‘A window of hope’: A synthesis review of the UN Trust Fund’s special window on ending violence against women and girls who are refugees and/or forcibly displaced

Women and girls who are refugees and/or forcibly displaced are at increased risk of marginalization and violence, yet the security risks and threats they face mostly remain invisible and minimized. 

Despite the extent of programming on violence against women and girls in humanitarian crisis settings, such efforts are often short-term with limited budgets or are not part of holistic efforts to address the underlying causes of such violence. There is also a gap in evidence of what actually works to prevent and respond to violence against refugee and/or forcibly displaced women and girls.  

Synthesis review 

The synthesis review addresses this gap by taking a qualitative, grounded approach to identify practice-based knowledge and lessons learned. It contains key insights and lessons from the experiences of 13 diverse civil society and women’s rights organizations funded by the UN Trust Fund’s special window on ending violence against women and girls who are refugees and/or forcibly displaced between 2016-2022.  

The practice-based knowledge of these organizations highlights how the UN Trust Fund supported grantees’ organizational preparedness and resilience, adaptability, self-care, monitoring and evaluation. Improvements in all these areas strengthened their capacities to prevent and respond to violence against refugee and/or forcibly displaced women and girls. 

Among other things, the synthesis review: 

• analyses the value of the special funding window, including its timing and focus;
• translates increased responses to the global refugee crisis into meaningful efforts on behalf of local grantee organizations to meet the needs of refugee and/or forcibly displaced women and girls; and
• offers practical recommendations to practitioners, donors and researchers who are directly involved in interventions dealing with refugee and/or forcibly displaced women and girls.