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SGBV

LESSON

Lesson Learned: Improving Maya Women's Access to Justice in Rural Guatemala

Community advocates have the potential to be a powerful support network for supporting community awareness, navigating victims to justice services, and play a role in restorative justice processes as a survivor rights group. To optimize this potential, community advocates need institutional backing, continual skills training, linkages to institutional networks, and community recognition.
Project Partner
Women's Justice Initiative
Project Description
This project seeks to improve access to justice for some 2,900 indigenous women living in rural areas of Tecpan, Guatemala through free legal support, accompaniment of survivors, and strengthening local governance and municipal response to violence against women and girls. In addition, the project aims to increase the capacities of 175 key public actors including community leaders, service providers, and police at the local, municipal, and departmental level to provide quality services to indigenous survivors and promote human rights.
Evaluation Date
March 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Improving Maya Women's Access to Justice in Rural Guatemala

Survivors of gender-based violence need integrated support services throughout the process to seek justice. This often involves land titles, housing, childcare, income generation, and psychosocial support services. Established relationships with organizations that can offer these services will help women to access integrated support that they need.
Project Partner
Women's Justice Initiative
Project Description
This project seeks to improve access to justice for some 2,900 indigenous women living in rural areas of Tecpan, Guatemala through free legal support, accompaniment of survivors, and strengthening local governance and municipal response to violence against women and girls. In addition, the project aims to increase the capacities of 175 key public actors including community leaders, service providers, and police at the local, municipal, and departmental level to provide quality services to indigenous survivors and promote human rights.
Evaluation Date
March 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Improving Maya Women's Access to Justice in Rural Guatemala

Community leaders can be important gate keepers for justice services. Community leaders often decide whether a case of VAWG should be reported to authorities outside the community, can be perpetrators of VAWG themselves, and yield high levels of influence in community perceptions of violence tolerance. These leaders need to be engaged meaningfully and strategically so that they, at a minimum, do not block justice processes.
Project Partner
Women's Justice Initiative
Project Description
This project seeks to improve access to justice for some 2,900 indigenous women living in rural areas of Tecpan, Guatemala through free legal support, accompaniment of survivors, and strengthening local governance and municipal response to violence against women and girls. In addition, the project aims to increase the capacities of 175 key public actors including community leaders, service providers, and police at the local, municipal, and departmental level to provide quality services to indigenous survivors and promote human rights.
Evaluation Date
March 2022
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Young Women’s Civic Participation and Leadership in Uganda

Male perceptions regarding the risks encountered by politically empowered women within their communities need to change. Active involvement of men and boys in the needs assessment would have helped in identifying from the very beginning, specific risks related to sexual and gender based violence that challenged the project, and would have helped gain active support of young men in preventing SGBV and discrimination against young female leaders in Uganda.
Project Partner
Century Entrepreneurship Development Agency
Project Description
The project’s objective was to strengthen the political leadership capacity of 1,500 young women from 10 public and private universities based in five districts of Uganda. The grantee aimed to increase awareness among the project’s target group and to provide them with access to information about women’s political life, as well as civic, voting, electoral and democratic processes. This was expected to enhance the leadership capacities of the young women to participate in the March 2016 general elections. Following these elections, an additional component was included in order to create a platform for leadership development of young women in Uganda. Although women’s political advancement at the time of project implementation was a national priority, the actual implementation of related international, regional and national legal and policy commitments remained an important challenge. This was due to persisting socio-cultural factors, such as the high illiteracy rate among youth and girls, lack of access to appropriate information related to political, human and civic rights, early marriage and sexual and gender based violence. While highly relevant in this respect, the project did not address the significant risk of SGBV that young women are exposed to because of their interest in political participation.
Evaluation Date
May 2017
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Together against violence and discrimination of women

The project design was faulty and unlikely to have a positive impact on the problem of sexual and gender based violence. There were in fact indications that the project had a negative effect. Women involved in activities, because of the ingrained patriarchal culture, were pressured to stay silent. In addition the repetition of messages underlining the dependent status of women, and the perpetuation of traditional responses to incidences of violence that deny the legal rights of the woman, for example – were likely to be negative.
Project Partner
Association des Femmes de Tadjourah
Project Description
The objective of the project was to contribute to the elimination of violence and discrimination against women in 20 communes of Djibouti’s Tadjourah region. This was to be achieved through awareness raising and mobilisation of the local population; and by building the personal capacities of local actors and structures, followed by the creation of 20 local vigilance groups in the targeted communes. There was, however, a fundamental flaw in the design of the project that reflected a mismatch between the problem identified and the responses chosen. The grantee’s research identified the principal cause of violence against women as patriarchal attitudes and behaviours that relegate women to an inferior status in the couple, the community and the nation. A weak legal framework to support action to end violence, and weak implementation of existing clauses in the Constitution that promise gender equality were also found. The project did not address these causes but focused on raising the awareness of women, potentially putting them at risk of reprisals.
Evaluation Date
March 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Together against violence and discrimination of women

There was particular concern about the role of the local vigilance groups in Djibouti. While there was obvious enthusiasm and energy to improve understanding in the communities, especially from the female members of the groups, the male leaders’ responses to instances of violence perpetuated the community-negotiated outcomes that avoided reporting violence to the authorities and resulted in silencing women.
Project Partner
Association des Femmes de Tadjourah
Project Description
The objective of the project was to contribute to the elimination of violence and discrimination against women in 20 communes of Djibouti’s Tadjourah region. This was to be achieved through awareness raising and mobilisation of the local population; and by building the personal capacities of local actors and structures, followed by the creation of 20 local vigilance groups in the targeted communes. There was, however, a fundamental flaw in the design of the project that reflected a mismatch between the problem identified and the responses chosen. The grantee’s research identified the principal cause of violence against women as patriarchal attitudes and behaviours that relegate women to an inferior status in the couple, the community and the nation. A weak legal framework to support action to end violence, and weak implementation of existing clauses in the Constitution that promise gender equality were also found. The project did not address these causes but focused on raising the awareness of women, potentially putting them at risk of reprisals.
Evaluation Date
March 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Arts as an Action to Stand up for Women´s Rights in Nicaragua

The grantee put in place effective instruments to follow up on the achievements of the project so that they could verify that the skills and knowledge about women’s rights and the implementation of the law on violence against women were being put into practice.
Project Partner
Movimiento de Teatro Popular Sin Fronteras
Project Description
The project aimed to protect and promote women´s rights using the arts to communicate messages and to raise awareness of the challenges women are facing in protecting and promoting their rights, in spite of the existence of the Law on Violence Against Women (Law 779). The strategy of the project was built around two components: capacity building and awareness raising measures including theatre production and artistic expression; and preventive actions to solve key problems linked to the implementation of Law 779. The project was relevant, as it was carried out at a time of polarization and controversy over the passing of Law no. 779 on Violence against Women (2012) and the reform of this law in 2013. With the aim of making the issue visible, the project relied on promoting collaboration and alliances and mobilizing women’s organizations, civil society actors and local authorities.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Arts as an Action to Stand up for Women´s Rights in Nicaragua

Art and theatre can be innovative tools for mobilizing popular opinion and can contribute to a change in attitudes. Using art and theatre has also strengthened the capacity and visibility of the grantee in particular its ability to organize. Theatre productions and performances empowered the participants - not just in terms of artistic skills – but also enhanced their knowledge of their rights and confidence to claim them. The theatre groups used this opportunity to strengthen their relationship with civil society actors and local government entities.
Project Partner
Movimiento de Teatro Popular Sin Fronteras
Project Description
The project aimed to protect and promote women´s rights using the arts to communicate messages and to raise awareness of the challenges women are facing in protecting and promoting their rights, in spite of the existence of the Law on Violence Against Women (Law 779). The strategy of the project was built around two components: capacity building and awareness raising measures including theatre production and artistic expression; and preventive actions to solve key problems linked to the implementation of Law 779. The project was relevant, as it was carried out at a time of polarization and controversy over the passing of Law no. 779 on Violence against Women (2012) and the reform of this law in 2013. With the aim of making the issue visible, the project relied on promoting collaboration and alliances and mobilizing women’s organizations, civil society actors and local authorities.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Arts as an Action to Stand up for Women´s Rights in Nicaragua

The project empowered women who had become victims of violence, and encouraged them to participate in the production and performance of theatre plays based on a critical analysis of their own experiences, stories and testimonies. The integration of positive messages and models of masculinity into the theatre performances provided a way to strengthen the building of relationships based on respect and equity.
Project Partner
Movimiento de Teatro Popular Sin Fronteras
Project Description
The project aimed to protect and promote women´s rights using the arts to communicate messages and to raise awareness of the challenges women are facing in protecting and promoting their rights, in spite of the existence of the Law on Violence Against Women (Law 779). The strategy of the project was built around two components: capacity building and awareness raising measures including theatre production and artistic expression; and preventive actions to solve key problems linked to the implementation of Law 779. The project was relevant, as it was carried out at a time of polarization and controversy over the passing of Law no. 779 on Violence against Women (2012) and the reform of this law in 2013. With the aim of making the issue visible, the project relied on promoting collaboration and alliances and mobilizing women’s organizations, civil society actors and local authorities.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country
LESSON

Lesson Learned: Strengthening Arts as an Action to Stand up for Women´s Rights in Nicaragua

Many of the situations that arose during the dialogue with communities and theatre audiences surpassed the capacity for support and advice that could be offered by the theatre groups, female counsellors and/or advocacy groups involved int he project. Being able to call on the support of specialized professionals - lawyers, therapists, social workers - working in the field of domestic violence and sexual abuse of children is one aspect that needs to be strengthened.
Project Partner
Movimiento de Teatro Popular Sin Fronteras
Project Description
The project aimed to protect and promote women´s rights using the arts to communicate messages and to raise awareness of the challenges women are facing in protecting and promoting their rights, in spite of the existence of the Law on Violence Against Women (Law 779). The strategy of the project was built around two components: capacity building and awareness raising measures including theatre production and artistic expression; and preventive actions to solve key problems linked to the implementation of Law 779. The project was relevant, as it was carried out at a time of polarization and controversy over the passing of Law no. 779 on Violence against Women (2012) and the reform of this law in 2013. With the aim of making the issue visible, the project relied on promoting collaboration and alliances and mobilizing women’s organizations, civil society actors and local authorities.
Evaluation Date
January 2016
Country