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In 2021, Spotlight Initiative in Uganda applied the SASA! approach to VAWG prevention in refugee camps and accompanied this approach by installing solar streetlights - as a way to extend the reach and impact of the programme.

The SASA! methodology trains community activists to raise awareness and engage people in critical, reflective dialogue about VAWG, reporting mechanisms, and services within communities. It engages all community members, recognising that to shift the harmful gender norms and power inequalities that drive VAWG requires a collective change among sufficient numbers of…

In 2020, the Spotlight Initiative programme in Uganda conducted a mixed methods study to assess the knowledge, attitudes, skills and behaviours linked to VAWG, prevalent social norms, HIV-related behaviour and community responses to VAWG in two protection of civilian camps. Information was gathered through primary research and a review of secondary evidence, which the team triangulated to ensure consistency of findings. The team used the following techniques to gather data:

Questionnaire-based survey: The team identified 270 participants including men and women to participate in this survey…

Spotlight Initiative in Honduras recognised the need for improved coordination of communications and knowledge management among UN agencies. To address this, an interagency ‘toolbox’ was developed to pool communications products, resources and tools about VAWG. The preliminary mapping of communications activities, including EVAWG campaigns, publications and materials, can be found at Mapeo Preliminar de Piezas de Comunicacion Iniciativa Spotlight. 

This collaborative approach is seen as innovative, with the potential to improve the impact of communication efforts by reducing duplication…

Several Spotlight Initiative country programmes worked together to improve administrative and operational processes, in line with the UN Reform’s Business Operations Support Initiative. This included actions like joint procurement and human resource processes. These efforts aimed to streamline expertise, reduce transaction costs and take advantage of economies of scale, leading to faster programme implementation. Examples include:

Cost-shared budgets: In Liberia, the UN Resident Coordinator led efforts where Recipient UN Organisations identified opportunities to create cost-shared budgets…

Spotlight Initiative programme in Zimbabwe adopted a new way of working, aligned with UN Reform principles. During implementation, the country team established a collaborative model, jointly developing terms of reference and action plans for coordinated interventions. Spotlight Initiative’s Inter-Agency Technical Team actively participated in each agency’s activities, including meetings, conferences and training. 


“Delivering as one helps all the sector stakeholders, especially the government partners. It allows the Initiative to effectively plug the resources into all the components that…

Capacity development of key stakeholders in the government, health, police, justice, and social service sectors, educators, private sector partners, and civil society, can help to embed EVAWG knowledge, attitudes, and practices in people´s personal and professional lives.

For example, in Malawi, gender-sensitive trainings on survivor-centred reporting for Police Public Relations Officers and the media continues to yield results beyond the initial training sessions.

In El Salvador, civil society organisations contributed to new areas of research on justice, social auditing for women's…

To sustain long-term impacts beyond programming timeframes, it can be useful to focus efforts on establishing gender-equitable policies and mechanisms. For example, laws to end VAWG, gender mainstreaming policies, new gender bodies and mechanisms, and comprehensive sexuality education in national curricula.

In Ecuador, Spotlight Initiative programme has strengthened institutional gender units within various governmental departments, including the Ministry of Education and the Legislative Assembly, which has cultivated a sustained focus on gender issues in the government and ministries that…

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…

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…

Spotlight Initiative implemented the SASA! community mobilisation approach in both Haiti and Uganda, with careful focus on high quality training and mentoring of community activists and engagement with programme stakeholders.

In Haiti, Spotlight Initiative sensitised and trained women and girl leaders using the SASA! approach. In 2021, 26 mentors were trained, equipping them with the skills to support healthy relationships, build self-esteem, and apply effective facilitation techniques necessary for.

In Uganda, Spotlight programme scaled-up the SASA! community mobilisation and norm…