Grantees, 23rd cycle (2019)
The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women’s (UN Trust Fund) 22nd Call for Proposals for projects to prevent and end violence against women and girls, launched in 2018, received requests of more than USD434 million from a total of 1,086 organizations. The UN Trust Fund awarded grants from this Call for Proposals for its 22nd cycle of grants, and in addition, the Trust Fund also awarded grants for a total of USD10.1 million to 20 organizations in 18 countries and territories drawn from the same pool of applicants for its 23rd cycle.
Grantees of the UN Trust Fund’s 23rd cycle include six projects working to prevent and end violence against women and girls with disabilities and four projects working to support women and girl refugees and internally displaced survivors of violence in the context of forced displacement and humanitarian crises. Of the grants awarded in the 23rd cycle, 19 are women-led organizations.
Africa (8) | Arab States (3)
Americas and the Caribbean (3) | Asia and the Pacific (6)
Africa
Democratic Republic of the Congo
Dynamique des Femmes Juristes
Project Title: Mettons fin aux VSBG chez nous maintennant
Description: A project implemented by Dynamique des Femmes Juristes, a large woman-led civil society organization, works to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls in six areas of the North Kivu region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, a region where sexual violence against women and girls and impunity for these crimes are widespread.
The specific forms of violence which the project focuses on are harmful practices, forced marriage and sexual violence by a non-partner. The project aims to establish norms, structures and social practices to better protect women and girls and render gender inequalities unacceptable and ensure survivors have access to justice and perpetrators are held accountable. It also provides women and girls with knowledge about their rights and empowers them to report violence and claim their space in the community.
The strategies adopted by the grantee to achieve these aims include community mobilization for the transformation of social norms, with a specific focus on men and boys; establishing mobile legal clinics and providing information about the law and justice; and improving access to justice, particularly in remote regions.
Ethiopia
Ethiopiaid
Project Title: Shelter From Harm: Empowering Female Survivors of Violence in Ethiopia
Description: Ethiopiaid, a woman-led civil society organization, works in collaboration with its Ethiopian-based partner AWSAD, to implement a project entitled, “Shelter From Harm: Empowering Female Survivors of Violence in Ethiopia” in 10 districts in Addis Ababa.
This intervention focuses on reducing and preventing specific forms of violence against women and girls, namely intimate partner violence, physical violence, psychological and emotional violence and sexual violence by non-partners.
The project works to ensure that effective community referral systems are in place for survivors of violence, to expand services at an existing safe house and to empower survivors of violence with skills and confidence. It also aims to increase protection for women and girls by helping to mobilize and train police officers, women’s affairs officers, prosecutors and teachers and to increase the number of cases of violence against women and girls that reach the courts and are positively resolved.
Project activities include providing basic literary skills for survivors at an existing shelter and follow-up with women leaving the shelter. Capacity building for shelter staff and training police and prosecutors on case management and referral are also important aspects of the initiative. Prevention aspects of the project include awareness-raising workshops for community members and leaders on violence against women and training at after-school clubs on identifying violence against women and girls.
Malawi
WOMEN'S LEGAL RESOURCES CENTRE
Project Title: Safe and adequate GBV Services Now! Improved Action on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls in Balaka and Nsanje
Description: A project by the Women’s Legal Resources Centre (WOLREC), a women’s rights non-governmental organization, works in the districts of Nsanje and Balaka in the Southern Region of Malawi. This is an area where socio-cultural norms and practices and unequal gender power structures exacerbate the risk of gender-based violence against women and girls.
The project has two specific aims: improved prevention of violence against women and girls in rural communities in Nsanje and Balaka through changes of harmful social cultural practices and improved access to essential services for women and girls in the two districts.
The grantee employs complementary intervention strategies. These include capacity building among key structures and stakeholders on ending violence against women and girls and fostering community mobilization and active citizenship through advocacy and lobbying. Establishing partnerships and networks to address violence against women and girls and devising media-based campaigns to widen the understanding of the issues are also important aspects of the project. The grantee also works to ensure access to justice for survivors of violence. The project employs tested strategies and tools, including the SASA! methodology, involving traditional and faith leaders, volunteers and community members, as part of its efforts to encourage behavioural change.
Malawi
Facilitators of Community Transformation (FACT)
Project Title: Strengthening national legal and policy instruments to end violence against Women and Girls affected by civil and political conflicts
Description: A project implemented by Facilitators of Community Transformation (FACT) focuses on community and national interventions to prevent and address family and community violence against refugees in Malawi. The country is expected to host over 45,000 refugees in the three areas of targeted implementation (Lilongwe, Dowa and Mwanza) by December 2020.
The project adopts a holistic strategy of increasing the effectiveness of legislation, polices and national action plans and strengthening community prevention, implementation and monitoring of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girl refugees. Using a variety of activities delivered by various partners, FACT is undertaking a legal assessment of the current policy and convening dialogues to raise the issues and lobby for greater protection of refugee women’s rights. The grantee also focuses on raising awareness among refugees to empower them to demand their rights and among the general public to support these rights.
Nigeria
Society for Life Changers and Good Parental Care
Project Title: Empowering Women and Girls with Disability through improved social inclusion and eliminating Gender based Violence in Osun and Kwara State (EMPOWER)
Description: A project implemented by the Society for Life Changers and Good Parental Care, a woman-led organization, focuses on violence against women and girls, in particular those with disabilities, in the home, schools and public spaces in Nigeria.
The project seeks to empower women and girls with disability through improved social inclusion and by eliminating gender-based violence in the states of Osun and Kwara. The grantee works to raise awareness and mobilize keys members of the communities to play a role in preventing and responding to violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Building alliances and strengthening coordination between government actors and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) is a key part of the project. Committees consisting of service providers, NGOs, the media and local and religious leaders provide capacity development to become champions against gender-based violence and to exercise oversight of the issues in their communities and carry out community mobilization. Local schools are engaged through a referral network to support survivors and training is provided to counsellors and teachers. In addition, media practitioners and NGOs receive training on raising awareness about violence against women and girls with disabilities.
Nigeria
Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative
Project Title: Our Safe Spaces
Description: Kaduna state in Nigeria has a diverse population and experiences periodic outbreaks of violent inter-communal conflict, mostly between farmers and herders. Women and girls are often direct targets of these conflicts or caught in the crossfire. As well as suffering displacement, property destruction or loss of family breadwinners as a result of the intercommunal violence, they are also exposed to abuse, including sexual violence, within their families and communities.
The project implemented by Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative focuses on preventing and responding to violence against women and girls in two semi-urban communities: Ungwan Dosa in Kaduna North and Ungwan Romi in Kaduna South. The grantee provides survivors of violence safe spaces where they can access support, build their confidence and enhance their capacity to address violence. The initiative also works to improve community support to address violence against women and girls using participatory and community-based approaches.
Somalia
International solidarity foundation (ISF)
Project Title: Community Driven FGM/C Abandonment and Women Empowerment in Somaliland
Description: Female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), which is widely practised in Somaliland, remains a taboo subject and fear of ostracism makes it difficult for families to abandon the practice.
The International Solidarity Foundation, an international non-governmental organization, has been working to end FGM/C in Somaliland since 2001 and this project continues that work in rural and internally displaced communities in the Togdheer, Sahil and Marojideh regions.
The grantee works to enable local communities to abandon all forms of FGM/C by raising awareness and promoting dialogue about the practice in remote rural communities and by empowering marginalized women in internally displaced communities to claim their right to bodily integrity.
Given the sensitivity of the issue, prevention activities are carried out through the entry point of economic empowerment and, in order to increase the legitimacy of the intervention, traditional and religious leaders are engaged right from the early stages. Project activities include training civil society organizations to increase their capacity for advocacy; supporting religious and traditional leaders to make public declarations against FGM/C; and strengthening the capacity of women’s self-help groups and cluster level associations.
South Sudan
STEWARDWOMEN [STW]
Project Title: Strengthening Provision and Coordination of Services to Survivors of Rape and Early/Child Marriage
Description: A project implemented by Steward Women, a women’s organization, aims to empower survivors of rape and early marriage in the Jondoru and Robona-Bentiu camps for internally displaced people in South Sudan. The grantee works to reintegrate survivors of violence into the community and create a supportive environment for prevention.
The project aims to ensure survivors understand and can claim their rights and have access to improved care, support and referral services. The grantee also works with civil society organizations to increase capacity and the services they can provide survivors. Coordination between service providers to map out existing services, community dialogues and radio broadcasts to inform women and girls of available services are all key aspects of the project. In addition, the project provides ongoing legal support for survivors and training workshops for survivors on business skills. It also encompasses policy development dialogues with local authorities and training for police and local leaders for working with survivors who report rape.
Arab States
Iraq
Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq
Project Title: Protection and Empowerment of Abused and Trafficked Iraqi Women
Description: The project implemented by the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI) is a response to the heightened risk of violence faced by women in the country as a result of mass displacement, the role of violent militias and religious extremists, the lack of legal accountability and the inaccessibility of existing state services.
Many police and government policies are creating additional barriers for survivors of violence in accessing justice and services, such as the refusal to issue ID papers for trafficked women unless they are accompanied by a male relative.
The project employs a number of strategies to improve the safety, security and agency of vulnerable and abused Iraqi women. These include expanding OWFI’s shelter and safe house services, growing the network of allies and advocates as well as providing protection and response services for survivors of violence against women and girls. The grantee also raises awareness of violence against women and works to strengthen relationships with the Ministries of Health, Justice and the Interior, which are responsible for providing essential services to victims of violence.
Training and mentorship to assist survivors’ reintegration is another important aspect of the project. For example, it offers training for survivors in relevant life skills and for partner organizations on identifying and referring survivors.
Tunisia
Association femme et citoyenneté
Project Title: Appui à l’amélioration de la prise en charge des VFF dans le Gouvernorat du Kef
In 2017, Tunisia passed its first law on ending violence against women which endorses a broad definition of violence and established new protection and response mechanisms. However, the implementation of the law to protect women and girls is limited.
Association Femme et Citoyenneté (AFC), founded in 2011, is a small women-led organization which focuses on the promotion of gender equality and women's human rights in an effort to empower women for their full participation in society. In 2014, AFC established the MANARA Center – the only center for women survivors of all forms of violence in the Northwestern region of Tunisia. Of those who come to the center, 80 per cent are survivors of domestic violence.
The project addresses domestic violence and works to improve the lives of women and girl survivors of violence, including adolescents girls and elderly women. The project expects to improve multisectoral services for women survivors; strengthen local multisectoral coordination mechanisms to better monitor the application of the law; and empower women to claim and exercise their rights.
AFC focuses on increasing the knowledge and competences of service providers including social workers, health professionals and uniformed personnel. AFC also trains uniformed personnel to safely respond to domestic violence survivors and provides free legal assistance at the MANARA Center. In addition, AFC builds on expertise from previous interventions including the MANARA project, funded by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and implemented by CIDEAL and AFC between 2016 and 2018.
Yemen
For Human Development
Project Title: Promotion of GBV services for IDP Women and Girls in Aldhihar, Dhiassufal, Jiblah, Almashanah and Ibb country districts within Ibb governorate.
Description: One of the consequences of the ongoing conflict in Yemen is that a large number of internally displaced women and girls have become heads of households or the main breadwinner in families. These women are especially vulnerable and often become victims of gender-based violence because public spaces in the host communities are not safe for unaccompanied women and girls.
A project implemented by For Human Development works to increase access to multisectoral services for internally displaced women and girl survivors of violence in the districts of Aldhihar and Dhiassufal in the Ibb province of Yemen.
To achieve this the grantee works to identify and address the needs of this group of survivors and to recognize and address the needs of the vulnerable host community. A central element of the initiative is increasing the capacities of local humanitarian organizations to support and empower internally displaced women and girl survivors of gender-based violence, including by establishing two safe spaces and providing psycho-social and medical assistance and referral services. Engaging men and boys and training are also an important aspect of the project.
Asia and the Pacific
Afghanistan
Women for Afghan Women
Project Title: UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women
Description: A project implemented by Women for Afghan Women and funded by the UN Trust Fund works to improve access to essential, safe and adequate multisectoral services for internally displaced and returnee women and girls in Afghanistan, including those who are survivors or at risk of violence.
The project, implemented in Balkh, Faryab and Kunduz provinces in Afghanistan, works to improve the physical and mental health of survivors of violence against women and their children and safer reintegration of survivors and their families through a survivor-centred approach. It also works to increase survivors’ access to and ability to engage with economic opportunities.
To achieve these results, Women for Afghan Women aims to provide survivors with shelter and meet their basic needs (including dignity kits); deliver counselling sessions, awareness-raising sessions on rights and information about the resources and services available; and offer case management and referral services (including legal aid).
The grantee also supports families by helping place their children in schools, offering vocational skills training and providing information to government officials and civil society organizations to help them better assist the process of reintegration.
Bangladesh
The Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women
Project Title: Protection from violence against women and girls with disabilities in Bangladesh (PROVA)
Description: A project implemented by the Asian-Pacific Resource and Research Centre for Women (ARROW) works to empower women and girls with disabilities to realize their rights to be free from violence and promote implementation of laws related to violence against women and girls with disabilities.
The strategies adopted by ARROW are based on evidence that women and girls with disabilities are at risk of and experience higher rates of abuse and violence, particularly sexual violence, than other groups of women. This abuse often takes place in the family, facilitated by fear of shame, stigma and forceful confinement. Lack of knowledge about rights and the response mechanisms available provided by the state or non-governmental organizations; inaccessible police stations and courts; and a lack of community support, particularly at the leadership level, all contribute to the ongoing high rate of abuse and violence.
The project’s strategy, therefore, includes developing training materials for a variety of audiences including community leaders, students and journalists and setting up a National Advocacy Committee of women and girls with disabilities to monitor and help counter discrimination and violence or abuse against women and girls with disabilities.
Malaysia
Persatuan Sahabat Wanita, Selangor (Friends of Women Organisation, Selangor)
Project Title: Ending Sexual Harassment in selected workplaces
Description: An initiative by Persatuan Sahabat Wanita, Selangor (Friends of Women Organization, Selangor) in Malaysia focuses on addressing the rising problem of harassment of female workers and domestic workers. Migrant female workers and domestic workers, who are undocumented and whose labour rights are not recognized, are particularly at risk of all forms of gender-based violence.
The project focuses on education and awareness raising about women’s rights, particularly in the work environment, to ensure that women claim their rights and report sexual harassment. In sectors of industries where large numbers of women are employed, such as the electronics industry, the grantee also encourages the adoption of collective agreements to improve the status of women workers in both the formal and informal sectors. Improved training and education, particularly on human rights and labour rights, for women migrant workers is also a key part of the project.
Mongolia
National Center Against Violence
Project Title: Support for disabled women and girls
Description: The National Center Against Violence (NCAV), a small woman-led organization, works to end domestic violence and protect and advocate for survivors in Mongolia. While Mongolia has legal provision for access to justice and services for women and girls with disabilities, no shelter or support services in the country are accessible to women and girls with disabilities.
This NCAV initiative involves piloting a model shelter for survivors of violence with inclusive services which are accessible to women and girls with disabilities in Ulaanbaatar. The project primarily supports survivors of violence in the family, including intimate partner violence, physical violence, sexual violence, psychological violence, economic violence and violence against girls.
Working in partnership with organizations representing people with disabilities, the Ministry of Labour and Social Protection and the police force, the grantee is adapting an existing shelter to make it accessible to women and girls with disabilities who have survived violence. The intention is to present the model shelter to the authorities as a prototype which is funded and rolled out at the national level. Other project activities include providing services at the shelter, training of service providers to equip them to support the needs of women and girls with disabilities and developing technology to make reporting violence to the police easier.
Pakistan
Christoffel-Blindenmission Deutschland e.V.
Project Title: Strengthening support mechanisms to end violence against women and girls with
disabilities in two districts (Multan and Muzaffargarh) of Punjab province
Description: A project implemented by Christoffel-Blindenmission Deutschland e.V., an international development organization committed to improving the quality of life of people with disabilities, works in two districts of Punjab Province, Pakistan. Women and girls, especially those with disabilities, in this region face extreme levels of isolation, discrimination, marginalization and abuse. In addition, they experience heightened attitudinal, physical, financial and communication barriers to reporting, resulting in under-reporting and very low prosecution rates.
Working with a local women’s rights organization, Bedari, and local district police officers, the grantee facilitates the creation of self-help groups to help reduce violence against all women and girls. The groups adopt a number of strategies to do this, including: building confidence, knowledge and social support systems; engaging men and boys through sensitization training, radio programmes, street theatres and other community awareness campaigns; working with service providers to formalize and increase access to services for violence prevention; and calling for effective implementation of legislation and policy frameworks through advocacy, training and continuous dialogue.
The project employs a multi-level strategy targeting women with disabilities individually, in groups, through the community as well as at the institutional level.
Philippines
Solidarity of Oppressed Filipino People Inc (SOFP)
Prject Title: Enhancing Grassroots Women Engagement: Forming and Strengthening Safer Communities in Navotas and Leyte in Collaboration with Barangay Local Government Unit Officials
Description: The project implemented by the organization, Solidarity of Oppressed Filipino People Inc (SOFP) aims to address sexual harassment in public places in the Philippines. It builds on the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals 5.2 and 11 and the previously implemented UN Women project on Safe Cities.
The project addresses key issues such as the lack of solid information about the factors contributing to such violence, in both urban and rural settings; lack of awareness in communities about its negative effects, for example, restricting women’s mobility and participation in society; and the absence of local ordinances to address the problem.
The project has a community focus and is implemented in urban (Tanza 1 and Tanza 2 in Navotas) and rural (San Roque and Canramos in Leyte) settings. SOFP has successfully implemented similarly designed programmes in 34 other communities in eight cities by forming community-based task forces composed of local duty bearers and leaders. This project is a geographic scale up with an additional research component for evidence gathering. The data gathering is intended to inform the design of advocacy and awareness workshops for women and girls and the wider community (including men and boys) and dialogues with local government units to pass and implement local ordinances against sexual harassment in public places.
Latin America and the Caribbean
Guatemala
Asociación para el Desarrollo Legislativo y la Democracia, LEGIS
Project Title: Preventing and eliminating violence against women and girls with disabilities, and promoting their access to justice
Description: In Guatemala, a project implemented by the Asociación para el Desarrollo Legislativo y la Democracia works to improve access to justice for and to empower women and girls with disabilities.
Guatemala ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2009 and a law on ending femicide and violence against women was adopted the same year. Nevertheless, national legislation has not been amended to fully reflect the rights and freedoms set out in the Convention. Stigma and discrimination on the grounds of disability and gender remain major obstacles to access justice, as are a lack of knowledge among women and girls with disabilities about their human rights and public awareness, recognition or respect for these rights.
This initiative works to raise awareness and build the capacities of the service providers and officials, including legal professionals and police officers, as well as social workers, psychologists and health-care workers, to enable them to better address the needs of women with disabilities affected by violence. The grantee provides training and awareness raising; capacity building for individuals and institutions; and free access to justice for women and girls with disabilities who are survivors of violence. It also offers technical assistance and expertise to facilitate the harmonization of existing national policies, strategies and laws with the provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Haiti
Initiative pour un Developpement Equitable en Haiti (IDEH)
Project Title: Egalite des chances et accès aux mécanismes de reponse et institutions de lutte contre les VFF pour les femmes et filles en situation de handicap
Description: Violence against women with disabilities is on the rise in Haiti, with nearly a third of women and girls with disabilities in the age group 15-49 stating that they have experienced physical violence.
A project implemented by the Initiative pour un Developpement Equitable en Haiti works to address this situation by increasing the capacities of women with disabilities to become leaders in their communities and to demand policy changes. The initiative also encourages positive changes and more efficient responses to the needs of women with disabilities by government authorities and the general public. Research and evidence gathering on violence against women living with disabilities is also an important aspect of the project.
The grantee provides training and awareness raising to a number of stakeholders. For example, delivers leadership training for women with disabilities; facilitates the creation of support mechanisms by women with disabilities who have been trained that enable them to address gender-based violence against other women; raises public awareness of the rights of women with disabilities and facilitates their social integration; and provides training to service providers in order to improve access for women with disabilities to multisectoral services.
Peru
Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos - PROMSEX
Project Title: No más mujeres invisibles: contra la trata, explotación sexual y violencia sexual en zonas de minería informal de Madre de Dios y Piura (Perú)
Description: The Centro de Promoción y Defensa de los Derechos Sexuales y Reproductivos (PROMSEX) is a large feminist non-governmental organization that works to contribute to the integrity and dignity of people in accessing sexual and reproductive health, justice and human security in Peru.
This initiative replicates and scales up an existing approach which was piloted in a different region of Peru, Madre de Dios, expanding the model to Piura and reinforcing ongoing efforts in Madre de Dios.
The grantee focuses in particular on women affected by illegal mining to improve their safety, health and social welfare conditions and their ability to exercise their right to a life free from violence. The project targets the forms of gender-based violence that are exacerbated by illegal mining in Peru among those most at risk, namely women and girl migrant workers and victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation.