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The Safe Space Mentorship Program (SSMP) in Malawi paired the establishment of safe spaces with mentorship programming. This programme supports girls and young women to report instances of violence and access resources and services. It also promotes gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behavioural change at community and individual levels. Focused on girls and young women from 10 to 24 years old, SSMP is a weekly 6-month programme that addresses gender perspectives, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), harmful practices (HP), referral pathways…
Several Spotlight Initiative country programmes worked together to improve administrative and operational processes, in line with the UN Reform’s Business Operations Support Initiative. This included actions like joint procurement and human resource processes. These efforts aimed to streamline expertise, reduce transaction costs and take advantage of economies of scale, leading to faster programme implementation. Examples include:
Cost-shared budgets: In Liberia, the UN Resident Coordinator led efforts where Recipient UN Organisations identified opportunities to create cost-shared budgets…
Capacity development of key stakeholders in the government, health, police, justice, and social service sectors, educators, private sector partners, and civil society, can help to embed EVAWG knowledge, attitudes, and practices in people´s personal and professional lives.
For example, in Malawi, gender-sensitive trainings on survivor-centred reporting for Police Public Relations Officers and the media continues to yield results beyond the initial training sessions.
In El Salvador, civil society organisations contributed to new areas of research on justice, social auditing for women's…
Developing detailed sustainability plans with identified financing sources is key to taking forward the most important programming outcomes after closure of the initial programme. Some Spotlight Initiative programmes, such as those in Zimbabwe and Malawi, have conducted an in-depth analysis of programme and financial sustainability to identify which activities should be continued, discontinued, or adapted (adding some elements and dropping others).
In Zimbabwe, this analysis was followed up with the amount of capital needed to continue to implement desired selected activities in the future…
In Malawi, Spotlight Initiative aimed to increase collaboration and efficiency between UN agencies by establishing a shared office space known as ‘The Spotlight House’. All core team activities occurred in this office, promoting close inter-agency collaboration, reducing miscommunication and enhancing cost savings.
The Spotlight House also became a visible symbol in the community with nearby signposts showing the Spotlight Initiative logo and donor banner. This increased recognition of the initiative as a joint EU-UN effort within local communities.
The success of co-location prompted…