Programme Description

Studies show that intimate partner violence among women between 15-49 years is the most prevalent form of violence against women and girls in Zimbabwe. Thirty-five percent of girls and women between the ages 15-49 have experienced physical violence since the age of 15 and 43 percent of girls between the ages 13-17 reported that their first incident of sexual intercourse was unwanted.  

The Spotlight Initiative will advance the elimination of sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices through a broad partnership with civil society, government, private sector, media and build a social movement of women, men, girls and boys as champions and agents of change. A specific focus will be on reaching and including women and girls who are most isolated and vulnerable to violence due to intersecting forms of discrimination.

Number of beneficiaries: 2,802,084 (direct) | 8,280,681 (indirect)

Recipient UN Organizations: ILO, UNDP, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women.

Investments

The total investment from EU and the UN agencies for Phase I (2019 – 2020) and Phase II (2021-2022) amount to USD 31,683,606 and is divided according to the following;

• Policies and legislation (outcome 1): The programme will assess gaps in implementation in order to draft and improve legislations on ending violence against women and girls. Spotlight will harmonize and align the marriage laws (the Constitution on Marriage Rights stipulates 18 years as the minimum age of marriage for both sexes and prohibits forced marriages, while the Marriage Act promotes early marriages of girls).  Spotlight will also review the criminal legislation on rape and sexual offences against girls and boys to guarantee effective prosecution and sentencing of offenders.
•  Institutions (outcome 2): Spotlight will enable institutions, such as the Ministry of Home Affairs and Ministry of Justice, to better develop and deliver evidence-based programmes that prevent and respond to violence against women and girls. To enhance the government’s technical expertise to plan and budget for gender equality, Spotlight will build the capacity of the Ministry of Finance on gender-responsive budgeting.
•  Prevention (outcome 3): Spotlight will develop evidence-based programmes and campaigns to promote gender-equitable norms, attitudes and behaviors, e.g. by rolling out Comprehensive Sexuality Education in schools. The programme will develop a community advocacy platform to address sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices in indigenous and faith-based structures, and to address the vulnerabilities of women and children to online sexual abuse.
• Services (outcome 4): Spotlight will establish One-Stop Centers that will integrate multi-sectorial services for gender-based violence, maternal and child health and family planning, at district hospitals and through mobile One-Stop Centers for hard-to-reach areas. The programme will also offer specific training for the police and the judicial sector on victim-friendly court procedures and develop survivor-assisted support systems for women including those facing multiple forms of discrimination.Data (outcome 5): Spotlight will strengthen the technical capacities of key stakeholders such as government, civil society, statistics officers and service providers to collect qualitative and disaggregated data related to violence against women and girls. The programme will further strengthen, harmonize and scale up the national Sexual and Gender-Based Violence Information Management System by developing a Framework and Implementation Plan.
•  Women’s Movement and Civil Society (outcome 6): Spotlight will engage with women’s rights groups and civil society organizations to more effectively influence and advance progress on gender equality and violence against women and girls. For example, the programme will support advocacy by women Trade Unionists to mitigate sexual and gender-based violence in the work space. The programme will also develop a knowledge hub to provide a foundation for research on feminism and gender and women’s rights.
• The co-creation approach is a strategy that allows and encourages a more active involvement from the beneficiaries to create a mutually valuable experience in designing interventions. Spotlight will use this strategy across multiple outcome areas to ensure that the experiences, needs and wishes of women and girls are adequately reflected in the flexible design and delivery of the Spotlight interventions.

Innovation

•  U-Reporting for Youth: The programme will use the mobile U-report platform to gather ideas and engage children and adolescents on laws covering sexual and gender-based violence, harmful practices and sexual and reproductive health and rights, through a mobile text messaging system.
•  Creativity sessions will be part of the agenda to explore new ideas and ways to design and implement interventions to eliminate sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices and to promote sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Civil Society Reference Group for Spotlight in Zimbabwe will serve as an advisory ‘think tank’ and innovation-thinking platform during the implementation of the programme.
•  Cybercrime: An emerging area of concern is cybercrime and the occurrence of sexual and gender-based violence online. Spotlight recognizes the importance of starting the national discussion and to give visibility to sexual and gender-based violence online. Spotlight will examine the linkages between cybercrime, ICT-engagement and sexual and gender-based violence and offer appropriate measures to address this linkage. The interventions will include the creation of campaigns and partnerships with web browsers such as Mozilla on digital citizenship, and knowledge platforms on the ethical and gender-responsive use of online media and social platforms. Spotlight will strengthen the technical capacity of feminist forums and women’s rights networks to develop evidence-based advocacy initiatives online on the issues of sexual and gender-based violence and to deliver this advocacy online.