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In a time of shrinking fiscal space and decreased aid budgets, domestic public resources represent a critical avenue to maintain progress on gender equality. Gender-responsive budgeting is a key enabler for long-term resourcing and the sustainable delivery of EVAWG activities. National budgets are one of the most important policy tools of a government, because they impact the implementation of all other policies, laws and services. Domestic public funds offer a potentially more stable and greater source of finance for EVAWG, surpassing private flows and foreign aid. Spotlight Initiative…

Spotlight Initiative has supported a range of programmes and activities which have focused on preventing violence in sports. This includes: awareness and advocacy campaigns, policy reform, creation of safe spaces, capacity building, youth engagement, peer leadership, and multi-stakeholder partnerships. These initiatives have targeted youth, men and boys, women and girls.

Policy development and institutional support: In Samoa, Spotlight Initiative partnered with the Samoa Association of Sports and the National Olympic Committee to develop new policy tools and resources - including an…

Spotlight Initiative has prioritised direct support to facilitate and strengthen women’s rights and feminist movement building in a number of ways and learned some key lessons:

Directly address the resourcing gap through an inclusive, human rights-based and feminist approach to funding that disrupts the existing landscape and shifts funds and decision making to grassroots and local women’s rights organisations. Spotlight Initiative programmes allocated 48%, or about USD 190 million, of activity funds to civil society organisations, and of this, 79% reached national, local and grassroots…

Adapting the SASA! Community mobilisation approach: Spotlight Initiative has adapted and implemented the SASA! Approach in Uganda and Haiti, originally developed by the Ugandan women’s rights organisation Raising Voices. SASA! is rooted in a feminist understanding of men’s power over women as a root cause of VAWG and works to balance power in relationships and communities. It trains and supports community activists to facilitate informal activities - such as dialogues, role plays, discussions of posters - with community members in their homes, workplaces, places of worship, and areas of…

A key focus of Spotlight Initiative's work is to strengthen the institutional environment for ending VAWG. In different countries, programmes have variously worked with national government, the private sector, media and education institutions both to reduce violence within these institutions, ensure they implement commitments to end VAWG and to foster a wider enabling environment for prevention.In addition to reforming and strengthening laws and policies, Spotlight Initiative has worked with government bodies to strengthen institutional capacity to implement EVAWG commitments. This has…

Spotlight Initiative has integrated women’s economic empowerment (WEE) activities as part of a comprehensive approach to ending violence against women and girls in several countries. It has implemented economic empowerment initiatives with survivors to support them to recover and rebuild their lives after experiencing violence. It has also developed specific economic empowerment programmes to target those involved in conducting harmful practices like FGM to support a change in livelihood strategy as a means to disincentivise their performance of these practices (see case study on Liberia). In…

Spotlight Initiative has implemented a range of interventions in different countries to promote healthy relationships between couples, parents and children, other family members and peers. Programmes are designed to recognise that there are links between direct experiences or witnessing of violence in childhood, and the increased likelihood of intimate partner violence (IPV) victimisation or perpetration. The impact of intergenerational transmission may be exacerbated in families affected by conflict and displacement.Healthy relationships in families: Spotlight Initiative programmes have…

Analysis of the legal and policy landscape is a key first step in programme development. Spotlight Initiative's Technical Guidance Note recommends that all programmes assess the legislative and policy framework including customary/religious/indigenous laws to ensure approaches respond to gaps and needs. Programmes should assess coherence with international and regional standards, gaps and inconsistencies in content, implementation weaknesses, existing investments and budget allocations as well as quality of monitoring mechanisms for enforcement of the laws.Use a range of methods for conducting…

Spotlight Initiative programmes have supported a number of different social empowerment interventions with women and girls, and sometimes with boys, men and other family members. Approaches and learning include:Safe spaces: These spaces can create opportunities for participants to learn about their rights, build awareness on sexual and reproductive health, healthy relationships and GBV, as well as gain new life skills and vocational skills. See case study below on Malawi.Social networks: Spotlight Initiative programmes in many countries, including in Malawi, Trinidad and Tobago, and Uganda…

Spotlight Initiative develops comprehensive VAWG prevention programmes that work across sectors and levels to address the root cause and drivers of VAWG, including the norms, attitudes and beliefs that sustain violence. Across programmes, this has included:An overall strategy that combines a dedicated pillar on VAWG prevention, as well as a focus on embedding prevention strategies across all other pillars of work, including legal reform and institutional strengthening. Read more about the pillars of Spotlight InitiativeSelecting and designing strategies tailored to context. By conducting in…