Preventing violence against women

Project description

Title: Prevention of Violence against Women (PreViMujer II)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Ecuador
Lead executing agency: Ministry for Women and Human Rights​​​​​​​
Overall term: 2021 to 2023

Workshop with ProCredit bank management to plan the implementation of the Management Model to prevent violence against women at the political, strategic and operational level. Photo: © PreViMujer, 2021.

Context

Violence against women is one of the most serious violations of human rights worldwide, a social and economic problem and a threat to health. In Ecuador, 65 per cent of women are affected by gender-based violence (National Institute for Statistics and the Census in Ecuador, 2019). According to a study of the project, violence against women in Ecuador leads to total economic costs of around USD 4.6 billion each year. That is equivalent to 4.28 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product. Of the country costs of violence against women, 50 per cent are borne by the affected women themselves, their households and their microenterprises, 39 per cent by medium and large enterprises, and 11 per cent by the state (University of San Martín de Porres and PreViMujer/GIZ, 2020).

Ecuador introduced an integral protection law for women in 2018, is committed to gender equality and has ratified both international and regional agreements against violence and the discrimination of women.

Despite this progress, the challenges in implementing effective preventive measures to combat violence against women remain immense.

Objective

State actors, the private sector, civil society and media are more effectively preventing violence against women in Ecuador.

Ein indigenes Mädchen kann nun mit einem Tablet den virtuellen Unterricht verfolgen und an dem Lernparcours “MamMut. Mitmachen macht Mut. Gemeinsam gegen Gewalt” von zu Hause aus teilnehmen. Bildnachweis: © PreViMujer, 2021.

Approach

Awareness raising and certification: In cooperation with public institutions and private companies, the project holds online courses to train public servants, managers and employees in the prevention of violence against women and to promote an organisational culture of zero tolerance towards violence against women.

Gender equality in management: Implementing a management model for the prevention of violence against women, the project promotes effective, sustainable change for gender equality in corporate management. Business associations and private companies invest in products and campaigns for the prevention of violence against women.

Critical reporting with the media: The programme focuses on critical and evidence-based reporting on violence against women. For this purpose, it trains journalists and develops innovative, digital formats.

Last update: September 2021

Online certification delivery “Safe institutions, free from violence against women” within the framework of November 25, 2020. To date, more than 70,000 public officials have been successfully certified nationwide. Photo: © Technical Secretariat of the Todo Una Vida Plan, 2020.

Additional information