Adele Libam (Cameroon), UN Volunteer serving as a UNDP Poverty Programme Coordinator in South Kivu Province, Democratic Republic of the Congo, visits a multi-purpose Community Centre in Walungu. (Jonathan Lorrillard/MONUSCO, 2013)
UNV continues to partner with UNDP, UNFPA and the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women) on Partners for Prevention (P4P), a joint regional programme in Asia and the Pacific that addresses the primary way to prevent gender-based violence: stopping violence before it starts. Since its inception in 2008, P4P has engaged with national government and civil society partners in 12 countries across Asia. UNV is active in Cambodia, Indonesia, Thailand and Viet Nam supporting communication, advocacy, research and capacity development. Through this programme, seven UN Volunteers are contributing towards MDG 3, promoting gender equality and empowering women. UNV’s role in P4P is to support learning by embedding local volunteers in promising projects, offer technical training for United Nations and other volunteers on violence prevention and volunteer management, coordinate volunteer-based networks on prevention of gender-based violence at regional and national levels, and create an enabling environment for volunteerism. UN Volunteers are also aiding P4P partners in the development of comprehensive documentation and research on the role of volunteerism in preventing gender-based violence. In 2012, the P4P partners collaborated to conduct a multi-country study on men’s perpetration of rape and abuse. This study aimed to clarify notions of gender, masculinity and power to prevent gender-based violence in Asia and the Pacific. It is one of the few in-depth studies undertaken on men’s own experience
16 UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS: ANNUAL REPORT 2012
of violence. The research study covered nine sites in six countries, interviewed over 10,000 men and validated findings with 2,500 women. It has produced the largest cross-country comparable dataset on men’s experiences, attitudes and use of violence against women in the region. Across the sample surveyed, one in four men admitted to raping a woman or girl. One in 25 men admitted to taking part in a gang rape. These findings — as shocking as they may be — help to paint a more holistic picture of the issue, inform policy and refine interventions. At the regional level, UNV Programme Specialist Raymond Brandes (Netherlands) supported learning initiatives of non-governmental organization volunteer consortiums. One of these was the South Asian Network to Address Masculinities which enlisted professors and gender justice practitioners to volunteer for 342 days to develop a curriculum on training and mentorship to address gender-based violence. In Indonesia, Raymond worked with Marwan Idris, a national UN Volunteer at the Pulih Foundation in Aceh, to prepare a study on the ‘Contributions of Volunteerism to the Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Aceh.’ “This study gives information from a unique perspective, because Aceh is a post-tsunami and post-conflict area,” Marwan says. “It documents the history of volunteerism here, as a first step towards reinvigorating traditional Acehnese notions of voluntary action, and promoting volunteerism to address and prevent violence against women.”