Grantees, 26th cycle (2023)
In response to the UN Trust Fund’s 2022 Call for Proposals, 24 new grants from 22 countries have been awarded for a total of USD 11.1 million. The Call for Proposals, which received 1,609 applications from 113 countries and territories, prioritized civil society-led, demand-driven initiatives that adopt an intersectional approach and the principle of leaving no one behind in working to end violence against women and girls, including in the context of protracted crises.
Among the grants, 75% are allocated to women’s rights organizations, and 92% grantees of this cycle are women-led organizations. In addition, 54% of organizations selected this year are small organizations. Among those, 77% applied for a small grant. Small grants, awarded to small organizations, represent 42% of the selected organizations.
Among the selected organizations, 6 have applied under the Special Focus on Protracted Crisis, from 6 countries, for a total of USD 3.8 million (34% of the initial funding allocated).
Organizations will implement projects that work to prevent violence, improve access to safe and adequate multisectoral services, and strengthen the implementation of laws and policies that center around women and girls’ right to live free from violence.
Africa (8) | Americas and the Caribbean (4) | Asia and the Pacific (4) | Arab States and North Africa (3)
Europe and Central Asia (5)
Africa
Central African Republic & South Sudan
Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation
Project title: Strengthening survivor leadership and resilience to end violence against women and girls through survivor-led networks
Description: Conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV) against women and girls is widespread and systematic throughout the Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan. Sexual violence is being used as a tactic of war, compounding and exacerbating protracted humanitarian and economic crises. Survivors face obstacles to accessing essential services and the justice system as well as threats of retaliation.
Dr. Denis Mukwege Foundation is a women-led international civil society organization dedicated to protecting and empowering survivors as well as tackling the culture of impunity enjoyed by the perpetrators. The project aims to empower two CRSV survivor-led networks – Le Mouvement des Survivantes des Violences Sexuelles en Centrafrique (the Movement of Survivors of Sexual Violence in the Central African Republic – MOSUCA) in CAR and The Survivors Network of South Sudan (SUNS) in South Sudan – with enhanced capacities, resources and organizational resilience so they can participate in initiatives to end CRSV, provide comprehensive services to survivors, and decrease the stigmatization of survivors in the target communities.
Project activities include: (1) providing mental health, psychological and livelihood support to MOSUCA and SUNS members; (2) providing organizational resources to survivor networks to strengthen their organizational resilience and coherence; (3) supporting learning, knowledge and experience exchanges with other survivor-led networks ; and (4) enhance survivors’ capacities to identify and refer survivors to services
Cameroon
Libra Association For Widows
Project title: Inclusive approach to prevent and combat violence against women and girls in the context of crisis in Cameroon
Description: In Cameroon, ongoing socio-political conflicts and the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have resulted in internal displacement on a mass scale, exposing vast numbers of women and girls to heightened risks of violence at a time when specialist services have been disrupted in the most affected localities.
Libra Association for Widows is a women-led women’s rights organization dedicated to promoting women’s rights and ending all forms of discrimination and violence against women and girls (VAW/G). The project aims to prevent and end VAW/G, including internally displaced women and girls as well as those living with disabilities, in six conflict-affected regions in Cameroon. It will be implemented with three partner organizations – Central African Human Rights Defenders Network (REDHAC), Cameroon Bar Association Human Rights Commission, and Global Voices for Women.
Project activities include: (1) providing specialized services, including psycho-social and legal support, business training and financial assistance to women and girl survivors of violence;
(2) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms in a crisis context; (3) training service providers, legal and governmental officials, police officers and traditional leaders on VAW/G in a crisis context and implementing survivor-centred response mechanisms;(4) establishing self-help groups and multi-stakeholder feminist networks to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective advocacy to end VAW/G; and (5) strengthening organizational resilience.
Ethiopia
Empathy for Life Integrated Development Association (ELiDA)
Project title: Integrated prevention and response to violence against women and girls in North Wollo, Amhara region, Ethiopia
Description: An estimated 5.7 million people need humanitarian assistance as a result of armed conflict in the Tigray, Ahmara and Afar regions of Ethiopia that began in November 2020. The UN Human Rights Council has expressed grave concern about conflict-related violence against women and girls (VAW/G), which is reported to have increased substantially.
Empathy for Life Integrated Development Association (ELiDA) is a women-led women’s rights organization working to promote human’s rights and empower women, girls and youth. Applying the SASA! approach for community mobilization, the project aims to reduce the incidence of VAW/G and support survivors of violence in Amhara region. The project will be implemented in collaboration with Christian Aid Ethiopia.
Project activities include: (1) creating context-appropriate referral pathways for women and girl survivors of violence; (2) establishing self-help groups for women and girl survivors or at risk of violence that provide training and financial support to encourage income-generating activities; (3) establishing community action groups, and youth and school clubs, to facilitate peer-to-peer learning on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms; (4) training social workers, health and legal service providers, and governmental officials on VAW/G prevention and survivor-centred response mechanisms; and (5) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms, including through radio programmes.
Kenya
Maisha Girls Safe House
Project title: Safe and Thriving Survivors
Description: In Kenya, despite positive government action to prevent and end violence against women and girls (VAW/G), 47% of women aged 15 years and older have been subjected to some form of physical, sexual and/or psychological violence by an intimate partner in the previous year.
Maisha Girls Safe House (MGSH) is a constituent-led women’s rights organization committed to protecting girls and young women from sexual violence and abuse. The project aims to empower girls and young women survivors or at risk of violence and to provide them with access to comprehensive specialist services in the sub-counties of Makadara and Kamukunji in Kenya.
Project activities include: (1) providing comprehensive specialist services to girls and young women survivors of violence, including shelter in MGSH’s safe house; (2) training survivors so they can engage in income-generating activities; (3) establishing community safe spaces for girls and young women at risk or survivors of violence to receive monthly empowerment sessions; (4) multi-stakeholder forums and meetings of survivors, service providers, government officials and police officers to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective advocacy to end the violence; and (5) awareness-raising on violence prevention and response mechanisms, including through community plays and local media programmes.
Liberia
Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia
Project title: Liberia Fights FGM
Description: Despite some legislative progress, female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C) remains widespread in Liberia, carried out by traditional leaders (zoes) as a rite of passage into womanhood. According to World Bank data for 2020, an estimated 31.8% of women and girls are living with the consequences of this harmful practice and many more are at risk.
Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia is a women-led women’s rights organizations dedicated to promoting women’s rights and empowering women and girls. The project aims to support and protect women and girl survivors or at risk of FGM/C, including Indigenous women and girls and those living in the lowest income group, and to empower citizens, community-leaders, and lawmakers to advocate for the adoption of a law to end FGM/C in six counties in Liberia. The project will be implemented in collaboration with Sister's Hand Liberia.
Project activities include: (1) providing health and psychosocial services to women and girl survivors of FGM/C; (2) providing support and livelihood skills to zoes so they can engage in different income-generating activities; (3) training service providers and community leaders on FGM/C prevention and referral mechanisms; (4) establishing in the targeted counties “Stop FGM/C” coalitions involving members of Women NGOs Secretariat of Liberia’s network, service providers, faith-based leaders, and legal and government officials; and (5) awareness-raising on FGM/C prevention and referral mechanisms.
Nigeria
Centre for Women’s Health and Information
Project title: Strengthening existing VAWG/SGBV prevention and response structure for women and girls with disabilities in Lagos and Osun State (Project Hope)
Description: Despite the 2015 Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, violence against women and girls has continued to increase in crisis-affected Nigeria. A 2021 UN Women report revealed that nearly half of all Nigerian women had experienced at least one form of violence since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, with those living with disabilities twice as likely to face domestic or sexual abuse than women and girls without a disability.
Centre for Women’s Health and Information is a women-led women’s rights organization dedicated to empowering women and girls in Nigeria. The project aims to ensure access to comprehensive specialist services for women and girls living with disabilities who are survivors or at risk of violence, and tackle the culture of impunity associated with such violence, in Lagos and Ogun States in Nigeria.
Project activities include: (1) training women and girls living with disabilities to serve as community-based psychosocial first aid providers; (2) capacity-building workshops for key stakeholders, including legal service providers and government officials, on prevention of violence against women and girls living with disabilities (VAWGWD) and response mechanisms;(3) establishing ending VAWGWD response groups; (4) awareness-raising on VAWGWD prevention and referral mechanisms; and (5) developing and implementing guidance documents, including an action and sustainability plan, on ending VAWGWD in Lagos and Osun States.
Nigeria
Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative
Project title: Together We Can
Description: In Nigeria, ongoing socio-political conflicts, catastrophic flooding and the long-term consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic have triggered massive humanitarian needs as well as increased violence against women and girls (VAW/G), particularly those in Indigenous communities and those who are internally displaced.
Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative is a constituent-led women’s rights organization that makes multisectoral interventions to empower women and girls. The project aims to provide comprehensive specialist support and economic empowerment opportunities to women and girls at risk or survivors of violence, including Indigenous women and girls and those who are refugees or internally displaced, in the context of the protracted conflict in Kaduna State in Nigeria.
Project activities include: (1) providing comprehensive services to women and girl survivors of VAW/G, including psychosocial support and counselling; (2) providing capacity-building and empowerment-focused activities to survivors; (3) multi-stakeholder meetings and training of community health service providers on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective advocacy to end VAW/G; (4) capacity-building activities and seminars for men and boys on women’s rights and VAW/G prevention; and (5) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including community mobilization activities and advocacy campaigns.
In 2019, Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative received a grant from the UN Trust Fund to implement a project focusing on preventing and responding to VAW/G in two semi-urban communities: Ungwan Dosa in Kaduna North and Ungwan Romi in Kaduna South.
South Sudan
Women for Women International
Project title: Women Empowered against Violence
Description: Half of South Sudanese women are married before they are 18 and the country has the highest maternal mortality rate globally, according to a recent paper of Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan to the UN Human Rights Council. Ongoing conflict and climate change-related disasters have put women and girls at even higher risk of violence, and sexual violence has been instrumentalized as a reward and entitlement for men participating in conflict.
Women for Women International is a women-led women’s rights international organization working in conflict- and war-affected countries to support and empower women and girls most at risk of marginalization to improve their health, wellbeing, and socio-economic situation by connecting them to support networks. This project aims to prevent violence against women and girls (VAW/G) by protecting and empowering those at risk or survivors of violence, including refugee and internally displaced women and girls, and by transforming the community’s behaviours, practices and attitudes, in the counties of Yei, Juba and Terekeka in South Sudan. The project will be implemented with two partner organizations: Women for Change and South Sudan Law Society (SSLS).
Project activities include: (1) providing psychological and legal support and implementing social empowerment and entrepreneurship programmes for women and girls at risk or survivors of violence; (2) training women change agents’ cohorts to foster peer-to-peer learning and develop and implement community action plans against VAW/G; (3) training by SSLS of community focal points and implementing a capacity-building programme on women’s rights and VAW/G prevention for male community members; (4) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including outreach activities and advocacy campaigns; and (5) multi-stakeholder meetings and the production of policy briefs and legal recommendations to prevent and end VAW/G based on the project’s findings.
Americas and Caribbean
Bolivia
Centro de Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer Aymara “Amuyt’a (CDIMA)
Project title: Mujeres y niñas indígenas aymaras combatiendo la violencia en razón de genero desde el empoderamiento de sus derechos sociales, políticos y económicos en 7 municipios del departamento de La Paz, Bolivia | Aymara Indigenous women and girls combating gender-based violence through the empowerment of their social, political and economic rights in 7 municipalities of the department of La Paz, Bolivia
Description: Despite implementation of the Comprehensive Law to Guarantee Women a Life Free from Violence in 2013, Bolivia still has one of the highest rates of femicide in the region. Indigenous women of Aymara descent face heightened risks of intersecting discrimination and violence, while geographical, linguistic and economic constraints prevent them from accessing specialist public services.
CDIMA is a constituent-led women’s rights organization dedicated to promoting women’s rights and empowering Aymara and Indigenous women and girls in Bolivia. The project aims to contribute to a life free of violence for Aymara women and girls at risk or survivors of violence in seven municipalities of La Paz department in Bolivia through empowering them with better knowledge of their rights and supporting them to become agents of change in their communities.
Project activities include: (1) training Aymara women and girl leaders on women’s rights and violence against women and girls (VAW/G) prevention and referral mechanisms; (2) vocational workshops for Aymara women and girls at risk or survivors of violence on textile handicraft and Andean gastronomy, and organizing local and online markets where they can sell their products; (3) workshops for key stakeholders on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms, masculinity and women’s economic empowerment; (4) creating women leaders’ committees and multi-stakeholder networks to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action to prevent and end VAW/G; and (5) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms.
Brazil
COMUNEMA Colectivo de Mujeres Negras Maria Maria
Project title: NEPAZ - Núcleo Estratégico de Derechos Humanos y Promoción de la Paz para Mujeres y niñas | Strategic Nucleus of Human Rights and Peace Promotion for Women and Girls
Description: A recent UN Women strategic note reports a recent increase in the number of femicides registered in Brazil, from 1,206 in 2018 to 1,350 in 2020. Of these, 61.6 per cent of the victims were black women. The COVID-19 pandemic has indicated further consequences in increasing the exposure of certain population groups to situations of risk and violence, as well as more broadly deepening structural inequalities across income, gender, race, ethnicity, age and location that, in turn, are determinants for access to rights and services.
Colectivo de Mujeres Negras Maria Maria (COMUNEMA – Maria Maria Black Women's Collective) is a constituent-led women’s rights organization dedicated to promoting human rights and ending violence against Afro-descendant women and girls in Brazil. The project aims to strengthen COMUNEMA’s organizational resilience and enhance access to specialist services for women and girls at risk or survivors of violence (including LBT women, Indigenous and Afro-descendant women, and women human right defenders) in 15 remote communities affected by agrarian conflicts and the construction of a hydroelectric plant. The project will be co-implemented with Colectivo Amazónico LesBiTrans de Mujeres LGBTQIAPN+ and the Colectivo de Mujeres Indígenas.
Project activities include: (1) training community members on women’s rights and VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms to assist women and girls at risk or survivors of violence; (2) improve COMUNEMA staff members’ working conditions, including by addressing their financial, well-being and equipment needs; and (3) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including by disseminating advocacy campaigns in local languages.
Mexico
Centro Interdisciplinario de Derechos, Infancia y Parentalidad A.C.
Project title: Mecanismo de respuesta para la atención de las violencias que viven las mujeres con discapacidad en México | Response mechanism to address violence against women with disabilities in Mexico
Description: A 2021 national survey found that 72.6% of women living with disabilities aged 15 and older have experienced at least one incident of violence in their lifetime.
Centro Interdisciplinario de Derechos, Infancia y Parentalidad A.C. (Interdisciplinary Centre for Rights, Childhood and Parenthood A.C.) is a constituent-led human rights organization dedicated to promoting human rights and empowering children, teenagers and women in Mexico. The project aims to improve access to inclusive specialist services for women and girls living with disabilities who are at risk or survivors of violence in Mexico City and the cities of Querétaro and Nuevo León in Mexico.
Project activities include: (1) providing inclusive specialist services to women and girls living with disabilities who are at risk or survivors of violence through further developing Morada, an app featuring an inclusive emergency helpline, accessible information on violence against women and girls (VAW/G) prevention and referral mechanisms, and safe spaces for users; (2) implementing a capacity-building programme for civil society organization staff members on violence against women and girls living with disabilities (VAWGWD) prevention and response mechanisms; and (3) awareness-raising, including the establishment of community-based support networks (Red Sororydiscas) and producing an accessible online toolbox on women’s rights, disability rights, and VAWGWD prevention and referral mechanisms.
Peru
Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos
Project title: No más mujeres invisibles II: contra la trata, explotación sexual y violencia sexual en zonas de minería informal de Madre de Dios y Piura (Perú) | No more invisible women II: against trafficking, sexual exploitation and sexual violence in informal mining areas of Madre de Dios and Piura (Peru)
Description: In 2018, more than a third women aged 15-49 in Peru are estimated to have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in their lifetime. Illegal mining practices have also been linked to increased human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Indigenous women and girls living in remote areas are particularly at risk because geographical, linguistic and economic constraints prevent them from accessing specialist public services.
Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos (Promsex – Centre for the Promotion and Defence of Sexual and Reproductive Rights) is a constituent-led women’s rights organization that promotes sexual and reproductive health and rights in Peru. This project aims to improve access to specialist services for women and girls at risk or survivors of violence, human trafficking and/or sexual exploitation affected by illegal mining and dedicated public policies in the departments of Piura, Madre de Dios and Lima in Peru. The project will be co-implemented with Centro Ideas.
Project activities include: (1) providing specialist services to women and girls at risk of or survivors of violence, human trafficking and/or sexual exploitation, and implementing a business training programme for them; (2) training key stakeholders on violence against women and girls, human trafficking and/or sexual exploitation prevention and response mechanisms; (3) organizing multi-stakeholder meetings and visits to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action; (4) awareness-raising, including in school settings; (5) establishing two annual days on human trafficking and/or sexual exploitation in the context of informal mining; and (6) producing research papers and investigation articles on human trafficking and/or sexual exploitation in the context of informal mining.
The current project is a scale up of a previous project implemented by Promsex on ending the forms of VAW/G that are exacerbated by illegal mining in Peru with the support of a UN Trust Fund grant awarded in 2019.
Asia and the Pacific
Myanmar
CARE International in Myanmar
Project title: Women Lead in Ending Violence Against Women
Description: In Myanmar, protracted conflict, health and humanitarian crises put women and girls at heightened risk of violence. A recent UN Women and UNDP report shows that almost one in three women do not feel safe in their own ward/village during the day.
CARE International in Myanmar is a women-led humanitarian and development international civil society organization dedicated to creating a world of hope, inclusion and social justice, where poverty has been overcome and all people live in dignity and security. The project aims to ensure that women and girls have increased leadership in violence against women and girls (VAW/G) prevention and response mechanisms through promoting a positive change in knowledge, attitudes and practices, and ensure the provision of quality survivor-centered specialist services in the Shan states, an area affected by protracted conflict as well as health and humanitarian crises. It will be co-implemented with The Fifth Pillar organization.
Project activities include: (1) providing emergency helpline support, cash assistance and legal representation to women and girl survivors of violence; (2) establishing women-led groups and providing capacity-building training, and technical and financial support for them to develop and implement action plans to prevent and end violence against women and girls (VAW/G); (3) participatory workshops on women’s rights and ending VAW/G; (4) training community and local leaders on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms; (5) multi-stakeholder exchange visits to foster peer-to-peer learning on VAW/G and collective action; (6) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including advocacy campaigns targeting men and boys; and (7) developing survivor-centred guidance notes and documents on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms.
Mongolia
National Center Against Violence
Project title: Strengthening capacity of local civil society organizations on the rights of people with disabilities and on responding to gender-based violence against women and girls with disabilities
Description: A 2017 study found that 58% of women and girls had experienced some form of violence – physical, sexual, emotional and economic – in Mongolia. Women and girls living with disabilities additionally face specific forms of discrimination and hardship that limit their opportunities to access education and make decisions about their reproductive and family life. There is also a lack of awareness about the rights of people with disabilities.
National Center Against Violence is a women-led women’s rights organization working to eliminate sexual and domestic violence against women and children. The project aims to strengthen the capacity of 18 local civil society organizations to enhance access to specialized services for women and girls living with disabilities at risk or survivors of violence in the capital Ulaanbaatar and the provinces of Darkhan-Uull, Bayakhongor, Dornod and Bayan-Ulgii in Mongolia.
Project activities include: (1) providing mentoring and specialized services to women and girls living with disabilities who are survivors of violence; (2) training the supported civil society organizations on survivor-centred violence against women and girls living with disabilities (VAWGWD) prevention and response mechanisms; (3) developing a plan to provide inclusive specialist services for survivors of VAWGWD; (4) multi-stakeholder meetings to advocate for inclusive specialist services for survivors of VAWGWD; and (5) awareness-raising on VAWGWD prevention and referral mechanisms, including a survivor-led conference and social media advocacy campaigns.
Nepal
SETU Nepal
Project title: Empowering women living with HIV and relevant duty bearers to prevent gender-based violence and challenge stigma and discrimination in community and health-care settings in Nepal
Description: Despite Nepal’s Constitution guaranteeing women the right to safe motherhood and reproductive health, and freedom from any kind of violence, women and girls living with HIV/affected by AIDS continue to face discrimination and violence in all areas of life while lacking access to specialist services.
SETU Nepal is a women-led women’s rights organization working to end discrimination, violence, and exclusion against women and children, especially those living with HIV/affected by AIDS. The project aims to empower women living with HIV (WLHIV) who are at risk or survivors of violence and challenge associated stigma and discrimination in community and healthcare settings to enhance their access to inclusive specialist services in Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Lalitpur, Makwanpur and Nawalparasi West districts in Nepal.
Project activities include: (1) providing inclusive specialist services to WLHIV survivors of violence against women and girls (VAW/G), including shelter, psychosocial support and livelihood assistance; (2) training WLHIV at risk or survivors of violence on women’s rights and VAW/G prevention and inclusive referral mechanisms; (3) training key stakeholders and organizing multi-stakeholder workshops on VAW/G prevention and inclusive response mechanisms for WLHIV survivors to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action; (4) mapping the available inclusive specialist services and referrals, and developing a reporting guideline on VAW/G and against discriminatory attitudes targeting WLHIV survivors; and (5) awareness-raising on VAW/G and discriminatory attitudes against WLHIV survivors of violence, including organizing community dialogues, producing a video documentary, and disseminating advocacy material.
Nepal
Shakti Milan Samaj
Project title: Prevention of violence against women living with HIV and women survivors of sex trafficking
Description: Despite Nepal’s Constitution guaranteeing women the right to safe motherhood and reproductive health, and freedom from any kind of violence, women and girls living with HIV and/or affected by AIDS, survivors of sex trafficking and those in the lowest income group continue to face many forms of discrimination and violence in all areas of life while lacking access to specialist services.
Shakti Milan Samaj (SMS) is a constituent-led women’s rights organization dedicated to protecting and empowering women and girls living with HIV and/or affected by AIDS (WGHA) and survivors of human trafficking in Nepal. The project aims to prevent and end violence against women and girls (VAW/G), including WGHA, survivors of sex trafficking and those in the lowest income group, in Kathmandu and the Bagmati Province in Nepal.
Project activities include: (1) providing emergency assistance, shelter and psychosocial support to WGHA who are at risk or survivors of violence and/or sex trafficking; (2) training WGHA at risk or survivors of violence and/or sex trafficking and other key women stakeholders on VAW/G and inclusive referral mechanisms, and organizing peer-to-peer exchanges to foster learning and collective action; (3) implementing capacity-building programmes for health service providers on VAW/G prevention and inclusive response mechanisms for WGHA;(4) awareness-raising on VAW/G and discriminatory attitudes against WGHA survivors; and (5) producing a report on psychological and emotional violence against WGHA and/or their sex trafficking.
Arab States
Jordan
National Association for Family Empowerment
Project title: Improving access to gender-sensitive prevention and protection services for vulnerable communities in Jordan
Description: Violence against women and girls (VAW/G) is widespread in Jordan. A recent UN Women report found that just over a quarter of ever-married women aged 15-49 had experienced physical and/or sexual and/or emotional violence from their spouses, and of these just over two-thirds did not seek help or tell anyone about their experience.
National Association for Family Empowerment is a constituent-led civil society organization that promotes gender equality and the prevention of VAW/G in Jordan. The project aims to strengthen the prevention of VAW/G and enhance access to specialist services for women and girls at risk or survivors of violence and to ensure the implementation of the existing protection legal framework and policies in the South, North and Mid regions of Jordan.
Project activities include: (1) providing psychosocial support to women and girls at risk or survivors of violence, and establishing mobile clinics to provide legal assistance to women and girls living in detention centres and shelters; (2) training local civil society and community-based organizations, social workers, government officials and media representatives on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms; (3) organizing multi-stakeholder consultations, roundtables and conferences to develop legal and policy recommendations, and establishing communication platforms for civil society and community-based organizations to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action; (4) awareness-raising on VAW/G, including advocacy campaigns addressed to community members and frontline service providers; and (5) producing policy briefs based on the project’s findings and lessons learned.
Morocco
Association Initiatives pour la Protection des Droits des Femmes
Project title: Lutte pour l’égalité des sexes et l’autonomisation des femmes dans les quartiers précaires de la ville de Fès | Fighting for gender equality and women's empowerment in precarious neighbourhoods in the city of Fes
Description: Despite a 2018 law criminalizing physical, psychological, sexual and economic violence against women and girls (VAW/G) in the private and public spheres in Morocco, a recent UN Women-supported national survey revealed that 82.6% of women aged 15-74 years old have experienced at least one act of violence during their lifetime, and more than one in two within the past year.
Association Initiatives pour la Protection des Droits des Femmes (Women's Rights Protection Initiatives Association) is a women-led women’s rights organization dedicated to promoting women’s rights and ending all forms of gender discriminations in Morocco. The project aims to foster gender equality and reduce violence against women and girls (VAW/G), including women and girls in the lowest income group, in three disadvantaged neighbourhoods in Fes.
Project activities include: (1) providing psychological and legal support, running empowerment workshops and self-help groups, and making referrals to local service providers for women and girl survivors of violence; (2) vocational workshops, mentorship, research clubs, and recruitment and networking events to empower women and girl survivors of violence to start an income-generating activity; (3) training service providers on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms; (4) organizing seminars for private sector representatives on women’s rights and economic empowerment and VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms; (5) organizing multi-stakeholder discussions and co-production of protocols on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action; and (6) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including organizing community workshops and disseminating advocacy campaigns.
In 2012, Association Initiatives pour la Protection des Droits des Femmes received a grant from the UN Trust Fund to implement a project focusing on enhancing women’s access to protection and justice.
Europe and Central Asia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Foundation of Local Democracy
Project title: EmpowerHer: Strengthening the Response to Sexual Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Description: Despite implementation of dedicated legal and criminal justice mechanisms addressing violence against women and girls (VAW/G), a recent UN Women brief shows that every second woman in Bosnia and Herzegovina has experienced some form of abuse, such as intimate partner violence, stalking or sexual harassment, since the age of 15. Most do not report the abuse to police due to fear of stigmatization.
Foundation of Local Democracy is a women-led women’s rights organization dedicated to promoting human’s rights and empowering civil society organizations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The project aims to end sexual VAW/G, including Roma women and women and girls living with disabilities, in the cities of Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Tuzla, Mostar, Bijeljina, Modrica and Bihac in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It will be co-implemented with Safe Network and the Agency for Gender Equality of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The project will be implemented through a range of interventions, including strengthening the capacity of all relevant professionals and in establishment an institutional response, the establishment of sexual violence referral centers and rape crisis centers, public campaigns and advocacy, and the development and adoption of a Protocol on prevention, protection, and treatment in cases of sexual violence against women at the national level of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Project activities include: (1) developing and disseminating the standardized Framework Protocol on prevention, protection against and treatment in cases of sexual violence against women; (2) establishing referral centres in local health institutions and crisis centres in shelters for women and girl survivors of sexual VAW/G in cooperation with governmental institutions and civil society organizations; (3) capacity building of service providers on sexual VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms; (4) and awareness-raising on sexual VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including information sessions in rural communities and roundtables for media representatives.
Serbia
Roma Women Center Bibija
Project title: Roma women’s activism against child marriages in Serbia
Description: In Serbia, up to 92% of Roma women have experienced some type of physical or sexual violence as adults and 17% of Roma girls are married before the age of 15, according to a 2019 UN Women report. Roma women also suffer high levels of poverty and marginalization. Survivors usually do not report violence to formal services due to normalization of violence and limited availability of services.
Roma Women Center Bibija is a constituent-led women’s rights organization dedicated to the realization of Roma women’s rights and the improvement of their socio-economic situation in Serbia. The project aims to reduce the prevalence of child marriage and protect girls’ rights in Roma neighbourhoods in 10 municipalities (Bujanovac, Vranje, Leskovac, Kruševac, Pirot, Kostolac, Belgrade’s Zvezdara, Zrenjanin, Pančevo and Žabalj) and to improve the implementation of existing legal frameworks and regulations in Serbia.
Project activities include: (1) empowerment workshops for Roma adolescent girls on women's rights and child marriage prevention and referral mechanisms; (2) capacity building of local feminist coalition members and Roma women’s network activists on child marriage prevention, response mechanisms and administrative skills; (3) multi-stakeholder coordination and roundtables to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action; and (4) awareness-raising on child marriage prevention and referral mechanisms, including organizing community discussions and disseminating advocacy campaigns.
Tajikistan
Public Organization Office for Initiative Development
Project title: Effective partnership of authorities and civil society organizations for capacity building of the local community to prevent violence against women and girls in two regions of Tajikistan.
Description: Despite the introduction of national legal mechanisms to reduce violence against women and girls (VAW/G) in the last decade, spousal abuse occurs in approximately one-third of all marriages in Tajikistan.
Public Organization Office for Initiative Development is a women-led, youth/girl civil society organization that empowers young people and women in Tajikistan. The project aims to foster collective action to prevent and end VAW/G by providing specialist support to survivors and by enhancing the effective implementation of dedicated legislation through the establishment of partnerships between local authorities and women’s rights organizations in the Sughd and Khatlon regions in Tajikistan.
Project activities include: (1) training of women and girl survivors of VAW/G on women’s rights and VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, and implementing business mentoring programmes for women and girls at risk or survivors of violence; (2) capacity building of civil society organization staff and government representatives on VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms and organizing multi-stakeholder meetings to foster peer-to-peer learning and collective action; (3) awareness-raising on VAW/G prevention and referral mechanisms, including by establishing “safety at home” community information corners, organizing community working groups, and disseminating advocacy campaigns; and (4) producing analytical notes, including recommendations for implementing coordinated local VAW/G prevention and response mechanisms.
Türkiye
Amal Healing and Advocacy Center
Project title: Hand in Hand to End Violence against Women
Description: As of February 2023, over 3.5 million Syrian under temporary protection were registered in Türkiye, nearly 46% of them women and girls. Despite well-established frameworks for assistance for foreigners, the COVID-19 pandemic and devastating earthquakes drastically heightened the demand for social support, including by growing numbers of women reporting domestic violence and Syrians reporting increased cases of early and forced marriages in their communities. Consequently, many struggle to access services and information, and or do not receive any assistance.
Amal Healing and Advocacy Center is a constituent-led women’s rights organization dedicated to work with and for Syrian women and girls to advocate, network and empower them to achieve gender equality in human rights and social justice. The project aims to empower Syrian women and girls in Türkiye to prevent violence against women and girls (VAW/G) and child marriage in host communities in Gaziantep and Hatay region.
Project activities include: (1) providing improved access to essential, specialized and safe services for women and girl survivors of sexual gender-based violence, including a dedicated hotline, legal and psychological assistance, and case management services; (2) selecting and training women mobilizers on VAW/G and child marriage prevention and referral mechanisms so they can create and lead community groups; and (3) awareness-raising on VAW/G and child marriage prevention and referral mechanisms, including by disseminating community-led advocacy campaigns and publishing media articles.
Ukraine
Club Eney
Project title: Women with intersecting marginalizations initiating new goals of safety in Ukraine.
Description: A Rapid Gender Analysis by UN Women and partners revealed that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has put women and girls at increased risk of conflict-related sexual violence and gender-based violence. An estimated 3.6 million people will need prevention and response services, while accessing health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, and social services is increasingly challenging due to security concerns, the damaged health-care infrastructure, restricted mobility, and broken referral and supply chains.
Club Eney is a constituent-led and community-based women’s rights organization that works to improve the health of communities at highest risk of marginalization and violence in Ukraine. The project aims to adapt the organization’s Women Initiating New Goals of Safety (WINGS) methodology (an evidence-based intervention) to protect and empower women and girls at highest risk of violence, including women who use drugs, women living with HIV/affected by AIDS, female military officers, internally displaced women, and self-identified sex-workers, in 16 war-torn regions of Ukraine.
Project activities include: (1) implementing the war-adapted WINGS methodology to prevent and end violence against women and girls (VAW/G), including by training facilitators and providing information to women and girls at highest risk or survivors of violence; (2) developing and implementing a coordinated referral programme for women and girls to access VAW/G and HIV prevention and response mechanisms; (3) training and mentoring women and girls at the highest risk or survivors of violence on advocacy, crisis response, storytelling and safety skills; and (4) advocacy for inclusion of WING methodology in local programmes and budgets.
In 2019, Club Eney received a grant from the UN Trust Fund to implement a project focusing on improving access for at-risk women to essential, safe and adequate services, and raising awareness about gender-based violence in communities.