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Spotlight Initiative in Malawi engaged in an innovative practice by including the perspectives and experiences of communities and rights holders into the design and implementation of the programme’s Midterm Review.

Through focus groups discussions, key informant interviews and one anonymous survey, this inclusive process had two main objectives: to check whether women and girls and other stakeholders felt the programme was relevant and sustainable, and to assess what was and was not working (and why) so that the Malawi Spotlight Initiative team could recalibrate programming.

As a result…

In Niger, the Spotlight Initiative programme set up a mentorship programme in safe spaces to strengthen the capacities and skills of out-of-school or never-schooled, married or unmarried adolescent girls aged 15-19. A comprehensive mentorship guide and curriculum was developed covering the following areas across 28 sessions:

Life skills: Self-awareness, self-esteem and emotional management; values and behaviours; decision-making, problem-solving and negotiations; leadership, communication and organisations skills and team-working.
Reproductive health: Women's reproductive system…

In Belize, the Spotlight Initiative programme made significant advances in strengthening and scaling up Comprehensive Sexuality Education (CSE) at the secondary school level through a partnership with the Ministry of Education. The CSE was revised to meet international standards and scaled up to all secondary schools, sharing important anti-VAWG messages.


"CSE training is inclusive and open to everyone and addressed sexual education for all genders and orientations." - Community-level Peer Educator in Belize City


However, not all adolescents and youth attend school. In an effort to…

in Mozambique, Spotlight Initiative provided support to local organisations to improve community-based coalition and movement building. This support resulted in over 25 local civil society organisations and community-based organisations exchanging their experiences on best practices and challenges on sexual and reproductive health and rights, as well as the prevention of sexual and gender-based violence and child marriage. District platforms were created, in alignment with the country’s policy of decentralisation, to promote the human rights of women and girls. These platforms led to 285…

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 Honduras, the Centre for Justice and International Law, in partnership with women’s rights organisations, civil society organisations and feminist organisations, worked tirelessly over five years to campaign for the passage of “La Esperanza Protocol”. This was published in December 2021 and is now recognised as the international standard for the investigation and response to threats and attacks against human rights defenders. Thanks to the work of WROs, the protocol includes a specific focus on the contribution of women human rights defenders to strengthening democracy. It also recognises…

In 2021, the Spotlight Initiative programme in Mozambique worked with local leaders to support them to prevent child marriage. They established provincial forums of traditional authorities in three provinces where 133 informal and formal decision-makers were engaged in dialogues on gender and VAWG. Overall, 1,038 community leaders took part in “reflection sessions” to discuss ways to prevent child marriage.


“Behaviour change takes time. With the support of the Government and Spotlight Initiative, we are leading several community-driven actions towards gender equality” - Community leader…

In Indonesia, nearly 65% of migrant workers are women. Women migrant workers send remittances back to their countries of origin providing critical support for the health, education and wellbeing of their families. They also contribute to the economy in their host countries like Indonesia. Nonetheless, they often struggle to be recognised as formal workers and face discrimination exploitation and violence at the hands of employers, co-workers, partners, law enforcement officials and even frontline service providers. In Indonesia, there has been important progress with the passage of a law to…

In Uganda, Spotlight Initiative supported the SASA! Together – a community mobilisation approach that supports communities to create positive and sustainable changes in the norms that perpetuate violence against women and girls. SASA! Together is a revised version of the original SASA! Approach, developed by the Ugandan NGO Raising Voices. New features of SASA! Together include a distinct focus on intimate partner violence, strategies that reach across the whole community, and more support for organisations and communities to sustain change.  

The SASA! Together methodology focuses on…

Spotlight Initiative worked with UNFPA and the Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago (FPATT) to implement the Collaborative HIV Prevention and Adolescent Mental Health Programme (CHAMP). This supported young people and adult caregivers across three regions of Trinidad and Tobago. This programme was established with a view to addressing HIV prevention but, through community engagement, reduced the likelihood of youth engaged in the programme responding to peer pressure to engage in adolescent sexual activity.  

Spotlight Initiative trained around 25 community leaders as…