Trust Fund Grantees

14th Cycle (2009)

In 2009, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women issued its 14th Call for Proposals to support the implementation of laws, policies and action plans on ending violence against women and girls. A total of 1,643 concept notes were received, with requests adding up to nearly US$857 million. Following an extensive and rigorous review process, the UN Trust Fund awarded US$10.5 million to 13 initiatives in 18 countries. Additional donor contributions of more than US$10 million received in the fourth quarter of 2009 will enable additional grants for the 14th cycle in the first half of 2010.

Africa (5) | Asia & the Pacific (3)
Central & Eastern Europe (2) | Latin America & the Caribbean (3)

Acknowledgments: The UN Trust Fund is grateful for contributions from UN Member States and other donors. Governments that have contributed in 2009 include Austria, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Norway, Republic of Korea, Spain, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago, and the United States of America. The UN Trust Fund also received support from the private sector, non-governmental organizations, individual donors as well as initiatives of UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman. Contributors include Avon Foundation for Women, Johnson & Johnson, and Zonta International, as well as the UNIFEM National Committees in Austria, Iceland, Japan, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom.

Africa Region

International Planned Parenthood Federation,
Africa Regional Office
Cameroon, Lesotho, Namibia and Nigeria
Project Title: “Promoting an Integrated Response and Prevention of Violence against Women through a Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Mechanism in Africa”
Description: Fear of humiliation and stigmatization makes most women in Cameroon, Lesotho, Namibia and Nigeria unwilling to report cases of violence.  The response mechanisms in place are too weak to effectively address their cases, compounded by a lack of accurate data. By piloting a model that uses sexual and reproductive health and rights services as an entry point to analyse cases of violence against women and girls, International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) expects to provide a groundbreaking and tested framework for national governments to integrate gender-based violence within their sexual and reproductive health and rights services. In collaboration with the Ministries of Health and Justice as well as human rights organizations, the intervention will be implemented through IPPF's network of over 180 clinics and service centres that provide sexual and reproductive health and rights services. The intervention expects to contribute to a strong evidence base on violence and its sexual and reproductive health and rights consequences for survivors. Through promoting increased collaboration between service providers, women's human rights organizations and law enforcement agencies, the intervention aims to increase survivors’ access to appropriate and adequate support. Once evaluated, the model has the potential to be adopted by IPPF Member Associations in 41 African countries.

Save the Children Sweden
Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal
Project Title: “From a Health-Based Approach to a Human-Rights Approach: The Fight against Female Genital Mutilation in Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal”
Description: Approximately 100 to 140 million girls and women in the world have experienced female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C), with more than 3 million girls in Africa at risk of the practice each year. Save the Children Sweden (SCS) will work on ending this practice by up-scaling a proven human-rights based model in Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal, where FGM/C is particularly prevalent. The model builds upon the evidence-base showing that FGM/C can be addressed effectively through community-wide mobilization. The intervention will utilize existing community channels to implement awareness-raising activities and engage local partners, including children and youth themselves; and conduct training and develop the capacities of police, health workers, traditional and religious leaders, among others. The project’s advocacy efforts will promote the adoption of specific national laws to prevent FGM/C. SCS will also collaborate with the Ministry of Education to integrate awareness-raising programmes into school curricula. This aims to further the essential role of youth in helping to end the practice and empower them to resist social pressures linked to this issue.

Sierra Leone Reparation Programme – National Commission for Social Action/Government of Sierra Leone
Sierra Leone
Project Title: “Post-Conflict Reparations for Victims of Sexual Violence in Sierra Leone”
Description: Thousands of women in Sierra Leone carry the trauma of sexual violence suffered during the conflict. As part of the country’s Reparation Programme that began this year, the National Commission for Social Action has designed a project focused on implementing the recommendations of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission with respect to survivors/victims of sexual violence. The intervention will focus on skills training and micro grants for 650 women who endured sexual violence and who are in special need of support. This project also aims to raise community awareness on accountability for gender-based violence. Once evaluated, it will present great potential as an evidence base model for the design and implementation of gender-sensitive post-conflict reparation programmes in other countries and regions affected by conflict.

Raising Voices
Uganda and up to 6 locations in East and Southern Africa
Project Title: “National and Regional Scale Up of an Activist Kit for Preventing Violence against Women and HIV”
Description: Violence against women and girls is both a cause and a consequence of HIV and AIDS. The Activist Kit for Preventing violence against women and HIV, known as SASA! (Start, Awareness, Support, Action) is currently one of the most internationally-recognized and comprehensive tools in the field of primary prevention addressing the intersections between the two pandemics. It was developed on the basis of the lessons learned from an award-winning programme Mobilising Communities to Prevent Domestic Violence: A Resource Guide for Organizations in East and Southern Africa. This toolkit goes beyond traditional prevention approaches with an emphasis on multi-sectoral programming and longer-term community change through the local-level activism and advocacy necessary to further the implementation of laws and policies. Currently SASA! is being piloted by the Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP) in two divisions of Kampala, Uganda, in collaboration with the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (UK) and Makerere University (Uganda). Easy-to-use monitoring and evaluation methods developed through the CEDOVIP pilot project will help document the success of the tool in the new settings for further replication and up-scaling through the creation of a library of lessons learned and best practices. Raising Voices proposes to replicate SASA! in collaboration with ten partner organizations in Uganda and regional partner organizations in up to six other locations in the region.

Equality Now
Zambia
Project Title: “Our Girls, Our Future: Building Synergy to End Violence against Girls in Zambia”
Description: Gender-based violence, particularly the rape of minors, is one of the major threats to women and children in Zambia, with girls especially at risk. This initiative is focused on securing justice for girls who experience sexual abuse. Equality Now in partnership with Population Council proposes to up-scale the existing efforts of a coalition of twenty NGOs to strengthen the national legal framework to address violence against women and girls, in line with the Fifth National Development Plan 2006–2010. Coalition members bring expertise and experience across a range of strategic fields, such as legal services and reform, empowerment of girls through the Safe Spaces model, health and counseling services, and media and advocacy. The initiative aims at improving the enforcement of the penal code sections on rape; legal reform, with a focus on the Sexual Offence and Gender Violence bill (drafted in 2006); improving access to justice for girls and enhancing the capacity of law enforcement and prosecutors to address their cases; improving access to information about sexual abuse and to reproductive health and counseling services; and introducing awareness-raising and violence prevention in schools. The intervention will be initiated in Lusaka during the first year and, based on success and lessons learned, it will be replicated in other areas, including rural areas of Zambia, in years two and three of the project.

Asia and the Pacific Region

CARE International in Cambodia
Cambodia
Project Title: “Promoting the Safety of Women Workers in the Beer Industry”
Description: As a result of the global financial crisis, over 58,000 women have lost their jobs in Cambodia’s garment industry. More than 4,000 of these women have resorted to promoting beer in entertainment outlets in Phnom Penh – beer gardens, bars and clubs – in precarious working conditions. Social perception of beer promoters is unfavourable, their work is compared to sex work and as a result, the women are stereotyped. They face extensive sexual harassment and are coerced into sex with little or no protection from police. In a ground-breaking model of intervention, Care International proposes to up-scale its work with the relevant ministries, the Beer Sellers Industry of Cambodia, breweries, outlet owners and beer promoters. The intervention expects to increase the number of non-violent workplaces from 6 to 60; create a harassment reporting hotline with the Phnom Penh Municipal Police; and put in place standard operating procedures and guidelines for enforcing civil and criminal laws, including the Labour Code and the Law on Prevention of Domestic Violence and Protection of Victims. Furthermore, Care International will provide peer education and life-skills training for 80000 female beer promoters, train 400 police officers on gender-based violence and roll out a multi-media communication campaign to reduce stigma related to beer promotion work.

Youth Star Cambodia
Cambodia
Project Title: “Youth Leadership for Violence-Free Communities”
Description: Engaging youth as key actors for successful change is a fundamental but underemployed approach for ending and preventing violence against women and girls. Youth Star Cambodia will employ an innovative approach of education and youth-led mobilization to address domestic violence, which is highly prevalent in the country: according to national statistics, 22% of married women have experienced physical abuse from their husbands. It will enlist university graduates of the target communities for volunteer services each year in 20 rural districts across the country in order to mobilize young women and men as agents of change; raise awareness about the equal rights of women and men under the Constitution, the Marriage Law and the Domestic Violence Law; and formulate local action plans to combat domestic and other forms of gender-based violence. Cooperation with community leaders and local officials will be sought to secure community support and ownership of the initiative. In addition, the volunteers will work with local school officials and parents to identify girls who are not in school or are at risk of dropping out of school, to ensure that they can complete at least primary education as well as to prevent early marriages. Volunteers will also facilitate the formation of children's and youth clubs with activities that promote healthy relationships.

United Nations Country Team (OHCHR, UNDP, UNFPA, UNIFEM)
Thailand
Project Title: “Every Home a Safe Home: Supporting Thailand towards Effective Implementation of the Act on Protection for Domestic Violence Victims”
Description: The Thai Act on Protection of Domestic Violence Victims is one of the few such laws in the region that provides for the establishment of a multi-agency response system, monitoring, evaluation and accountability mechanisms for its enforcement. In order to capitalize on this opportunity, the UN Country Team will support the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security, the Ministries of Interior and Justice and select provincial and Tambon (sub-district) level authorities to translate a newly developed National Action Plan into action. The aim is to pilot a multi-agency coordination model and a public accountability mechanism to respond to the legal, psycho-social and physical aspects of domestic violence, including special protections for pregnant women. The intervention will be piloted with six existing Family Development Centres in Tambons in two provinces and with different socio-economic characteristics, in order to create a model for replication by local governments within Thailand and other countries in the region.

Central and Eastern Europe

Women’s Association “Refleksione” on behalf of the Network against Gender Violence and Trafficking
Albania
Project Title: “Developing a sustainable system for addressing violence against women in Albania”
Description: In 2007, the UN Trust Fund supported the successful piloting of a multi-sectoral model, implemented by the Albanian Network against Gender Violence and Trafficking, to effectively implement Albania’s newly adopted the Law on Domestic Violence at the local level. As a result, regional Councils against Domestic Violence were established in five regions, with the participation of all relevant governmental, educational, judicial institutions, as well as non-governmental organizations, to enact a coordinated and comprehensive response to prevent and end domestic violence. Subsequently, protocols for cooperation and concrete plans of action were put in place, with a referral system for survivors of domestic violence in the five regions. The intervention also piloted a database and tracking system for domestic violence cases. More than 300 service providers were trained to implement the Law and more than 400 community members were informed about the Law and their rights. For the first time ever in Albania, the local governments in four of the five regions introduced an allocation dedicated to services for domestic violence survivors in their 2009 budgets. To improve and up-scale this successful effort, Refleksione proposes to (i) strengthen its collaboration with the government to secure adequate funds for enhanced service provision for survivors; (ii) establish a national network of counselling centres and shelters for survivors; (iii) replicate and up-scale the database and tracking system; and (iv) involve men and boys as strategic change actors in preventing and ending violence against women and girls.

Rights for All (“Prava Za Sve”)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Project Title: “Roma Women for Life without Violence”
Description: Roma women are one of the most vulnerable groups in Bosnia and Herzegovina. As members of the Roma community and as women, they face double discrimination in accessing their rights to education, health protection and housing. They also experience significantly more domestic violence than non-Roma women. Rights for All proposes to address violence against women in Roma communities and society through a comprehensive approach which includes awareness-raising, legal and human rights education initiatives for Roma women at the grassroots level, and implementing community paralegal assistance programs to increase access to justice for Roma women survivors of violence. The intervention will also document cases of violence for strengthened advocacy in order to promote improvements in the implementation of national laws and policies.

Latin America and the Caribbean

Asociación CUNA
Bolivia
Project Title: “Prevention, Care and Reintegration of Girls and Adolescents Living in Situations of Intra-Family Violence or Sexual Commercial Violence in the Municipality of El Alto”
Description: Adolescent girls are one of the groups most vulnerable to violence, yet significantly underserved by existing programmes. The situation is no different in the Bolivian municipality of El Alto, where many girls suffer from intra-family violence and sexual exploitation. In response to this urgent situation, Asociación CUNA proposes to pilot a model that will strengthen networks against sexual violence and intra-family violence and will monitor and hold local governments accountable for the implementation of relevant key laws (Law 1674 on Intra-family Violence and the law focused on the protection of children and adolescents). The model expects to improve the prevention of violence and sexual exploitation of girls and adolescents in El Alto. It also aims to enhance care and reintegration services for girls and adolescent survivors of violence through the establishment of mobile units and centres, open during day and night, for the provision of psychological and therapeutic care. Building upon its previous successes in addressing the abuse of girls and adolescents in educational settings, Asociación CUNA will also implement a specific prevention component that targets the education system and engages students, parents and teachers in awareness and monitoring activities and the promotion of non-violent attitudes and behavior.

Population Council
Guatemala
Project Title: “Prevention of Gender Violence in Guatemala’s Indigenous Communities: Forming and Mentoring Young Mayan Social Change Agents”
Description: The Population Council and the Office for the Defence of Indigenous Women will build on the successful national program, Abriendo Oportunidades (‘opening opportunities’), for developing the capacity and skills of young girls to pilot gender-based violence prevention strategies in Guatemala. A key innovative aspect of this intervention is the development of a mentorship model to train and support a cadre of indigenous youth from poor communities who will be engaged in a range of prevention activities. They will mobilize to introduce a “zero tolerance” philosophy and the creation of “safe spaces” in their communities where violence against women and girls is endemic, where the torture, rape and assassination of women and girls were used during the civil conflict as tactics of warfare, and where a resurgence of femicide is being witnessed in recent years. Local referral networks will also be established in order to facilitate girls’ and women’s access to shelters, health, psychological, legal services and other social support such as vocational training. The project will also develop and disseminate specialized materials in ethnically-diverse communities where literacy rates are low to provide information on available services and legal rights, including under the Law against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence against Women. Effective strategies from the pilot will be up-scaled and institutionalised by project implementers and partner organizations.

United Nations Country Team (Gender Theme Group, ECLAC, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF)
Mexico
Project Title: “Development and Evaluation of a Holistic Model to Prevent Gender-Based Violence in Indigenous Populations with an Intercultural Approach”
Description: Few interventions respond to the specific cultural needs and level of social exclusion of Mexico’s indigenous population, with particular regard to gender-based violence. The UN Country Team, in collaboration with the INMUJERES, the Secretariat for Public Education and the Secretariat for Social Development, is proposing to develop and pilot a holistic model to prevent gender-based violence in indigenous communities in the states of Chiapas, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Oaxaca and Veracruz. The model will strategically target girls, boys and adolescents at an age when gender identities are developed and root causes of gender-based violence can be addressed, for effective primary prevention. In addition, there will be a strong emphasis on data collection to understand the particular needs of the indigenous populations in order to address violence against women and girls.  The intervention also expects to increase the knowledge and capacity of governmental officials and educators in indigenous communities to implement Mexico’s Law on Women’s Access to a Life Free of Violence and Law on Equality between Women and Men, for the prevention of violence against women and girls and improved quality of related responses and services. The intervention will further forge strategic partnerships with indigenous leaders, the Centre for Research and Studies in Anthropology, and the Indigenous Women Alliance for Central America and Mexico.