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Spotlight Initiative worked with Muslim religious leaders – and in partnership with Tajikistan’s State Agency Committee on Religious Affairs and the Regulation of Traditions, Celebrations, and Ceremonies (CRA)  to shifting attitudes, practices and norms to improve gender equality, promote healthy relationships, promote sexual and reproductive health and rights, and prevent gender-based violence (including domestic violence and early marriage). It trained 540 male religious leaders, including Imams using the ‘Healthy Lifestyle’ handbook and encouraged them to address these issues in sermons and…

The guide “I belong to me” was written and illustrated by African women from different backgrounds and parts of the continent in Spotlight Initiative's Africa Regional Programme (first phase). It was designed to promote discussion between African parents and their pre-adolescent children around African culture and Harmful Practices, such as Female Genital Mutilation and Child Marriage. It follows the story of an 11-year old girl called Saleema who travels to different cities across the continent where the main African policies on girls and women’s rights have been adapted, in order for her to…

Spotlight Initiative, with World Vision and the national CSO Psychosocial Recovery and Development in East Timor (PRADET), designed and tested a model for empowering and providing psychosocial support to girls and adolescents who are survivors or at risk of sexual gender-based violence (GBV) in Timor-Leste. The process was informed by a mapping exercise in Ermera municipality, which sought to identify specialised survivor-centred services for adolescents outside of the capital, and involved 1,049 adolescents (522 boys and 527 girls) who provided insights on their specific sexual and…

Spotlight Initiative in Malawi supported a Safe Space Mentorship Programme (SSMP). The programme supported girls and young women from 10 to 24 years old, through a weekly programme that ran for 6 months, addressing sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), harmful practices, referral pathways, and life skills. It aimed to empower young women and girls to recognise that violence is illegal, a violation of human rights, and to build the skills to sensitively challenge harmful social norms and behaviours that perpetuate violence against women and girls (VAWG)…

In 2022, the Spotlight Initiative Latin America Regional Programme was able to map and collect more than 600 gender-based violence prevention strategies from 18 countries, generating important recommendations on effective GBV prevention strategies. Some of the recommendations include: 

Reinforcing critical approaches, intersectional analysis, and taking a multicultural dimension 
Identifying conditions and barriers of access to information and state actions and policies 
Enhancing sustainability and scaling up of processes, and leadership that promotes the building of social norms that…

Spotlight Initiative in Liberia developed a Comprehensive Prevention Strategy for the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and harmful practices through a coordinated and multi-stakeholder partnership. It was the first comprehensive prevention strategy in the region which is:Informed by a literature review and a participatory approach to data collection and analysis to assess risk and protective factors. The process engaged stakeholders at national, county and community levels including Government ministries, law enforcement, the judiciary, health service providers…

In Liberia, Spotlight Initiative developed partnerships with nearly 450 traditional leaders to shift community perceptions and practices surrounding female genital mutilation (FGM). In Liberia, approximately 83% of women and girls aged 15 to 49 have undergone FGM, according to the 2020 Demographic and Health Survey.“We have started to respect and value our wives, women and girls, treating them with love and care.” - Chief Wilfred Gahr, Co-Chairman for Administration of the Traditional Council of Chiefs and Elders of LiberiaBy leveraging the influence and authority of traditional leaders…

Spotlight Initiative in Honduras supported the ‘Cure Violence’ model – a transformative approach aimed at reshaping social norms to address femicide and violence against women and girls. Honduras has the highest femicide rate in Latin America at 4.3 cases per 100,000 women in 2024, with a culture of impunity where most of these crimes go unpunished. This UNICEF-supported initiative mobilised communities to change social norms in areas affected by gang violence and trafficking. It used ‘violence interrupters’ to lead community dialogues and efforts to identify and prevent instances of violence…

Spotlight Initiative's Latin America Regional Programme supported eight national surveys, conducting 9,600 interviews across Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. These surveys provided data on social perceptions of violence against women and girls and femicide. The results showed that verbal abuse and femicide were perceived as the most commonly occurring forms of violence against women and girls, while control over women’s lives was perceived as more acceptable than other forms of violence against women and girls. The survey findings and…

In Malawi, Spotlight Initiative commissioned an evidence review to inform programme and activity design, as well as identify knowledge gaps to inform the programme's research agenda. This research looked across and synthesised peer-reviewed and grey literature on Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) in Malawi, including their causes and drivers. This revealed that drivers included religion, culture and educational attainment. Some of the extrinsic motivations, which came through this research process, included law…