WUNRN
In 2011, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women launched its 16th Call for Proposals to support the implementation of laws, policies and action plans on ending violence against women and girls. The Call included a thematic window to address violence against women in conflict, post-conflict and transitional settings. A total of 2,210 concept notes were received with requests totaling USD 1.1 billion. Following an extensive and rigorous review process, the UN Trust Fund awarded over USD 8 million to 12 initiatives in 18 countries.
The UN Trust Fund is grateful for contributions from UN Member States and other donors. Governments that have contributed to the 16th grant-making cycle include Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Finland, Germany, Honduras, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kuwait, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, Monaco, Morocco, the Netherlands, Oman, Pakistan, South Africa, Switzerland, and the United States of America
The UN Trust Fund also received support from the private sector,
non-governmental organizations and individual donors. Contributors include
Johnson & Johnson, M*A*C AIDS Fund, the United Nations Foundation, United
Nations Federal Credit Union, Universal Peace Federation, Zonta International
and Zonta International Foundation, and UN Women National Committees in
Austria, Finland, Iceland, Japan and the United Kingdom.
Institute of Cape Verde for the Advancement of Gender Equality
Cape Verde
Project Title: “Programme for the
Implementation of the Special Law on Gender-Based Violence”
Description: According to the Cape Verde Demographic Health
Survey, one in every five women has suffered from intimate partner violence in
the country, with nine percent affected by serious physical violence. In
January 2011, following the sustained advocacy efforts of civil society
organizations, the Gender Based Violence Law was finally promulgated.
The Institute of Cape Verde for the Advancement of Gender Equality, the national entity responsible for mainstreaming gender in the country’s national policies and plans, played a critical role in supporting the passage of this Law. The Institute will now spearhead its implementation, as part of the country’s Gender Programme for Action (2012-2016). The project will focus on three main areas of violence prevention and response: (i) curbing the acceptance of violence through the use of information, education and communications for attitudinal change targeting schools, men’s groups and the media; (ii) improving the existing multi-sectoral referral system through the establishment of ten “victim support centers” across the country; and (iii) building the institutional capacity of both government and civil society organizations for implementation, intervention and monitoring of plans and measures to address violence against women. The Institute will work closely with the main women’s networks in the country to achieve the project’s objectives, drawing on a partnership that proved highly effective for the approval of the Gender-Based Violence Law.
Concern Worldwide
Malawi
Project Title: “Ending School-Related Gender-Based Violence
(SRGBV) in Malawi”
Description: School-Related Gender-Based Violence (SRGBV)
remains high in Malawi, with more than 65 percent of girls experiencing some
form of abuse, and only 45 percent of girls staying on from primary to junior
school. SRGBV manifests as rape, unwanted sexual touching or comments, corporal
punishment, bullying and verbal harassment. It is rooted in gender
inequality and the unequal power relations between adults and children, males
and females. The proposed project will address this phenomenon, promoting equal
access to quality primary education for girls and at risk children in
twenty-five schools across Malawi’s Nsanje district.
In partnership with local NGOs and government agencies including the
ministries of Education, Social Welfare, and the police, Concern Worldwide will
empower children, youth and teachers to end violence against girls at the
school level while building the capacity of enforcement structures at the
community, district and national levels to address these abuses. The project
aims to create a safe learning environment for girls in primary schools in the
Nsanje district by ensuring that effective awareness, prevention and response
mechanisms are put in place while improving capacity at national level to
significantly reduce school-related gender-based violence. Informed by learning
from Concern Worldwide’s global education programmes, the intervention proposes
to introduce new approaches to institutionalizing good practices on child
protection and positive discipline, with an emphasis on behavioral change of students,
teachers and communities at large for sustainable impact.
Belize Women’s Department
Belize
Project Title:“Implementation of National Gender-based
Violence Plan of Action”
Description: The National Plan of Action on Gender-Based
Violence of Belize (2010-2013) was the first in the Caribbean to be endorsed at
the highest political level and adopted by the Cabinet as official government
policy. Despite this unprecedented political commitment, additional resources
are critically needed to accelerate implementation and ensure that the
four-year objectives of the National Plan are achieved.
With a focus on policy development, creation of capacities and strong collaboration among government agencies, the Women’s Department in Belize will lead efforts towards the implementation of the National Plan of Action on Gender-Based Violence. The project will prioritize primary prevention by addressing the root causes of violence against women through the development of a specialized school curricula and the engagement of teachers as allies. The project also address the urgent need of data on incidence, frequency and severity of gender-based violence in coordination with the National Statistical Institute, providing critical support to existing data collection systems in the Police Department and The Ministry of Health. The Women’s Department is the country’s National Women Machinery and lead coordinator of Belize’s response to violence against women. Guided by its multi-sectoral approach, the Department will work closely with the Ministries’ Gender Focal Points who are responsible for monitoring implementation of the Action Plan. It will also coordinate actions with the National Gender-Based Violence Committee, an advisory body on the National Plan’s implementation, which brings together representatives of relevant public sector Departments and Ministries, statutory bodies, civil society groups and United Nations country offices.
Limyè Lavi
Haiti
Project Title:“Rethinking Power: Community-Based Prevention
and Response to Violence against Women in Haiti”
Description: Violence against women and girls is commonplace
in Haiti. Even before the devastating January 2010 earthquake, research showed
that 1 in 3 Haitian women had experienced some form of gender-based violence.
Many women remain powerless to negotiate safe sex with their partners,
increasing their risk of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) including
HIV/AIDS. Today, Haiti’s HIV rate is the highest in the Caribbean, with nearly
120,000 testing positive for the virus. Haitian women between 15 and 24 face
twice the risk of becoming infected with HIV as their male counterparts.
Years of advocacy by Haiti’s women’s movement has led to the adoption of a number of laws, policies and action plans on violence against women and girls. However, the prevalence of social norms that condone or encourage violence is impeding the effective implementation of these laws. A 2004 Policy Project study found that 80 percent of Haitian men see violence against women as justified in cases of “disrespect, dishonor, disobedience, or excessive spending.” While these attitudes are changing, they are still common among the general population and some officials tasked with assisting survivors.
Building on the experience of UN Trust Fund grantee, Raising Voices, the project will adapt the successful “SASA!” community mobilization methodology from Uganda to the Jacmel Commune in Haiti. By effectively engaging a wide range of community members in critical discussions on power, violence, and HIV/AIDS, Limyè Lavi and their co-implementing partner, Beyond Borders, will seek to transform harmful behaviors and attitudes about violence against women and HIV/AIDS. The project will mobilize communities through mentoring and the training of community activists, religious leaders, local government officials, journalists, men, women and youth in the targeted communities. The organization also proposes to build the capacity of three other NGOs to replicate this intervention in their project areas in an effort to prevent violence against women and girls and to support survivors throughout the country.
DEMUS- Research for the Defense of Women’s Rights
Peru
Project Title:“Contributing to Building a Justice System that
Prosecutes, Sanctions and Provides Redress in Cases of Sexual Violence”
Description: Women survivors of sexual violence in Peru are
confronted with a justice system that has precariously incorporated
considerations of gender, human rights, and race in both its institutional
policies and the prosecution of cases. Measures adopted to address gender
discrimination, prevent re-victimization and provide specialized services for
women survivors of sexual violence have been scarce and poorly implemented.
The proposed programme seeks to end impunity for sexual violence crimes by
ensuring access to justice for women through improved application of the new
Peruvian Criminal Procedure Code. DEMUS will influence and strengthen the
capacity of justice officials responsible for providing protection orders and
reparation to victims to prevent gender stereotypes from being applied in the
investigation and trying of cases. In coordination with the National Judicial
Academy, gender criteria will be incorporated as part of the evaluation procedure
of judges seeking ratification, thereby securing institutionalization of the
knowledge. DEMUS will bring justice closer to women by generating mechanisms of
dialogue between justice authorities and grassroots women’s organizations in
six districts of the country. This will include public campaigns and proposals
presented by the organizations to the judiciary to overcome obstacles faced by
women survivors of sexual violence when seeking justice.
International Medical Corps (IMC)
Libya
Project Title: “Addressing Violence against Women in
Post-conflict and Transitional Libya”
Description: As Libya emerges from conflict and a new
government is established, questions remain regarding the extent to which
women’s rights will be represented in emerging laws and policies. With many
issues and priorities to consider during this transitional period, it will be
important to ensure that issues affecting women and girls including
gender-based violence are effectively addressed and prioritized by local and national
authorities.
By increasing the service and coordination capacities of Libya’s fragile
state institutions, this project will strengthen the institutional response to
both conflict-related and ongoing violence against women and girls. The project
will work directly with local communities to promote women’s legal status and
reduce stigma against survivors of gender-based violence. Training on
gender-based violence will be provided to the police and local katibas
(militias), while building the capacity of health facilities in five target
areas. IMC also proposes to pilot a training programme that will equip
community-based groups to identify survivors and at risk individuals, and
provide them with case management and psychosocial support services. The programme
intends to establish five safe spaces for women to serve as hubs for
psychosocial support and referrals. The proposed programme will operate during
a critical period marked by the formation of the Libyan State, and thus
presents a remarkable opportunity for shaping a positive future direction for
women and girls in the country.
Voice for Change
Papua New Guinea
Project Title: “Advocacy Program on Ending Violence against
Women”
Description: In Papua New Guinea, tribal communities tend to
rely heavily on traditional norms and beliefs to enforce customary laws and
make decisions affecting the community. Many of these traditional laws and
customs are discriminatory and do not protect the rights of women. This
programme aims to develop by-laws for the newly established Jiwaka Province in
Papua New Guinea to -prevent and respond to violence related to polygamy,
excessive bride prices, torture and the murder of alleged “sorcerers” in an
effort to address forms of violence against women that remain widespread in the
province.
Voice for Change, a local women’s human rights organization, has been approached by the South Waghi Local Government to facilitate the development of these new by-laws and the organization intends to involve the community, tribal and youth leaders, village and district courts, and the police to ensure their endorsement and effective implementation. The project will also apply strategies to strengthen the institutional response to violence against women and the quality of services delivered to survivors. By engaging men and boys, developing school-based interventions and working with the media, the project will aim to prevent violence against women and girls by addressing its root causes. The project places great emphasis on community mobilization and ownership, working directly with the four tribes, 37 sub-clans and 62 inter-sub-clans in the Jiwaka Province in order to address the issue of violence against women at the grassroots level.
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
Thailand
Project Title: “Enhancing a Community-based Multi-sectoral
Response to Gender-based Violence in Ban Mae Nai Soi and Ban Mae Surin Karenni
Refugee Camps”
Description: The protracted nature of the Karenni community’s
displacement in Thailand, combined with harmful cultural beliefs and attitudes
about gender, has contributed to an environment where women and girls
experience structural and systemic forms of gender-based violence. According to
a recent reproductive health assessment within nine refugee camps along the
Thailand-Burma border, over 20 per cent of refugee women had experienced some
form of gender-based violence in their lifetime. The majority (75 per cent) of
cases handled by the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in the Ban Mae Nai
Soi and Ban Mae Surin refugee camps are perpetrated by an intimate partner,
over half of which include threats to kill or the use of a weapon.
The proposed programme intends to scale-up an already proven approach to
service delivery for gender-based violence in humanitarian contexts: a
survivor-centered, multi-sectoral approach to address the needs of survivors.
This approach will be augmented by cultivating the Karenni National Women’s
Organization (KNWO), a respected and trusted community-based organization for
the Karenni population, as the leader of the approach. By developing KNWO into
the lead agency for gender-based violence response and a technical resource
hub, IRC seeks to engender greater technical capacity for, and ownership of,
such services for the long-term among the displaced Karenni community. This is
an extremely important shift for a camp population that has been forced to
depend on direct service provision from NGOs for over fifteen years. By
building KNWO’s technical and organizational competence for gender-based
violence service provision, the proposed programme thus has the opportunity to
foster greater, long-term community commitment to sustaining quality gender
responsive services for survivors in these communities.
Women’s Resource Center
Armenia
Project Title: Strengthening a Multi-Sectoral Response to
Counter Gender Based Violence in Rural Areas of Armenia
Description: Since its independence in 1991, numerous
socio-economic challenges have afflicted Armenia, resulting in a drastic
decrease of women’s economic and political status and alarming rates of
gender-based violence. According to a nationwide survey on domestic violence,
sixty-one percent of women have been exposed to controlling behavior with 25
percent facing psychological violence and abuse. The absence of comprehensive
domestic violence legislation, the lack of shelter and resources for survivors,
limited training for police and healthcare workers, and the perception of
gender-based violence as a private matter, have all exacerbated the problem of
violence against women in the country.
The Women’s Resource Center, the first organization to address sexual violence against women in Armenia, will promote the government’s responsibility to implement the 2011-2015 Strategic Action Plan to Combat Gender-Based Violence through developing monitoring mechanisms and providing recommendations to relevant government agencies on legal and policy changes needed to support survivors. The initiative will pioneer a referral system for survivors based on sustained cooperation between governmental and non-governmental organizations. The project will strengthen the capacity of sub-national Divisions on Family, Children and Women’s Issues in the three rural regions of Shirak, Lori and Syunik, where violence is most rampant. The project will also aim to shift cultural and social perceptions towards gender violence through awareness raising campaigns, and community mobilization around the unacceptability of violence against women.
United Nations Country Team (UNDP, UNICEF and UN Women)
Republic of Serbia
Project Title: Integrated Response to Violence against Women
in Serbia
Description: While Serbia has ratified a body of laws and
policies to reduce and eliminate gender-based violence, implementation remains
a challenge. The severe financial and economic crisis has heavily affected
Serbia’s national budget, leading to reduced budgetary allocations for the
Gender Equality Mechanisms (GEMs) that play a critical role in the
implementation of strategic plans and the enforcement of laws on women’s
rights, including gender-based violence.
In line with the National Strategy for Prevention and Elimination of
Violence against Women in the Family and in Intimate Partner Relationship 2011,
and building upon lessons learnt from previous interventions, the UN Country
Team will contribute to the establishment of a coordinated institutional
response to address violence against women through a set of prevention and
protection measures. In the area of protection, the programme will strengthen
institutional response in alignment with the requirements of the Council of
Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and
Domestic Violence 2011 (Istanbul Convention) and promote multi-sectoral
coordination of key actors at both national and provincial levels. In the area
of prevention, the programme will raise awareness among children and youth
through school-based and community interventions including new educational
packages and social mobilization campaigns. The Joint Programme will pilot
working with perpetrators at four Centres for Social Welfare, and
assess the possibility of standardizing this intervention as part of the
country’s social protection services. The UN Country Team will also contribute
to public awareness of services for survivors of gender-based violence,
increasing visibility and outreach of the existing national SOS hotline and a
one-stop centre.
Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sudan, Uganda, Libya
Project Title: “Advancing Gender Justice in Countries under
ICC investigation”
Description: There is an urgent matter of accountability for
gender-based crimes in the context of the armed conflict and post-conflict
settings where the International Criminal Court (ICC) is conducting on-going
investigations. Although gender-based violence has been reported in all of
these conflict-related settings, little accountability has been provided and
limited medical assistance and support are available to survivors. Women have
also been largely excluded from the peace processes and transitional justice
mechanisms have to date not included gender provisions in their mandate,
jurisdiction and implementation.
In order to respond to this situation, the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice, the only international women’s organization that has been granted amicus curiae status by the ICC, will work to engender existing post-conflict recovery policies, frameworks, and transitional justice mechanisms. The project will strengthen local capacity to undertake documentation programmes in order to generate credible knowledge and data on the commission of gender-based crimes in armed conflicts in order to ensure domestic and international accountability of these crimes. The project will also provide assistance to survivors in need of urgent medical or psychosocial support through piloting a new model of transit houses for war-affected women in remote areas. The project also intends to enhance the legal status of women in conflict and post-conflict settings specifically through reform of rape laws.
The Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice will work with its extensive network of women’s organizations in the four target countries, contextualizing interventions to meet the specific needs of survivors in each setting.
International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ)
Kenya, Uganda, Cote d’Ivoire, Colombia, Tunisia, Nepal
Project Title: “Transitional Justice: Addressing Gender-Based
Violence and Ensuring Women’s Participation”
Description: In periods of conflict or repression, violence
against women often dramatically increases, and women’s ability to seek
recourse to defend their rights is severely limited. Transitional justice
responses to gender-based violence during conflict and authoritarian rule are
not only important to ensure full justice for mass human rights abuses, but
they can also help combat women’s marginalization and create stronger
protections for their human rights in post-conflict settings. Despite increased
attention to and recognition of the impact of conflict on women, women continue
to be marginalized in peace building and justice efforts.
This project aims to ensure that transitional justice mechanisms in Tunisia,
Nepal, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya and Uganda are designed in ways to better
address the specific justice needs of victims of gender-based violence. By
providing in-depth technical assistance and trainings to national policymakers
involved in the design of transitional justice measures, women’s organizations,
and practitioners, the project will ensure that gender-based violence is
addressed, particularly in the areas of truth-seeking and reparations. The
project also seeks to conduct consultations with women survivors and rights
groups to assess their justice priorities and needs and to exchange strategies
developed by actors across the six countries to effectively integrate gender
issues into current and future transitional justice initiatives.