Final Evaluation: Preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls with disabilities, and promoting their access to justice (Guatemala)

LEGIS (Asociación para el desarrollo legislativo y la democracia) with the support of UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women implemented a three-year project “Preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls with disabilities, and promoting their access to justice”. The main objectives were to address the weaknesses of the protection system by: 

• reviewing and harmonizing relevant legislation and policies with international treaties that protect the human rights of women and girls with disabilities; 
• training and empowering women and girls with disabilities about their sexual and reproductive rights and their right to be protected; 
• facilitating training processes for justice operators on the rights of women and girls with disabilities; 
• providing legal assistance to women and girls with disabilities who are victims of violence; and 
• identifying key lessons and emerging good practices for learning purposes.  

The final evaluation found that the project achieved important goals, despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic and lack of political will to address the need of legislative and normative harmonization. Among other activities, the project developed training and awareness raising sessions, engaged with survivors of violence and provided safe space for them to feel heard and considered, and actively tried to improve normative and legislative harmonization.  

Main findings of the evaluation:  

• The project engaged with diverse women’s groups, including 300 women and girls with disabilities, 450 Indigenous women, and 180 incarcerated or detained women. All groups said they felt more heard, considered and supported. 
• 1,579 justice operators, officials and decision makers enrolled in training and awareness raising activities, and integrated a technical table for regulatory harmonization.
• 1,017 women and organizations for people with disabilities were trained and empowered, and 200 women were legally assisted.
• Women supported by legal aid services reported that they felt “very safe” to be accompanied by lawyers.
• It was not possible to influence the approval of Initiative 5125 (which seeks to harmonize the Law on Persons with Disabilities and the Convention on Persons with Disabilities). However, the project did approach several institutions to prepare care manuals for people with disabilities and to promote awareness raising among justice officials.