EU-UN Spotlight Initiative builds Guyana-based civil society organisations’ skills for programming solutions to end violence against women and girls (VAWG)
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UN Women Project Coordination Analyst, Mrs. Shadé Maycock facilitates a session with civil society organisations in Guyana. UN Women Photo/Trevor Smith
Civil society, and specifically women-led organizations in the Caribbean, play a pivotal role in the collective effort towards ending violence against women and girls, advancing gender equality, and realizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The EU-UN Spotlight Initiative in the Caribbean is partnering with women’s rights groups, women-led civil society organizations (CSOs), and other relevant community-based CSOs to improve their capacity to influence national and local women’s rights and gender equality agendas and better serve the needs of most marginalized communities.
On August 21-25, 2023, UN Women Multi-Country Office (MCO) -Caribbean hosted a five-day capacity development, monitoring, and evaluation mission to Guyana, where local CSOs, including recipients of the EU-funded-Spotlight Initiative Small Grants for CSOs, participated in skills training and site visits.
Play Area at Help and Shelter for children of victims/survivors of gender-based violence. UN Women Photo/Trevor Smith
The attendees from eight local CSOs were trained in effectively creating applications to secure technical assistance and grants, which included skills building in procurement procedures, finance planning, monitoring and evaluation, and overall project design to better position the CSOs to access donor funding to support the work to end VAWG.
The training was facilitated by members of the UN Women MCO – Caribbean: Planning and Coordination Specialist, Ms. Je'nille Maraj, Project Coordination Analyst, Mrs. Shadé Maycock, and Finance Associate, Mr. Kerwin Holder.
For a recap of the partner training workshop, watch this video.
During the visit, the UN Women team also visited four of the civil society partners who were recipients of the EU-funded-Spotlight Initiative Small Grants for CSOs, to identify their needs and priorities, explore existing good practices, and assess the outcome of their projects to end violence against women and girls.
Niveta Shivjatan, Finance Officer and Danuta Radzik, M&E Officer, both from Help & Shelter during a site visit with the UN Women team. UN Women Photo/Trevor Smith
Felicity Persaud-Jackson, Finance Officer, Merundoi Inc. speaks with Mr. Kerwin Holder, Finance Associate, UN Women MCO-Caribbean during a site visit. UN Women Photo/Trevor Smith
With existing global and local crises that challenge the impact of their work such as limited donor funding and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Spotlight Initiative in Guyana is helping CSOs become more resilient and sustainable agents of change.