13/71 Report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the activities of the Fund to eliminate violence against women - Note by the Secretary-General

United Nations A/HRC/13/71–E/CN.6/2010/8

General Assembly Economic and Social Council

Distr.: General 17 December 2009

Original: English

09-65802 (E) 120110 *0965802*

Human Rights Council Thirteenth session 1-26 March 2010 Item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General

Commission on the Status of Women Fifty-fourth session 1-12 March 2010 Item 3 (c) of the provisional agenda* Follow-up to the Fourth World Conference on Women and to the twenty-third special session of the General Assembly, entitled “Women 2000: gender equality, development and peace for the twenty-first century”: gender mainstreaming, situations and programmatic matters

Report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the activities of the Fund to eliminate violence against women

Note by the Secretary-General

The Secretary-General has the honour to transmit herewith to the Commission on the Status of Women and the Human Rights Council the report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the activities of the Fund to eliminate violence against women, which was prepared in compliance with General Assembly resolution 50/166.

* E/CN.6/2010/1.

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Report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the activities of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women

I. Introduction

1. The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women is a leading multilateral grant-making mechanism supporting national and local efforts of Governments and non-governmental organizations to end violence against women and girls. Established in 1996 by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/166, the United Nations Trust Fund is administered by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) on behalf of the United Nations system. By the end of 2009, it had supported 304 initiatives in 121 countries and territories with more than $50 million.

2. The present report to the fifty-fourth session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the thirteenth session of the Human Rights Council describes the progress and the achievements of the Fund in 2009, as well as highlights of UNIFEM programming with regard to ending violence against women and girls.

II. Background and context

3. The international community is witnessing a historic opportunity to intensify progress towards ending violence against women and girls. The issue is now prominent on international agendas promoting peace and security, poverty reduction and development and human rights. An increasing number of Governments have adopted relevant laws, policies and action plans, which have been reinforced at the international level by General Assembly and Security Council resolutions1 calling for intensified action and recommending multisectoral and sustained approaches to ending violence against women and girls. These General Assembly resolutions explicitly refer to the importance of continuing to enhance the effectiveness of the United Nations Trust Fund as a system-wide funding mechanism and of mobilizing greater resources to address the global pandemic of violence against women and girls. United Nations reform and the emphasis on “delivering as one” are galvanizing an increasing number of agencies, funds and programmes to intensify their contributions to eliminating violence against women and girls, further bolstered by the launch of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign.2

4. In this context, the United Nations Trust Fund is uniquely positioned to make a significant contribution to supporting countries in translating commitments into real change in the lives of women and girls on the ground, in line with the Secretary- General’s campaign call for action with regard to five national-level outcomes: the enforcement of national laws, the implementation of multisectoral action plans,

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1 General Assembly resolutions 61/143, 62/133, 63/155 and 64/137, on intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women, and Security Council resolutions 1820 (2008) and 1888 (2009).

2 See http://endviolence.un.org.

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support for data-collection systems, social mobilization and prevention strategies, and addressing sexual violence in conflict situations.

III. Activities of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women

5. Since its inception, the United Nations Trust Fund has been a key global mechanism for catalysing change by supporting innovative strategies for ending violence against women and girls. In line with the strategy of the Fund for 2005- 2008, the overall emphasis of its grant-making is on supporting the implementation at the global, regional, national and local levels of laws, policies and action plans agreed upon by countries to address violence against women and girls.

6. Paragraphs 7 to 35 below summarize progress made in implementing the United Nations Trust Fund’s strategy for 2005-2008, under which the Fund continued to operate in 2009 while an external evaluation covering the same period was conducted. The present report is set out in accordance with the strategy’s five pillars: impact, involvement, efficiency, knowledge management and capacity development, and resource mobilization. Highlights from the external evaluation are also presented.

Enhancing impact: supporting the implementation of laws, policies and action plans

7. In order to address the serious gaps in moving from commitment to action to end violence against women and girls, the grant-making of the United Nations Trust Fund has strategically focused on supporting the implementation of laws, policies and action plans. Grantees work to develop the capacity of relevant stakeholders to enforce laws and implement policies and to improve service quality for survivors. Strategic partnerships broaden and sustain their efforts. Programmes supported typically work across sectors, especially those of health, justice, security and education, and involve both governmental and non-governmental stakeholders.

8. In 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund had a portfolio of 81 active grants, covering 76 countries and territories, with a total value of nearly $30 million. These included two- to three-year grants approved since 2006 that were still being implemented. The region of Latin America and the Caribbean had the largest portfolio (24 per cent), followed closely by Africa, and Asia and the Pacific (23 per cent each). Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, and Arab States had the smallest portfolios (15 and 8 per cent, respectively), and cross-regional programmes accounted for 7 per cent. Paragraphs (a) to (f) below present highlights of achievements related to selected grants, based on reports received in 2009:

(a) Prevention strategies: United Nations Trust Fund grantees use prevention to stop violence from occurring altogether. Grantees in Brazil, Cambodia, Chile, Egypt, India, Jordan, Lebanon, Rwanda, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen have used prevention strategies that target the roots of violence by empowering women to claim their rights and by enlisting men and boys in efforts to change gender norms and make violence unacceptable. In India, the international human rights organization Breakthrough used mass media to raise awareness,

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change attitudes and practices and call for concrete action, with a targeted focus on engaging men and boys. A pro bono agreement with advertising giant Ogilvy and Mather produced the “Bell Bajao” (“Ring the Bell”) campaign, which won a gold Abby Award at GOAFEST for “best integrated campaign” in April 2009. In addition, Breakthrough, through a partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Development facilitated by UNIFEM, was able to secure the resources to purchase broadcast time on national television stations. This allowed the “Bell Bajao” campaign, in just four months’ time, to reach more than 124 million people in India with messages on women’s legal rights. The non-governmental organization Gender and Development for Cambodia worked with communities to establish local women’s and men’s groups to educate their peers on how to stop violence and seek legal protection. In only one year, the groups have organized hundreds of village meetings involving more than 3,000 people and have reached out to another 6,000 women and men through door-to-door campaigns. Women’s community groups have resolved or referred for prosecution cases involving violence against women. Men’s community groups have counselled perpetrators to encourage alternative forms of behaviour. Other leading examples of ways to engage men in transformative change to bring about gender equality and an end to violence against women include the recently funded cross-regional initiative of the grantee Instituto Promundo. Working in Brazil, Chile, India and Rwanda, it has embarked on a pioneering multi-country attempt to systematically evaluate the most effective approaches to involving men and boys in the prevention of violence. Oxfam Great Britain has partnered with women’s organizations in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, the Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen to carry out a catalytic regional initiative across the Arab States to devise methodologies for involving men and boys in prevention activities. After only one year of implementation, prominent elected officials and public figures have joined forces to demand the adoption of a law criminalizing intrafamily violence in Lebanon. In addition, a subregional White Ribbon campaign linked to the Secretary- General’s recently launched Network of Men Leaders is being organized;

(b) Securing strategic policy and budgetary commitments for implementation: United Nations Trust Fund grants in such countries as Bulgaria and Rwanda have successfully generated new policy and budgetary commitments, which are critical steps under the Fund’s strategy of strengthening frameworks for the implementation of laws and the provision of services. For example, when the official process of amending the Bulgarian law on domestic violence began in 2008, the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation made the case that State responsibility needs to include regular budgetary allocations, especially at the local level, where most services are provided. Draft revisions of the law now provide for yearly allocations for protection and support services. In Rwanda, a grant to the governmental administration of Ngoma district resulted in the development by local leaders of a three-year strategic plan that integrates all local action to end violence against women. The issue is now on the agenda at monthly district security meetings, and local vigilance committees in 473 villages routinely monitor individual cases and report on them to the police;

(c) Improving legal enforcement and the rule of law: the United Nations Trust Fund has invested in capacity development and the dissemination of information, which are crucial steps in improving legal enforcement and the rule of law in Bhutan, Papua New Guinea, Sierra Leone and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). In Bhutan, a grant enabled the National Commission for Women and

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Children to broker collaboration with the Royal Bhutan Police and the Royal Court of Justice. That partnership resulted in the adoption of in camera trials to protect survivors from public exposure, and in the creation of a complaints and response mechanism that prompts rapid responses to cases of violence. In Simbu province in Papua New Guinea, the non-governmental organization Kup Women for Peace worked directly with the police to resolve cases of violence against women, sorcery killings and land disputes, using a combination of references to customary and international human rights norms. In Sierra Leone, the International Rescue Committee assisted the Government in developing a three-year implementation plan to strengthen collaboration for the implementation of new national laws against violence. It has since created practical tools for service providers in tracking cases and collecting data; organized training for 96 police, inspectors general and judges; and held town meetings to engage informal justice systems. After the Venezuelan non-governmental organization Asociación Venezolana para una Educación Sexual Alternativa trained nearly 200 justice and law enforcement officials and university students on how to implement the national law against violence, the municipal police academy in Sucre incorporated the training into its professional development programme, which is required for all inspectors, sub-inspectors, agents and detectives;

(d) Expanding survivor access to support services: United Nations Trust Fund grants have made substantial, rapid improvements in a variety of social, legal and health services for survivors. Grantees in the Russian Federation and Ukraine, for example, expanded women’s access to comprehensive, integrated and high- quality services. In Ukraine, the non-governmental organization Rozrada contributed to the national action plan for the implementation of the domestic violence law, through training programmes in four pilot regions that have increased the capacity of 2,000 central and local service providers to detect abuse and provide psychological support to survivors. An independent evaluation found that the project had helped to bring about a fivefold increase in the number of perpetrators summoned by the police in the Kiev region, and concluded that the quality of the services provided in the four regions was much improved. In Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation, the non-governmental organization Doctors to Children is developing and institutionalizing an inter-agency service protocol. Through the Centre for Social Assistance to Families and Children, women can already gain access to a combination of psychological counselling, assistance in registering for social benefits, peer support groups on empowerment and childcare services;

(e) Responding to the needs of excluded groups of women: the emphasis of the United Nations Trust Fund on breaking barriers of exclusion assisted grantees in Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Ecuador and Egypt in expanding services for groups of women who would otherwise remain neglected. In Bolivia (Plurinational State of) and Ecuador, Family Care International partnered with two organizations for indigenous peoples to hold community group discussions in order to amplify the voices of indigenous women in expressing their cultural perspectives regarding laws against domestic violence. As a result, 1,750 indigenous women and 250 men made recommendations that have contributed to a new model of appropriate services to prevent and respond to violence against indigenous women. In Egypt, the Al-Shehab Foundation for Comprehensive Development engaged women and men living in a slum outside Cairo to define the services that they needed on the basis of local perceptions and patterns of violence. Al-Shehab used that information to develop its

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One-Stop Centre, a facility located in the slum providing legal, medical and psychosocial aid to survivors and as a preventive measure;

(f) Addressing the intersection between violence against women and HIV and AIDS: The United Nations Trust Fund has backed a number of pioneering initiatives that address the intersection between the twin pandemics of violence against women and HIV and AIDS in such countries as Botswana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nepal. Aligning service provision with the specific needs generated by that intersection is one important strategy being employed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the non-governmental organization Réseau national des ONG pour le Développement de la Femme equipped 300 civil society leaders in 6 cities to use a module for paralegal services. As a result, 1,500 women survivors of sexual violence, a quarter of whom are HIV-positive, have initiated judicial cases. In partnership with Johnson and Johnson, the United Nations Trust Fund has been providing ongoing support to a learning cohort of seven grantees focused on generating knowledge about how to address the intersection between violence against women and HIV and AIDS. The objective is to develop effective approaches to addressing the “twin pandemics” that can be replicated and scaled up. A grant to the Women’s Affairs Department of Botswana increased the capacity of local authorities and service providers to prevent domestic violence and to reduce the spread of HIV and AIDS. In two pilot communities, district gender committees have been formed to advise local development committees on these issues. By involving influential local figures, the gender committees ensure that communities will take messages on behaviour change seriously. In one case, a traditional chief has already modelled change by inviting women for the first time to participate in customary gatherings. In Nepal, Equal Access enhanced the understanding of issues that remain mostly shrouded in silence, as a step towards mobilizing new action to address them. The non-governmental organization trained 12 community radio reporters belonging to vulnerable groups to produce broadcasts that have aired more than 500 times on the main national radio stations, potentially reaching 90 per cent of the Nepalese population. In order to build on new levels of understanding resulting from the broadcasts, community legal literacy sessions have reached more than 800 women and men. Another 800 women have been trained as peer educators, in order to mobilize women and men to take action in their localities, such as holding public discussions on violence and HIV, and campaigning against violence. Listeners’ groups meet regularly to talk about the radio broadcasts. Many report that they now understand why violence can lead to HIV and vice versa, and why it is important to stand up for one’s rights.

Grant-making cycle 2009

9. United Nations Trust Fund grants are awarded annually through an open, competitive and transparent process that ensures high-quality programming and rigour in the selection of grantees. The calls for proposals invite holistic initiatives that focus on reaching particularly excluded or disadvantaged groups through approaches tailored to diverse needs. Priority is placed on applications that highlight multisectoral approaches and collaboration among various stakeholders; evidence of what works, to optimize the use of resources; and investment in systematic and comprehensive documentation and evaluation aimed at generating and sharing knowledge. Through its grant-making process, the United Nations Trust Fund channels global expertise and resources to the local level, where they are needed

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most. It also underscores the potential for the scaling-up of successful initiatives, while emphasizing the development of national capacities to foster sustainability.

10. Analysis of applications: in 2009, a total of 1,643 concept notes were received, requesting a total of $857 million. This compares with a total of 1,068 concept notes received in 2008, requesting a total of $525 million, which reflects increases of 53 per cent in the number of applications and 63 per cent in the funds requested in just one year. In 2009, the highest number of concept notes and the greatest amount of funds requested came from Africa (35 per cent), followed by Latin America and the Caribbean (25 per cent) and Asia and the Pacific (24 per cent). Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Arab States, and cross-regional programmes represented 6 per cent each in terms of funds requested. In all regions, most concept notes came from women’s organizations and other non-governmental organizations (85 per cent), followed by governmental organizations (5 per cent) and United Nations country teams (3 per cent).

11. Grants awarded: the United Nations Trust Fund awarded $10.5 million for 13 initiatives in 18 countries and territories. Africa was awarded the greatest amount of funds (48 per cent), followed by Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the Caribbean (20 per cent each) and Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (12 per cent). For the first time, organizations in Gambia and Lesotho received funding. The majority of new grantees included women’s organizations and other non-governmental organizations (71 per cent), followed by United Nations country teams (19 per cent) and governmental organizations (10 per cent). By noting that governmental organizations constitute a minority in terms of both grantees and applicants, the United Nations Trust Fund focuses on encouraging applications from governmental organizations or partnerships between non-governmental and governmental organizations.

12. Highlights of new grants: new grantees will support the implementation of laws and policies through better coordination of services to protect women and girls from violence in Thailand and through the expansion of integrated services in Albania. In Sierra Leone, a grantee will carry out recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to assist more than 650 survivors of sexual violence, through reparations. In Cameroon, Lesotho, Namibia and Nigeria, a grantee will pilot a model of working in the area of sexual and reproductive health services to analyse the impacts of violence against women and girls and to increase support for survivors. A grantee working in the Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal will scale up leading approaches to ending female genital mutilation/cutting, bringing about a shift from a health-based to a human-rights-based approach. In Uganda and six other locations in East and Southern Africa, a grantee will build on the award-winning SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support and Action) programme to address the intersection between violence against women and HIV and AIDS.

13. New grantees will also work with girls and young people. A grantee in Zambia will seek justice for sexually abused girls through improved laws and enforcement. In Cambodia, youth groups will mobilize around the issue of stopping domestic violence. A grantee in Bolivia will strengthen networks against sexual and intrafamily violence in order to prevent violence against girls and adolescents in the municipality of El Alto. Other grantees will reach out to excluded groups, including women at risk owing to the global financial crisis in Cambodia, women of the Roma

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minority in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and indigenous women’s groups in Guatemala and Mexico. A summary of new grantees can be found at the United Nations Trust Fund website.3

Deepening involvement

14. Violence against women cuts across all sectors, population groups and public and private spaces, requiring the engagement of multiple stakeholders. Securing the involvement of traditional and new actors to end it is thus a hallmark of the United Nations Trust Fund’s strategy, centred on mobilizing broad-based partnerships and garnering support from an ever-growing range of actors. This includes States Members of the United Nations, donors, non-governmental organizations and United Nations sister agencies, among others, in addition to the central roles that grantees themselves play at the country and regional levels by mobilizing new and influential constituencies, as described earlier.

15. Since its establishment, the United Nations Trust Fund, as a United Nations system-wide mechanism, has been based on United Nations partnerships, working to increase ownership of the United Nations Trust Fund across the United Nations system. United Nations sister agencies are members of the Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committee, which advises and participates regularly in decision-making on policy and grant-making issues. In 2009, Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committee members at the global and subregional levels included 19 United Nations agencies, representatives of other inter-agency mechanisms and leading international civil society organizations, notably Amnesty International, the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership and Human Rights Watch.

16. In 2009, participating United Nations agencies at the global and subregional levels included the Division for the Advancement of Women, the Economic Commission for Africa, the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the International Labour Organization, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), UNIFEM, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Food Programme (WFP), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Bank. In addition, United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict provided lead technical advice on applications coming from conflict and post-conflict settings, and, for the first time, the secretariat of the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund participated, which is especially relevant in the light of the fact that United Nations country teams have been eligible since 2008 to apply to the United Nations Trust Fund.

17. In 2009, a total of 18 meetings of the Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committee were convened at the global and subregional levels in 15 countries. As a testament to the growing engagement, and in keeping with trends in recent years,

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3 See http://www.unifem.org/gender_issues/violence_against_women/trust_fund.php.

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United Nations resident coordinators from Colombia, Ecuador and Peru once again participated in the Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committee for that subregion, joined this year by United Nations resident coordinators from Bolivia (Plurinational State of) and Venezuela (Bolivarian Republic of). Also reflective of the important and potential role that United Nations agencies can play in enhancing the impact and sustainability of United Nations Trust Fund grantees are the efforts made in India by UNICEF, which is supporting the continuation of a district-based programme by a former grantee, focusing on violence against women and children.

18. The private sector has an important role to play in ending violence against women and girls. In 2009, Avon Products Incorporated and Johnson and Johnson were lead private-sector partners of the United Nations Trust Fund. Since 2005, Johnson and Johnson has supported the Fund’s special window on links between violence against women and HIV and AIDS. The non-profit organization Zonta International has also made contributions, together with the National Committees for UNIFEM in Austria, Japan and New Zealand.

19. In 2009, UNIFEM brokered a new Commitment to Action of the Clinton Global Initiative, featuring the global drive of the United Nations Trust Fund to raise $100 million annually by 2015, as called for in the Framework for Action of the Secretary-General’s campaign. The United Nations Trust Fund also initiated outreach to select major foundations.

20. In 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund also made important progress in recruiting and partnering with leading research and expert institutions devoted to ending violence against women and girls. Collaboration was established with those institutions on training and technical assistance for grantees in the areas of evidence-based programming, monitoring and evaluation (see paragraphs 28 and 29 below).

21. UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman consistently highlights the urgent need to take action to end violence against women and girls, and to raise additional critical resources for the United Nations Trust Fund. For example, Ms. Kidman and the United Nations Trust Fund grantee Breakthrough testified before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the United States House of Representatives. In addition, the UNIFEM global call for action “Say NO — UNiTE to End Violence against Women”4 is encouraging donations to the United Nations Trust Fund. Through its online platform, “Say NO” also provides an opportunity to showcase action by United Nations Trust Fund grantees to end violence against women.

Ensuring efficiency

22. The United Nations Trust Fund promotes efficiency at various levels of its operations and grant-making. For example, it provides an efficient mechanism for improving the coherence of programme strategies and approaches aimed at ending violence against women and girls, for pooling and tracking global resources and for strengthening monitoring and accountability. All of those functions are in accordance with the principles of alignment, harmonization, managing for results and mutual accountability, set out in the 2005 Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness.

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4 See http://www.saynotoviolence.org.

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23. The United Nations Trust Fund grant appraisal process actively engages United Nations agencies at the global and subregional levels. In particular, the subregional inter-agency Programme Appraisal Committees make it possible to establish links with existing United Nations efforts and national priorities. This decentralized and broadly participatory structure ensures that funding allocations conform closely to the capacities and needs of diverse countries and regions, thereby promoting the overall relevance of the United Nations Trust Fund to national priorities and contexts.

24. Since 2008, as the resource base has increased, a shift to larger and longer- term grants has allowed for larger-scale interventions that can achieve higher-level results, as well as better sustainability efforts. In 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund has once again been able to offer grants of up to $1 million for two- to three- year initiatives. This has led to the more efficient use of resources in the administration of the Fund, with the time and labour required to review, approve, monitor and support grantees being more cost-effective in relation to the results and impacts that they can produce.

Generating knowledge and developing capacities

25. Some of the most serious constraints in addressing violence against women and girls arise from limited capacities to design, implement and expand programmes, and from a lack of knowledge about what works most effectively. Closing capacity and knowledge gaps is therefore integral to the fulfilment of the mandate of the United Nations Trust Fund, as described in its Monitoring, Evaluation and Knowledge Management Framework 2008-2011.5

26. In response to those constraints, the United Nations Trust Fund 2009 call for proposals continued to emphasize the need for systematic monitoring and evaluation, and recommended that applicants dedicate 10 per cent of the grants requested to evaluation and an additional 3 to 5 per cent to monitoring. Shortlisted concept notes and full-fledged proposals were given thorough feedback in order to encourage applicants to strive for higher-level impacts by rooting programmes in solid evidence and linking them to the achievement of targeted results, guided by monitoring, evaluation, documentation and knowledge-sharing plans.

27. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that, in 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund made significant progress in establishing a new grantee reporting system designed to capture results, learning and knowledge, and analyse trends, across the entire grant-making portfolio. The comprehensive database reporting system, which will be tied to a results-based framework for the United Nations Trust Fund under its forthcoming new strategy, will be launched in 2010. It is expected to greatly facilitate robust reporting on and dissemination of emerging practices and knowledge to policymakers and practitioners. Case studies of grantees’ promising and good practices are also under development, and evaluation reports, training manuals and other tools produced by grantees are being compiled in order to enrich the database for global knowledge-sharing. Moreover, the United Nations Trust Fund was able to increase the degree and the quality of its grantee monitoring. This included select monitoring visits carried out in 2009 by the United Nations Trust

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5 See http://www.unifem.org/materials/item_detail.php?ProductID=153.

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Fund secretariat to nine grantees in six countries6 in Africa and Asia, in addition to regular monitoring by United Nations Trust Fund focal points at subregional offices of UNIFEM.

28. Also in 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund partnered with MEASURE Evaluation, a partnership of experienced organizations supported by the United States Agency for International Development. MEASURE Evaluation has developed a leading global monitoring and evaluation tool, comprising indicators on violence against women, that is systematically shared with all new grantees in an effort to harmonize indicator selection. Select programmes implemented by United Nations country teams will serve as pilots for assessing how the indicators developed by MEASURE Evaluation can be used to systematically track and inform policy decisions.

29. Another key aspect of the United Nations Trust Fund’s achievements in 2009 with regard to capacity development and knowledge generation concerned the institutionalization of training and related support for grantees in the areas of evidence-based programme design, monitoring and evaluation. Through a public bid won by the International Centre for Research on Women, a curriculum was piloted and two training workshops were held, in Ethiopia in October and in India in December. Two other regional workshops, one in Spanish and one in French, are planned to be held in the first quarter of 2010 in Nicaragua and Senegal, respectively. After this process of validation and testing, the capacity development programme will be offered annually, and all new grantees will be invited to participate in the training at the early stages of project design.

Mobilizing resources

30. The ability of the United Nations Trust Fund to pursue a strategic vision and ambitious plans in support of the country-level implementation of commitments to ending violence against women and girls relies on its capacity to mobilize adequate resources. As a result of the appeals made by the General Assembly in its resolutions 61/143, 62/133, 63/155 and 64/137 for the provision of increased resources to the United Nations Trust Fund, the outreach efforts of the Fund have been enhanced.

31. In 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund benefited from the continued support of the Government of Spain as the leading contributor, and from the continued contributions of the Governments of Austria, Iceland, the Netherlands, Norway, the Republic of Korea and Trinidad and Tobago. The Government of Kazakhstan contributed for the first time. The Governments of Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Liechtenstein, Spain and the United States of America generously increased their contributions. Private-sector and other resources were also available thanks to the ongoing support of Avon, Johnson and Johnson and Zonta International, and to contributions from the National Committees for UNIFEM in Austria, Japan, New Zealand and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. Contributions received in the fourth quarter of 2009 after the grant-making cycle had ended will be awarded in the first quarter of 2010.

32. In 2009, the United Nations Trust Fund advanced a new fund-raising strategy, guided by the drive to reach the target of $100 million annually by 2015, a

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benchmark set in the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, and launching an urgent web-based Alert that was widely disseminated in order to draw attention to the need to end violence against women and girls in the context of the global financial crisis, with an appeal for individual online donations made possible through a site hosted by the United Nations Foundation. The outstanding quality of a number of proposals that had gone unfunded prompted the United Nations Trust Fund to seek support from leading foundations and other United Nations sister agencies. In that regard, a positive response was received from the Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, who urged field offices to consider providing support.

IV. The way forward

United Nations Trust Fund external evaluation

33. As the United Nations Trust Fund approached the completion of its 2005-2008 strategy, an independent external evaluation was commissioned through a public competitive bid won by Universalia Management Group, which initiated the process late in 2008 and completed its task in November 2009. A range of key stakeholders were involved in the process, including United Nations sister agencies and Member States. In October 2009, a briefing on the evaluation findings, organized by UNIFEM, was open to all delegations of United Nations Member States.

34. The external evaluation assessed the performance of the United Nations Trust Fund in terms of the pillars of the 2005-2008 strategy (impact, involvement, efficiency, knowledge management and capacity development, and resource mobilization) and identified strengths, weaknesses, challenges and current trends. The external evaluation reached the positive overall conclusion that the United Nations Trust Fund has been a relevant mechanism for promoting the enforcement of laws and the implementation of policies to end violence against women and girls. During the period under review, the United Nations Trust Fund was shown to have been effective in responding to the needs of women who were affected by or survivors of violence, in increasing the capacity of duty bearers and in raising awareness among citizens about the gravity of violence against women and girls. With regard to efficiency, the United Nations Trust Fund was shown to be operating with lean management and very low overhead costs. The evaluation also validated the measures introduced within the United Nations Trust Fund by UNIFEM in 2008 to bolster its processes and quality assurance standards, affirming that those modifications were indicative of the way forward and encouraging their continuation.

35. While the results achieved were found to be commensurate with the resources invested, the existing staffing structure and the components related to monitoring and knowledge-sharing were identified as key challenges that need to be addressed if the potential, opportunities and ambitions of the United Nations Trust Fund are to be fully realized. Accordingly, the systems of the United Nations Trust Fund for monitoring and evaluation and its support for grantees were assessed as weak during the period 2005-2008, a trend that was reversed in 2009. The evaluation noted that the Fund had not devoted adequate attention or resources to the management and dissemination of the knowledge generated. In addition, the external evaluation found that grantees were often not able to sustain programmes beyond the

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completion of grants, owing to their limited resources. However, it recognized that since 2008, the calls for proposals have placed emphasis on demonstrating explicit capacity development and sustainability plans, as well as synergies and coordination with existing initiatives. Finally, the external evaluation found that, while grantees had achieved numerous short-term results, there was less evidence of long-term results. The United Nations Trust Fund Strategy 2010-2015 will build on the findings and recommendations resulting from this comprehensive evaluation.

V. Report on UNIFEM Programming and the Strategy 2008-2013

36. Beyond managing the United Nations Trust Fund, UNIFEM has a leading mandate within the United Nations system on ending violence against women, which is a flagship issue of the organization and one of four priorities set out in its corporate Strategy 2008-2013.

37. Guided by the Strategy, entitled “A Life Free of Violence: Unleashing the Power of Women’s Empowerment and Gender Equality”, UNIFEM advocacy, programming, partnerships, outreach and inter-agency collaboration continued to expand at the global, regional and country levels. Highlights are provided below.

Furthering policies, laws and their implementation

38. In several countries, UNIFEM supported the advancement of normative policy and legal frameworks, as well as their implementation, enforcement and monitoring. This included UNIFEM technical support provided to the Directorate of Gender Affairs of Antigua and Barbuda for the establishment of a national task force on violence against women; assistance provided in Guatemala to the Women’s Commission of the National Congress, in partnership with UNFPA, OHCHR and UNDP, to advance legislation on violence against women, including femicide; and support provided in India to the Lawyers Collective and the National Commission for Women, in their efforts to monitor progress in the enforcement of the 2005 Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act. In Pakistan, UNIFEM supported a multi-stakeholder alliance aimed at the development of a draft action plan on violence against women and the review of draft bills on domestic violence at the request of Parliament, in order to identify gaps and propose recommendations based on the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

39. In Indonesia, UNIFEM technical and financial assistance contributed to the development of a draft local district law on the protection of migrant workers, with provisions to protect women against sexual harassment and abuse, and of a national domestic violence law being considered for adoption. In Egypt, UNIFEM supported the first sexual harassment conference with young people. In Cameroon and Burundi, support was provided to strengthen penal codes related to sexual violence. In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, UNIFEM supported the development of a guide and training for justice-sector public servants and the police on the implementation of the Organic Law on the Right of Women to a Life Free of Violence.

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40. Integrating responses to violence against women within national and regional development and funding frameworks is an especially strategic and emerging area that UNIFEM promotes. In this regard, it has supported technical inputs to strengthen commitments to addressing violence against women set out in the Cape Verde National Development Plan and in Egypt’s National Socio-Economic Development Plan. Moreover, UNIFEM technical contributions and the Fund’s long-standing partnership with the secretariat of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) facilitated the inclusion of gender-responsive targets and indicators on reducing violence against women in the Community’s work programme for achieving the Millennium Development Goals.

41. Securing resources for the implementation of laws and policies is a critical and often neglected area of work to end violence against women. In the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, building on the successes of previous gender-responsive budgeting efforts, UNIFEM, UNDP and UNFPA, in collaboration, contributed to the issuance of guidelines by the National Budget Office instructing all municipalities and regions to allocate funds for the operation of local units charged with monitoring the enforcement of laws concerning gender equality and violence against women. In Burundi, advocacy on gender-responsive budgeting directed at the Ministry of Finance contributed to the inclusion in the 2009 national budget of a specific line concerning violence against women.

42. At the regional level, UNIFEM and partners contributed to the development of the first African Union Gender Policy and 10-year Action Plan that provides, inter alia, a framework for addressing violence against women. UNIFEM also provided technical support to the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) summit on gender, peace and security in order to create a platform for policy dialogue and to identify practical actions to enhance transborder cooperation in addressing human trafficking and other issues affecting women and children. In the Caribbean, UNIFEM convened a regional advisory group on gender and development, with participation from the United Nations system, donors, CARICOM and regional non-governmental organizations, which led to the endorsement of a regional Special Rapporteur on gender-based violence as well as a joint programme concerning indigenous women.

Improving access for survivors and developing the capacities of key policy and service delivery institutions

43. Two mainstays of UNIFEM programming are the expansion of women’s access to services and justice and the provision of support to Governments and other key actors in order to strengthen know-how and capacities for effective responses to violence against women.

44. Strengthening front-line responders in order to ensure police protection and high-quality responses for survivors is a priority in UNIFEM-supported programmes. In Rwanda, UNIFEM assisted in the formulation of the national police policy on gender-based and sexual violence and, with UNFPA and UNICEF, supported the establishment by the National Police Health Services of a One-Stop Centre for violence survivors at the Kacyriu Police Hospital, in Kigali. In Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania, UNIFEM funded the Tanzania Female Police Network in order to establish a victim support unit for violence survivors. In the Caribbean, UNIFEM contributed to the commitment undertaken by six national

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women’s machineries, in agreement with ministries of national security, to enhance State responsibility for responding to sexual violence, including capacity development in the area of policing and prosecutorial action, and work with the Association of Caribbean Commissioners of Police.

45. Ensuring women’s access to justice is a key aspect of UNIFEM efforts to end impunity for gender-based violence in many countries. In Sierra Leone, UNIFEM continues to back survivors’ demands for justice in the wake of the civil war, strengthening their advocacy skills, supporting them in presenting their testimonies and providing technical assistance to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in order to ensure attention to gender crimes and protection for women survivors. In Kenya, the Women Judges Association was supported in training more than 30 High Court judges and magistrates in the Jurisprudence of Equality Programme, while in Georgia, training on the anti-domestic violence law was provided for judges and attorneys. In the Caribbean, UNIFEM has been working on perpetrator programmes, supporting the Grenada Legal Aid and Counselling Clinic and the Saint Lucia Family Court in implementing a 16-week court-based batterer intervention programme. In Jamaica, training was provided for probation officers of the Department of Correctional Services working with perpetrators to develop accountability-based interventions. In Tajikistan, UNIFEM conducted a session on women’s human rights as part of an annual “human rights school” for student- lawyers, who will work in rural areas to provide legal services. In the Sudan and the United Republic of Tanzania, UNIFEM funded summits held by faith-based organizations that brought together religious leaders to discuss violence against women, HIV and AIDS and access to justice. In Afghanistan, through the UNIFEM- administered multi-donor Special Fund for the Elimination of Violence against Women, funded by Denmark, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 26 organizations in 20 provinces were supported in the implementation of projects in the areas of access to justice, protection measures, lobbying, legal aid (including the training of 125 paralegals), research and advocacy, awareness-raising and learning networks. Similarly, the UNIFEM multi-donor, Pacific regional facility fund, supported by the Australian Agency for International Developments, the Australian National Committee, the British High Commission in Suva and the New Zealand National Committee has supported organizations with small grants and capacity development in order to increase women’s access to justice, including through technical support workshops, self-learning toolkits and other types of support for organizational development.

46. UNIFEM’s non-governmental organization implementing partners in eight states of India assist survivors in dealing with legal processes, the prosecution of perpetrators and access to shelters providing legal information and non-formal education. In the Syrian Arab Republic, UNIFEM supported the National Association for Women’s Role in Development in operating a shelter for survivors of violence and their children, by providing legal and health counselling and information about employment opportunities. In Burundi, UNIFEM provided technical and financial support to four organizations providing psychosocial and legal assistance to survivors. In Villa El Salvador, Peru, building the capacities of grass-roots women’s organizations contributed to increased knowledge about the intersection between violence against women and HIV and AIDS.

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Expanding data collection, analysis and tracking systems

47. The development of effective policies, legislation, services and systems to track progress depends on reliable data analysis and information. UNIFEM, in cooperation with Governments, civil society, United Nations sister agencies and other partners, works to strengthen qualitative and quantitative data collection and analysis. Examples include UNIFEM support for the establishment of data systems in Ngoma district in Rwanda, and UNIFEM efforts in Barbados, on domestic violence; and in Algeria, where a unified information system involves the ministries for Family, Health, and Development and Solidarity, in collaboration with the Gendarmerie Nationale, other police forces and shelters for women survivors of violence. In Georgia, UNIFEM and UNICEF carried out a post-conflict rapid assessment of internally displaced women and children, including victims of rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence. In the Occupied Palestinian Territory, a local partner was supported in conducting research on forced prostitution and human trafficking in order to raise awareness, improve survivor services and identify appropriate policy measures. UNIFEM and UNFPA, together with Statistics Sierra Leone, commissioned national research to support the tracking and reporting of cases of violence and to popularize the gender laws. In Asia, with the support of the Canadian International Development Agency, UNIFEM published a regional analysis of domestic violence legislation drawing on a meeting held by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on international standards and good practice.

Addressing sexual violence as a tactic of warfare

48. UNIFEM plays a key advocacy role in promoting the implementation of Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), in partnership with various stakeholders, and continues to serve as the secretariat for United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, a coalition of 12 United Nations organizations. Ongoing work with UNFPA and the Office of the Special Adviser on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women (OSAGI) is supporting the generation of global and nationally relevant indicators for the implementation of those resolutions. With UNDP, the Department of Political Affairs, the Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and OCHA, UNIFEM, on behalf of United Nations Action and in partnership with the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, organized a colloquium entitled “Conflict-Related Sexual Violence and Peace Negotiations: Implementing Security Council Resolution 1820” for mediators, subject experts and women’s rights advocates, aimed at ensuring that conflict-related sexual violence is addressed in mediation processes. Many of the recommendations emerging from the colloquium were reflected in Security Council resolution 1888 (2009), in which the Council mandates peacekeeping missions to protect women and girls from sexual violence in armed conflict. The Fund’s analytical inventory of responses made by peacekeeping personnel to war-related violence against women has been taken up by DPKO for incorporation into the guidance to be provided for United Nations commanders on the prevention of conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence.

49. At the national level, UNIFEM works to advance the implementation of these resolutions by, among other things, supporting the development of national action plans. For example, in Nepal, UNIFEM and UNFPA supported the Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction and the National Women’s Commission in developing action plans and training on the implementation of resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820

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(2008). In Liberia, UNIFEM supported a national women’s conference, which provided a basis for the drafting of the Liberia National Action Plan for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000); and in Côte d’Ivoire, the Fund organized a consultation workshop that resulted in a national implementation plan on the resolution. In Afghanistan, UNIFEM coordinated training for women members of Parliament on resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008), and consultations with the Ministry of the Interior, in partnership with UNDP, resulted in the Ministry’s commitment to establishing a civilian oversight body for the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000).

Awareness-raising, communications and partnering with the media

50. Combined with other strategies, partnering with the media is essential for catalysing policy attention, changing societal norms and improving public attitudes and understanding with regard to this issue, as well as empowering women and the public at large concerning their rights and access to services. This involves building the skills and developing the capacities of media professionals. In 2009 in Iraq, UNIFEM supported the training of journalists in order to encourage media coverage of violence against women and other violations of their human rights, including to raise awareness about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008). Awareness-raising efforts were also supported in Haiti, where UNIFEM, UNFPA and UNICEF assisted the Ministry for the Status of Women and Women’s Rights in launching an awareness-raising campaign on gender-based violence, through a network of national community radio stations, television broadcasters and schools. In the Andean region, UNIFEM and the Latin American Association for Radio Education held a contest challenging radio networks to create programmes about ending violence against indigenous women. In Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador, UNIFEM is supporting the broadcast of a documentary that highlights good practices in the areas of indigenous women’s rights and ancestral justice.

51. In October 2009 in the United States, UNIFEM deployed its Goodwill Ambassador, Nicole Kidman, to testify before the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations at a hearing on violence against women, which garnered media attention in the context of the pending International Violence against Women Act. Every year, throughout the world, UNIFEM sponsors wide-ranging activities in support of International Women’s Day and the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence campaign, which also engage the mass media, including through high-level events and the creative use of the arts by various civil society and youth organizations that partner with the United Nations system in the commemorations.

Forging partnerships, expanding outreach and inter-agency collaboration

52. At the global and regional levels, UNIFEM forges and sustains multiple partnerships with networks and organizations that are vital allies in expanding the reach and coverage of anti-violence efforts, including to draw attention to strategic but neglected groups, working with men and young people and involving new and non-traditional partners.

53. In Brazil in March 2009, UNIFEM, together with other United Nations agencies and donors, sponsored the first-ever Global Symposium on Engaging Men and Boys in Gender Equality, organized by Promundo, Instituto Papai, the

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MenEngage Alliance, Save the Children, UNFPA and the White Ribbon Campaign. UNIFEM also joined the newly formed Advisory Committee of the international MenEngage Alliance in an effort to continue to deepen collaboration regarding masculinities and working with men and boys to prevent violence against women. Collaboration also continued with the Inter-Parliamentary Union at both the global and regional levels within the framework of its new workplan on violence against women. In addition to the Clinton Global Initiative Commitment to Action that UNIFEM brokered for the United Nations Trust Fund, as described earlier, UNIFEM, together with UNAIDS, UNFPA, UNICEF, WHO and private-sector supporters, joined in another announcement of the Initiative, led by a corporate leader, on mobilizing resources for the roll-out of national surveys conducted by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on sexual violence against girls in various countries.

54. UNIFEM continues to play a key role in inter-agency initiatives, including in United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, as a founding and active member; the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Sub-Working Group on Gender and Humanitarian Response; the Task Force on Violence against Women, established within the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (including as an implementing partner of the United Nations country team pilot programmes); the Inter-Agency Task Force on Adolescent Girls, with a focus on drawing attention to gender-based violence against members of that age group; and the Inter-Agency Working Group of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign and the High-Level Steering Committee, chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General. Also in 2009, UNIFEM signed memorandums of understanding with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, which includes partnering on the Fund’s Global Programme on Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls, and partnering with UNODC in order to implement anti-trafficking programmes in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka.

55. At the country level, UNIFEM also serves as a lead or partner agency in United Nations country team programmes dedicated exclusively to addressing violence against women within the framework of the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund in Bangladesh, Colombia and Morocco; and in the Asia- Pacific joint regional programme entitled “Partners for Prevention: Working with Boys and Men to Prevent Gender-based Violence”, together with UNDP, UNFPA and United Nations Volunteers.

56. UNIFEM is an active contributor to the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign. In March 2009, the Fund organized the first global consultation with civil society on the campaign, convened together with OSAGI and the Centre for Women’s Global Leadership, and spearheaded the coordination of the three United Nations regional campaigns in collaboration with the United Nations Regional Commissions and a range of United Nations agencies. The campaign in Latin America and the Caribbean7 was launched in Guatemala on 25 November 2009; the Africa-wide

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7 Partners include UNFPA, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, OHCHR, the Pan American Health Organization, UNDP, UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNIFEM, the United Nations Office for Project Services, the World Food Programme, the International Labour Organization, the Inter-American Commission of Women and the Inter-American Institute for the Cooperation on Agriculture.

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campaign,8 led by the African Union, will be launched in early 2010; and consultations were held in November 2009 in collaboration with the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific at the 15-year review of the Beijing Platform for Action on the preparations for the launch of an Asia-Pacific campaign. UNIFEM also launched a second phase of the Say NO — UNiTE initiative to promote social mobilization through the interactive and social media website www.saynotoviolence.org.

VI. Conclusions

57. UNIFEM will continue its efforts to bridge the implementation and accountability gap by supporting intensified country-level action, as called for by the Secretary-General’s campaign, through ongoing technical assistance, capacity development, broadened advocacy and awareness-raising initiatives, strengthened partnerships within and outside the United Nations system, improved monitoring and evaluation of programming interventions, and the provision of new and innovative learning and knowledge-sharing opportunities and products through its forthcoming online global virtual knowledge centre on ending violence against women and girls (www.endvawnow.org), aimed at developing the capacity of country-level practitioners to implement policies and programmes.

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8 Partners include UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM, the World Food Programme, DPKO, WHO, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, the United Nations Human Settlements Programme, the Economic Commission for Africa, the African Union, the International Labour Organization and the International Organization for Migration.