United Nations Spotlight Initiative, European Union and World Bank Group meet to advance shared efforts in ending violence against women and girls

Spotlight Initiative Global Coordinator Erin Kenny, Head of Section for Sustainable Development and International Partnerships at the European Union Delegation to the United Nations Renaud Savignat, and World Bank Group Director for Gender Robin Mearns.
World Bank Group Director for Gender Robin Mearns, Spotlight Initiative Global Coordinator Erin Kenny, Head of Section for Sustainable Development and International Partnerships at the European Union Delegation to the United Nations Renaud Savignat. Photo: Spotlight Initiative
March 10, 2026

UNITED NATIONS, New York - On the sidelines of the seventieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW70), the United Nations Spotlight Initiative, the European Union and the World Bank Group convened in New York to discuss their shared efforts to end violence against women and girls (VAWG) and to chart the next phase of their collaboration.

The meeting built on the tripartite partnership announced in September 2024, when the three institutions pledged to make gender equality and the eradication of VAWG a central priority of their cooperation to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Spotlight Initiative, the United Nations high-impact initiative to end VAWG, was established to drive large-scale, targeted investment in eliminating all forms of VAWG. The Initiative was launched with an initial €500 million commitment from the European Union, marking the largest global investment of its kind dedicated to ending violence against women and girls.

The convening offered an opportunity to take stock of progress achieved, address obstacles to implementation and agree on concrete entry points for renewed engagement at the global, regional and country levels. Partners reviewed the original partnership framework, celebrating key milestones reached, while candidly identifying areas where momentum has slowed. Discussion centred on how to more effectively leverage the capacities of each institution to operationalize shared objectives at scale.

Looking ahead, partners discussed a menu of options for renewed collaboration, with a focus on identifying quick wins as well as medium- to long-term structural adjustments. The group explored criteria for selecting and sequencing three priority country contexts - specifically, those where all three institutions have an established presence and where joint approaches could be piloted.

At a time when official development assistance is under increasing pressure and financing for gender-focused programming faces growing competition, the meeting underscored the importance of strategic partnership, coordinated investment and sustained political commitment to accelerate progress toward ending violence against women and girls.

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