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Interventions based on a one-size-fits-all approach can be ineffective and omit important contextual considerations and social dynamics. As a result, it is important to recognise and understand how intersecting inequalities affect diverse women and girls and shape their identity and power. This contextual understanding is vital to ensuring that VAWG response services and risk mitigation activities are inclusive and accessible to all women and girls and do not inadvertently expose survivors or individuals to further harm.

Taking an intersectional approach therefore requires critical…

Research and analysis should be undertaken with the understanding that every community includes marginalised groups, such as adolescent girls, women and girls with disabilities, women and girls with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities, and women and girls from diverse ethnic and religious affiliations. Many women and girls hold multiple intersecting identities and may have compounding experiences of marginalisation and/or discrimination.

Inclusive assessments help provide a better understanding of the dynamics of violence and exclusion, as well as the specific needs of…

Civil society organisations (CSOs) are often at the forefront of efforts to end violence against women and girls, particularly feminist and women’s rights organisations, and organisations representing marginalised groups. They do important work organising and movement building, advocating for and demanding justice, and providing direct support to survivors of violence as first responders and essential service providers, including in contexts of crisis.

CSOs representing marginalised groups typically have skills and insights that help provide specialised support and expertise to ensure that…

Any VAWG programme which involves working with women and girls, including women’s rights organisations and women human rights defenders (WHRDs), must be done in a safe and ethical manner. This is to ensure their physical, psychological and social wellbeing and lives are not put at risk in the process. Ultimately, the programmes must be accountable to women and girls. VAWG programmes often find it useful to develop a set of guiding principles that underpins the strategy. Examples of useful principles for safe, ethical VAWG programming include:

Adopt a human rights-based approach, putting the…

Once you have considered what the programme design could look like, examine the expertise and level of organisational capacity needed, as well as potential partners to implement the strategy to meet the priority needs of the community and challenges in the specific context. Consider whether a co-creation process is needed to develop the detailed programme interventions, keeping in mind the reach and intensity of activities to deliver a transformative intervention, the number of iterations, and what type of piloting/inception and adaptation phase is needed to test the intervention within the…

Not all programmes need to be designed from scratch. Some build on lessons from a pilot or initial phase, others adapt approaches that were promising in other contexts, and some scale up existing approaches proven effective in the given context. It is useful to consider which of these options might be appropriate in your context and why. 

Equally, you will need to consider what scope of programme is feasible within the timeframe and budget available. Programme managers are often faced with pressures to show quantifiable results in short timeframes. However, evidence and practice-based…

Effective VAWG programmes require a comprehensive design incorporating interventions to address key risk and protective factors in order to prevent violence, as well as work to strengthen response services for survivors of violence. In the case of the Spotlight Initiative, multiple partners worked together to develop a comprehensive approach.

However, it is also critical to understand what other organisations (e.g. bilateral donors, NGOs, women's rights organisations national and local government) are already doing or plan to do within the same geographical area and build synergies. Take…

Before selecting a specific programme strategy, review the global and local evidence on the implementation, results and impacts of different programme approaches. Take care to review which specific forms of VAWG were addressed through different strategies and whether the programmes have been implemented in similar contexts.

There are a number of useful sources including global evidence reviews, UN programming guidance (e.g. the RESPECT Women Implementation Package, the INSPIRE Handbook, the Essential Services Package) and individual programme evaluations that have been conducted to assess…

Prior to designing, adapting or scaling up a VAWG programme, it is useful to undertake a context and situation analysis. This involves identifying key data on VAWG, relevant research and other contextual information to determine which specific issues to address. Knowing who is most at risk and what is driving specific types of violence within the chosen context and across different levels of the socio-ecological model (individual, interpersonal, community, and policy level) helps to identify which programme approaches will be most effective. For more information, see page on Conduct Research…

By combining their expertise and practice-based knowledge, UN agencies can achieve a deeper understanding of how to prevent and respond to VAWG. Globally, UN agencies work together through the UN Headquarters Knowledge Management Group, of which Spotlight Initiative is a part. This group helps identify opportunities for inter-agency collaboration, including how to improve the uptake of knowledge and evidence across the wider UN system.

Collaboration can also help avoid duplication of efforts when it comes to monitoring, evaluation and research. For example, the UN conducts joint evaluations…