OBJECTIVE      

Colombian women are affected by different forms of violence, particularly domestic violence and violence related to the conflict.  The problem disproportionately affects indigenous and Afro-Colombian women.  Although Colombia has developed and established legal and institutional frameworks to address the issue, gender-based violence continues to be widespread.

In response, USAID and UN Women joined forces to develop the Overcoming Gender-Based Violence to Ensure Women´s Full Enjoyment of Rights Activity (OGBV).  OGBV will contribute to the structural changes necessary to overcome violence against women while strengthening national and local institutions, as well as civil society organizations.  The program is focused in the departments of Cauca and Meta given the confluence of wide gender gaps, armed conflict, and ethnic diversity in these areas.  In addition, these departments are important territories for the implementation of the peace agreement.  To ensure sustainability, activities are implemented in coordination with Colombian government institutions.  USAID and UN Women’s OGBV program runs from January 2015 – January 2020.

COMPONENTS                                            

Political and Economic Empowerment

OGBV promotes women’s leadership and political empowerment as a strategy to prioritize eradicating gender-based violence against women within political and legislative agendas, both at the national and local levels.  It also helps to raise the profile of women’s economic empowerment as a key preventive factor for overcoming risks associated with gender-based violence against women.

Access to Justice

OGBV aims to reduce gender-based violence against women by changing cultural norms to prevent new acts of violence, and strengthening institutional capacity to both attend to victims and improve the provision of justice services.   

Knowledge Management

OGBV generates and manages information to strengthen advocacy, capacity-building, monitoring, evaluation and the sharing of best practices to advance the reduction of gender-based violence.  In some cases, these initiatives are taken over and expanded by third parties, thus increasing the sustainability of OGBV’s results. 

RESULTS

• Improved information regarding gender-based violence through support for the publication Masatugó, a descriptive study gathering all reports of physical violence against women from 2009-2014.
• Coordinated with the Mayor of Villavicencio to commit budget resources to address gender-based violence, becoming Colombia’s first departmental capital to do so.
• Trained more than 550 public servants to improve services for GBV survivors, as of June 2016.
• Adapted the “Violentometro” tool to raise awareness on violence against women and to prevent femicide.
• Provided technical assistance to the National Electoral Council and to the National Registry, resulting in the publication of real-time data on women’s participation in the 2015 local elections.  This was the first-time in Colombia’s history that such information was immediately available to the public.
• Promoted GBV eradication by gathering 1,395 participants to discuss the actions required to end violence against women.
• Held a national summit of elected women in Bogotá, as well as territorial summits in Cauca and Meta, to train newly elected women in the construction of public policy for GBV eradication.