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In Trinidad and Tobago, Spotlight Initiative worked closely with the Office of the Prime Minister Gender and Child Affairs Division (OPM GCA) to support consultations for a National Strategic Action Plan (NSAP) on GBV. Although a plan had previously been developed for the period 2016-2020, it did not receive Cabinet approval and it was not until 2020, with the launch of Spotlight Initiative, that the persistent advocacy efforts spearheaded by UN Women's Caribbean regional office came to fruition.

“Spotlight Initiative allowed it [NSAP] to be back on the table as an important document in the…

The Safe and Fair programme is part of Spotlight Initiative. It aims to ensure that labour migration is safe and fair for all women in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) region. Implemented by ILO and UN Women, along with UNODC, the programme recognizes that women migrant workers in ASEAN countries are at an increased risk of violence, trafficking and exploitation. Addressing these challenges requires a nuanced understanding of both global, regional and national frameworks.

The Safe and Fair programme helped to develop guidance for Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as an…

The Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Programme (SIARP) undertook a comprehensive mapping and assessment to understand the implementation status of laws, policies, action plans, financing and capabilities of states in Africa to end violence against women and girls (EVAWG). Despite the existence of various EVAWG-related frameworks and regional strategies, significant implementation gaps were identified.

“All we need is to implement our commitments. It’s great to see regional partners coming together to develop a Regional Action Plan to eliminate violence against women and girls.” - Odette…

This video provides practical tips for essential service providers on how to engage with survivors in a gender-sensitive and survivor-centred manner. This video was developed as part of the programme "Safe and Fair: Realizing women migrant workers’ rights and opportunities in the ASEAN region (2018–2023)". 

In the Caribbean region, Spotlight Initiative has been supporting the development of ethical guidelines for data collection. The guidelines were informed by User Producer Dialogues held across the region that brought together representatives from ministries, departments, agencies, and civil society organisations to discuss VAWG data collection and management. These dialogues underscored the urgency of addressing administrative data as a complement to prevalence data, the need for harmonisation of tools and processes for data collection and management, and the priority for standardisation…

Spotlight Initiative’s Kyrgyzstan Programme revised and updated existing ethical guidelines and protocols for data collection, sharing and reporting on SGBV/VAWG, and integrating confidentiality and safety provisions. In 2022, the programme provided capacity development to the Office of the National Statistics Committee (NSC), and other responsible public bodies on collecting statistics based on recent legislative amendments related to gender-based violence, to develop standardised reporting forms and ethical protocols for the use of VAWG data as well as digitise case management. These efforts…

In 2021,  Spotlight Initiative  conducted a mid-term assessment to take stock of the first phase of the Malawi programme. The aim was to assess the relevance, efficiency, effectiveness, and sustainability of the programme and to develop relevant recommendations to improve project implementation.The evaluation team conducted Key Informant Interviews (KIIs) and Focus Group Discussions (FGDs) with 62 individuals. These were spread across national and sub-national levels and included six government officials, three EU Delegation staff, 12 representatives from UN organisations, two members of the…

During Spotlight Initiative's programme delivery in Argentina, the Women's Office of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation, the Specialised Prosecutor's Unit on Violence against Women of the Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Security of the Nation were responsible for recording, systematising and analysing information on femicides. Prior to the start of the programme, these three separate state institutions maintained their own femicide data, using different methodologies, definitions and indicators. The result was a situation where the state's own data on the violent deaths…

Civil Society Reference Groups (CSRGs) have been formed at the national, regional and global levels to advise, monitor and hold Spotlight Initiative programmes accountable to women, girls and feminist movements. As part of a broader push on PMER, national CRSGs have developed independent scorecards to monitor Spotlight Initiative’s processes and systems, with a focus on civil society participation in programme design, access to funding, and engagement in implementation, among other areas. The scorecards, and approach to the scorecard, represents an increasingly (participatory) way “to take…

Spotlight Initiative's Niger Civil Society Reference Group (CSRG) implemented and tested various PMER approaches to assess national programme results. Through monitoring visits conducted in  four target provinces, members of the CSRG  listened to the stories of women and girls served by Spotlight Initiative. In a safe and secure environment, CSRG members elevated these stakeholders into valuable advisers and agents of change for the programme. As part of this, the CRSG conducted independent monitoring using the Civil Society Monitoring Toolkit and developed an Advocacy Scorecard in 2021. The…