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Gender-responsive budgets should be accompanied by monitoring tools embedded in national and local systems. Systems should track financial allocations, spend, and the impact of these resources and fiscal policies on communities. For example, tracking data could indicate how much money was spent on sexual reproductive health and rights, and track levels of maternal mortality or uptake of family planning services. Monitoring should be a routine process with clearly delineated reporting timelines and linked to a coordination mechanism that brings together decision-makers from key ministries…

Forge and leverage strong relationships with influential senior government officials, such as Ministers, Heads of State. These individuals can act as champions to drive progress. Some Spotlight Initiative programmes have engaged Cabinet members who had long championed ending GBV and public recognised leaders on the issue. For example, in Trinidad & Tobago, the leadership of the Minister of Social Development and Family Services, supported government adoption of a new costed national GBV action plan. This type of leadership and political will sets the groundwork for integration of EVAWG into…

Engage with subnational and local governments to ensure GBV is a budgeted priority at the local level. Reaching budget decision-makers in decentralized governments, can help ensure that commitments and resources to EVAWG are sustained, even if priorities shift at the national level.

Provide tangible, actionable technical assistance and training on gender-responsive budgeting by tying it to existing trainings and policies. For example, in Liberia, Spotlight Initiative helped strengthen the Ministry of Finance’s Gender-Responsive Budgeting Unit. Any training should be accompanied by the joint development of accessible, tools and learning materials to support sustained learning beyond the programme cycle. 

Implement the whole-of-society approach by building cross-sectoral coalitions within and outside governments. This could range from formal to informal, task forces, committees or coordination meetings. Demonstrate to government the value of including civil society in decision-making and monitoring related to GBV efforts. Bringing CSOs to the table can help set a precedent for more inclusive decision-making and accountability. 

National policy and legal environments are often fluid and can change quickly. It is important that programmes update their analysis regularly, and especially in anticipation of and response to significant political events such as national elections and other changes in government or leadership. A review of Spotlight Initiative programmes across Latin America and Africa in 2022 found that elections and changes in government in Mali, Niger, Liberia, Argentina and Mexico had significant impacts on programming. The programmes had to engage with newly elected government officials to gain their…

Through the analysis, identify which groups of people are excluded from decision-making. For example, are there women in Parliament? If so, do they face barriers to influencing change? Are they primarily from elite backgrounds and are women from poorer, rural or minority religious or ethnic backgrounds excluded? Are women with disabilities, adolescent girls, or LBT women included in decision-making? Are survivors of VAWG given a platform to influence decision-making? Once you have a better understanding of which groups hold positions of power and which are excluded, you will be in a better…

In many contexts, there is a hybrid legal system or coexistence of state law and traditional or religious laws. In some cases, there is clarity about the jurisdiction of these different systems, but, in other cases, this is less clear or not implemented in practice. There can also be significant difference between the content of state laws and traditional or religious laws, especially regarding the protection and rights of women and girls. It is important to analyse these realities and also look at women and girls’ preferences for accessing justice. Even though, on paper, state laws may offer…

If programmes are working at the sub-national level, it is important to identify any enablers or barriers that may impact VAWG programming in those particular states, regions or districts. For example, there may be a national law that criminalises intimate partner violence, but within a particular region, the knowledge or implementation of this law may be limited. In some contexts, there are also local by-laws which may be more or less progressive than national legislation. Equally, there may be strong anti-equality sentiment at the national level, but within a particular state, local…

Identify which laws and policies already exist to protect women and girls from VAWG and hold perpetrators to account, along with gaps that need to be addressed. Consider how these laws impact on different populations of women and girls at risk and survivors of violence. For example, if homosexuality is illegal, this would put survivors with diverse sexual orientations, gender expressions and identities, at risk of arrest if they seek support, posing a substantial barrier to them accessing mainstream services. Ensure your analysis looks at wider laws which impact gender equality and women and…