Objectives
Mid-way through the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, violence against women and girls remains widespread. Globally, around 1 in 3 women worldwide have experienced violence in their lifetime. This figure is likely much higher, as violence frequently goes unreported. Even so, violence against women and girls is one of the most prevalent and pervasive human rights violations globally. Increasingly complex and compounding crises from conflicts, climate disasters and pandemics, as well as backlash to women’s human rights, has exacerbated existing inequalities and contributed to an increase in violence against women and girls. Given the global context, increased investment in and attention to ending violence against women and girls is needed now more than ever.
Launched globally in 2017, Spotlight Initiative represents an unprecedented global effort to invest in gender as a precondition and driver for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moving from piecemeal, siloed approaches to a high-impact model that comprehensively addresses the root causes of violence against women and girls, the Initiative brings together governments, civil society, communities, leading experts and practitioners, and donors to drive change together. Spotlight Initiative is preventing and responding to all forms of violence against women and girls, with a particular focus on domestic and family violence, sexual and gender-based violence and harmful practices, femicide, trafficking in human beings, and sexual and economic exploitation. The Initiative’s model places women and girls at the centre of solutions while providing a platform for operationalizing UN Reforms.
To date, the Initiative has proved that a comprehensive model and new way of working with a network of stakeholders can achieve transformational results to end violence against women and girls. This includes a central role for civil society through a coordinated, whole-of-society, whole-of-government, system-wide approach. Spotlight Initiative was designated by the UN Secretary-General as a High-Impact Initiative during the 2023 SDG Summit due to impressive results that accelerate progress across all SDGs. Evidence shows that this comprehensive, multisectoral approach is 70-90 per cent more effective at reducing the prevalence of violence against women and girls than traditional project-based or siloed approaches.
Launched in 2024, “Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund” will build on the Initiative’s successful first phase to scale impact. With additional, long-term investment, even more is possible. Through well-coordinated, transformative action, the Initiative hopes to raise 1 billion USD and expand its portfolio to more than 60 countries worldwide.
Strategic Action and Theory of Change
Spotlight Initiative’s Theory of Change is grounded in evidence that robustly resourced, rights-based, comprehensive programming that centres the work of feminist and women’s rights organizations and movements is the most effective approach to ending violence against women and girls globally. This includes working with women and girls themselves, building strong partnerships with governments, regional bodies, UN agencies, duty-bearers, civil society, development partners and academia at the global, regional and country levels to address the root causes and drivers of violence. The theory of change is also anchored on the rights-based principle of leaving no one behind across all contexts, ensuring that the Initiative consistently prioritizes structurally marginalized communities, and women and girls facing multiple forms of discrimination.
The Spotlight Initiative 2.0 Fund results framework ensures greater flexibility and adaptability to foster deeper national ownership and more responsive programming, adapting to the diverse needs of communities across the development-humanitarian-peace continuum.
To achieve these goals, Spotlight Initiative interventions focus on four mutually reinforcing programming pillars that strive to:
- Advance evidence-based laws and policies to prevent violence, discrimination and address impunity;
- Promote gender-equitable social norms, attitudes and behaviours and fostering women’s economic empower as a strategy for preventing violence;
- Provide high-quality essential services for survivors of violence and ensuring accountability for perpetrators; and
- Promote strong and empowered civil society and autonomous women’s movements.
> $55M 
$55M - $25M
$25M - $5M
< $5M
