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The Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence
Against Women was established in 1996, with the goal of promoting
the full implementation of the recommendations on the issue
of VAW, set out in the Beijing Declaration and PfA. It is
a strategic tool used by UNIFEM to provide funding at the
community, national, regional and global levels for innovative
and catalytic initiatives to prevent and eliminate VAW.
UNIFEM Caribbean (like other UNIFEM Field
Offices) solicits project concept papers from which it pre-selects
the most promising ideas, requests full proposals from the
short-listed applicants based on criteria set down by UNIFEM
HQ, and works with short-listed applicants to strengthen the
proposals where necessary. The UCO then submits to LAC Section
and Trust Fund Management at HQ full proposals and thumbnail
sketches for all pre-selected projects, along with a master
list of all concept papers/proposals received and thumbnail
sketches for all non-selected projects. These are evaluated
by Trust Fund Management and the Section, and the best selected
for submission to a UN Inter-agency PAC at HQ. Once approved
and funded, project implementation is monitored by the UCO,
and progress reports and project outputs sent directly to
Trust Fund Management by project grantees.
Current Trust Fund projects in the Caribbean
include:
: To deepen understanding
of male attitudes and socialisation patterns that contribute
to violence against women and girls in Jamaica, influence
and change the attitude of men in the society towards such
violence, and develop media and education strategies to reduce
the level of this violence in the society.
A preliminary survey to explore the attitudes of men towards
women, with particular reference to VAW; workshop on the theme
"Men…Let's Talk!", with a major focus on the
rights of the individual, specifically women; public education
campaign utilising the theme "Men, Let's Talk!"
and using posters to spread the concept to a wider population;
preparation of a paper, based on the preliminary survey for
presentation at seminars/conferences; post-project surveys.
To provide community-based
advocates with the skills, knowledge and materials to enable
them to advocate against violence against women and children
in their communities; to produce a manual which could be used
as a resource by domestic violence advocates in Guyana; to
deliver specialised training for Help & Shelter staff
working with abusive men; to establish the infrastructure
for educational groups for abusive men (volunteers or legally
mandated participants), aimed at stopping abusive behaviour
in their relationships with women and in their families; to
develop promotional material which would encourage abusive
men to voluntarily refer themselves.
a series of three-day workshops for community advocates in
seven regions and follow-up visits; production of a manual
and public education material for community advocates; follow-up
sessions at 20 police stations to discuss cases and cooperation
with advocates; training of Help and Shelter staff as group
facilitators to work with abusive men; production of posters
and television and radio ads to publicize the rehabilitation
programme; facilitation of educational groups for rehabilitation
of male offenders, including understanding the causes and
impacts of abusive behavior, gender equality, and problem-solving
skills.
Media Awareness and Advocacy Programme:
To build awareness by lobbying journalists, media heads and
government representatives on the issues of violence against
women; to expand public understanding and action around gender
based violence; to produce professional lobbying and public
education materials to support and strengthen the impact of
WMW's advocacy and lobbying efforts.
Gender Sensitivity Training: To equip NGO personnel and teachers
with basic tools to challenge and take action around gender
based violence; to strengthen WMW's capacity to respond to
beneficiaries' requests for training; to produce resource
materials to support WMW's training initiatives.
Violence Prevention Workshops for Youth: To equip young persons
with basic skills to analyze and challenge gender stereotypes,
gender violence, including violence in the media.
Development of information
kits for media professionals, journalism students, policy
makers and women's groups to include material on understanding
gender, the role of media in perpetuating violence against
women, and positive and negative examples of representations
of women in the media.
Press conference to launch information kits and public education
and advocacy through radio and television appearances and
news articles.
Updating training materials on gender sensitive
analysis of the media and development of materials for violence
prevention workshops.
A series of gender sensitisation workshops
and symposiums for media professionals; 11 workshops for guidance
counselors and student teachers in four colleges; and seven
violence prevention workshops for youth including "Young
Men at Risk" groups, adolescent girls at girls' homes,
and teenage mothers at women's centres.
Community Caravan
(Family Link Outreach Counselling/Training), Rape Crisis Society,
Trinidad & Tobago; Public Education Awareness-raising
on VAW Campaign, AWOJA, Jamaica; Partner Relations of Young
Women, National Women's Movement, Suriname; Gender Media Monitor,
Network of NGOs, Trinidad & Tobago; Tourism & the
Sex Trade in the Caribbean, ILSA/CAFRA (Regional); Regional
Tour of "Shades of I-She", Pinelands Creative Workshop,
Barbados.
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to Unifem Caribbean Office Programmes
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