16/34 Report of the United Nations Development Fund for Women on the activities of the United Nations Trust Fund to eliminate violence against women - Note by the Secretary-General

United Nations A/HRC/16/34–E/CN.6/2011/9

General Assembly Economic and Social Council

Distr.: General 3 December 2010

Original: English

10-67259 (E) 231210 *1067259*

Human Rights Council Sixteenth session 28 February to 25 March 2011 Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the Secretary-General

Commission on the Status of Women Fifty-fifth session 22 February-4 March 2011 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 United Nations Trust 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.6/2011/1.

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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

Summary The present report provides a review of the activities of the United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women, an inter- agency grant-making mechanism, as well as a review of programming by the United Nations Development Fund for Women, now part of UN Women, on ending 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 devoted exclusively to supporting country- and local-level action to address violence against women and girls in all its forms. Established in 1996 by the General Assembly in its resolution 50/166, the United Nations Trust Fund is governed by an inter-agency Programme Appraisal Committee and administered by the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM, part of UN Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. To date, the United Nations Trust Fund has supported 317 programmes in 124 countries and territories with more than $60 million.

2. In the present report to the 55th session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the sixteenth session of the Human Rights Council, paragraphs 3 through 41 describe the Fund’s progress and achievements in 2010, while paragraphs 42 through 67 highlight UNIFEM programming with regard to ending violence against women and girls.

II. Background and context

3. Over the course of the past decade, the international community has reached consensus that ending violence against women and girls is critical in order to advance international agendas for human rights, peace and security, poverty reduction and development. The intensification of political will to address violence against women and girls is reflected at the national level in the proliferation and strengthening of laws, policies and action plans to eliminate violence against women, and internationally at the highest levels in General Assembly and Security Council resolutions1 calling for decisive action and increased resources to address this global pandemic.

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1 General Assembly resolutions 61/143, 62/133, 63/155, and 64/137 and A/C.3/65/L.17/Rev.2 on intensification of efforts to eliminate all forms of violence against women; Security Council resolutions 1325 (2000), 1820 (2008), 1888 (2009) and 1889 (2009) on women, peace and security.

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4. The United Nations Trust Fund is well positioned to capitalize on the current global momentum to end violence against women and girls. Recent General Assembly resolutions explicitly refer to the importance of continuing to enhance the effectiveness of the Trust Fund as a systems-wide funding mechanism and reiterate the target set by the Secretary-General’s campaign “UNiTE to End Violence against Women” to raise $100 million annually in grant-making for the Fund by 2015. In 2010, the General Assembly urged States to significantly increase their contributions to the Fund2 to help it to bridge the gap between a growing demand for programmes to end violence against women and girls and the resources required to do so effectively.

5. Guided by a new strategic plan for 2010-2015 entitled “Vision 2015”, the United Nations Trust Fund is focusing on three priorities: turning policy pledges into reality for women and girls; generating knowledge on “what works” to end the pandemic of violence against women and girls; and building new partnerships, ownership and expanded commitment to the Fund throughout the United Nations system and beyond. Paragraphs 6 to 29 below summarize the Fund’s progress in 2010 towards meeting those priorities.

III. Translating promise into practice

6. The overarching focus of the United Nations Trust Fund is to support the implementation of laws, polices and action plans designed to end violence against women and girls. Initiatives that engage multiple sectors and encourage partnerships among key stakeholders are prioritized. As described below, grantees are promoting primary prevention and expanding services to survivors of violence. They are also strengthening the legal and political framework by improving access to justice and transforming pledges to end violence against women into concrete budgetary and policy commitments. An emphasis is placed on projects that strive to meet the needs of particularly marginalized or neglected groups, including youth, women living in conflict, and indigenous women. The Fund prioritizes interventions that address violence against women and girls holistically, as demonstrated by the special funding window to address the intersections of violence against women and HIV and AIDS.

7. Investments of the United Nations Trust Fund are yielding promising results towards ending violence against women and girls. Recognizing the success of the initiatives of the Fund, Governments and United Nations system agencies are increasingly scaling up grantees’ projects to maximize their impact, while civil society organizations across the globe are replicating the practices and strategies of grantees. The scaling up and replication of projects supported by the Fund demonstrates grantees’ success in designing effective interventions targeted at social and State institutions, as can be seen in budgetary allocations and other measures to support these interventions. Grantees are also fostering change at the community level as indicated by the decisions of many traditional and religious leaders to ban harmful traditional practices in their communities and advocate against other forms of violence against women. Finally, the number of men and boys publicly denouncing violence against women, as well as the women and girls coming

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2 A/C.3/65/L.17/Rev.2, para. 20.

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forward to break their silence, reveal that the initiatives of the Fund are changing the individual attitudes and behaviours that give rise to violence against women.

8. The United Nations Trust Fund has a current portfolio of 83 active grants across 72 countries and territories with a total value of nearly $47 million. Africa has the largest portfolio (29 per cent), followed closely by Asia and the Pacific (26 per cent). Latin America and the Caribbean account for 20 per cent of grants. Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States comprise 14 per cent, followed by Arab States and cross-regional programmes with a grants portfolio of 6 and 5 per cent, respectively.

Primary prevention

9. Preventing violence against women and girls requires sustained, long-term initiatives that target the root causes of violence. Approximately one third of the United Nations Trust Fund’s active grants are focused on primary prevention and employ multiple interventions designed to change both institutional practices and individual attitudes and behaviour that lead to violence. These interventions include empowering women and girls to identify, articulate and claim their rights; raising awareness about violence against women through public outreach and mass communications; and mobilizing communities to advocate for long-term policy changes or more rigorous implementation of existing laws and policies. In addition, at least 45 per cent of current grantees engage men and boys as partners in ending violence against women, while 25 per cent enlist religious and traditional leaders as allies in changing community views on violence against women.

10. Grantees of the United Nations Trust Fund use strategies to empower women facing multiple forms of discrimination, such as those working with indigenous populations and ethnic minority groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile, Guatemala, India, Mexico, Nepal and the Philippines. In Jamaica, the Sistren Theatre Collective uses the performing arts to empower women and girls in poor, urban and highly volatile areas of Kingston. Through street theatre productions that have reached over 5,000 people, Sistren opens opportunities for women to share their personal stories in a safe environment and prompts individuals, and even whole communities, to consider non-violent methods for dispute resolution. Now recognized nationally and regionally3 for its success in using the creative arts to address gender-based violence, Sistren has partnered with several Government ministries and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to share its model in schools and communities nationwide.

11. The United Nations Trust Fund supports programmes in all regions focused on engaging men and boys in efforts to address violence against women, including the first large-scale initiative of this kind in the Middle East. Oxfam Great Britain and Kafa, its partner in Lebanon, have developed a model for women’s organizations to engage men by incorporating men’s perspectives into campaigns to end violence. Women’s organizations have built partnerships with diverse actors, including male university students who help to craft outreach messages for dissemination in the media, universities and other sites of public discourse in Lebanon. A public sensitization campaign about the impact of violence against women on society as a

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3 In 2010, Sistren was granted a puma.creative Mobility Award to promote its model throughout the Caribbean. See http://www.creativecaribbeannetwork.com/page/4979?forum_start= n5004#comment-5004.

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whole garnered the support of 128 members of Parliament for an intrafamily violence bill prior to national legislative debates. A cross-regional initiative of Instituto Promundo in Brazil, Chile, India and Rwanda has sensitized 7,000 men and boys to the causes and consequences of violence against women, prompting them to change violent behaviour in their daily lives. The results are groundbreaking; participants in Brazil and Rwanda credit the trainings with leading to their personal decisions to stop committing violence against their partners, while trained participants in India meet regularly to hold each other accountable to individual action plans. Promundo’s programme in Brazil was honoured as a regional prize winner in the 2010 Nike/Changemakers “Changing lives through football” global competition for sponsoring a four-month championship football tournament that engaged men and boys in a campaign to end violence against women and girls (see http://www.changemakers.com/football).

12. Grantees in Ethiopia, the Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal are achieving impressive results by enlisting community, religious and traditional leaders as agents of change in preventing and condemning violence against women. Action Aid’s training programme for traditional and religious leaders across five states in Ethiopia has prompted 16 leaders who previously supported harmful traditional practices such as early and forced marriage or female genital mutilation to ban them in their communities. Grantees in the Middle East also have found that involving religious leaders in violence prevention and response efforts catalyses the shifting of attitudes and behaviours among religious community members. The International Rescue Committee and its local partners in Jordan are successfully leveraging the cooperation of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs to engage local Imams in promoting understanding of violence against women in religious communities and helping survivors to access services.

13. United Nations Trust Fund grantees in South Asia and Central America combine popular education strategies with new media and communication tools to raise awareness of violence against women and engage new partners in prevention efforts. In 2010, Equal Access Nepal won the Special Award at the One World Media Awards for outstanding media coverage from the developing world (see http://oneworldmedia.org.uk/awards/shortlist-winners/special_award/). The Equal Access weekly radio show, Samajhdari (“Mutual understanding”) was honoured for educating 1 million listeners about the interconnection of violence against women and HIV and AIDS. Some 60 groups met weekly to listen to the show and discuss themes raised by the episode’s guest, a real person living with HIV. The group’s facilitators, all trained in legal issues addressing violence against women and HIV and AIDS, built bridges to service providers and helped to double the number of women seeking assistance and treatment. In Nicaragua, Puntos de Encuentro uses mass communication outlets combined with public outreach and community mobilization strategies to affect social norms and attitudes at the root of violence against women. Capitalizing on the success of its award-winning and internationally recognized television series Sexto Sentido, also funded by the United Nations Trust Fund, Puntos de Encuentro is currently producing a new “social soap” series to examine the commercial sexual exploitation of adolescents. The show will be broadcast in Nicaragua, as well as other parts of Central America and the Dominican Republic in July 2011.

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Expanding survivor access to support services

14. The United Nations Trust Fund supports coordinated, holistic and multisectoral responses that address the interrelated needs of survivors of violence, including safety and protection, access to health, legal, property and inheritance rights, and economic security and rights. One third of the Fund’s active grants employ strategies to provide care, treatment and rehabilitation to victims and survivors of violence. A programme of Movimiento Manuela Ramos has contributed to a 14 per cent rise in the reporting rate of domestic violence in an isolated and conflict-prone region of Peru with a majority indigenous population. In that challenging context for reaching and assisting survivors, the initiative has greatly improved cross-sectoral coordination for referrals by convening a task force of government officials, civil society organizations and service providers to develop an inter-agency protocol for responding to survivors’ needs. Social Services of Cambodia has developed the first community-based response model in Cambodia for survivors of sexual assault, designed to meet the needs of 80 per cent of women and girls who prefer to receive support services directly from the community as opposed to in a shelter. As the rate of women receiving community-based services has grown by 25 per cent, communities have become more informed about the causes and consequences of sexual assault and local authorities have improved their capacity to support survivors and refer them to legal and medical services, appropriate counselling, and safety assessment and planning.

15. United Nations Trust Fund grantees provide coordinated care to women living with HIV and AIDS who are at risk of violence, or survivors of violence who may require HIV-related services. The grantee Doctors to Children developed a highly successful model of integrated care in St. Petersburg, Russian Federation, to reach HIV-positive women who are pregnant or have children. Government and non-governmental institutions joined together to develop an inter-agency protocol for reaching this high-risk yet underserved population. After a successful pilot programme in the Kalininsky district, the city government expanded the scope of the programme to apply to service providers city-wide. To date, nearly 600 women have received assistance in the form of social and psychological support, advice on legal issues, temporary housing and material support.

16. Service delivery to survivors of violence living in conflict, post-conflict and unstable situations poses a complex set of challenges, requiring creative interventions for the 17 per cent of grantees working in those settings. International Medical Corps United Kingdom has developed a mobile care model to provide comprehensive treatment to survivors of sexual violence from the Central African Republic now living in northern Cameroon. In only one year of implementation, the rate of sexual violence survivors receiving medical care and counselling has increased fourfold. Previously unavailable testing for HIV, as well as access to antiretroviral treatment for the 50 per cent of survivors who test positive, are now standard practice. The national reparations programme of Sierra Leone has received the first grant of its kind from the United Nations Trust Fund to ensure that reparations programmes are tailored to the needs of women survivors of sexual violence. Through a strong collaboration with local women’s organizations, the programme registered 3,600 victims of sexual violence and prioritized 600 of the most vulnerable victims to receive reparations. After only one year of implementation, 300 women are participating in skills-training programmes across

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14 districts of the country, moving towards sustainable livelihoods and a life free from violence.

Securing budgetary and policy commitments for implementation

17. The United Nations Trust Fund supports projects that fill critical gaps in implementation of laws and policies addressing violence against women, ranging from standardized data collection to political advocacy to developing capacities of government officials and other stakeholders charged with implementation or enforcement of laws.

18. Nearly 60 per cent of grantees collect and analyse data that can be used to build the evidence base necessary for formulating policy and monitoring progress towards the implementation of national commitments to end violence against women. A cross-regional initiative of Women in Cities International collects data to support policies aimed at eliminating daily harassment and sexual violence in urban spaces. In four cities on four continents (Delhi; Dar es Salaam; Petrozavodsk, Russian Federation; and Rosario, Argentina) the initiative engages women in participatory research activities such as street surveys, neighbourhood safety audits, and group discussions to gather their knowledge on key safety concerns in their communities. In all cities, the data has convinced policymakers and other stakeholders to improve the safety of public spaces. The local partner in Delhi was invited by the city’s Municipal Corporation to provide inputs into a road redesign project, marking the first time that women’s safety concerns have been included in an urban design project in India. In Petrozavodsk, data from the surveys on women’s safety convinced local police chiefs to produce the nation’s first set of gender- disaggregated municipal crime statistics.

19. Grantees of the United Nations Trust Fund are almost universally working to strengthen institutional and professional capacities of those tasked with the implementation of laws, policies and action plans to end violence against women. The non-governmental organization Refleksione successfully piloted a cross- sectoral referral system to implement Albania’s newly adopted Law on Domestic Violence at the local level. In each of the five targeted municipalities, the programme trained over 300 public sector professionals and established two institutions at the local level: a decision-making council comprised of government agencies working on domestic violence and a technical working group of service providers to implement the council’s decisions. Now with budgetary commitments from four cities and with renewed support from the United Nations Trust Fund, Refleksione is doubling the scope of the programme to serve 10 municipalities. Another grantee develops the capacity of local women’s organizations in six Pacific Island countries (Samoa, Tuvalu, Kiribati, Tonga, the Cook Islands and Solomon Islands) to advocate for fixing gaps in national legislative frameworks addressing violence against women. In Nauru, after women’s organizations urged members of Parliament to incorporate model legislation on violence against women into revisions of the penal code, the draft legislation was amended to include an expanded definition of rape and the criminalization of domestic violence.

20. Other grantees of the United Nations Trust Fund focus on enforcement of laws that address violence against women through strengthening judicial systems and improving access to justice for survivors of violence. Solidarite féminine pour la paix et le développement intégral (SOFEPADI), a women’s rights organization

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based in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, receives support from the Fund to address impunity for sexual violence emerging from the country’s decades-long conflict. Through a mobile courts system that holds trials for sexual violence cases in rural communities, SOFEPADI has successfully reduced the backlog of cases and encouraged more victims to file complaints. Over 150 cases have been filed to date, of which 70 resulted in convictions. In recognition of the achievements of SOFEPADI in bringing justice to victims and restoring public confidence in the rule of law in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Government of France is sustaining the project with funding for three mobile courts.

IV. Building new partnerships, ownership and expanded commitment

21. 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 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 including Member States, private and individual donors, non-governmental organizations and United Nations sister agencies.

22. The United Nations Trust Fund is founded on United Nations partnerships and working to increase ownership of the Fund across the United Nations system. A key platform to enhance these synergies is the Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committee comprised of United Nations system agencies at the global and subregional levels. This entity advises the Fund on strategic decisions and grant- making issues. The Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committees at the subregional level in particular enables links to 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 Fund to national priorities and context.

23. In 2010, the 13 Inter-Agency Programme Appraisal Committee members at the global and subregional levels included United Nations system agencies, representatives of other inter-agency mechanisms, and a leading civil society organization. Participating United Nations system agencies at the global and subregional levels in 2010 were: Division for the Advancement of Women; Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean; International Labour Organization (ILO); Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; the Regional Commissions New York Office; UNIFEM; the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF); UNDP; the World Health Organization (WHO); and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). The Programme Appraisal Committee met a total of four times at the global and subregional levels to provide critical expertise and guidance in shaping the United Nations Trust Fund’s Strategic Plan for 2010-2015.

24. As part of “delivering as one”, grants to United Nations country teams since 2008 have established direct synergies with United Nations programmes at the country and subregional levels. To date, the United Nations Trust Fund has disbursed $10.6 million to country teams in 11 countries. The Fund also collaborates with other

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United Nations initiatives to address violence against women. The “Say NO — UNiTE to End Violence against Women” online advocacy platform of UNIFEM (http://www.saynotoviolence.org/) encourages donations for the Fund and showcases the achievements and impact of its grantees. In 2011, the Fund will join with the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign to commemorate the fifteenth anniversary of the Fund and the fifth anniversary of the Secretary-General’s ground-breaking in-depth study on all forms of violence against women (A/61/122/Add.1 and Corr.1).

25. The United Nations Trust Fund has built partnerships with leading research and expert institutions, including the International Center for Research on Women, PATH, and the USAID MEASURE project. The Fund is brokering new partnerships with philanthropists, high-profile spokespersons, and other individuals capable of raising the Fund’s visibility while expanding engagement with the private sector.

V. Generating knowledge and developing capacities

26. Although the number and breadth of interventions addressing violence against women and girls has increased in the last decade, there is a dearth of rigorous evaluation assessing their impact on women’s lives. Consequently, it remains difficult to identify “what works” in preventing and redressing such violence. In 2010, the United Nations Trust Fund implemented the recommendations made by the 2009 external evaluation, which urged the Fund to develop the capacities of grantees to conduct effective monitoring and evaluation and to improve the Fund’s processes for capturing and disseminating knowledge.

27. The United Nations Trust Fund strengthened its processes for monitoring and evaluation by providing technical feedback to grantees starting in the proposal development phase and continuing with assistance in developing and implementing grantees’ monitoring and evaluation plans. As in previous years, the 2010 Call for Proposals for the fifteenth grant-making cycle recommended that applicants dedicate 10 per cent of grants requested to evaluation, and an additional 2 to 5 per cent to monitoring. The United Nations Trust Fund secretariat grew its own capacity to monitor grantee programmes by visiting twice as many grantees in 2010 as the previous year, totalling 7 monitoring visits to 18 grantees in 14 countries, in addition to the regular monitoring by focal points for the Fund at UNIFEM subregional offices.

28. Closing the gaps in grantees’ capacity to design and implement programmes and knowledge about “what works” in ending violence against women is central to the mandate of the United Nations Trust Fund as described in the Monitoring, Evaluation and Knowledge Management Framework 2008-2011. In 2010, the Fund institutionalized capacity-development training for all new and recently funded grantees on evidence-based programme design, monitoring and evaluation. The Fund held four regional skills-building workshops in three languages, reaching a total of 43 organizations.4 The workshops were modelled after two successful pilot workshops convened in 2009 in partnership with the International Center for Research on Women. Grantees responded enthusiastically to the Fund’s capacity-

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4 Two regional workshops were held in June 2010, one in Dakar for French-speaking grantees and one in Managua for Spanish-speaking grantees. Workshops conducted in English took place in Nairobi and Bratislava in October and November 2010, respectively.

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development training and have begun to integrate evidence-based research, monitoring and evaluation tools into their existing programmes. At least three grantees have initiated cross-learning activities to consider the possibilities for adapting strategies and practices to other contexts.

29. In 2010, the United Nations Trust Fund made significant investments in a system for global monitoring, evaluation and knowledge management. As the Fund invests in a sophisticated database to capture results, the secretariat has begun to map the outcomes of initiatives, focusing on certain indicators of success such as measures taken to sustain and replicate projects. Beginning with its fifteenth call for proposals issued on 23 November 2010, the Fund launched an online application process that will allow the secretariat to better assist applicants and improve efficiencies with respect to management and collection of applicant data. The appraisal process will also be conducted online, contributing to the accuracy and transparency of the assessment and selection process. These tools are essential to the development of an integrated system that will facilitate results-based reporting and help the Fund track and analyse trends across the entire grant-making portfolio. In collaboration with UNIFEM subregional offices, the United Nations Trust Fund completed several case studies of lessons learned and good practices generated by grantees. Finally, grantees’ evaluation reports, training manuals, and outreach and communications tools were gathered to feed the UNIFEM global virtual knowledge centre (http://www.endvawnow.org/).

VI. Grant-making cycle 2010

30. United Nations Trust Fund grants are awarded annually through an open, competitive, and transparent process that ensures quality programming and rigour in the selection of grantees. The call for proposals invites 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 between various stakeholders; evidence of what works to optimize the use of resources; and investment in systematic and comprehensive documentation and evaluation aiming at generating and sharing knowledge. Through its grant-making process, the Fund channels global expertise and resources to the local level, where they are needed most. It also underscores the potential for scaling up successful initiatives, while emphasizing development of national capacities to foster sustainability.

31. In 2010, despite a severe global economic crisis, the United Nations Trust Fund supported the implementation of national laws, policies and programmes to end violence against women at the same funding level as 2009. Over $10 million was awarded to 13 initiatives in 18 countries and territories for programmes expected to reach 280,000 beneficiaries. The grants awarded in 2010 complete the Fund’s fourteenth grant-making cycle, delivering a total of $20.5 million for 26 initiatives in 33 countries and territories.5

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5 The United Nations Trust Fund’s fourteenth grant-making cycle was awarded in two batches. The first round of grants administered in 2009 was based on contributions received by the end of the third quarter of that year, which totalled $10.5 million. Additional contributions of $10 million received in the fourth quarter of 2009 allowed the Fund to award a second group of grants in the first quarter of 2010 as part of the fourteenth cycle.

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32. Since 2008, as the resource base of the United Nations Trust Fund has increased, a shift to larger and longer-term grants has allowed for larger-scale interventions that can achieve higher-level results and better sustainability efforts. In 2010, the Fund has again offered grants of up to $1 million, and the majority received three-year grants. In 2010, Asia and the Pacific received the largest amount of funds (35 per cent), followed by Africa (28 per cent); Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States (13 per cent); Latin America and the Caribbean (10 per cent) and Arab States (10 per cent); and cross-regional grants (4 per cent). Belarus, the Marshall Islands and Sri Lanka are first-time grant recipients. The majority of new grantees include women’s organizations (31 per cent); followed by United Nations country teams (23 per cent); development organizations and youth organizations (15 per cent each); and governmental organizations and human rights organizations (8 per cent each).

33. Grants awarded in 2010 focus on initiatives working with youth, including two that will address the needs of rural girls. In China, the Beijing Cultural Development Centre for Rural Women will develop protection mechanisms for rural girls left behind by parents working in cities, while in Peru the Asociación de Comunicadores Sociales Calandria will empower rural adolescent youth to become leaders in the movement to end violence against women and girls. The Trust Fund’s emphasis on engaging men and boys continues with a grant to the Mother Child Education Foundation in Turkey, which will model a highly innovative programme engaging fathers in the prevention of gender-based violence within the family, and with support for the Zambia Young Women’s Christian Association to establish 200 men’s networks to advocate against violence.

34. Other grantees will work with particularly marginalized populations. The Jordanian Women’s Union will establish the first regional network in Egypt, Jordan and Morocco to address trafficking and protect women migrant workers’ rights, and the Acid Survivors Trust International will pilot groundbreaking strategies for ending acid burning against women in Cambodia, Nepal and Uganda. Pathfinder Mozambique will leverage sexual and reproductive health services as a means of reaching violence survivors such as adolescents and women living with HIV. In India, Nepal and the Philippines, the Asia Indigenous Peoples Pact Foundation will support local indigenous leaders to engage in advocacy and community mobilization towards the reform of customary laws that tolerate violence against women.

35. Other grantees will focus on closing gaps in legislation and strengthening national capacities to implement policies and enforce laws addressing violence against women and girls. Women United Together Marshall Islands, in partnership with government agencies, will increase public awareness and strengthen national legislation and protocols around domestic violence. In Burundi, the ministry of Human Rights and Gender will undertake a comprehensive multisectoral initiative to implement the National Strategy against Gender-based Violence. United Nations country teams in Belarus, Indonesia and Sri Lanka and will support multisectoral interventions to enforce national laws addressing violence against women and girls. A summary of all new grantees can be found on the United Nations Trust Fund website (http://www.unifem.org/ gender_issues/violence_against_women/trust_fund_grantees.php).

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VII. Mobilizing resources

36. The United Nations Trust Fund’s ability to pursue a strategic vision in support of country-level implementation of commitments to end violence against women and girls depends on its ability to mobilize adequate resources. Appeals made by the General Assembly for increased resources to the Fund in resolutions 61/143, 62/133, 63/155 and 64/137 have enhanced the Fund’s capacity in that regard. The Fund’s new Strategic Plan emphasizes outreach across public and private sectors in order to leverage resources and partnerships for the long-term sustainability of the Fund.

37. For grants awarded in 2010 to complete the fourteenth grant-making cycle, the United Nations Trust Fund benefited from the support of the Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Antigua and Barbuda. For pledges received in 2010 for the fifteenth grant-making cycle, the Government of Spain continues as the leading supporter of the Fund,6 followed by the Netherlands, the United States of America, Australia, Finland, Germany, Austria, Iceland and Liechtenstein. The Governments of Finland and the Republic of Korea also supported two Junior Professional Officer positions for the United Nations Trust Fund secretariat.

38. The private sector has an important role to play in ending violence against women and girls. In 2010, Avon Products Inc. and Johnson & Johnson were lead private sector partners of the United Nations Trust Fund. The latter has supported the Fund’s special window on links between violence against women and HIV and AIDS since 2005. The non-profit organization Zonta International generously contributed to the Fund for the fifth consecutive year. The Fund was also supported by UNIFEM National Committees in Canada, Japan, and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.7

39. In 2010, the United Nations Trust Fund developed and began to implement a fund-raising strategy to meet the Secretary-General’s challenge as part of the UNiTE campaign to raise $100 million to distribute in grant-making in 2015. To execute this strategy, the Fund focused on integrating its communications and outreach activities. In collaboration with the UNiTE campaign, the Fund hosted a high-level event to encourage private sector involvement in efforts to end violence against women and girls. At a public event on the International Day to Eliminate Violence against Women, the Secretary-General announced the fifteenth call for proposals and launched a mobile giving promotion to heighten the Fund’s visibility and encourage individual donations.

VIII. The way forward

40. Moving into its fifteenth year, the United Nations Trust Fund will continue to support high-quality, evidence-based programmes that achieve targeted results with maximum impact. In accordance with the strategic direction set forth in Vision 2015, and building on the recommendations of the external evaluation in 2009, the Fund will grow its processes for collecting and disseminating knowledge about what works in ending violence against women. In 2010, the Fund built a strong

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6 The Government of Spain was also the highest contributor for the fourteenth grant-making cycle, but these funds were dispersed in 2009 in the first batch of grantees.

7 Contributions were made towards the fifteenth grant-making cycle.

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foundation to develop a knowledge management system, as described in section V above. Next steps include the completion of a sophisticated global monitoring system in order to capture and track grantees’ results more efficiently and make them more accessible to a global audience. In 2011, with a view towards facilitating cross-learning, the Fund will create multiple global platforms for connecting grantees using similar strategies or interventions.

41. The establishment of UN Women by the General Assembly in 2010 provides a welcome institutional framework to strengthen collaboration and capture global expertise on approaches to end violence against women. Although the United Nations Trust Fund faces the continuous challenge of meeting extraordinary global demand for programmes to end violence against women, it will seek opportunities for leveraging existing resources as it intensifies its resource mobilization to engage new and diverse strategic partners.

IX. UNIFEM (part of UN Women) programming on ending violence against women

42. UNIFEM (part of UN Women) currently supports programmes to address gender-based violence in some 90 countries of the world. Guided by its strategy, “A life free of violence: unleashing the power of women’s empowerment and gender equality”, in the course of 2010, UNIFEM advocacy, programming, partnerships, outreach and inter-agency collaboration continued to expand at global, regional and national levels, highlights of which are provided below.

Furthering policies, laws and their implementation

43. The ongoing policy of UNIFEM and its technical advisory services to national Governments, advocates and other stakeholders included support to women’s machineries in eight Caribbean countries for evidence-based development of national action plans to end violence against women; as well as in the Seychelles, with the Ministry of Health and Social Development, and in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, with the Ministry of Women’s Affairs on the development of the national strategy — a first of its kind in the Arab region.

44. Through its ongoing work with parliamentarians, women’s machineries and the women’s movement, UNIFEM continues to support efforts for legislative reforms to end impunity and improve women’s access to justice. At the global level, this included expanded collaboration with the Inter-Parliamentary Union at the regional level, to strengthen legislators’ learning and exchange opportunities on good practice for strengthened enforcement and monitoring, and gender-responsive budgeting; as well as completion of an inter-institutional memorandum of understanding. At the country level, UNIFEM provided support for legal reforms, with the passage of the law on domestic violence in Timor-Leste, and amendments to Albanian laws related to family violence in order to improve confidentiality measures, sustainable shelters, and coordinated community response systems by local government.

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

45. A major focus of UNIFEM work has centred on access to justice for survivors. Highlights include the continued support of UNIFEM in Argentina, along with UNDP and UNICEF, to the newly created Office of Domestic Violence of the Supreme Court — the first of its kind at the national level. The Office assists women survivors of violence with services, including referrals to civil or penal courts and health and social services. The court is responsible for tracking and assessing the cases, to provide data in order to analyse patterns of impunity and the judiciary’s response to gender-based violence cases. In Thailand, training of judicial staff is aiming to strengthen enforcement of the Domestic Violence Act; the rearrangement of courtrooms using partitions and cameras now also protects survivors from directly encountering their perpetrators. Support to the legal system of Nigeria has resulted in a handbook entitled “Access to justice for trafficked persons”, which serves as a guide for taking cases through the legal system, from the identification of a potentially trafficked person until the case is closed.

46. UNIFEM also contributed to improved policies and service delivery for women survivors of violence in various countries, such as through its work with national women’s machineries in Ghana, Liberia and Peru; to increased access to legal assistance in Ethiopia, Fiji and the Occupied Palestinian Territories; and to a strengthened police response in Nigeria. UNIFEM also partnered with excluded groups of women to hold policymakers accountable to eliminate violence, including indigenous women, HIV-positive women’s networks; young women and migrant women workers from Africa, Asia, the Commonwealth of Independent States and Latin America and the Caribbean. The Stop Violence against Women in the Economic Community of West African States Subregion initiative engages women’s national machineries, religious leaders, the Association of Women Lawyers and rural women’s platforms, thus contributing to the implementation of the Africa component of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign.

47. Also in line with the UNiTE campaign, UNIFEM provided technical and financial assistance to the high-level International Conference on the Role of Security Organs in Ending Violence against Women and Girls, held in Kigali in October 2010 and hosted by the Rwanda National Police and Rwanda Defence Forces Gender Desk in partnership with “One United Nations”. The Conference was attended by police chiefs, senior police and military officers responsible for gender and community policing affairs, as well as members of civil society organizations, the United Nations system, and academia involved from different countries both within and outside Africa. The Kigali Declaration on Ending Violence against Women and Girls, adopted at the event, reaffirmed the commitments for action and the efforts to continue building on best practice to expand justice and services for survivors in the continent.

48. In terms of support for capacity development at the global level, during the Commission on the Status of Women in March 2010, UNIFEM launched a unique online resource for service providers, programmers, policymakers and advocates that provides ready access to the state-of-the-art on “what works best” to address gender-based violence: the Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls (see http://www.endvawnow.org). Developed with leading experts and organizations from around the world, the site offers high-quality guidance in

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multiple languages on “how to” design, implement, monitor and evaluate programmes, as well as over 700 recommended tools in more than 50 languages, with a fully searchable database. It draws on good practices, lessons learned and evaluations generated by Governments, civil society organizations, researchers and United Nations system agencies. To date, comprehensive programming modules have been made available (each on average 200-300 pages), covering: programming basics, monitoring and evaluation, safe cities, working with men and boys, and formulating legislation — with more advanced for launch in 2011, including on prevention, the health sector, the education sector and campaigns.

Expanding data collection, analysis and tracking systems

49. Data collection and analysis is another area of UNIFEM-supported efforts, including to inform the development of effective public policies (e.g., in Guinea-Bissau and the Republic of Moldova) and to support the efforts of women’s networks in tracking progress (e.g., in Ecuador). Related to the launch of the Global Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women Programme (see para. 56 below), a joint research initiative in India was undertaken by the Department of Women and Child Development, Government of Delhi, Jagori, the UNIFEM South Asia Office and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat), to bring policy and public attention to the levels of sexual harassment and violence faced by women in public spaces in the city of New Delhi. Another study was commissioned on data- collection practices among selected agencies in South-East Europe, with a focus on domestic violence, with a view to developing a set of indicators to track the prevalence of violence against women and to monitor the institutional responses to violent crimes against women.

Addressing sexual violence as a tactic of warfare

50. In 2010, UNIFEM began the second phase of a multi-country programme on community-based peacebuilding and prevention of sexual and gender-based violence, consisting of activities at the global level as well as in Haiti, Liberia, Timor-Leste, and Uganda. These included, for example, technical capacity-building of the police in those four countries — for example, trainings, the revision of curricula, the provision of material inputs such as vehicles and communication equipment so as to respond more effectively to violence against women, and brokering regular interaction and trust-building activities with women’s organizations, continued support for local community safety committees in Haiti, the development of a monitoring and tracking system for gender-based violence cases in Timor-Leste, and trainings of the judiciary on national jurisprudence on gender-based violence in Liberia, as well as projected expansion of the “peace hut model” as a good example of a women-led local protection strategy.

51. Under the umbrella of United Nations Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict, now chaired by the new Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, UNIFEM has taken the lead on several activities: mainly (a) advocacy, via the 200,000 “Get crossed” campaign, a petition to “Say no to sexual violence in conflict”, and 26 Open Days on Women and Peace and Security, co-organized with UNDP, the Department of Political Affairs and the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, which culminated in a Global Open Day in which women activists had a chance to present their demands, priorities and recommendations to the United Nations leadership in their countries; (b) the launch

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of the publication “Addressing conflict-related sexual violence: an analytical inventory of peacekeeping practice”, which compiles examples of prevention and protection strategies, and their translation into scenario-based training materials for predeployment and in-mission training of military peacekeepers; and (c) the continued collaboration of UNIFEM with the Department of Political Affairs on mediation, and the launch of a three-year joint strategy that includes, inter alia, the development and use of practical guidance for mediators on how to deal with conflict-related sexual violence in peace processes.

52. Two main reports on women, peace and security were submitted to the Security Council on the tenth anniversary of its resolution 1325 (2000) (S/2010/173 and S/2010/498), with implications for violence against women in general. UNIFEM supported the technical development of a comprehensive list of indicators to track the implementation of resolution 1325 (2000). Some of the indicators will be used to strengthen information on prevalence and patterns of sexual violence in conflict, police and judicial follow-up of cases of sexual exploitation and abuse perpetrated by peacekeepers or humanitarians, as well as cases of violence against women in general, and an index on women’s and girls’ physical security that would take into account perception and other proxy variables. A separate report on women’s participation in peacebuilding contains an action plan identifying concrete initiatives in seven key peacebuilding areas that, at least indirectly, have a bearing on the prevention of and protection from violence against women in conflict and post-conflict settings, including mediation, post-conflict planning and financing, the deployment of international civilian capacity, governance, economic recovery and rule of law, for example, recommendations on immediate legal assistance for women and minimum standards of gender-responsiveness for transitional justice institutions.

Forging partnerships and expanding outreach, communications and partnering with the media

53. The outreach of UNIFEM with the mass media, public awareness-raising and social mobilization efforts continue to expand and intensify at all levels, as a key to sustaining and mobilizing commitments and “zero tolerance”, including in the framework of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign.

54. A major UNIFEM contribution in that regard was as coordinator, in close collaboration with various other United Nations sister agencies, of the regional components of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign. In 2010, the campaigns were launched in Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and the Caribbean; while the Latin America campaign continued to progress since its launch in November 2009. The UNIFEM Say NO — UNiTE initiative, which has emerged as a valuable tool for engagement and awareness-raising globally, has documented over 1 million actions over the course of the past year. Among the many innovative and original initiatives at the national and regional levels, was a photo exhibition presented by the African Union, in partnership with UNIFEM, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, UNICEF, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange, during the African Union Summit held in Uganda in July 2010, under the theme “Make peace happen: prevent violence against women and girls”.

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55. Another example of public and media outreach, seizing the opportunity of the 2010 World Cup Soccer in South Africa, UNIFEM joined the Red Light 2010 campaign, a regional civil society effort to counteract the trafficking of women and girls ahead of and during the games; and also organized a soccer tournament in Johannesburg in April, with the message, “Say no to trafficking in women, say yes to women’s rights”. This formed part of UNIFEM collaboration as a member of the United Nations Task Force that works in support of the Government of South Africa to prevent human trafficking.

56. Also in line with the focus on raising awareness and advancing prevention strategies, the launch, in November 2010, of the UNIFEM innovative Global Programme on Safe Cities Free of Violence against Women and Girls provided additional opportunities for media coverage and dialogue on the neglected but universal phenomenon of sexual harassment and violence in public spaces. With a focus on the poorest areas and slums in five cities from different regions of the world — Quito, Cairo, New Delhi, Port Moresby and Kigali — the Programme is being developed in collaboration with UN-Habitat, other United Nations system agencies (including UNFPA, UNDP and UNICEF) and leading women’s networks, among other partners. This is the first cross-regional initiative dedicated to developing a proven model for making cities safer for women and girls, by reducing sexual harassment and violence in public spaces, while improving the quality of life for all city dwellers. The model will be offered for adaptation by local authorities and stakeholders in cities around the world.

57. Engaging non-traditional and influential partners, including the private sector, in the struggle to end gender-based violence and advance women’s empowerment is key. In that regard, and in order to offer practical guidance to businesses on how to empower women in the workplace, marketplace and community, UNIFEM developed the Women’s Empowerment Principles through a partnership with the United Nations Global Compact. The Principles are designed to support companies in reviewing existing policies and practices — or establishing new ones — to realize women’s empowerment. With the subtitle “Equality means business”, the Principles emphasize the business case for corporate action to promote gender equality and women’s empowerment and are informed by real-life business practices, the interests of Governments and civil society. The Principles acknowledge the importance of addressing violence in women’s lives through, inter alia, workplace protection from sexual harassment and exploitation and access to services related to domestic violence.

58. Working with religious leaders is also strategic if social norms that accept gender-based violence and discrimination are to be transformed. In the Sudan, UNIFEM is partnering with a local non-governmental organization to mentor Islamic and traditional leaders to become advocates and champions of women’s human rights protections within the legal framework in Darfur, and to facilitate radio discussions on women’s rights under Islam. Similarly, collaboration with faith- based organizations, from global to local levels, permeates various UNIFEM- supported efforts.

59. UNIFEM membership since 2009 in the Clinton Global Initiative network continued, including as a partner announced at two related launches during the annual event in September 2010 (Together for Girls (see para. 62 below); and the “going global” of the cutting-edge Ring the Bell Campaign led by the

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non-governmental organization Breakthrough); and as a member of the Affinity Groups organized on violence and gender issues in the lead-up to the event, with a range of private and public sector counterparts to foster new partnerships.

Engaging groups of strategic importance: adolescents and youth, men and boys

60. The evidence is building that the prevention of violence against women and girls must start at younger ages, and that engaging adolescents and youth, and men of all ages, is a critical component to future success.

61. UNIFEM places strategic emphasis on advancing the rights and needs of adolescent girls, and on the role that young people of both sexes can play in prevention. It is one among more than 20 partners of the Man Up Campaign — the first global initiative focused exclusively on youth leadership and mobilization to address ending violence against women and girls. UNIFEM is also a member of the Inter-Agency Task Force on Adolescent Girls, a global initiative focused on the needs and rights of marginalized adolescent girls in the context of the Millennium Development Goals and efforts aimed at poverty reduction and development. UNIFEM plays a key advisory and technical role on engendering the programme frameworks overall and more specifically on the pillar on gender-based violence, in collaboration with UNFPA and UNICEF (as co-chairs), and ILO, UNESCO and WHO. The Task Force will provide technical support and guidance to United Nations country teams in developing holistic programmes, with initiatives starting up in Ethiopia, Guatemala, Liberia and Malawi, with support from the United Nations Foundation.

62. UNIFEM also continued to support the Together for Girls initiative, a partnership spearheaded by a private sector individual, co-led with UNICEF and the United States-based Centers for Disease Control, involving other United Nations system agencies (Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNFPA, WHO). It is focused on expanding the country data collection (via surveys) on sexual abuse against girls, in order to spur action and policy and service delivery responses.

63. UNIFEM also contributed to include a gender perspective in the agenda of the World Youth Conference held in Mexico in 2010 and in the joint statement signed by 27 heads of United Nations system agencies in New York at the global launch of the International Year of Youth: Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. It also organized the Young Women’s Forum during the Conference, an open space of discussion about innovative solutions to empower young women as agents of peace, development and justice.

64. Collaboration with pro-equality men’s groups and the MenEngage Alliance, on which UNIFEM serves along other United Nations sister agencies on the International Advisory Committee, is ongoing at the advocacy and technical levels. This included UNIFEM collaboration with the partner organization’s expert on masculinities issues to develop the programming module on engaging men and boys in violence prevention; convening a Commission on the Status of Women panel for the release of the findings of a new international survey reflecting male attitudes about gender and violence; and continued collaboration with men’s networks at the country level (e.g., Colombia and Nepal, among others).

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Inter-agency collaboration

65. Most of the efforts and programmes highlighted above are rooted in partnerships with a range of stakeholders from government, civil society, the women’s movement, experts and researchers, and include United Nations inter-agency collaboration.

66. UNIFEM continues to play a key role in United Nations country team joint efforts and programmes to address violence against women in many countries, including in its role as chair and co-chair of gender theme groups; and as partner or lead agency of United Nations country team programmes (including those dedicated to addressing violence against women under the Millennium Development Goals Achievement Fund in Bangladesh, Colombia and Morocco).

67. At the Headquarters level, UNIFEM continues to serve as founding and active member of United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict; 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 Gender Equality (including as an implementing partner of the United Nations country team pilot programmes at the country levels); and as a member of the Working Group of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign and the High-Level Steering Committee, chaired by the Deputy Secretary-General. At the regional level, for example, in addition to its key role in the roll-out of the Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign, it also collaborates with UNDP, UNFPA and United Nations Volunteers in the Asia-Pacific Regional Joint Programme entitled “Partners for prevention: working with boys and men to prevent gender-based violence”.