The United Nations (UN) Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence was launched in 2013, in a partnership co-led by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and UN Women, in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), UN Development Programme (UNDP) and UN Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It aims to provide greater access to a  coordinated set of essential multi-sectoral services for survivors of Gender-Based Violence (GBV), by the health, social services, justice and policing sectors. It provides a roadmap and best practice guidance in the coordination of quality essential services and the governance of coordination processes and mechanisms.

During 2022 and 2023, a comprehensive review of the implementation of the Essential Services Package (ESP) was conducted, with the objective to identify and compile challenges, best practices and lessons learned across the English and Dutch-speaking Caribbean. It aims to better understand gaps, capacities and opportunities in responding to GBV, considering a humanitarian-development nexus approach at the national and regional levels in the Caribbean.

The main outcomes of this lessons learned report have informed the development of an adapted ESP Resource Package to support the implementation of the ESP across national contexts in the Caribbean region, in line with interagency standards and best practices. The report and resource package are intended to support in the operationalization the ESP and via the Caribbean ESP Community of Practice (CoP), where key regional institutions will provide technical support to National Gender Machineries (NGMs) in their respective processes of coordinating the implementation of the ESP.

The ESP Implementation Guidance Note provides an overview to the ESP Resource Package as well as a structured approach to support the operationalization of the ESP among member states. Practitioners can use this guidance note alongside a set of practical tools that have been adapted to the Caribbean region, including templates, costing tools, training materials and a wide range of additional technical resources at their disposal.

To access the full ESP Resource Package in English click here.

To access the full ESP Resource package in Dutch click here.