Grantees, 25th cycle (2022)
In response to the UN Trust Fund’s 2021 Call for Proposals, 37 new grants were awarded for a total of USD 17 million. The Call for Proposals, which received 1,396 applications from 108 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, especially in the rapidly changing contexts and complex environments. Among the new grants, 73% are allocated to women’s rights organizations, and 100% grantees of this cycle are women-led organizations. In addition, nearly 1 in 2 organizations selected this year are small organizations. Among those, 82% applied for a small grant.
Lessons learned during the COVID-19 crisis and other overlapping crises informed the UN Trust Fund’s 25th Call for Proposals. In this cycle, we introduced for example, more flexible and core support for civil society and women’s rights organizations, paying increased attention to self and collective care and contingency funding, as well as increased core funding.
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 (11) | Arab States and North Africa (6)
Asia and the Pacific (4) | Europe and Central Asia (8)
Africa
Cameroon
Association pour la Valorisation de la Femme (AVAF – Association for the Valorization of the Woman)
Project Title: Response to gender-based violence: involvement of local authorities and community leaders
Description: In Cameroon, where homosexuality is criminalized, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI) people have been experiencing increased violence and discrimination, particularly LGBTQI rights defenders. This form of violence has been exacerbated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
AVAF is dedicated to safeguarding the rights of women and girls, especially those in marginalized communities, including LBQ women as well as women and girls living with disabilities.
The project aims to empower LBQ women and girl survivors or at risk of violence with the knowledge and skills to identify and report cases of violence against women in the South, East, West, littoral and Central regions of Cameroon.
Project strategies include: (1) providing psychological and referral services; (2) organizing community sessions on self-esteem and leadership development; (3) implementing media campaigns, community mobilization and awareness raising in communities; (4) training LBQ women’s organizations on gender responsive advocacy techniques; (5) adapting psychological services for women survivors of violence; (6) organizing workshops for partner organizations; and (7) creating a national multisectoral task force to advocate for the protection, monitoring and support of women survivors of violence, including LBQ women.
Cameroon
Leap Girl Africa
Project Title: Unite for a Better Life Cameroon: Adapting an Evidence-Based Community-Driven Intervention to Reduce Intimate Partner Violence
Description: Intimate partner violence is a major challenge worldwide, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. In Cameroon, data from the 2021 Demographic and Health Survey indicates that 55% of women have experienced physical violence, most from intimate partners but also from family members, since they were 15 years old. Conflicts, displacement and the COVID-19 pandemic have increased risks for women and girls.
Leap Girl is a young, women-led organization aimed at advancing girls and young women’s rights and education by preventing and responding to sexual and gender-based violence, improving access to sexual and reproductive health services, and using technology to improve access to education.
The project aims to focus on local residents and internally displaced people in 30 communities.
Project strategies include: (1) leveraging Leap Girl’s experience in delivering evidence-based community-driven intervention to prevent and address intimate partner violence with the “Unite for a Better Life” gender-transformative curriculum, adapted to the Cameroonian context; (2) implementing the project through in-person discussions led by community facilitators involving men and women and through listening sessions of podcast episodes in a safe space; (3) changing attitudes and norms that perpetuate violence; (4) increasing knowledge about intimate partner violence; and (5) improving couples’ communication and behaviour.
Democratic Republic of Congo
Solidarité féminine pour la paix et le développement intégral (SOFEPADI – Female solidarity for peace and integral development)
Project Title: Improve internally displaced women’s and girls’ access to multisectoral gender-based violence services in the reception and return areas of North Kivu
Description: Due to armed conflict and natural disasters, the Democratic Republic of Congo now hosts around 5 million internally displaced people, just over half of them women, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in 2021. These women face heightened risk of violence, especially sexual violence.
SOFEPADI is a women-led organization focused on promoting the rights of women and girls in the Democratic Republic of Congo. It works to combat gender-based violence through community mobilization, comprehensive services, and strengthening women’s and girls’ autonomy and representation in decision-making bodies.
In 18 areas of Beni, Kalunguta, Vuhovi, Kayna, Nyiragongo and Masisi in North Kivu, the project will work to improve access to quality, comprehensive and specialist services for internally displaced women and girl survivors of violence; Indigenous women and girls; women and girls living with disabilities; and women and girls with low incomes.
The project will: (1) support 18 health centres and six safe spaces; (2) raise the awareness of marginalized women and girls about gender-based violence and available services; (3) mobilize communities on gender-based violence, using an integrated, survivor-centred approach; and (4) economically empower marginalized women and girls.
Madagascar
End Child Prostitution and Trafficking (ECPAT) France
Project Title: MIRA (Mobilize for equity and encourage women and girls to claim their autonomy)
Description: In Madagascar, violence against women and girls, including rape and other forms of gender-based violence, is tragically common.
ECPAT France is part of the ECPAT International network that is dedicated to promoting children’s right to live free of violence, including sexual exploitation. It works to reinforce protection systems and rehabilitate young survivors of sexual violence, mostly girls.
The project aims to protect Malagasy women and girl survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation as well as women human rights defenders, including self-identified sex workers, in six regions of Madagascar.
The project will: (1) implement a psychological and socio-economic rehabilitation programme for girl survivors of sexual exploitation and improve protection services and survivors’ access to them; (2) focus on preventing violence against women and girls by raising awareness of various stakeholders to change attitudes and increase reporting of violence; and (3) improve access to justice and popularize laws on gender-based violence.
This project is a scale-up of ECPAT France’s previous MIRA project, funded by the UN Trust Fund in 2016.
Nigeria
Circuit Pointe Charity Organization
Project Title: Break the cycle: end VAWG
Description: Despite the 2015 Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, violence against women and girls has continued to increase in Nigeria. In 2021, a UN Women report revealed that nearly half of Nigerian women had experienced at least one form of violence since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indigenous women and girls living in Southeast region face heightened risk of violence, including female genital mutilation, due to extreme poverty and cultural beliefs, norms and attitudes that allow gender-based violence and restrict sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Circuit Pointe, which is locally governed and involves community-led social change interventions, operates in South East region, where sexual harassment, abuse and exploitation are deeply rooted. It works to advance sexual and reproductive health and rights; end violence against women and girls; and promote economic empowerment.
The project aims to: (1) accelerate zero tolerance for violence against women girls and female genital mutilation/cutting in Imo and Ebonyi States through empowering community structures to take action; and (2) integrate local networks monitoring violence against women and girls in 16 communities.
Nigeria
Greater Women Initiative for Health and Right (GWIHR)
Project Title: Fore fronting our agenda – strengthening the gender-based violence response for sex workers
Description: In Nigeria, female and transgender self-identified sex workers face stigma and discrimination as sex work is punishable by law. This has further marginalized them and prevented them from accessing essential services.
GWIHR, a community-based organization primarily constituent-led and comprising of self-identified sex workers, works to uphold the rights of their constituents by promoting their access to justice and comprehensive health-care services and creating an enabling environment where women and girls can thrive.
The project will be community-driven and aiming to reach 3,000 self-identified female and transgender sex workers aged 15-35 who have limited access to justice and services in Rivers State.
The project aims to: (1) foster police accountability by raising awareness; (2) advocate for reforms of harmful legislation; (3) provide clinical care and legal services to survivors of violence; (4) establish safe spaces and emergency shelters; (5) increase the number of cases filed against perpetrators; and (6) change the behaviour and policies that discriminate against sex workers.
Rwanda
Association des Veuves du Genocide Agahozo (AVEGA Agahozo – Association of Widows of Genocide)
Project Title: Leveraging health care settings to deliver comprehensive gender-based violence services in Rwanda
Description: During the 1994 Rwanda genocide, 100,000-250,000 women were raped, according to UN estimates, with rape being used as a weapon of war. Many women contracted HIV as a result of rape, and many women were widowed during the genocide.
AVEGA, a women’s rights organization, works to foster social justice for the widows and for women, children and families affected by the conflict.
The project, which will be implemented in seven districts of Rwanda, aims to improve multisectoral services, in particular health services, and to protect the rights, economic independence and well-being of women and girl survivors of gender-based violence, especially those facing intersecting forms of violence.
Project strategies include: (1) supporting provision of survivor-centred information and services for survivors, including health services; (2) creating safe spaces for survivors to learn, share experiences and receive peer support; (3) using peer education to promote positive behaviours and empowerment; (4) preventing and responding to intersectional violence through economic empowerment and improved leadership skills; (5) using the SASA! methodology to engage men and boys and address negative social and gender norms that perpetuate gender-based violence; (6) establishing a referral mechanism for survivors seeking services; and (7) engaging district and central level duty bearers in preventing and responding to gender-based violence.
Somalia
Strategic Initiative for Women in the Horn of Africa (SIHA)
Project Title: We Have Rights: Protecting IDP and Minority Women and Girls from SGBV in South Central Somalia and Somaliland
Description: Sexual violence is pervasive in Somalia and disproportionately affects women and girls in internally displaced communities and minority communities. In 2020, according to UN reports, 400 civilians, primarily girls, were raped or subjected to other forms of sexual violence. Food insecurity, conflicts and displacement, drought and the COVID-19 crises have exacerbated all forms of violence against women and girls.
SIHA is a women’s rights organization and regional network of grassroots civil society organizations dedicated to promoting the rights and empowerment of women and girls in the Horn of Africa.
The project will be implemented in informal settlements in Southwest Somalia and Somaliland, where the prevalence of violence against women and girls is high, and will be carried out in partnership with two of SIHA’s member organizations (Women’s Action Advocacy Progress Organization and Somali Women Development Centre) in collaboration with other civil society organizations. The project will focus on the protection needs of internally displaced and minority women.
Project strategies include: (1) building evidence to support advocacy; (2) raising the visibility of the specific challenges faced by internally displaced and minority women to garner public support for reform; (3) developing the capacity of civil society organizations and marginalized women and girls to engage in collective action; and (4) coordinating advocacy campaigns for the adoption of laws on sexual offences that comply with international human rights standards.
In 2018, the UN Trust Fund also funded a SIHA-implemented project in South Sudan that focused on addressing sexual violence against young women and girls in humanitarian context.
Americas and Caribbean
Argentina
Asociación ciudadana por los derechos humanos (ACDH – Citizen Association for Human Rights)
Project Title: Wonder Women against Violence
Description: In 2021, a woman was killed every 34 hours in Argentina, according to Observatorio Ahora Que Sí Nos Ven (Observatory, Now That They Can See Us). Migrant women, women living with disabilities, and trans and non-binary women are exposed to alarming, intersecting forms of violence while there is a lack of public policies to address and protect their needs.
ACDH is a women-led, eco-feminist organization dedicated to promoting gender equality, inclusive citizenship, social equity and sustainable development.
The project, which ACDH will implement in collaboration with other women’s rights organizations, aims to empower migrant women, women living with disabilities and trans and non-binary women to help develop public policies to prevent and end gender-based violence and improve access to comprehensive services and justice.
Project strategies include: (1) training women about violence against women and access to justice; (2) enabling people to become agents of change in their communities and accompany women to report violence; (3) organizing regular, national gatherings for women to share their experiences and develop action plans; (4) training specialist service providers, women’s rights organizations and public officials on intersectional approaches to violence against women; (5) facilitating dialogue between women, civil society organizations and government representatives to develop inclusive mechanisms; (6) leading practice-based research on violence against women; and (7) amplifying women’s voices and lessons learned during the project through advocacy campaigns.
Belize
Promoting Empowerment Through Awareness for Lesbian and Bisexual Women (PETAL)
Project Title: Women's Autonomous Livelihood: Beyond COVID-19 Crisis
Description: In Belize, according to UNCCPR, lesbian, bisexual and transgender (LBT) women of African and Indigenous ancestry in low socio-economic circumstances are more at risk of violence and are excluded from the police protection and support afforded to victims of domestic violence and intimate partner violence in heterosexual relationships. A UNDP study shows that disparities in Belize have been exacerbated in the post-COVID-19 period, as fewer resources are available, heterosexual gender norms and patriarchal standards are more on display, and jobs in the informal economy are less available to LBT women.
PETAL is a women’s rights organization dedicated to achieving social, economic and gender justice for women, especially lesbian and bisexual women, through advocacy actions and empowerment.
The project aims to empower lesbian and bisexual women of African and Indigenous descent with low levels of education through skills training and improved access to economic empowerment services in six municipalities and two villages in Toledo, Stann Creek, Cayo and Belize districts.
Project strategies include: (1) equipping lesbian and bisexual women with financial and entrepreneurial skills and capacities to start and develop income-generating activities; (2) providing individual and group psychosocial support; (3) building the capacity of partner organizations and feminist networks on prevention of and response to violence against lesbian and bisexual women; (4) advocating for policy reform and supporting the design and implementation of violence prevention policies and action plans; and (5) developing and nurturing a network of financial and entrepreneurial public-private partners.
Bolivia
Organizacion de mujeres aymaras del Kollasuyo (OMAK – Aymara Women’s Organization of Kollasuyo)
Project Title: Strengthening prevention and advocacy actions against violence against women and girls
Description: Although Bolivia implemented the Comprehensive Law to Guarantee Women a Life Free from Violence (Law 348) in 2013, the country still has one of the highest rates of femicide in the region and violence against women increased as a consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic. Indigenous women of Aymara descent face particularly high risks of intersecting discrimination and violence, while geographical, linguistic and economic constraints prevent them from accessing specialist public services.
OMAK, a women’s rights organization, will lead a project that aims to increase and improve access to context-appropriate prevention, protection and restorative and care mechanisms and practices for Aymara women survivors or at risk of violence in rural and peri-urban settings in the department of La Paz. It will use an intersectional and participatory approach to strengthen OMAK’s comprehensive range of services to empower Aymara women.
Project strategies include: (1) identifying and providing personalized support for women survivors or at risk of violence through mobile excursions to peri-urban areas and rural municipalities, and by implementing self- and collective-care circles; (2) developing and updating a virtual platform to guide and inform Aymara women of the latest information and relevant legislation; (3) providing community awareness raising and reflection workshops on the causes and effects of gender-based violence, facilitated by community promoters and OMAK’s staff to generate collective proposals and action plans; and (4) disseminating printed communication material on the prevention of violence against women in rural peri-urban and rural areas.
Ecuador
Centro de planificiación y estudio social (Planning and Social Study Centre)
Project Title: Participation through equality and politics free from gender-based violence against women in three municipalities
Description: In Ecuador, women in office face harassment and political violence, according to a 2020 UN Women study, leading to low levels of women’s political participation despite constitutional and legal provisions for parity. Marginalized women – particularly Indigenous women, Afro-Ecuadorian women, women who belong to the lowest income groups, and transgender women – face the greatest difficulties in accessing elected positions and are exposed to heightened risks of violence when aiming to do so.
Centro de planificiación y estudio social is a women-led human rights organization dedicated to overcoming gender, economic, social, environmental and ethnic inequalities through knowledge management and public policies.
Centro de planificiación y estudio social will implement a project to ensure that during the 2023 local elections, marginalized women can exercise their right to participate in political life without being exposed to violence. The project will be implemented in partnership with the public agency National Electoral Council, the women’s rights organization Fundación Nuevos Horizontes, and civil society organizations operating in the Amazon region.
Project strategies include: (1) creating observatories to collect data, monitor political violence against marginalized women and report cases identified; (2) training civil society organizations’ lawyers on women’s political rights and litigation to identify and defend cases; (3) empowering women candidates and women elected with knowledge on their political rights and skills to identify and report violence against women; (4) establishing a multi-stakeholder working group to formulate evidence-based inclusive procedural reforms, codes of ethics and protocols; and (5) leading language-inclusive advocacy campaigns on physical and online political violence against marginalized women.
Ecuador
Asociación de Mujeres por la Equidad de Género y la Autonomía (MEGA – Association of Women for Gender Equity and Autonomy)
Project Title: Improve GBV prevention through changes of misadapted social norms and legislation seeking to enjoy the right to a life free from violence for the girls and women of Archidona and Riobamba
Description: Six out of 10 women have experienced violence in Ecuador, according to the National Survey on Family Interactions and Violence Against Women in 2011. Marginalized women, including Indigenous women, migrant women and older women, face intersecting forms of discrimination that put them at heightened risk of violence.
MEGA is a women-led, women’s rights organization dedicated to promoting gender equality and political participation of women, strengthening democracy, and increasing the transparency of public power.
The project, which MEGA will implement in partnership with the ESQUEL Foundation, aims to revert negative socio-cultural gender norms that perpetuate discrimination and violence against women and to ensure that marginalized women survivors of violence have access to justice. It also aims to reduce violence against marginalized women by raising awareness among local authorities, creating community-led women’s support networks of and for marginalized women, and promoting inclusive legal reforms to ensure women survivors’ access to justice.
Project strategies include: (1) empowering marginalized women through workshops to enable them to become community leaders; (2) establishing community-led women’s support networks to provide women survivors or at risk of violence with comprehensive information and specialist services; (3) training local authority representatives and public servants, including police officers, and cantonal board members, on violence against women; (4) organizing cantonal meetings with local authorities, including mayors’ offices, to advocate for marginalized women survivors of violence to have effective access to justice and legal services; and (5) disseminating through social media advocacy campaigns on protection measures and gender equality.
El Salvador
Asociacion Comunicando y Capacitando a Mujeres Trans con VIH en El Salvador (COMCAVIS TRANS - Association Communicating with and Training Trans Women with HIV in El Salvador)
Project Title: Building safe and protected spaces for LBTQ women
Description: Lesbian, bisexual, transgender women, intersex and queer people (LBTIQ+) face intersecting forms of discrimination in El Salvador. The COVID-19 pandemic and its repercussions have contributed to put them at heightened risk of violence.
COMCAVIS TRANS is a women-led, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ+) activist organization dedicated to improving the lives of LGBTIQ+ people through the recognition and protection of their human rights in El Salvador and internationally.
The project aims to empower LBTQ persons, improve their access to leadership, and ultimately enable them to live free of violence. It will provide comprehensive services to LBTQ survivors or at risk of violence, support capacity building at the organizational and leadership levels for better implementation of mechanisms to address violence against LBTQ persons, and raise community awareness on the rights of LBTQ persons.
Project strategies include: (1) providing LBTQ-competent humanitarian, legal and psychosocial services and supporting their livelihood by providing seed capital, financial training, self-care circles and theatre workshops; (2) providing training on leadership, community mobilization and digital activism; (3) creating a school of leadership and citizen participation; (4) providing awareness raising training to judges and members of the judicial system on violence against LBTQ persons; and (5) developing collective advocacy actions and disseminating communication campaigns highlighting various dimensions of violence against LBTQ persons.
Guatemala
Haurralde Fundaziao
Project Title: Promotion of sexual and reproductive rights of women free from all forms of violence
Description: Cultural norms, restrictive legislation, geographical constraints are contributing factors that prevent women from fully exercising their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) according to UN Women.
Haurralde Fundaziao is a women-led, women’s rights organization that focuses on the rights of women and girls in Guatemala.
The project will be implemented by Haurralde Fundaziao, in partnership with the civil society organization Tierra Viva, in 19 municipalities in the departments of San Marcos, Sololá, Chimaltenango, Guatemala, Chiquimula and Izabal. It will aim to redefine negative socio-cultural norms and enable women and girls, including Indigenous women and girls, to exercise their SRHR without being exposed to violence.
Project strategies include: (1) strengthening the knowledge of women’s networks about SRHR and enabling members to carry out the healing processes for women survivors of sexual violence; (2) creating a network platform to maximize the networks’ collective action and enabling them to establish multisectoral partnerships at the community, municipal and departmental levels; (3) training midwives on SRHR and enabling them to advise and strengthen women's reproductive decision-making; (4) implementing awareness raising actions for young people to exercise and defend their SRHR and creating youth-led local and community-based information kiosks; (5) training justices, educators and health providers on SRHR; and (6) generating knowledge on SRHR and disseminating evidence-based communication and awareness campaigns.
Honduras
Unidad de Desarrollo Integral de la Mujer y la Familia (UDIMF - Unit of Comprehensive Development for the Woman and the Family)
Project Title: We sow and blossom together
Description: In Honduras, according to Centro de Derechos de Mujeres (Women’s Rights Center) women and girls continue to face violence in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic and those who experience intersecting forms of discrimination, such as Indigenous women and women living with disabilities, are exposed to heightened risks.
UDIMF is a women-led, feminist organization dedicated to improving women's lives by recognizing, developing and strengthening their capabilities, providing them with spaces for political participation, and working to ensure their right to a life free of violence.
The project aims to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls living with disabilities, including Indigenous women of Garifuna descent. It will be implemented in the municipalities of Tela, La Ceiba and Jutiapa in Atlántida department, in partnership with La Asociación Hondureña de Lesionados Medulares y Similares (AHLMYS - Honduran Association for Spinal Cord and Similar Injuries). The project will use a feminist, intersectional and community-based approach to develop a comprehensive service provision strategy for women living with disabilities who are survivors or at risk of violence, and to strengthen women’s leadership and local feminist networks.
Project strategies include: (1) providing specialist legal and psychological services to women survivors of violence, including tailored services that address the needs of women living with disabilities; (2) implementing community-based training on women’s rights and social mobilization; (3) implementing training and collaborating with AHLMYS’s women members and local feminist networks to inform departmental action plans addressing the needs of women living with disabilities; (4) leading practice-based research and disseminating findings through advocacy campaigns; and (5) strengthening the organization and its partner’s organizational resilience by creating a database and integrating self-care into its strategy.
Mexico
Grupo de Acción por los Derechos Humanos y la Justicia Social A.C. (Grupo de Acción DH – Action Group for Human Rights and Social Justice Civil Association)
Project Title: "Digna Ochoa y Plácido" Network of Litigating Lawyers with a Gender and Human Rights Perspective
Description: In 2018, according to UN Women, 9.9% of women aged 15-49 reported that they had been subject to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months in Mexico. In the same year, between January and October, 706 alleged femicides were committed.
Grupo de Acción DH is a women-led, women’s rights organization that defends and promotes the human rights of Mexican and foreign individuals.
The project aims to create and support a network of women lawyers to accompany and defend cases of violence against women and girls – including sexual violence, human trafficking, forced disappearance and femicide – in the northern, central and southern regions of Mexico.
Project strategies include: (1) creating and training a network of 15 women lawyers working with civil society organizations on violence against women litigation cases; (2) creating a team to support the network in designing and implementing defence and litigation strategies; and (3) providing the network with specialist services, including expert analysis and documentation, to strengthen investigations and criminal proceedings to enable favourable judicial outcomes for women survivors or at risk of violence.
Mexico
Instituto Mexicano de Investigación de Familia Y Población A.C. (IMIFAP A.C. - Mexican Institute of Family and Population Research Civil Association)
Project Title: Help them not to end up down the aisle: for the prevention of forced and child marriage in Guerrero State, Mexico
Description: Child, early and forced marriage and unions (CEFMU) are a violation of human rights which risk increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. They deprive girls of education, health and opportunities, and create a spiral of poverty and risks of violence. According to UN Women, a fifth of women in Mexico aged 20-24 were married or in a union before they were 18 years old.
IMIFAP A.C. is a women-led human rights organization dedicated to facilitating human, social and economic development.
The project aims to help eradicate CEFMU in 20 localities in the municipality of Metlatónoc, Guerrero State. It will scale up the community-based model of IMIFAP A.C. that has resulted in 11 localities criminalizing the sale of girls for marriage since 2015 through the signature of Agreement Acts. It will focus on community empowerment, preventive action in school settings, strengthening and training local civil society organizations, and creating multisectoral partnerships.
Project strategies include: (1) raising awareness on the harmful consequences of CEFMU among parents, school students, teachers, community members, social leaders and authorities through interactive conferences and community assemblies; (2) increasing prevention of CEFMU through participatory training sessions in school settings; (3) implementing workshops with representatives of local civil society organizations to facilitate and support replications of the project’s model; (4) creating a multisectoral alliance involving civil society organizations, community leaders and governmental agencies in charge of protecting children, adolescents and women’s rights to generate a joint work agenda to prevent and end CEFMU; and (5) leading advocacy actions to obtain the signature of Agreement Acts prohibiting the sale of girls for marriage by the 20 localities targeted by the project.
Peru
Centro de la mujer peruana Flora Tristán (CMPFT - Flora Tristán Centre for Peruvian Women)
Project Title: Changing the structures: women, girls and adolescents from Amazonia free from violence and discrimination
Description: In Peru, 11% of women aged 15-49 reported that they had been subject to physical and/or sexual violence by a current or former intimate partner in the previous 12 months, according to UN Women in 2018. Rates of violence are higher for marginalized women such as Indigenous women who face intersecting forms of discrimination, which have been exacerbated during he COVID-19 pandemic.
CMPFT is a women-led, women’s rights organization that addresses the structural causes that restrict the recognition and exercise of women's rights. It will implement a project to empower Indigenous Amazonian women, adolescents and girls to ensure their right to live free from violence in school and public settings in the municipality of Satipo and the districts of Pangoa and Mazamari in Satipo province.
The project aims to strengthen specialist services for survivors, raise awareness to reduce discriminatory practices in school and public settings, and enhance the capacity of authorities and community actors to understand, prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. It will be implemented in collaboration with public bodies and other local civil society and women’s rights organizations.
Project strategies include: (1) implementing participatory workshops for Indigenous women’s organizations on violence against women and structural discrimination; (2) leading marches advocating for the end of violence against women and girls in public spaces; (3) raising awareness in the educational community on violence against Indigenous women and girls; (4) training provincial and district authority representatives and public service providers to strengthen implementation of plans and legislation to stop violence against Indigenous women; (5) raising awareness among non-traditional actors, including local companies’ representatives and male leaders, on women’s rights and violence against Indigenous women; and (6) disseminating advocacy campaigns and actions, including the organization of cultural and artistic fairs and community forums, to raise awareness about violence against Indigenous women.
Over the past 25 years, CMPFT has successfully implemented five generations of projects supported by the UN Trust Fund.
Arab States and North Africa
Iraq
Asuda Organization for Combating Violence against Women (ASUDA)
Project Title: Supporting survivors of family-based violence in rural and refugee communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq
Description: Women and girls from rural and refugee communities in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq face heightened risks of violence and difficulties accessing support services. In rural areas, low education levels and the influence of traditions and customs contribute to family-based violence and harmful practices, which increased during the COVID-19 pandemic.
ASUDA is a women-led organization working to create a safe environment for women and promoting the rights of women and girl survivors of violence, including those in the most marginalized communities.
The project will address family-based violence against women and girls from rural and refugee communities by increasing their access to support services and building community capacity to respond to violence. The project is a scale-up of a 2016 UN Trust Fund-supported project with an increased focus on intersectional discrimination. It will more actively engage civil society organizations from rural areas and those that represent marginalized survivors and/or have long-term experience working with them. The project will focus on five locations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq: the governorates of Sulaimaniyah, Halabja and Duhok; and the two administrations of Garmian (Ranya city) and Raparin (Kalar city).
Project strategies include: (1) increasing the quantity and quality of specialist support services; (2) addressing barriers in accessing these services by establishing listening centres and mobile teams in rural areas, and building the capacity of local organizations and government to deliver better services; (3) raising awareness and developing community tactics in rural areas and refugee camps to protect women and girls from violence and exclusion, and to integrate their needs into public policy; and (4) seeking changes in the implementation of legislation that supports survivors of family-based violence.
Iraq
Awan Organization For Awareness and Capability Development (Awan Org)
Project Title: Standard procedures for responding to and preventing violence against women in the workplace
Description: Despite anti-harassment laws in Iraq, women working in the private sector in southern Iraq often face harassment, especially sexual harassment, from colleagues, managers or clients. The fear of losing their job, the lack of societal support and the COVID-19 pandemic have exacerbated this phenomenon and prevented women from reporting harassment in the workplace.
Awan Org is a non-profit women’s rights organization that aims to promote the rights of Iraqi women and girls through awareness raising, advocacy, training and capacity-building. It specializes in addressing gender-based violence and discrimination.
The project aims to reduce sexual harassment of women working in the private sector in three governorates of southern Iraq – Diwaniya, Muthanna and Najaf – especially those who head households or are on low incomes, displaced or living with disabilities, by improving policies and procedures through working with the private sector and labour unions.
Project strategies include: (1) developing a clear policy towards reducing sexual harassment at work; (2) raising awareness among employers and workers in the private sector on the negative effects of harassment; (3) ensuring that women working in the private sector can be peer educators, with improved knowledge of laws; (4) establishing a guide on combating sexual harassment in the workplace; and (5) establishing “safe units” in trade unions to provide legal advice to victims of harassment.
Jordan
Jordanian Women's Union Association (JWU)
Project Title: Combating violence and discrimination against women in Jordan
Description: In Jordan, the Population and Family Health Survey of 2017-18 found that just over a quarter of women aged 15-49 who had ever been married had experienced physical and/or sexual or emotional violence by their husbands. In addition, the rate of child marriage remains high.
JWU is a women’s rights organizations working to address all forms of discrimination and violence against women.
The project will employ awareness raising and social dialogue to address traditional attitudes that enable violence against women and girls. JWU will work with two partners, Isnad Center and Al Beereh Association, both of which work in areas where child and early marriages are widespread and have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The project aims to: (1) improve protection of women and girls at risk or survivors of violence with hotlines that provide legal, social and psychological consultations; (2) raise women’s awareness of discriminatory laws; (3) establish a strong civil coalition to amend the Family Protection Law and advocate for change; (4) encourage women to speak up, advocate for equal rights and protection, and explore their potential with the help of facilitators; and (5) ensure that community-based organizations use a feminist and human rights-based approach to ending violence against women and girls.
JWU received support from the UN Trust Fund in 2011 as part of a three-year anti-trafficking programme to boost legal enforcement against the crime in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco.
Lebanon
Karama
Project Title: Removing barriers to justice for marginalized survivors of violence against women and girls in Lebanon
Description: Women and girls living in marginalized communities in Lebanon, including Syrian refugee women and low-income Lebanese women, experience high rates of violence due to difficult living conditions, socio-economic deprivation and limited access to social services. The COVID-19 crisis and the 2020 Beirut disaster, in addition to lingering political strife and fall out from the civil war, further increased risk of violence against women and girls.
Karama is a women’s rights organization focused on ending violence against women and promoting the full and equal participation of women in the Middle East and North Africa. Karama will collaborate with a local implementing partner based in Lebanon, Justice Without Frontiers, who supports survivors of gender-based violence who have no access to justice.
The project will contribute to removing legislative, policy, procedural and structural barriers to justice for women and girl survivors of violence, with a focus on low-income and refugee communities.
Project strategies include: (1) adapting and reforming laws, policies and court procedures related to violence against women and girls; (2) strengthening implementation of existing laws and policies through building the capacity of duty bearers; (3) improving accountability mechanisms to build political will and promote the human rights of women and girls; (4) supporting civil society and community leaders focusing on marginalized women and girls; and (5) providing legal services to those in need.
State of Palestine
Stars of Hope Society for the Empowerment of Women with Disabilities (Stars of Hope)
Project Title: Hemaya II
Description: In the State of Palestine, patriarchal structures and inequitable gender attitudes foster a culture of gender-based violence and impunity, according to a 2017 UN Women report. Women and girls living with disabilities, including those also living with HIV/AIDS, continue to face many forms of discrimination and violence in all areas of life while lacking access to specialist services.
Stars of Hope is a women-led organization of people living with disabilities that works to abolish discrimination based on disability and gender, and to empower women living with disabilities to achieve equality.
The project will scale-up a project funded by the UN Trust Fund in 2018-21 that addressed violence against women and girls living with disabilities in the West Bank and Gaza. The project, using an intersectional approach, will continue to empower women and girls living with disabilities, including those also living with HIV/AIDS, and work to ensure their equal access to specialist support services and sustainable intervention mechanisms. It will expand and strengthen government partnerships already established, as these offered many opportunities to work collaboratively to improve access to survivor support services for women and girls living with disabilities.
Project strategies include: (1) establishing a technical support team to provide immediate services, including psychosocial and legal support, to women living with disabilities who are at risk or have survived violence; (2) creating three self-help groups formed by women living with HIV, their families and partners, to acquire knowledge on various topics related to violence against women; (3) conducting outreach sessions, recreational and life skills activities, and group-to-group initiatives to build the emotional resilience and self-confidence of women living with disabilities and their relatives; (4) conducting non-curricular play activities in school settings for adolescent girls living with disabilities, able-bodied students, and their relatives to increase their understanding and support for disability/rights issues; and (5) leading advocacy actions to raise public awareness on violence against women living with disabilities.
State of Palestine
Women's Center for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC)
Project Title: Towards increased social responsibility of the Palestinian community and higher accountability of duty bearers: consolidating efforts to combat gender-based violence and discrimination of marginalized Palestinian women
Description: A 2019 survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics found that 29% of women had experienced violence by their husbands in the previous year. Survivors of such violence, especially those living in Area C of the West Bank, have limited access to specialist services and shelters, a problem exacerbated by, among others, decades of Israeli occupation. Additionally, the COVID-19 pandemic had a severe impact on women, compounded by the prevalent culture that permits and excuses violence against women and discourages survivors from reporting.
WCLAC seeks to contribute to building a Palestinian democratic society.
The project aims to protect and empower women who live in remote and underserved communities (especially in Area C and East Jerusalem). It also intends to work with women at risk of violence due to extramarital relations, extramarital pregnancies, victims of blackmail or those who have fled an abusive relationship.
Project strategies include: (1) improving access to social and legal services and to WCLAC’s emergency shelter for women survivors of violence; (2) mobilizing community members and building their capacities so they become agents of change; (3) engaging men from different backgrounds in community and advocacy initiatives; (4) developing the skills of Sharia lawyer trainees on court procedures and gender-sensitive representation; (5) raising awareness using mainstream and social media; (6) developing the capacity of women activists; (6) influencing policies and decision-making for increased accountability of duty bearers; and (7) carrying out advocacy campaigns to influence the adoption of laws preventing violence against women and girls.
The WCLAC also received funding from the UN Trust Fund in 2016 for a project to promote women’s access to social and legal services in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
Asia and the Pacific
Cambodia
Cambodian Health and Education for Community
Project Title: CEDAW advocacy and community education to end violence against women
Description: In Cambodia, social norms and practices are deterring women survivors of intimate partner violence to report or seek help (only 43%), according to a study by UN Women and ASEAN. In addition, weak structures, local authorities’ limited knowledge on women’s rights and the COVID-19 pandemic have impeded access to justice for survivors of intimate partner violence.
Cambodian Health and Education for Community, a women’s rights organization, empowers youths, gender-based violence survivors, women in the lowest income group and people living with HIV by collaborating with local stakeholders to sustain their equal participation, well-being and dignity.
The project aims to improve prevention of intimate partner violence and rape of women and girls in Cambodia through changes in behaviour, practices and attitudes, and improve services for survivors and access to justice. It will be implemented in partnership with a network of over 30 unions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), local officials and university debate clubs.
Project strategies include: (1) community-led education focused on violence within intimate partner relationships in rural districts; (2) national and international advocacy on gender equality and to strengthen laws and policies against intimate partner violence and rape, in collaboration with the Cambodian NGO Committee on the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (NGO-CEDAW); (3) awareness-raising to change attitudes through campaigns, art exhibitions, and community and university debates; and 4) improved access to quality sexual and reproductive health care and services for women, including women survivors of violence; lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex people; women living with HIV; and youth.
Cambodia
Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC)
Project Title: Join Us for Social Transformation (JUST)
Description: The COVID-19 pandemic worsened gender inequalities and intersecting discrimination faced by women in Cambodia, further barring them from accessing services and economic opportunities.
CWCC, a women-led, women’s rights organization, works to empower marginalized women and girls through protection and prevention initiatives.
CWCC will implement the JUST project in partnership with ADD International. The project will focus on preventing and responding to violence against marginalized women (women living with disabilities, women entertainment workers and/or self-identified sex workers, women in Cham communities and lesbian, bisexual, transgender women and intersex people) in 10 districts in 6 provinces. It will address inequitable social norms, stigma and discrimination; improve the response of duty bearers; and provide essential services and opportunities for women’s voices to influence policy development.
Project strategies include: (1) engaging with community service organization representatives for each group of marginalized women; (2) engaging marginalized women to build their agency; (3) engaging duty bearers by developing and increasing gender-based violence response working groups to challenge negative social norms that prevent marginalized women from accessing essential services; and (4) influencing and advocating for inclusion in national plans and strategies.
CWCC has received funding from the UN Trust Fund on three previous occasions for projects to promote women’s rights and prevent violence. In 2018, ADD International and CWCC collaborated to provide prevention and response services for women and girls living with disabilities in Cambodia.
Fiji
Medical Services Pacific (MSP)
Project title: Sensitizing the Stakeholders and Communities involved in Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls in Fiji
Description: In Fiji, violence against women and girls is widespread: 64% of women have experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime. This violence often goes underreported due to stigma, shame, lack of access to services, and so on.
Medical Services Pacific is a women’s rights organization based in Fiji working to promote women and girls’ access to resources to create a world more safe, equal and just. They work specifically on providing quality and accessible sexual and reproductive health care and social services.
The project aims to address violence against women and girls at the community level by engaging community leaders, gatekeepers, men and boys, youths, women and girls through information sessions, demonstrations, case scenarios, group work, empowerment and talanoa (interactive dialogue) sessions. Its goal is to promote and protect women’s human rights by improving the prevention of gender-based violence in the Central and Northern parts of Fiji.
In 2013, MSP received a grant from the UN Trust Fund to implement a project focusing on providing integrated services and information on sexual and reproductive healthcare to women in their workplace.
India
Jan Sahas Development Society
Project Title: PR3 Initiative towards reduction in prevalence of sexual violence against women and girls in India
Description: Violence against women is systemic in India with over 29% of ever-married women aged 15-49 years experiencing intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence at least once in their lifetime according to a 2021 report from the International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS) and ICF. However, due to a culture of victim-shaming and silence, only a small fraction of women survivors of rape file complaints. In addition, socio-economic and institutional barriers make it difficult for women and girls to access justice. These challenges are often compounded if the survivors are members of India’s marginalized communities, particularly if they are Dalits or Muslims.
Jan Sahas, a women-led, women’s rights organization, works to prevent and end all forms of gender- and caste-based violence against marginalized women and children in South Asia. It aims to ensure that marginalized women and girls have access to their civic and political rights, and are socially and economically empowered to challenge violence, injustice and indignity.
The project aims to create responsive state institutions and social systems that deter perpetrators of violence and reduce the incidence of sexual violence, through focused interventions at the individual, community and stakeholder levels with the existing model of PR3 (Prevention, Response, Rehabilitation, and Systemic Reform). It will target eight districts in three states: Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh. The project will focus primarily on marginalized women and girls facing multiple intersecting forms of discrimination (Dalit and Tribal women, Muslim women, single women) using a multisectoral approach to address their needs.
The project aims to: (1) reduce the prevalence of sexual violence among women and girls through awareness-raising of community members and empowering young girls; (2) develop an effective response system by building women’s and girls’ knowledge and awareness of their rights, protective laws and specialized support services; (3) ensure the right of survivors to attain comprehensive rehabilitation; (4) improve the institutional response to sexual violence survivors; and (5) strengthen the civic movement against sexual violence by establishing and facilitating community-based, survivor-led organizations to monitor state mechanisms’ practices and advocate for better protection protocols.
Europe and Central Asia
Armenia
Coalition to Stop Violence against Women (CSVW)
Project Title: Transforming the domestic violence agenda in Armenia
Description: Women and girls in Armenia continue to face violence, particularly domestic violence and sexual violence, yet cases are under-reported as women lack access to comprehensive services and face cultural and institutional barriers. The COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war exacerbated violence.
CSVW, a women-led, women’s rights organization, seeks to end gender-based violence by strengthening accountability, prevention and prevention mechanisms. It unites 11 non-governmental organizations working with marginalized women and girls.
Its multi-pronged project will interlink service provision, primary prevention and advocacy to support and protect women and girls, improve societal awareness and drive institutional reform. It will involve women across all 10 regions of Armenia. Women from the targeted communities will take the lead in the project’s design and implementation.
Project strategies include: (1) comprehensive specialist support services for survivors, especially marginalized women and girls; (2) capacity building for regional domestic violence centres and non-governmental organizations, service providers, teachers, police departments, and investigative and law enforcement bodies; (3) round-table discussions, official meetings and public presentations; (4) court monitoring and monitoring of regional state-supported domestic violence support centres; (5) engagement of multi-stakeholder partners, the media and public influencers; (6) production of accessible visual materials and publications; and (7) development of guidelines and research studies.
Azerbaijan
Disabled Women Society of Azerbaijan (DWSA)
Project Title: Improving access of women and girls with disabilities to public services in Baku, Ganja and Guba-Khachmaz region
Description: Women and girls living with disabilities face intersecting forms of discrimination in Azerbaijan, especially regarding access to education and employment, and are consequently at heightened risks of violence (Asian Development Bank, 2019).
DWSA is a women-led organization of persons living with disabilities that works to empower and protect women living with disabilities, including refugees, internally displaced women and women survivors of war.
The project aims to improve accessibility and quality of public services for women and girls living with disabilities and belonging to the lowest income group in internally displaced persons settlements in the capital Baku, the city of Ganja and the Guba-Khachmaz region. It will work to reduce violence by empowering women living with disabilities, training public and local service providers on prevention and response measures, and raising community awareness.
Project strategies include: (1) providing seminars to empower women living with disabilities and their relatives with knowledge on better access and use of specialized public services and raising public awareness on understanding disabilities and violence against women and girls living with disabilities; (2) building the capacity and skills of public services and civil organization staff on ethical communication with women living with disabilities and developing relevant guidelines; (3) coordinating between key stakeholders to create local action plans to reduce violence against women living with disabilities in public places; and (4) raising public awareness about violence against women and girls with disabilities, including through community-based workshops and television and radio programmes.
Kosovo*
Medica Gjakova
Project Title: Empower and improve your life
Description: Kosovo* is one of the poorest countries in Europe, with an average unemployment rate of 26% in 2020, according to World Bank estimates. Women and girls, especially survivors of sexual violence inflicted during the 1998 - 1999 war, suffer from the long-term consequences of the conflict in terms of economic insecurity and access to justice and public health-care services when they do not have the verified status of survivors of war-time sexual violence.
Medica Gjakova works to provide services to women survivors of violence through psychosocial and gynaecological counselling and ensuring women’s participation in social and political life. It is one of four licensed non-governmental organizations helping women to apply for recognition of their legal status.
The project aims to reach around 1,000 women and girls by providing comprehensive services for survivors as well as employment possibilities in agriculture and artisan fields.
The project will: (1) empower survivors of violence through trauma-sensitive psychosocial counselling; (2) ensure survivors have gynaecological visits and examinations; (3) increase knowledge on women’s rights and the challenges faced by survivors of sexual violence; (4) improve access to justice, rehabilitation and reintegration for survivors of sexual violence; and (5) economically empower survivors.
*UN Administered Territory under UN Security Council Resolution 1244
Kosovo*
Medica Kosova
Project Title: Women's organizations and institutions provide social protection and justice with survivor-centred and trauma-based approach
Medica Kosova is a women’s rights organization dedicated to improving the physical and mental health and living conditions of women survivors of sexual and intimate partner violence during and after the war, regardless of their ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation.
The project aims to improve access of women survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, sexual violence and intimate partner violence to specialized services in the cities of Gjakova, Deqani, Rahovec, Dragash and Pejam. The project will address the knowledge gap in institutions and service providers on trauma related to sexual and intimate partner violence, and provide legal counselling for survivors. The project will also address the specific needs of women survivors belonging to the Albanian, Roma, Ashkalinj and Egyptian communities.
Project strategies include: (1) providing group awareness sessions for women survivors of violence regarding legislation and services; (2) empowering and supporting women survivors to seek recognition of their status, report the violence and assert their rights; (3) strengthening coordination and cooperation with women's organizations and gender focal points to share the specific needs of women survivors for support services and improved institutional response; and (4) training selected institutions and organizations on survivor-centred and trauma-informed approaches to provide adequate services, protection and justice to victims of conflict-related sexual violence and survivors of sexual and domestic violence.
In 2018, Medica Kosova implemented a UN Trust Fund-supported project to develop awareness of the Istanbul Convention among women’s organizations and strengthen their monitoring capacity and reporting mechanisms.
*UN Administered Territory under UN Security Council Resolution 1244
North Macedonia
Roma Women and Youth Association “LULUDI”
Project Title: Support for Roma women and girls on combating gender-based violence
Description: Roma women face intersecting forms of violence and discrimination, often based on stereotypes of the Romani community. Those living in rural communities with little financial independence tend to be at higher risk of violence and lack the means to seek support services. The situation has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Roma Women and Youth Association "Luludi”, a women’s rights, women-led organization, works to improve Roma women’s status in cooperation with other organizations and institutions at the local, national and international levels. It focuses on promoting their human and socio-economic rights, promoting full inclusion and gender equality, ending all forms of violence against women and girls, and ending discrimination and prejudice against Roma women.
The project aims to reduce gender-based violence among young girls and women from the Roma community and other marginalized groups, and to improve their access to services and protection mechanisms in North Macedonia. It aims to reach 240 Roma women and girls living in eight local municipalities of North Macedonia.
The project will: (1) improve support services for Roma and marginalized women and girl survivors or at risk of violence; (2) improve joint advocacy efforts with local civil society organizations to end violence against Roma and marginalized women and girls; and (3) improve the legal framework, develop policy papers and develop the capacity of activists.
Republic of Moldova
HelpAge International
Project Title: Preventing violence against older women in Moldova: Age inclusive support for older women survivors and those at risk
Description: While all women face gender inequality and discrimination, older women in Moldova face double discrimination (triple for older women living with disabilities) on account of gender and ageism. Deeply rooted prejudices and stereotypes about older people fuel violence against them. Additionally, services and protection systems in Moldova are frequently focused on young girls and mothers and tailored to their needs.
HelpAge International is a civil society organization focused on promoting older people’s welfare and rights so they can live healthy, safe and dignified lives, free from violence and abuse. The Moldova country team has longstanding and mutually supportive relations with key stakeholders and the government.
The project will seek to prevent all forms of violence against older women in Moldova through activities organized at the individual, community and institutional levels. It will work to ensure that older women are no longer excluded from services and protection mechanisms, and increase awareness on the prevention of violence against older women. Women’s voices will inform and help design project activities.
Project strategies include: (1) forming community self-help groups; (2) building capacity and raising awareness at the institutional and community levels, and of partner civil society organizations and volunteer initiative groups; (3) campaigning and advocating locally and nationally; and (4) organizing activities that directly respond to the survivors.
In 2017, HelpAge International received funding from the UN Trust Fund for a project to respond to the needs of older women survivors of violence.
Serbia
Association of Roma Women Osvit (Osvit)
Project Title: Roma women leaders in the fight for a society without gender-based violence
Description: In Serbia, up to 92% of Roma women have experienced some type of physical or sexual violence since the age of 18, according to a 2019 UN Women report. Roma women also suffer from high levels of unemployment, difficult living conditions, poverty and marginalization. In addition, survivors of violence usually do not report violence to formal services due to normalization of violence and limited unavailability of services.
Osvit is a women-led, women’s rights organization in Serbia. Through educational, economic, social, psychological and legal support, it works to empower women to break the cycle of violence and to educate, inform and encourage citizen activism to reduce violence and discrimination against women, especially Roma women. Osvit also aims to influence policies and train the public sector to better respond to violence against women and girls.
Project strategies include: (1) organizing informative and educational workshops on violence and discrimination; (2) providing individual or group psychological support; (3) representing women free of charge in institutions, in court and in criminal proceedings, and offering legal counselling; (4) raising the awareness of state institution employees to improve the quality of services provided to Roma women; (5) strengthening the capacity of activists through seminars and raising awareness of Roma women’s activism and violence against women; (6) organizing a national conference on Roma women leaders and gender-based violence; and (7) publishing research analysis and recommendations to improve local services.
Serbia
Center for Support of Women
Project Title: The Path to Recovery: Improving the services for victims of sexual violence in Vojvodina
Description: Although considerable efforts have been made, including ratification of the Istanbul Convention, gender-based violence remains widespread in Serbia, especially against marginalized women and girls (Roma women, women living with disabilities, rural women and others). According to a 2019 survey, 34% of women aged 18-74 had experienced intimate partner physical and/or sexual violence. Support services for survivors of violence are insufficient or not accessible.
The Center for Support of Women is a women-led, women’s rights organization dedicated to gender equality and ending all forms of discrimination and violence against women in Serbia by nurturing women’s leadership, entrepreneurship and creativity.
The project will use a multisectoral approach with various stakeholders to improve access of women and girls to support services, especially for marginalized women and girls, in the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina. The project will work to ensure continuous, comprehensive and specialized support services in the Centres for Victims of Sexual Violence.
Project strategies include: (1) improving survivor-centred health and psychosocial support services for women and girl survivors of sexual violence, including those suffering intersecting vulnerabilities; (2) organizing interviews, focus groups, support groups and self-help groups to hear directly from women and girls; (3) increasing counsellors’ knowledge and skills on human rights and feminist principles in service delivery within the Centres for Victims of Sexual Violence; (4) increasing the capacity, knowledge and sensitization of professionals from relevant institutions; and (5) focusing on service delivery cooperation.
All references to Kosovo on this website shall be understood to be in full compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999)