Advanced Search

Teams developing an EVAWG programme should conduct analysis during the design phase to identify potential risks. This analysis should identify harmful social norms and behaviours along with gender and social hierarchies that may be challenged through these efforts. Following this analysis, initiatives should work with local women’s rights organisations (WROs) and feminist organisations to develop risk minimisation and mitigation strategies. For example, to reduce the risk of individual women’s rights activists being targeted, programmes should ensure their data protection processes are robust…

EVAWG initiatives should consider whether there are other key events happening in the area or around the time they are implementing a campaign that they can use to amplify their campaign. They may also wish to combine campaigns with in-person events, as evidence suggests that this can have a greater impact on challenging harmful attitudes, behaviours and norms. For example, during the 16 Days of Activism, there is already a lot of international attention on ending VAWG. EVAWG efforts could consider aligning their campaign with the theme of the 16 Days of Activism and using their hashtags on…

EVAWG campaigns should work with WROs and CSOs to identify how to reach audiences with diverse needs, who may otherwise be excluded from engaging with campaign materials. Campaigns should consider the following:

Languages: Campaigns should consider whether the campaign needs to be in one language or whether this will exclude target audience members who speak other languages. If there is a risk of exclusion, the campaign should work with individuals who speak that target language to translate messages. Campaigns should be careful to ensure any messages are translated by individuals with a…

When developing the methods of an EVAWG campaign, programmes should work with WROs and CSOs to identify which channels will likely be most effective for affecting change in communities or among particular target groups. For example, programmes could consider:

Written materials such as pamphlets and flyers
Posters and visual materials with images in clear locations
Dance, music, theatre and other performance art
Social media campaigns
Marches, sit-ins, lobbying decision-makers, and other forms of protest
Television and radio shows
Partnering with organisations and institutions…

Effective campaigns often have a few clear messages that they communicate to their audience in a verbal and visual language that they understand. Programmes should think about what they want their audience to know or how they want their audience to act at the end of the campaign. They should work closely with communication experts, WROs, and target audience representatives to identify and refine catchy messages that capture what the campaign is trying to articulate in a context-appropriate and impactful way. Messages should be short and memorable and consideration needs to be given to language…

Campaigns are most effective when they are targeted towards particular audiences. EVAWG initiatives should conduct stakeholder mappings in advance of a campaign to identify the target audience(s), their interests, priorities and the channels through which they access information and messaging. For example, a campaign focused on changing a law or policy may target decision-makers or voters, while a campaign focused on ending school-based violence may target teachers, parents and adolescents. Identifying the audience(s) of a campaign will help ensure that the campaign is designed and…

Once an EVAWG initiative has identified the types of VAWG its campaign seeks to address, it may be useful to conduct an in-depth contextual analysis of the social norms that drive this violence. These can include norms around what it means to be a man or woman, gender roles inside and outside the home, family privacy, sexuality, and the acceptability of violence. For example, a campaign focused on preventing intimate partner violence might aim to transform social norms around family privacy, couple communication and the acceptability of violence. See the page on understanding and transforming…

EVAWG programmes planning to run campaigns, whether on a regional, national or local scale, should start by working with women's rights organisations (WROs) to identify their priorities and shape the campaign's objectives. WROs are usually best placed to identify the needs of women and girls in their communities and what specific campaign focus would be most appropriate and useful. They can also help develop strategies to handle resistance or backlash.

For capacity building efforts to be truly responsive to the needs of partners, it is important for initiatives to be flexible. While programmes should try to identify needs during initial capacity assessments, new needs may emerge during the programme. Programmes will be well placed to meet emerging needs if they build in flexible resourcing arrangements, conduct close monitoring, and provide opportunities for ongoing reflection with partners about capacity building needs and approaches.

There can be great value in bringing together WROs and CSOs from different geographies within and across regions to share lessons and for peer support. Spotlight Initiative has supported such learning opportunities. Some programmes developed communities of practice where organisations came together to discuss recent evidence, and convened annual programme meetings with a strong emphasis on reciprocal learning.

For example, Spotlight Initiative hosted a Global Learning Symposium in 2022, bringing together over 200 stakeholders from governments, civil society and the UN system, along with…