PRESS RELEASE: UK invests up to £18m in new support for grassroot women’s rights organizations to address gender-based violence through the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women

Date: Tuesday, 28 November 2023

Group of women sitting outside on plastic chairs, under a tree, are listening to a woman dressed in all white, sitting on a plastic chair, facing them and talking to them. — The UK’s new contribution to the UN Trust Fund will continue empowering civil society and women’s rights organizations to deliver critical support for survivors and those at risk of violence against women and girls. © Centre for Women Studies and Intervention, a grantee partner of the UN Trust Fund in Nigeria.

London, 28 November 2023. Development Minister Andrew Mitchell announced the new support up to £18m for grassroots women’s rights organizations to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) at an event in the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to mark the annual 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence. The support is the United Kingdom’s biggest ever funding boost to the UN Trust Fund, aiming to fund initiatives across 70 countries and territories[1] to address gender-based violence in communities, focusing on the most marginalized women and girls, through access to services including legal aid, shelters, and health care for survivors, support more effective legislation, and help to shift harmful attitudes and behaviours to prevent violence before it starts.

At the halfway point of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, no country is on track to eliminate violence against women and girls by 2030. Despite the scale of the problem, UK-funded evidence shows that violence is preventable and can be reduced by 50% by focusing on the most effective approaches.[2]

International Development Minister, Andrew Mitchell said:

“Our support to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women helped reach over 400,000 women and girls in 2022, but there is more to be done.”

The UK’s new contribution of £18m over 4 years to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women builds on the success of the UK’s 9-year partnership and support of £25.5m from 2014-2023.

Abigail Erikson, Chief of the UN Trust Fund, is speaking at a lectern in a microphone next to a large banner that reads "what works to prevent violence - impact at scale" — Abigail Erikson, Chief of the UN Trust Fund, delivering closing remarks at the FCDO event on November 28th, 2023.

“We are stepping up our support for grassroots organisations in more than 70 countries around the world and new funding will go towards tackling gender-based violence to help empower women and girls everywhere”, continued International Development Minister, Andrew Mitchell.

Speaking at the event, Abigail Erikson, Chief of the UN Trust Fund said:

“The UN Trust Fund is extremely grateful to the Government of the United Kingdom for this contribution and the impact it will have on women and girl survivors and those at risk of violence, whose lives count on the critical and lifesaving work of civil society and women’s rights organizations.”

The UN Trust Fund is honored to support the critical work of grassroots women’s rights organizations as they have been at the forefront of addressing the rise of violence against women and girls in protracted, overlapping crises around the world.

For full announcement, please visit https://www.gov.uk/government/news/uk-invests-in-global-grassroot-efforts-to-tackle-gender-based-violence

[1] This is the current UN Trust Fund’s portfolio in 2023.

[2] Press release: UK invests in global grassroot efforts to tackle gender-based violence. 28 November 2023.