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The Safe Space Mentorship Programme (SSMP) in Malawi supports gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behavioural change at community and individual levels. Supporting girls and young women from 10 to 24 years old, SSMP is a weekly programme that runs for 6 months addressing gender perspectives, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), gender-based violence (GBV), harmful practices, referral pathways, and life skills from a rights-based perspective. Its purpose is to empower young women and girls to recognise that violence is illegal, how it violates their basic human rights, and…

Developing detailed sustainability plans with identified financing sources is key to taking forward the most important programming outcomes after closure of the initial programme. Some Spotlight Initiative programmes, such as those in Zimbabwe and Malawi, have conducted an in-depth analysis of programme and financial sustainability to identify which activities should be continued, discontinued, or adapted (adding some elements and dropping others).

In Zimbabwe, this analysis was followed up with the amount of capital needed to continue to implement desired selected activities in the future…

In Zimbabwe and Malawi, Spotlight Initiative programmes supported the development of sexual harassment policies at multiple levels.

In Zimbabwe, in collaboration with the Zimbabwe Gender Commission, the programme filled a critical gap by supporting companies to develop gender-based violence and sexual harassment policies through the creation of the Strategy for the Elimination of Sexual Harassment and Gender-based Violence in the Workplace in Zimbabwe 2021-2025. This was developed through a consultative process with feedback from diverse stakeholders including the government, trade unions…

In 2020, the Spotlight Initiative programme in Malawi received reports that many survivors from the rural communities in which they worked were unable to access justice and essential services because they lived long distances from these services and couldn’t afford the cost of public transport. In response, Spotlight Initiative developed funds to help survivors overcome these economic barriers. They worked with traditional authorities to establish community committees which oversaw the distribution of these funds.

These committees sat within the Ministry of Gender, Social Welfare and…