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UN Women, grounded in the vision of equality enshrined
in the Charter of the United Nations, works for the elimination of
discrimination against women and girls; the empowerment of women; and the
achievement of equality between women and men as partners and beneficiaries
of development, human rights, humanitarian action and peace and security.
As the UN agency with the mandate to work on gender
equality, UN Women is responsible for leading and coordinating United Nations
system efforts to ensure that commitments on gender equality and gender
mainstreaming translate into action throughout the world and at the country
level. UN Women is also expected to provide strong and coherent leadership in
support of countries’ priorities and efforts, building effective partnerships
with civil society, the nodal government agency, private sector and other
relevant actors.
In times of crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic,
women and girls face higher risk of violence. Sexual and Gender Based
Violence (SGBV) in India remains a highly prevalent and protracted problem
which not only affects the human rights many women, girls and other
vulnerable group, but remains a major public health and development
challenge. COVID-19 outbreak has uncovered the existing inequalities in families
and society in India and exacerbated the structural factors that contribute
to SGBV in its different forms including domestic violence, intimate partier
violence, violence against children, sexual exploitation, abuse and
harassment, and at different sites- private pubic, work and online. The UN
Secretary General made an appeal to the leaders of the Members States to put
‘Women and Girls Safety first’ and center- stage gender responsive measures
in their plans to address the challenge of COVID-19, to build back better and
equal world. India was among 140 countries to endorse the Call.
In response to this urgent concern, UN Women, along
with three other UN agencies – UNICEF, WHO and UNHCR, initiated a joint
programme under the Multi-Partner Trust Fund (MPTF). The programme has been
envisioned to enhance the protection of women and girls from SGBV in the
times of COVID-19, to be implemented in 3 States, focusing on the most
vulnerable groups, and with the following specific objectives:
·
Ensure availability of and accessibility to gender
responsive and age sensitive protection
·
Improved access to gender-sensitive justice
systems for women and girls at risk or of survivors
·
Increase women and girl’s awareness of risks of
SGBV and harmful practices, and empowerment and engagement in decision making
·
Reduce women and girl’s economic vulnerability and
increase access to livelihood and income generation programs, which can
increase women autonomy and capacity to negotiate violence-free relationships
Theory of Change (TOC): IF:
·
gender responsive, age sensitive, quality,
multi-sectoral coordinated essential services are made continuously available
and accessible for women and girls at risk of and/or survivors of SGBV;
·
capacity of the justice systems is enhanced for
improved access of women and girls at risk of and/or survivors of SGBV;
·
women and are aware of the risks of SGBV and other
harmful practices, are empowered and increasingly engaged in decision making
processes related to issues of their concerns within the overall COVID19
response and recovery plan; and
·
vulnerable families of women and girls at risk of
and/or survivors of SGBV reduce their economic vulnerability and increase
access to social protection and livelihood programmes.
THEN:
·
women and girls have access to basic essential
services and justice system, thus better protected;
·
women and girl survivors of SGBV overcome the
barriers of social stigma and discrimination to act and actively seek help
from available SGBV specialized services including case management, legal
aid, MHPSS at the early stage, thus protecting themselves and their peers
from potential perpetrators;
·
women and girls who are at risk and/or survivors
of SGBV are empowered by having their life skills improved and receiving
opportunities for access to education, and income generation to secure their
essential livelihood and help them reach their full potential and become
active contributor to the country’s economic recovery phase;
·
women and girls who are at risk and/or survivors
of SGBV in the times of COVID-19 have their resilience strengthened against
the socio-economic shocks and have better understanding of their rights and
execute these rights to protect themselves from potential risks of SGBV or
its reoccurrence.
THEREFORE, there will be a substantial reduction of
SGBV among women and girls since that is prevented before it happens or
re-occurs, and those experienced SGBV will be empowered to recover and
rebuild their lives with gender responsive and continuous provision of
essential socio-economic services.
The programme will be implemented leveraging the complementarities
of the mandates and technical expertise among UN agencies – UNICEF, UN WOMEN,
WHO and UNHCR – while taking stock of the full knowledge on sustainable and
resilient development of the entire United Nations System through the UN
Resident Coordinator’s Office in India. The joint programme is based on
fundamental rights and principles of women and girls, addressing urgent needs
of women and girls being at risk and/or experiencing SGBV, while at the same
time ensure the linkages with long-term perspective of building back better
and equal for women and girls in the economic recovery phase.
The proposed joint programme under MPTF will initiate
targeted, gender responsive interventions to address the existing gaps in
protecting women and girls from all forms of SGBV, either online or offline,
through a multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach in addressing the
multiple factors driving SGBV in the times of COVID-19. It brings in the UN
support where service provision is considered as lifesaving and
urgent/immediate response while continue the support at macro level and
linking with the overall systems strengthening strategy.
Under the guidance and direct supervision of the
Programme Specialist Lead– Ending Violence Against Women (EVAW Specialist)
and Girls and Programme Analyst – Intergovernmental Processes and UN
Inter-agency Coordination (IGP-UNC Analyst), the Programme Coordinator is
responsible for leading the select thematic/sectoral areas assigned to UN
Women within the Multiple Partnership Programme. The Programme Coordinator
will support formulation, management and evaluation of programme activities
within his/her portfolio and provide policy advice services on the sectoral
themes.
The Programme Coordinator will coordinate activities
with the three UN agencies that are a part of the Joint Programme under MPTF
and with relevant team members at UN Women. The Coordinator will work in
close collaboration with the operations team, programme staff in other UN
Agencies, UN WOMEN staff and Government officials, technical advisors and
experts, multilateral and bilateral donors and civil society ensuring
successful implementation of specific components of the programme.
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