UNICEF

Join Kristy Crabtree (International Rescue Committee) and Virginia Zuco (UNICEF) as they discuss the newly available resource, the GBVIMS+ Case Management Companion Guide. This new, holistic guidance complements the GBVIMS+ and explicitly links GBV case management and information management as it builds upon the Interagency GBV Case Management Guidelines. Designed to accompany the GBVIMS+ User Guide, this resource highlights the functionalities in GBVIMS+ that facilitate GBV case management service provision, supervision, and monitoring the quality of GBV case management services.

This episode is cross-posted on the IRC’s Women's Protection and Empowerment Podcast and the GBVIMS Podcast.

Related resources:

• GBVIMS+ GBV Case Management Companion Guide: https://www.gbvims.com/primero/the-primero-gbvims-case-management-companion-guide/   
• For more information on Primero/GBVIMS+: https://www.gbvims.com/primero/
• For more podcasts on GBVIMS and GBVIMS+ visit https://www.gbvims.com/learn-more/podcast/

As part of the 16 days of activism against GBV, in this episode we chose to showcase what UNICEF country offices have been doing in responding to the surge in GBV risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, we hear from Jolanda Van Westering from Zimbabwe office, Antigoni Angelaki and Galit Wolfensohn from Greece office, Sheeraz Almukhaimer from Jordan office, Faye Alma Balanon from the Philippines office and Estelle-Emile Dade from Yemen office.

Related resources:

• 'The World Anew’, e-book on generate awareness and dialogue among young people about how to prevent and combat gender-based violence in Greece
• UNICEF Philippines Country office account with #talaarawan (diary) where kids uploaded how they are doing during lockdown 
• SafeKidsPH is a consortium led by UNICEF addressing Online sexual abuse and exploitation in the Philippines
• Article on the Philippine Red Cross-UNICEF partnership

As part of the 16 days of activism against GBV, in this episode we chose to showcase what UNICEF country offices have been doing in responding to the surge in GBV risks during the COVID-19 pandemic. In this episode, we hear from Ximena Alexandra Escobar from Ecuador, Veronica Kamanga Njikho from Afghanistan country office and Aftab Mohammad from India. They tell us about interesting initiatives including a hackathon to identify innovative solutions to disseminate GBV messages in Ecuador or working through women’s local organizations to reach invisible women and girls in Afghanistan.

Related resources:

• Women’s organizations — key to reaching girls and women affected by COVID-19 in Afghanistan: https://blogs.unicef.org/blog/womens-organizations-key-reaching-girls-women-covid-19-afghanistan/
• Responding to the Shadow Pandemic: Taking stock of gender-based violence risks and responses during COVID-19: https://www.unicef.org/documents/responding-shadow-pandemic-taking-stock-gender-based-violence-risks-and-responses-during
• La Receta de la Vecina (neighbor´s recipe) integrating GBV messages in Ecuador (in Spanish) https://www.unicef.org/ecuador/informes/la-receta-de-la-vecina

For the 16 days of activism against GBV, UNICEF and the GBV AoR are campaigning for the Interagency Minimum Standards for GBViE programming. The campaign aims at raising awareness on the Minimum Standards that were released in November 2019 and provide guidelines with clear key actions defining what GBV actors need to do to prevent and respond to GBV. In this episode, Inbal Sansani, Emily Krasnor and Catherine Poulton discuss the Minimum standards, how to define quality and what role do the standards play in GBV programming, amongst other insights and tips on how to implement the standards.

Related Resources:

• The Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming
• The Inter-Agency Minimum Standards for Gender-Based Violence in Emergencies Programming – FAQs

To mark the International Day of the Girl on October 11th, this episode highlights how migration of adolescent girls increases their vulnerability towards GBV. Migration routes are notoriously dangerous for adolescent girls. Many are fleeing violence and abuse or are trafficked, which only increases their vulnerability to violence and exploitation. They face specific risks related to gender-based violence before, during and after migration. Leaving home may not be the escape they hoped for, as they continue to be at risk in countries of transit and arrival when they arrive in Europe. To shed a light on the situation of girls, UNICEF published Analysis on unaccompanied and separated girls titled “Making the Invisible Visible: the identification of unaccompanied and separated girls in Bulgaria, Greece, Italy and Serbia”. This report highlights how lack of understanding on gender dynamics and needs, and appropriate identification and support systems is making girls ‘invisible’ and thus, hindering their access to rights and services, and leaving them at further risk of abuse, exploitation and violence. 

Related resources:

• Making the ‘Invisible’ visible, Analysis Note
• Making the ‘Invisible’ visible video
• Pocket Guide to support the design, implementation and evaluation of a girls’ empowerment program with a focus on Serbia and Bulgaria
• Webinar on the Analysis

In this episode, Masumi Yamashina from the UNICEF GBViE team discusses with Franck Bouvet, Deputy Global WASH Cluster Coordinator about the Global WASH Cluster’s initiatives to integrate GBV into their work. Gender-based violence and WASH have strong relations. For example, the design and structure of WASH facilities have direct impact of safety of women and girls when they access and use WASH facilities. But it also has direct impact of their decision of whether they use them or not. WASH is also one of key sectors that address women and girls’ needs for menstrual health and hygiene.

Related resources:

• Global WASH Cluster Quality Assurance and Accountability Initiative 
• Global WASH Cluster 5 minimum standards
• GBV guidelines knowledge hub

In this episode, Masumi Yamashina from the UNICEF GBViE team discusses with Anteneh Dobamo, the Nutrition Cluster Coordinator, Rapid Response Team of the Global Nutrition Cluster who has led GBV risk mitigation into Globa Nutrition Cluster’s work. Gender-based violence and nutrition are strongly related. For example, GBV is one of drivers of malnutrition and gender/power dynamics in the home have major implications on the effectiveness of nutrition interventions and uptake of the services. Nutrition actors target the most vulnerable children and women who are also very vulnerable to GBV. More collaboration between nutrition and GBV actors will have a very positive impact for both sides.

Related resources:

• www.gbvguidelines.org
• Global Nutrition Cluster
• GBV and gender responsive nutrition training package (available in English and French) 
• Integrating GBV and Nutrition Programme 

In this episode, Gerda Binder from UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office and Odontuya Altansukh from UNICEF Mongolia talk about an exciting innovation that UNICEF has led: the Oky period tracker app for adolescent girls. To break the taboo of menstruation and to empower girls to manage their periods with confidence and normalcy, UNICEF has developed a period tracker app called Oky. Oky is a mobile phone period tracker app co-created for and by girls in low- and middle-income countries. It was piloted in Indonesia and Mongolia. This fascinating innovation has been girl-driven, developed for girls and by girls.

Related resources:

• Oky website – you can also download Oky from here to your Android phone
• Oky video clip – a 1-minute introduction
• Oky blog – how Oky was co-created with girls
• Oky presentation – at the 8th Virtual MHM Conference in May 2020
• Oky brochure

Lebanon is facing a multi-faceted severe crisis that has culminated in a large amount of ammonium nitrate stored at the Beirut port exploding. The explosion resulted in at least 190 deaths, 6,500 injured and leaving an estimated 300,000 people homeless. This comes on the top of a downward spiral of economic crisis and a country badly hit by the COVID-19 outbreak on the top of a severe political crisis and revolution.

In this episode, Farah Hammoud and Johanna Eriksson from UNICEF and Ghida Anani from ABAAD, a local NGO working on preventing and responding to GBV present how the Beirut blast and larger Lebanon crisis have impacted women and girls and created additional risks towards GBV. They also explain how they are addressing these risks and responding to GBV as part of the emergency response. 

Related resources:

• ABAAD Rapid Disaster Response Plan
• Safety messages for women and girls responding to the Beirut Explosion
• Beirut Explosion: UNICEF Emergency Cash Grant for Children and Vulnerable Groups 

In this episode, GBV actors from Bangladesh, Iraq and Mexico explain how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted service provision to GBV survivors and what they did in order to shift their approach to service delivery. Ensuring that women and girls can access GBV support services remains a critical and lifesaving activity. However, in this context, COVID-19 makes it more difficult for GBV service providers to deliver services and to reach the most vulnerable groups.

Related resources:

• GBVIMS series of podcasts and video shorts on remote case management in the context of COVID-19 pandemic
• GBV AoR Helpdesk, Guidance on GBV Case management in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic outbreak
• UNICEF, Not just hotlines and mobile phones: Gender-based violence service provision during COVID-19