Strengthening public health response to violence against women and girls
Context and objectives
The project aims to improve countries’ capacity to prevent and respond to violence against women and girls, and support progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goals 3 and 5 (ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages; achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls.)
The project seeks to provide evidence and advocacy tools to governments and other stakeholders in target countries on the public health impact of violence against women, as well as concrete guidance on how health sector capacities can be strengthened to address the issue.
The specific objectives take into consideration additional challenges presented by the COVID-19 emergency and are designed to be flexible, including the provision of remote support and implementation of activities through online conferences and webinars if face-to-face activities are not possible.
The concrete objectives are:
- Support the integration of prevention of, and response to, violence against women and girls into national plans, strategies, policies and health protocols of UfM countries, including those relating to COVID-19; highlight progress made, share best practice and identify common challenges.
- Present to policymakers the evidence, tools and recommendations for health sector prevention of and response to violence against women and girls.
- Build the capacity of national stakeholders to strengthen health services through a multi-sectoral response to violence against women and girls in 6 countries.
Location
Key figures
Countries:
12
Duration:
24 months
Cost:
€660K
Budget
€660.491, of which €181.620 contributed by the World Health Organization
Partnership
The project falls under the Memorandum of Understanding between the World Health Organization and the UfM Secretariat.
Promoter
The project will be implemented by the World Health Organization (WHO), coordinated by the WHO Department of Reproductive Health and Research (RHR), and implemented by WHO EURO and EMRO regional office focal points for violence against women and girls. The WHO has been working on addressing violence against women and girls as a public health issue for the last 20 years and has contributed to placing this issue on the health and development agenda. Within the UN system, the WHO has the mandate to generate evidence, guidance and normative standards for the health sector and provide technical support to Ministries of Health and other actors.
Beneficiaries
The direct beneficiaries of this project will be policymakers in the UfM region who take decisions regarding policies, funding allocations and programming directions. The ultimate beneficiaries are expected to be women and girls residing in these countries who are at risk of or have been subjected to violence, and are in need of prevention and response programmes and services.
Key actions
Baseline analysis of how violence against women and girls is being addressed in national plans, policies and health protocols of countries in the Mediterranean region.
Inter-country policy dialogue between 12 collaboration countries, sharing experience and transferring knowledge.
Capacity-building using WHO guidelines and tools in 6 target countries.
Working with the 12 collaboration countries to design and implement useful advocacy and awareness-raising about the role of the health sector.
Results
- Policymakers from at least 12 countries of the UfM are informed about public health approaches to preventing and responding to violence against women and girls.
- At least 6 of the countries include in their national plans, strategies or policies a roadmap to follow up with actions to implement evidence-based prevention and response to violence against women and girls.
- Knowledge and skills of policy makers from 6 countries, mainly from Southern and Eastern Mediterranean countries, are strengthened to implement a health response to violence against women and girls within a multisectoral context.
- At least 2 countries develop or update their national protocols or policies (including those related to COVID-19), with a focus on the health sector, in line with WHO guidelines and tools on addressing violence against women and girls.
