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CSOs, particularly smaller organisations and WROs, consistently express the need for core funding, flexible funding and flexible reporting arrangements that allow them to respond to changing realities on the ground. Speak with the CSOs you are partnering with to understand what they need to partner effectively. Work with them to develop compliance arrangements that are not burdensome and can accommodate change and adaptability. Ensure CSOs and WROs also have access to the core funding needed to fulfil these requirements. Read more on working with WROs.

Co-creation is a key element of equitable partnerships, not just at the design stage but throughout implementation, learning, as well as sustainability planning. Remember that unequal power dynamics will remain despite efforts to reduce them and so, processes to check these need to be ongoing and responsive. Consider developing regular feedback mechanisms - and perhaps mediation sessions - that allow partners to voice challenges they are facing within the partnership. In order for these mechanisms to be effective, partners must trust that these challenges will be heard without risk of backlash…

Once a partnership has begun, partners must be careful to ensure unequal power dynamics do not undermine the equitable ways of working that the partnership aspires to. For example, partners should collectively develop equitable decision-making processes, considering who will and will not be represented when decisions are made and why; how decisions will be made; and how information will be shared. It is also important to develop an agreed process to deal with conflicts and disagreements. This all relies on developing shared values and taking time at the start to build trust that the differing…

Programmes should develop governance mechanisms that include CSO and WRO representatives at all levels. CSOs and WROs with knowledge of the local context and experience of VAWG programming are well placed to inform programme design, implementation and monitoring. Their engagement in programme governance will also support effective programme development and implementation and ensure that programmes remain accountable to communities. It is essential that the power dynamics between CSO and WRO representatives and other individuals within programme governance bodies are identified, acknowledged…

Programmes should intentionally seek to build equitable partnerships with a range of stakeholders, including those who are often excluded from decision-making around programming. This includes CSOs representing women, people with disabilities, indigenous people, members of the LGBTQI+ community, and refugee-led organisations among others, ensuring that the safety of those CSOs and their representatives is prioritised at all points. In some contexts, programmes will have to be particularly careful about how to engage with CSOs representing people with marginalised identities to reduce the risk…

Effective partnerships bring together organisations with different expertise and skillsets. It is important to recognise the skills that all organisations have, rather than privileging the expertise of one over others. For example, a WRO may have more practical and lived experience of what works when advocating to end VAWG in a particular context or addressing the needs of communities on the ground. An organisation working with persons with disabilities (OPD) is better placed to ensure VAWG programmes reach women and girls with disabilities. On the other hand, an INGO may have more experience…

Early in the process of building a partnership, larger organisations often expect smaller CSOs and WROs to “prove” their suitability, which can result in extractive and inequitable processes. Larger organisations need to facilitate mutual due diligence as an important first step to building an equitable partnership. This requires that larger organisations also be prepared to open their work and processes to interrogation and scrutiny. In addition, during this early stage of partnership building, it is important for all organisations to explore whether their potential partners' values…

Even the most well-designed VAWG programmes can be thrown off course by unforeseen events like the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict situations, or humanitarian emergencies. These external shocks can have a profound impact on programme activities and can exacerbate violence against women and girls in target communities, as was the case in many Spotlight Initiative country programmes during COVID-19. It is therefore important to ensure that programmes can adapt, innovate and pivot to respond to shifting needs, including building the capacity and resilience of programme actors to adapt to these…

VAWG programmes aim to shift gender and power inequalities and therefore can lead to backlash from community members, men and power holders – such as resistance, controlling behaviours and/or further violence. Practitioners often encounter some form of resistance in their day-to-day experiences of working in this space: institutional inertia, denial of support for feminist work, pushback on “progressive” feminist agendas, or attacks on civil society spaces.

Therefore, all programmes should establish a project risk matrix and monitoring system, including participant feedback surveys…

Programming to prevent VAWG needs to be sufficiently intensive to achieve transformative change. One-off or ad-hoc training and awareness-raising sessions are not effective; instead, evidence shows the importance of reaching enough participants on a structured and repeated basis to facilitate changes in attitudes, behaviours and norms.

Approaches need to enable a comprehensive exploration of different topics related to violence, such as gender norms, family relations, financial management, and effective communication. They need to invest the time and resources to enable participants to…