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In 2022, the Spotlight Initiative Latin America Regional Programme was able to map and collect more than 600 gender-based violence prevention strategies from 18 countries, generating important recommendations on effective GBV prevention strategies. Some of the recommendations include:
Reinforcing critical approaches, intersectional analysis, and taking a multicultural dimension
Identifying conditions and barriers of access to information and state actions and policies
Enhancing sustainability and scaling up of processes, and leadership that promotes the building of social norms that…
When the COVID-19 pandemic started, many Spotlight Initiative programmes were already being implemented and teams had to quickly adapt implementation to changing realities. Overall, Spotlight Initiative rapidly accelerated and redirected more than USD 21 million across programmes to address VAWG in the context of COVID-19. For example:
Mobile and remote services were developed and reinforced to address the acute needs of women and girls. For example, the Zimbabwe programme scaled up mobile one-stop centre service provision, exceeding the set target by 300% and bringing women with…
In Guyana, private sector companies are being encouraged and supported by Spotlight Initiative to use the Women’s Empowerment Principles. The first steps in the process included mapping private sector companies, NGOs, and governments that could benefit from the WEPs. Next, a series of webinars were held to increase awareness of the WEPs, which resulted in 18 organisations expressing interest in joining the programme and developing gender action plans and gender gap analysis tools. Currently, there are 1,600 signatories in the Latin American and Caribbean region. It was learned that additional…
In Mexico, domestic violence related calls to 911 sharply increased by 46% in the first few months of 2020 due to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. There was significant demand for shelters and not enough rooms available. To respond to this, the Spotlight Initiative programme, the national government, local governments and a hotel corporation built a multi-stakeholder partnership to provide free accommodation in hotels for women experiencing violence as an interim strategy. This was a complex partnership due to the diversity of actors from the public and private sector. To address this, a…
Spotlight Initiative in El Salvador has partnered with the Association of Transgender, Transexual and Transvestite Women to deliver rights-based and inclusive health services to the trans community. The programme strengthened capacities of the Dike+ Clinic, which provides access to low-cost medicine and medical and psychological health services to trans people. In providing unprecedented support to trans women organisations, the programme helped ensure all women have their needs considered, and opened a new window of opportunity for the trans population to champion their rights. Further…
Through the Latin America Regional Programme, many countries in the region have made progress in strengthening the clinical management of sexual violence and intimate partner violence through virtual online courses co-designed and built with the ministries of health of 11 countries. Over 18,600 people have participated across six countries (Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru) in these training sessions, strengthening their capacities to develop and deliver programmes that address violence against women and girls and specifically sexual violence and intimate partner…
In Argentina, women and girls can report cases of VAWG, including violence that takes place in public places, using a “Tramas en Acción” (Action Plots), created by the grantee Centro de Intercambio y Servicios para el Cono Sur Argentina in partnership with the Ministry for Women.
Following the purchase of tablets for staff and with the support of 30 volunteers, the Spotlight Initiative grantee CHRDA recorded at least 1,000 cases of VAWG. Additionally, 2,467 women at risk of and survivors of violence, including internally displaced women, were provided with comprehensive services including…
During COVID-19, Spotlight Initiative programmes needed to rapidly pivot programming to respond to the increase in violence against women and girls during the pandemic.
To meet the immediate needs of women and girls experiencing or at risk of violence, Spotlight Initiative Samoa programme took a flexible approach by repurposing its funds to work with the Ministry for Women, Community and Social Development and frontline service providers such as civil society organisations to create and distribute 400 “Prevention Packs” containing information and materials on COVID-19 and GBV translated in…