More than eighty crucial partners for advancing a multisectoral approach were introduced to the concept of the Essential Services Package (ESP) through an independent online course made available by UNFPA Belize, and a subsequent virtual workshop in April.  Participants included both government and civil society partners at national and sub-national levels. The National Women’s Commission (NWC) and UNFPA, conducted the two-day workshop as part of the process of assessing and defining the key essential services for Belize under the Spotlight Initiative, guided by the United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence Programme.

The National Women’s Commission is the implementing agency for several related Spotlight initiative activities for working with relevant stakeholders to have strengthened knowledge and capacity to deliver quality and coordinated essential services, including sexual and reproductive health (SRH) services and access to justice, ensuring greater access to a coordinated set of essential and quality multi-sectoral services for women and girls’ survivors of violence, especially those facing multiple and intersecting forms of discrimination.Underpinned by a  Mapping exercise previously conducted by UNFPA to identify both state and non-state actors responding to GBV in Belize, the ESP workshop therefore provided a foundation for the ESP defining process which will conclude in 2021 following a series of consultation with key actors, and is linked to the revision of the multisectoral sexual violence protocol and the social workforce training workshops for the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls (VAWG). 

The Spotlight Initiative is a global, multi-year partnership between the European Union and the
United Nations to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. It seeks to strengthen policy and legislations to increase protection of women and girls, building capacity of state and non-state actors to respond to family violence, expanding the range of services available and addressing social norms and behaviors that promote violence against women and girls. It works with governments and civil society organizations (CSO) through the three UN agencies (UNFPA, UNDP and UNICEF) with the overall vision that women and girls enjoy their right to a life free of violence, within an inclusive and gender equitable Belize.

For your information…

Link to Online Course:
https://extranet.unfpa.org/Apps/VAW/

Link to Concept Note for this activity:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1N-jicwEr5WTQiauO1UnmJA0QSjPv3TQ8/view?usp=sharing