence.  
• In El Salvador, Spotlight Initiative expanded GBV service provision ensuring access to high-quality services for trans women. The Initiative provided unprecedented, targeted support to transwomen, and the LGBTI community more broadly, by helping to establish a specialized clinic delivering medical and psychological services to the trans population in-country. The clinic was successfully registered in the public health system - institutionalizing services and promoting sustainability - and officially recognised as a transgender health and sexual medicine clinic. This helped improve service provision for transwomen and generate new partnerships to support traditionally underserved communities. 
• In Jamaica, the Initiative complemented ongoing efforts to establish Domestic Violence Intervention Centres (DVICs). Applying a survivor-centred approach, these centres expand access to high-quality recovery services for women and girls, particularly in rural areas, and improved long-term recovery outcomes.  The establishment of DVICs, an ongoing effort of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, helps government agencies improve essential service delivery for GBV survivors, including reproductive and health services, counseling, immediate care, referrals, and access to justice. DVICs offer a safe space for women and girls to seek support without fear of judgment or reprisal. 

Since 2007, the Global Forum on Gender Statistics has been held every two years, bringing together producers and users of gender statistics from national and international statistical offices, government agencies, international organizations, academia, civil society, the private sector, and the donor community. The Forum serves as a platform to promote statistical standards and discuss ways to improve data and evidence for gender policies, including those aimed at eliminating all forms of violence and discrimination against women. 

To strengthen capacity in measuring and analyzing data on violence against women, UNSD has conducted regular workshops, including through projects under the Development Account Programme, focused on strengthening countries’ statistical capacity in terms of making better use of existing data and communicating gender indicators; producing gender statistics in selected areas, including on violence against women.  

Effective monitoring and reporting of cases of gender-based violence contributes to increased accountability and reduced impunity in order to better prevent such violence in all contexts where OHCHR operates. OHCHR has developed a blended training on monitoring/investigating and reporting on gender-based violence for human rights officers, including from field presences, peace mission, investigative bodies and HQ sections, adopting a human rights- and evidence-based approach. OHCHR also developed tools to enhance the capacity of field presences in monitoring gender-based violence, enabling colleagues and other human rights protection actors to highlight and address such acts as human rights violations. OHCHR has tailored training sessions to the needs and specificities of each context, with a focus on country offices participating in the Gender Accreditation Programme (GAP) also led by OHCHR.