Fundación Servicios Integrales para la Mujer - Si Mujer implemented the three-year project “Young People Challenging Gender Norms to Break the Silence that surrounds Sexual Violence in South-West Colombia” in Santiago de Cali and nearby municipalities in the state of Valle del Cauca, with the support of the UN Trust Fund from 2018 to 2021. The project aimed to address gender-based violence by empowering adolescents and youth to challenge harmful, unequal gender norms; lead community-based prevention and advocacy initiatives; and strengthen the capacities of civil society and public institutions to provide gender-sensitive services to survivors of sexual violence. The final evaluation found that the project successfully empowered and mobilized young people and leaders to challenge harmful gender norms, raise awareness on sexual violence, and advocate for their sexual and reproductive health rights.

From March 2017 to February 2019, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women provided funding to Asuda for Combating Violence against Women for its initiative “Improving the Response Mechanisms to Sexual and Gender-based Violence against Syrian Refugee Women and Girls in Iraqi Kurdistan”, which was run in partnership with the Ceasefire Center for Civilian Rights. The initiative included all actors involved in the issue of sexual and gender-based violence in the context of a displaced population. The final evaluation found the project had improved community and stakeholders’ responses and social attitudes towards sexual and gender-based violence in Syrian refugee communities, and that the project’s strategy should be used as a model for other initiatives in a similar cultural and humanitarian context.