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In 2021, Spotlight Initiative established the Pacific Feminist Community of Practice (PacFemCOP). This was moderated by DIVA for Equality in Fiji. It involved a co-creation process between 20 CSOs and around 80 activists from across the region. Through PacFemCOP, these activists were able to document feminist best practice from across the region, including topics such as feminist approaches to gender, ecological and climate justice; elimination of VAWG; how to mobilize, organize and action for change; feminist approaches to economic justice; SOGIESC; bodily autonomy and integrity; and sexual…

In Timor-Leste, the percentage of the national budget allocated to the prevention and elimination of violence against women and girls became a significant point of concern, following a drastic funding reduction between 2019 and 2020. In 2019, 0.6 percent of the budget (10.4 million USD) was allocated to gender equality initiatives. This was reduced to a mere 0.1 percent of the budget (1.4 million USD) in 2020. Reductions in budget allocated to gender equality initiatives have adverse consequences that impede the protection of women’s rights and safety, the advancement of policies and…

Data shows that children in Papua New Guinea commonly experience physical and/or verbal abuse and/or neglect from their parents/caregivers. The levels of abuse are higher for disabled and adopted children. In addition, many children witness violence between their parents and among other family members. The Spotlight Initiative (led by UNICEF), in partnership with faith-based organisations (FBOs) and civil society organisations (CSOs), launched the Parenting for Childhood Development (P4CD) programme in six provinces of Papua New Guinea. This programme consisted of a series of training…

In 2019, Spotlight Initiative programmes conducted a contextual analysis across the Pacific region to better understand the policy and legal context that contributed to high rates of VAWG. This analysis showed that domestic violence legal frameworks exist in the form of Family Protection Acts in countries such as Samoa and Fiji. However, sexual and reproductive coercion was not criminalised as a form of domestic violence. In some countries, there were also discrepancies between different laws and policies, due in part to a lack of coordination between government ministries when developing new…

Spotlight Initiative, in consortia with World Vision and the national CSO Psychosocial Recovery and Development in East Timor (PRADET), designed and tested a model for empowering and providing psychosocial support to girls and adolescents who are survivors or at risk of sexual gender-based violence (GBV) in Timor-Leste. The process was informed by a mapping exercise in Ermera municipality, which sought to identify specialised survivor-centred services for adolescents outside of the capital, and involved 1,049 adolescents (522 boys and 527 girls) who provided insights on their specific sexual…

In Uganda, following the delivery of capacity strengthening sessions with government stakeholders, host and refugee communities advocating for EVAWG and the safety of women, new commitments were made in Yumbe District, which had a high prevalence rate of teenage pregnancies. Local authorities advocated for police to adequately investigate and bring perpetrators of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) to justice. In Adjumani District, a GBV ordinance is being pushed for by district women councillors (women caucus) and has received support by the local chairperson.

Additionally, through ‘security…

As part of Spotlight Initiative, UNFPA in Timor Leste mapped quantitative and qualitative data on violence against women and girls in order to inform capacity building and training on data literacy and gender statistics for civil servants. Specifically, data was collected in Dili, Bobonaro, Viqueque and Ermera and involved a literature review and secondary analysis of the 2015-2016 Demographic and Health Survey. The mapping reviewed types of violence (physical, sexual and emotional), demographic characteristics, behavioural factors, vulnerable groups, and help-seeking behaviour. Overall, the…

At the global level, Spotlight Initiative consolidates country-level information received into a central result-based management system called the SMART platform. This monitoring and reporting tool gathers performance data at the outcome and output levels, linking programme-related result indicators so evaluators can better measure the efficiency and effectiveness of Spotlight Initiative. Result indicators are specific to each country or regional programme. For outcomes, shared indicators are defined in the overall and regional result frameworks.

Programme stakeholders are obligated to…

Spotlight Initiative’s overarching goal in its Theory of Change (ToC) is to ensure that all women, especially those who are marginalised and vulnerable, live free from violence and harmful practices. Together with its partners, Spotlight Initiative aims to make concrete changes in six Outcome Areas or Pillars to end VAWG. Changes in these six Outcome Areas contribute to achieving SDG 5 and SDG 16. ToC “if/then” logic statements were then crafted for each Outcome to describe the desired results.

Example: IF/THEN TOC for Outcome 1 (Legislative and policy frameworks) 

IF
(1) Women and VAWG…

In Timor-Leste, Spotlight Initiative addressed growing concerns about reductions in the national budget allocation for gender equality. Following a significant budget cut from 0.6% (US$10.4 million) in 2019 to 0.1% (US$1.4 million) in 2020, Spotlight Initiative actively engaged with different levels of government and civil society organisations, both to increase the allocation of the budget for preventing and ending VAWG, as well as to improve stakeholder engagement with the budgeting process.


“It is hard to understand the state budget specially to analyse it from a gender perspective…