Join Spotlight Initiative's Global Reference Group
In September 2017, Spotlight Initiative was launched as a global partnership to eliminate all forms of VAWG. Backed by a financial investment of EUR 500 million, the Initiative has operated in five regions (Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Pacific), responding to all forms of VAWG. In line with the 2030 Agenda, the Initiative integrates the principle of ‘leaving no one behind’ and adopts a multi-stakeholder approach. Spotlight Initiative is a UN Secretary-General flagship initiative, a designated “High-Impact Initiative” at the SDG Summit, and an accelerator for the SDGs. It is directly linked to the achievement of both SDG 5 and SDG 16, but has been shown to drive change across multiple development goals. For decades women’s movements have been at the forefront of the fight to eliminate discrimination, violence and harmful practices against all women and girls across the globe. Their expertise spans all the Outcomes of the Spotlight Initiative’s Theory of Change.
To serve the next generation of Spotlight Initiative programmes and continue to push the Initiative to deeper accountability to women’s movements and feminist civil society, the Secretariat of the Spotlight Initiative invites nominations from the women’s movement and relevant human rights-based civil society organizations and networks to be part of the Initiative’s Civil Society Global Reference Group (CS-GRG).
The Initiative established a Global Civil Society Global Reference Group (CS-GRG) as well as national, and regional Civil Society Reference Groups (CS-RGs) as institutional mechanisms used to harness civil society expertise to strengthen the Initiative’s effectiveness and accountability to the women movements. The CS-GRG has a triple responsibility — to advocate to and advise the Spotlight Initiative to hold it accountable, informed by the women’s and feminist movements, as partners for the realization of Spotlight Initiative’s objectives. It comprises around 12 (2 of which are reserved spots from the national/regional reference group structures, subject to addition of a member for every region represented) pre-eminent global experts.
The criteria, process and timeline for the set-up of the CS-GRG were Civil Society led and the key criteria for membership include significant experience and expertise in eliminating violence against women and girls, and in women’s rights and gender equality and human rights more broadly, as well as meaningful representation of intersectionality and diversity of communities/constituencies. All nominations will be reviewed by a 7-person Selection Committee comprising civil society leaders and two members of the Spotlight Secretariat.
The Terms of Reference of the CS-GRG (drafted by the current CS-GRG and to be finalized by the new CS-GRG once it is constituted) as well as the nomination template can be accessed in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese and Russian.
Individuals may nominate themselves and organizations, entities and individuals may nominate other individuals using the Nomination Form below. All Nomination Forms must be accompanied by the candidate’s CV or a brief bio and sent to the following e-mail address: radia.bakkouch@un.org.
Kindly note that the call will be open for one month. The deadline for the submission of all nominations is 2 February 2024. Please note we will not be able to accept any nominations after this date. It is anticipated that the CS-GRG will be in place by early March 2024.
