Spotlight 2.0 Joint Programme Uganda the Gender for Development (G4DU) 

Objectives

Spotlight Initiative is the world’s largest targeted effort to end all forms of violence against women and girls. Created in 2017 as an unprecedented global partnership, the Initiative provided a model for comprehensive programming on ending violence against women and girls that places them at the centre of solutions wh, accelerates and localizes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and provides a platform for operationalizing UN Development System reforms. 

To date, the Initiative has proved that a comprehensive theory of change and new way of working with a network of stakeholders can achieve transformative results to end violence against women and girls. This includes a central role for civil society and a coordinated, whole-of-society, whole-of-government, and system-wide approach. Spotlight Initiative was designated by the UN Secretary-General as a High-Impact Initiative during the 2023 SDG Summit due to its impressive results accelerating progress across all the SDGs. For more information on Spotlight Initiative, visit: https://mptf.undp.org/fund/sif00.

The Spotlight Initiative 2.0: Joint Programme in Uganda is part of the global umbrella framework of Spotlight Initiative programmes and builds upon and scales up the successes of the 2019-2023 Spotlight Initiative programme in Uganda. For achievements of the previous programme, visit:  https://mptf.undp.org/project/00111644.

Programme Scope

Uganda has a relatively progressive legislative and policy framework relating to the prevention and response to gender-based violence (GBV)) and the provision of sexual reproductive health and rights (SRHR) services; however, implementation challenges still persist. Social and gender norms, attitudes, behaviours and practices are root causes of violence against women and girls and harmful practices that limit SRHR in Uganda. The country has one of the highest fertility rates in the world, high rates of teenage pregnancy and a low transition rate to secondary school.

The programme aims to facilitate increased access to integrated SRHR, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and violence against children (VAC) services for women, adolescent girls and children. Interventions target schools and communities in 12 districts of Uganda, based on the prevalence of GBV, female genital mutilation and child marriage.

Overall, programme stakeholders work to reach more than 2 million beneficiaries who are in and out of school. Of these, more than a million will be adolescent girls and young women. Adolescent boys and young men will also be targeted as a secondary demographic.

Strategic Action and Theory of Change

The programme’s theory of change aims to support girls and women in schools and communities to continue with their education and also access sexual and reproductive health and rights services. This includes persons with disabilities and those in remote and rural areas.

To achieve this desired change, programme partners will:

• Facilitate access to quality education through responsive laws, policies and institutions and their implementation.
• Improve schools to enhance the participation and retention of adolescent girls and young women.
• Address negative social/gender norms that promote Violence Against Women and Girls and hinder adolescent girls and young women’s full protection of their reproductive and health rights, and
• Provide young women and adolescent girls with better access to quality SRHR and GBV information and services.

The programme is fully aligned to the objectives of the United Nations Sustainable Development Corporation Framework (UNSDCF) 2021–2025 in Uganda and contributes to the implementation National Development Plan III as well as Uganda’s Vision 2040 on keeping girls in school and improving completion rates by addressing institutional, gender and cultural barriers to education.

Governance

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Programme Oversight Committee

With convening support from the UN Resident Coordinator and the Resident Coordinator’s Office, the Spotlight Initiative Oversight Committee will be composed of Government of Uganda stakeholders (including the Ministries of Gender, Labour and Social Development; Local Government; Education; Health; Finance Planning; and Economic Development, including other Ministries, Departments and Agencies at Commissioner or Director level), a senior level technical representative from the EU Delegation (and other donors that may join the Initiative), and representatives from the Civil Society National Reference Group (constituting 20 per cent of the members) who will be self-selected representatives from feminist civil society organizations and networks with a strong track record of working on ending violence against women and girls and the education sector, and representing special interest groups like young women and people with disabilities.

As the co-chairs of the Oversight Committee, the Resident Coordinator and the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Gender, Labour and Social Development will provide policy and strategic oversight of the programme in consultation with participating UN organizations. Their focus will be ensuring that the programme remains aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework in Uganda (UNSDCF) and national development priorities, while ensuring compliance with contractual obligations with the EU Delegation as the development partner, and the MPTFO and the Spotlight Initiative Secretariat.  

Outcome Group Co-Chairs  

Each outcome shall be headed by convening participating UN organizations co-chairs. The outcome co-chairs will be from different agencies and will play the same role in the absence of the outcome lead co-chair. The overall role of the Outcome Group Co-Chairs shall be to provide thought leadership in the outcome focus area(s) in terms of intervention and thematic focus, activities sequencing, and implementation roll out, among other responsibilities as outlined in the detailed Terms of Reference.

Civil Society National Reference Group

Meaningful engagement of women’s rights groups is a central principle of the Spotlight Initiative. The Civil Society National Reference Group (CS-NRG) will continue and be maintained as an institutional mechanism to facilitate systematic civil society engagement in design and implementation of the programme in Uganda and draw on its expertise. The CS-NRG will serve a triple function: to advise the Initiative, to advocate and partner for the realization of its objectives, and to hold the programme accountable to its commitments. The CS-NRG is a group of around 10-15 prominent national experts on eliminating VAWG and harmful practices (HP) as well as on women’s rights more broadly.

Participating Organizations

Participating United Nations Organizations develop project/programme proposals, and report on implementation and financial performance to the National Steering Committee through the Convening Agency and Administrative Agent. Organizations establish mechanisms to implement activities through national authorities and other national, regional, and international organizations and local NGOs.

Administrative Agent

Participating Organizations receive funds through the Administrative Agent, the MPTF Office. The Administrative Agent is responsible for the receipt, administration and management of contributions from donors, disbursement of funds to Participating  Organizations, and consolidation and dissemination of progress reports to donors. 

Projects

Spotlight 2.0 Joint Programme Uganda the Gender for Development (G4DU)

Spotlight 2.0 Joint Programme Uganda the Gender for Development (G4DU) is currently supporting count_projects ongoing projectscount_globalInterregional and count_countries country-specific. This table shows the most recently approved ongoing projects.

All project financial information can be found in the Financials section, including delivery analysis by organization, theme and project; project financial status by country and by theme.

Spotlight 2.0 Joint Programme Uganda the Gender for Development (G4DU)

Results

Expected Results

Building on results from the first-generation Spotlight initiative programme in Uganda (2019-2023), stakeholders of this joint programme strive to reduce the incidence of GBV in schools and communities in target districts and contribute to retaining adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in school, while also increasing the transition to secondary and tertiary education. Enhanced coordination and support to institutional strengthening for the implementation of laws and policies will increase AGYW’s access to justice, strengthen justice delivery, reduce impunity for GBV and ultimately contribute to reduced incidents of sexual and gender-based violence targeting AGYW and forcing them out of school. Likewise, the joint programme will contribute to more GBV and SRHR responsive social and gender norms, knowledge, attitudes and practices, in schools, communities, state institutions, among Faith Based and Traditional institutions and refugee settlements that also recognize and cater for AGYW with disabilities.

The programme also aims to increase access to and utilisation of multi-sectoral quality SRHR, and GBV response services for AGYW in schools and communities in target districts. Such services will include life and survival skills information and referrals to downstream institutions across multiple sectors that include education, health, law and order and the judiciary.

Expected Outcomes

Outcome 3.1: Strengthened capacity of institutions to implement and monitor laws, policies and plans addressing GBV and improving SRHR at national and sub-national levels.

Outcome 3.2: Enhanced awareness of gender equitable social norms, attitudes and behaviours that prevent GBV and advance SRHR in schools, communities, institutions and refugee settlements.

Outcome 3.3: Adolescent girls and young women have improved access to quality multi-sectoral integrated SRHR and SGBV information and immediate response services.

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