Project Start/End Dates

• Bosnia and Herzegovina 1 Nov 2009 - 31 Jan 2013
• China 15 Jun 2009 - 14 Jun 2012
• Macedonia 1 Sep 2009 - 31 Aug 2012
• Panama 1 Jan 2010 - 31 Dec 2012
• Serbia November 2012 - 31 May 2015
• Solomon Islands 1 Jan 2015 - 31 Dec 2017
  
• Uruguay 1 Jan 2012 - 30 Jun 2015

 UN Trust Fund to End VAW Reports

• 2018 Consolidated Annual Financial Report of the Adminsitrative Agent
• 2018 Sources and Use of Funds Statement

• UN Trust Fund’s Strategy 2010-2015, Vision 2015
• Evaluation Report: United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women
• UN Trust Fund Monitoring, Evaluation and Knowledge Management Framework 2008-2011

Overview

The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) is a leading multilateral grant-making mechanism exclusively devoted to supporting national and local efforts to end violence against women and girls. Established in 1996 by UN General Assembly Resolution 50/166, the UN Trust Fund is administered by UN Women on behalf of the UN system. As an inter-agency mechanism, the UN Trust Fund’s operations benefit from the technical assistance and synergies available through UN Women and the UN system. To date, the Fund has benefited from the collaboration of over 20 UN partners at global and field levels – alongside NGOs, other experts and select government representatives.

With a focus on advancing the implementation of policies, laws, and action plans, the UN Trust Fund invests in initiatives that translate policy promises into concrete deliverables with tangible results, affecting concrete benefits for women and girls survivors of violence, and contributing to prevention of violence in the long run.

Through 2012, the UN Trust Fund has delivered more than $86 million to 351 initiatives in 128 countries and territories. This support has been crucial, enabling governments, non-governmental organizations, and UN Country Teams to engage diverse groups – including women’s, men’s and youth groups, human rights organizations, indigenous and rural communities, traditional leaders, and the media – in addressing violence against women and girls. The Fund has also provided some of the initial funding to today’s leading initiatives for ending violence against women and girls. Examples include Breakthrough’s “Ring the Bell” campaign that has reached over 130 million people in India and is now going global with the UN Secretary-General as its champion, as well as the “Safe Cities for Women” initiative that began in Latin America and is evolving into a worldwide effort with support from the United Nations and various government and civil society partners.

In 2008, the UN Secretary-General launched his signature campaign, UNiTE to End Violence against Women. In recognition of the UN Trust Fund as one of the leading and long-standing inter-agency initiatives in the struggle to end violence against women and girls, UNiTE calls for $100 million in annual contributions for the UN Trust Fund by 2015.

By placing emphasis on supporting action where it matters most – at country and especially local and community levels – the UN Trust Fund is uniquely positioned to contribute to the advancement of the outcomes of UNiTE on the ground. The findings of a large scale external evaluation of the UN Trust Fund, conducted between December 2008 and October 2009, affirm the Fund as a relevant, effective and efficient mechanism for expanded investments to address violence against women and girls.

Assistance Strategy of the UN Trust Fund

The UN Trust Fund nurtures innovation, catalyzes change and mobilizes key actors and constituencies to protect women and girls from violence. The UN Trust Fund targets resources to three priority areas:

• Preventing violence against women and girls through empowering women and girls especially at risk of violence – including adolescent girls and indigenous or ethnic minority women – and engaging strategic groups such as youth, men and boys, and traditional and faith-based leaders in prevention efforts;
• Expanding survivors’ access to services, including legal assistance, psychosocial counseling, health care and other support services, and building the capacity of service providers to respond effectively to the needs of women and girls affected by violence; and
• Strengthening implementation of laws, policies and action plans on violence against women and girls through data collection and analysis, building capacities of professionals charged with implementation, and strengthening institutions to become more effective, transparent and accountable in addressing violence against women.

Furthermore, the UN Trust Fund places special emphasis on programmes addressing the intersections of violence against women and HIV/AIDS as well as those working with particularly vulnerable populations, such as survivors of sexual violence in conflict, post-conflict and unstable situations.  

The UN Trust Fund’s strategy through 2015 is grounded in the Secretary-General’s UNiTE to End Violence against Women campaign, capitalizing on the unique role of the Fund to deliver resources to concrete actions on the ground. The strategy centers on:

1. Translating the promise to end violence against women and girls into practice:
Intensifying efforts to turn policy pledges into reality for women and girls by expanding the quality and quantity of support available for effective prevention and support programmes on the ground.

2. Paving the way to knowledge-based action on ending violence against women and girls: Generating and disseminating knowledge on ‘what works’ in the field of ending violence against women, and serving as a hub of knowledge on best practices for adaptation and expansion.

3. Building ownership of the UN Trust Fund throughout the UN System:
Strengthening the role and contributions of the UN system at the global, regional and country levels building on the UN’s commitment to ‘deliver as one’ to advance implementation of national strategies to end violence against women and girls.

Governance of the UN Trust Fund

Management Structure

The management structure of the UN Trust Fund is guided by the UNDG Multi Donor Trust Fund Fiduciary Management Oversight Framework. Clear roles and responsibilities are assigned to each component, in line with the UNDG accountability framework developed for the Multi Donor Trust Funds. The Fund’s management structure comprises of four organs:

1. High Level Steering Committee – the UN Trust Fund’s highest governing organ, chaired by the Executive Director of UN Women. Its key roles and responsibilities include: providing overall policy guidance to the Fund, including on emerging priorities, trends and opportunities; supporting the UN Trust Fund in high-level and strategic outreach and communications, via participation in media interviews, and communiqué with strategic partners; facilitating the expansion of non-traditional partnerships, and assisting in brokering and/or maintaining those partnerships on a case-by case basis; among other functions.

2. The Global Inter-Agency Programme Advisory Committee. Its key roles and responsibilities include: Advising the UN Trust Fund Secretariat on an ongoing bases on policy and programming issues and priorities for grant-making, as well as on recommendations and other items to bring to the attention of the High-Level Committee; becoming champions within the respective UN agencies for collective ownership and responsibility of the UN system towards the UN Trust Fund; and mobilizing UN agency support to enhance policy consistency, coherence and linkages; among other functions.

3. The Regional and/or Sub-Regional Programme Advisory Committees. Their key roles and responsibilities include: supporting the wide dissemination of the UN Trust Fund’s annual global call for proposals; reviewing concept notes from the relevant geographical area, and making recommendations to the UN Trust Fund Secretariat on the basis of the funding guidelines and criteria for approval; and facilitating support to grantees, including through creating linkages between UN Trust Fund grantees and UNDAF priorities on elimination of violence against women, and advising the UN Trust Fund Secretariat on possible synergies that can be created; among other functions.

4. The Secretariat: The UN Trust Fund Secretariat, under the direct supervision of the Chief of the UN Trust Fund, is responsible for the overall management of the UN Trust Fund’s programmes and operations, including the following: managing the grant-making processes, including call for proposals, grant awarding, contract and disbursement processes in compliance with the rules and regulations set in its operational guidelines; mobilizing financial resources for the UN Trust Fund, by developing fundraising strategies, and identifying and cultivating additional contributors to the UN Trust Fund; ensuring that a sound monitoring and evaluation framework is in place, and oversee the monitoring of all programmes funded by the UN Trust Fund, including fulfillment of all reporting requirements of grantees; and preparing annual reports on UN Trust Fund activities for the Committee on the Status of Women and Human Rights Council and donors, as required; among other functions.

Administrative Agent

UN Women serves as the Administrator for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women on behalf of the UN system, and is responsible for entering into standard agreements with the Fund’s donors and into contracts with the Fund’s grantees. The Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office (MPTF) serves as the Administrative Agent for six country-level UN Joint Programmes funded by the UN Trust Fund in Bosnia and Herzegovina, China, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Panama, Uruguay and Serbia.

Grant Making

UN Trust Fund awards grants annually through an open, competitive and transparent process that ensures quality programming and rigour in the selection of grantees. The Call for Proposals is distributed widely for a global reach.

In its grantee selection, the UN Trust Fund places a priority on applications that demonstrate evidence-based interventions built on multi-sectoral approaches and collaboration between various stakeholders, investment in systematic and comprehensive documentation and evaluation aimed at generating and sharing knowledge, and approaches tailored to meet the diverse needs of particularly excluded or disadvantaged groups. The UN Trust Fund provides funds to non-governmental organizations, governments, and, since 2008, to Joint Programmes of UN Country Teams.

Since 2008, the UN Trust Fund has awarded grants to 13 UN Country Team programmes. The Multi-Partner Trust Fund Office serves as the Administrative Agent for six of these grants, namely:

• Bosnia and Herzegovina: “Preventing and Combating Sexual and Gender-Based Violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
• China: “Preventing and Responding to Domestic Violence in China through a Multisectoral Approach” 
• The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia: “Strengthening National Capacities to Prevent Domestic Violence” 
• Panama:  “Community Inter-Institutional Alliance to Prevent, Control and Give Attention to Violence against Women”
• Uruguay: “Uruguay unites to end violence against women, girls and adolescents”
• Serbia: "Integrated Response to Violence against Women in Serbia"

The seven other UN Country Team grants of the UN Trust Fund to date are:

• Belarus: “Developing national capacity to counteract domestic violence in Belarus”
• Ecuador: “Protection and Restitution of Rights to Victims of Gender-Based Violence in Ecuador” 
• Mexico: “Development and Evaluation of a Holistic Model to Prevent Gender-Based Violence in Indigenous Populations with an Intercultural Approach” 
• Nepal: “Multisectoral Gender-Based Violence Response at the District Level in Nepal” 
• Indonesia: “Combating violence against women and girls in Papua Province, Indonesia”
• Sri Lanka: “Joint UN Programme on Prevention of and Response to Gender Based Violence in Sri Lanka”
• Thailand:  “Every Home a Safe Home: Supporting Thailand towards Effective Implementation of the Act on Protection for Domestic Violence Victims” 

These grants have already created synergies between UN agencies, governments, and NGOs, leveraging efforts for prevention and response and capitalizing on the opportunity for organizations on the ground to benefit from the potential that a stronger UN System role can play in enhancing effectiveness and impact in the field of gender-based violence.

Under its 16th Call for proposals which closed on 23 January 2012, the Fund received applications from 50 UNCTs. This further attests to the Fund’s ability to stimulate coordinated action of the UN system for ending VAW/G at country level.