Programme Description 

Guatemala is one of the countries with highest levels of femicide. According to the General Prosecutor, 59,667 cases of violence against women and girls were registered during 2017. The same year, 593 violent deaths of women were registered. From 2010 to 2013, there was 200 percent increase in disappearances (an indicator in the severity of femicide).

The primary objective of the Spotlight Initiative in Guatemala is to contribute to the elimination of femicide and other forms of violence and intersectional discrimination, with a special focus on Mayan, Garifuna, Afro-descendant, Xinka and Mestizo women and girls. Spotlight will adopt a multisectoral prevention and response model to promote their rights to a life free of violence.

Number of beneficiaries: 222,749 (direct) | 15,448,602 (indirect)

Recipient UN Organizations: UNDP, UN WOMEN, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNESCO.

Spotlight Country Programme Focal Point at the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office: Carmen Aída González; Email: carmen.gonzalez@one.un.org

Investments

The total investment from EU and the UN agencies for Phase I (2019 – 2020) and Phase II (2021-2022) amount to USD 8,685,837 and is distributed according to the following;

• Policy and Legislation (outcome 1): Spotlight will promote the recognition of indigenous customary law in the design of law and policies. Spotlight will organize workshops with indigenous women (midwives, spiritual guides and women leaders) to share knowledge, practices and mechanisms and to improve coordination with the judicial system to prosecute cases of violence. Spotlight will facilitate dialogues between the indigenous authorities and the judicial system about how the judicial system can incorporate the Maya Cosmovision – a cultural approach to judgments and conflict resolutions. Spotlight will also strengthen the Legislative Agenda for the Advancement of Women, Girls and Adolescent girls. 
• Institutions (outcome 2): In accordance with the Model Latin American Protocol for the Investigation of the Violent Deaths of Women based on Gender, Spotlight will revise and update tools, institutional practices and support the coordination of the Directorate of Criminal Investigation of the General Prosecutor. It will design a national model (including criminal analysis tool) for the criminal investigation, strategic penal prosecution and transformative reparation of femicide.
• Prevention and Social Norms (outcome 3): Spotlight will implement programmes and policies that promote gender equality in the education sector, for example by rolling out sexuality and violence prevention modules with a multi-cultural focus. Spotlight will promote safe environments and spaces for gender equality and prevention. Spotlight will implement a Communication for Development (C4D) strategy to reduce the social normalization of violence against women and girls and its links with violent masculinities.  
• Services (outcome 4): Spotlight will support the access and availability of quality essential services by building the technical capacities of state institutions and civil society organizations within the sectors of health, police, tax, and justice. Spotlight will design and implement institutional normative frameworks and technical tools to ensure quality essential services for victims and their families and will increase the access to information on these services.
• Data (outcome 5): Spotlight will harmonize and standardize the collection of data on femicide and violence against women and girls through a National Information System Spotlight will strengthen and automate statistical processes and implement a survey that will measure the prevalence of violence against women and girls.
• Women’s Movement and Civil Society (outcome 6): Spotlight will strengthen organizations and networks of Mayan, Garifuna, Afro-descendant, Xinka and Mestizo women and girls as autonomous political actors. Spotlight will invest in specialized technical support and capacity building to local organizations and groups of indigenous and rural women to establish networks and alliances and jointly advocate for the prevention, response and elimination of femicide and other forms of violence and intersectional discrimination. Spotlight will pilot the Protocol of Hope for the investigation of threats against women human rights' defenders.

Innovation

• A fund for innovation: Spotlight will support the creation of a direct funding for women civil society organizations aimed at enhancing leadership of women’s rights groups in innovation, to promote use of new technologies to eliminate femicide and other forms of violence and intersectional discrimination against women, girls and adolescent girls.
•  Social Protection approach: Spotlight will incorporate a Social Protection approach for women, girls, and adolescent girls who are victims of violence from a human rights perspective rather than an assistance-driven actions.
•  Operational Innovation: Spotlight standardize technical knowledge to enable effective technical assistance to the institutions and organizations in the programme and to promote inter-institutional coordination.