We Rise 2023: Regional Learning Exchange - UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women

In 2023, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) organizes the first regional learning exchange, “We Rise 2023: Regional Learning Exchange – UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women”, among grantees located in Africa and Latin America who received funding from the UN Trust Fund under the Spotlight Initiative for the past three years. As these impactful projects come to a close, the group of 55 organizations come together to exchange knowledge and learn from one another on what has worked to prevent and end violence against women and girls while building strong and resilient feminist movements. 

We Rise 2023 takes place in the context of complex, overlapping and protracted crises happening around the world. Since the First UN Trust Fund Grantee Convention in 2019, civil society and women’s rights organizations have experienced and adapted to numerous global challenges, from the COVID-19 pandemic to natural and human-made disasters that have given rise to stronger anti-rights movements and unprecedented levels of violence against women. These organizations remain as vital lifelines as first responders to survivors and those at high risk of violence. We Rise 2023 is the moment to reflect on these past years throughout which collective actions have brought innovation, built resilience, and taught invaluable lessons to deliver systemic solutions to violence against women and girls. 

The opening session of We Rise 2023 will welcome Abigail Erikson, Chief, UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women; PS. Anne Wang'ombe, Principal Secretary State Department for Gender and Affirmative Action, Ministry of Gender, Culture, the Arts and Heritage, Kenya; H.E Henriette Geiger, EU Ambassador to Kenya; Cecilia Allemany Billorou, Deputy Regional Director of the Latin America and the Caribbean Regional Office, UN Women; and Maxime Houinato, Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Office UN Women.

Contributions and conclusions from participants will inform the UN Trust Fund’s work in feminist grant-giving and its future convenings to ensure full delivery of its Strategic Plan 2021-2025.