UN Women MCO-Caribbean hosts National ...

placing it at the center of efforts to achieve gender equality and women’s empowerment, in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development,” the release stated.

Some Key Pillars

Some key pillars of the Spotlight Initiative include Laws and Policies, Institutional Capacities, Social Norms and Behaviours, Services, and more.

The Caribbean Spotlight Initiative’s regional programme complements the Spotlight and nonSpotlight Caribbean country programmes and contributes to the scale, sustainability, visibility, lessons learned, and replication of programming throughout the region.

The programme addresses specific regional challenges that inhibit progress on the prevention of and response to violence against women and girls and prioritises working with regional bodies, regional advocacy with CSO networks, transferring lessons learned, and engaging in

South-South and triangular cooperation.

Investments in VAWG prevention and response are critical to effectively addressing the issue. Understanding how budgets impact women and men, boys and girls are essential to their effectiveness.

“This is why GRB tools have been utilised globally to assist countries in being even more targeted in how they impact people. GRB is not budgets for women, it describes a comprehensive approach to budgeting utilising tools to ensure that no one is left behind and that the return on budgetary investments is impactful,” the release added.

Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) practitioners in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), have produced a growing body of significant knowledge, enabling a favourable framework for developing several analytical approaches and strategies to achieve a more equitable and fairer society. GRB approaches have been applied within different sectors in the region, such as social protection, climate change, and violence against women and girls (VAWG).

According to the release, an assessment will be done using a comprehensive methodology “Manual for tracking and assessing budget allocations for address- ing violence against women and girls” with its companion Excel Tool, designed by UN Women under the auspices of the Spotlight Regional Programme to end VAWG in the CARICOM region.

The assessment will be done in a participatory manner with key implementing partners across government and civil society. The final output will be a report with practical recommendations for improving planning and budgeting for ending violence against women and girls.

Present at Thursday’s workshop were His Excellency Rene van Nes, EU Ambassador to Guyana; Yesim Oruc Kaya, Resident Coordinator of United Nations – Guyana, and Tonni Ann Brodber, Representative of UN Women MCO – Caribbean.