Press Release

Twenty-Four Groups Receive Grants to End Violence against Women

United Nations Trust Fund Grants Awarded to Initiatives in 30 Countries

For immediate release
Date: 22 November 2005

Media Inquiries:
Oisika Chakrabarti, Media Specialist, UN Women Headquarters, +1 646 781-4522,

United Nations, New York — The United Nations Trust Fund to Eliminate Violence against Women will grant US$1.8 million to 24 groups in developing countries who are working to end gender-based violence in their communities. The announcement was made on the occasion of International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women which falls on November 25th each year.

The Trust Fund is a unique multi-lateral mechanism established by the UN General Assembly in 1996 and administered by UNIFEM. Grants are awarded by a committee comprised of representatives of UN agencies and international NGOs. Grants this year went to initiatives that focused on ensuring that national policies and laws to end violence against women were being implemented.

"Great strides have been made in setting policies and legal frameworks — the challenge now is to ensure implementation," said Noeleen Heyzer, executive director of UNIFEM. "The effective strategies supported by the Trust Fund are key to lives free of violence for women and girls. These must now be scaled up to become standard practice everywhere," she added.

Through the 2005-2006 grants:

• Community leaders, traditional authorities, and health and legal service providers will be trained to advocate on and apply new laws to address gender-based violence in Tanzania, Cambodia and southern Nigeria; a regional programme in Central America will analyze domestic violence legislation in 7 countries to monitor its interpretation in court from a human rights perspective; a network of Afro-Brazilian women will advocate in Brazil against social and institutional racism that is impeding implementation of end violence legislation and posing obstacles to women accessing justice;
• The response of law enforcement and judicial bodies to cases of violence against women will be enhanced through extensive training of police forces throughout Papua New Guinea; through the creation of female-friendly police and legal procedures in Bhutan; and through sensitizing medical experts on the impact of their reporting during sexual violence court case proceedings in Pakistan;
• Various government and nongovernmental bodies that respond to gender-based violence in Colombia, and Dominica, will be brought together to develop a better integrated, multi-sectoral approach to providing services for victims and implementing appropriate legislation and policies; in FYR of Macedonia, a similar integrated approach will be developed, targeted particularly at the civil justice system, while in Tajikistan unified efforts will tackle specific end violence provisions in state legislation;
• A coalition of NGOs in Mali will work with parliamentarians to pass legislation to ban female genital excision; and in Swaziland data on sexual violence will be collected and analyzed to support the passing of a sexual offences bill that is pending in parliament.

This year's grant cycle also included an "HIV/AIDS window" for proposals that targeted the linkage between gender-based violence and the spread of HIV/AIDS.
 
Projects receiving support for this work include:

• Community theatre workshops in South Africa which will use audience participation to encourage public action; and theatre programmes in Samoa that will tackle negative stereotypes among high school and university students;
• Providing medical, psychological, social and legal assistance to victims of violence and women living with HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Vietnam, India and Haiti;
• Awareness raising and changing public perceptions through cultural radio programmes in Peru; and through training of police officers, local councils and traditional community leaders in Uganda;
• Community initiatives targeting social groups that have suffered spikes in rates of HIV infection and gender-based violence such as migrant women workers and conflict-affected women in Nepal, and rural, indigenous women in Mexico.

Since its establishment, the Trust Fund has granted more than US$10 million to 198 initiatives in 100 countries. Demand continues to outstrip supply. In 2005, UNIFEM received 1,059 proposals amounting to tens of millions of dollars in requests, but only had US$1.8 million to give out. The latter does represent an 80 per cent increase from the previous year, however, with contributions coming from a diverse group of governments, nongovernmental organizations, the private sector, and individuals. Among the governments giving for the first time is the United States. It joins a government roster that includes Finland, Japan, Trinidad and Tobago, Iceland, and Denmark, which supported the Trust Fund in 2004.

Zonta International, a global NGO with chapters in 68 countries, also made its first contribution to the Trust Fund. UNIFEM National Committees, which advocate in their countries for gender equality, joined forces to contribute nearly $100,000. Support from the private sector was also forthcoming — global manufacturer and provider of health care products and services, Johnson & Johnson, contributed $250,000 for projects addressing the intersection between violence against women and HIV/AIDS.