Launch of the Global Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls

Date: 4 March 2010

United Nations, New York — UNIFEM has launched a Global Virtual Knowledge Centre to End Violence against Women and Girls. The one-stop centre will support practitioners around the world in effective design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and programmes. The web-based site brings together lessons learned to date and recommended practices gleaned from initiatives on ending violence against women and girls, whether originating from the women’s movement, civil society organizations, governments, the United Nations system or other actors.

The Global Virtual Knowledge Centre was presented on 4 March at an event held on the occasion of the Commission on the Status of Women and co-hosted by UNIFEM and the Government of Spain.

Efforts by the international community to end violence against women and girls have gained an unprecedented momentum. Decades of tireless work by the women’s movement and human rights activists have placed the issue high on global, regional and national agendas. At the international level, the UN Secretary-General’s campaign, UNiTE to End Violence against Women, calls on governments, civil society, the private sector and the entire UN system to join forces in addressing this global pandemic.

The major challenge worldwide is to translate policy commitments into practice, but few policy-makers and practitioners have ready access to the global evidence base of effective measures to end violence against women and girls.

In response, UNIFEM has developed the Global Virtual Knowledge Centre that brings together existing and cumulative experience, know-how and resources from around the world. Access to this knowledge base can improve the quality of interventions, optimize results and enhance the cost-effectiveness of investments.

Currently, the knowledge centre features three modules, developed by recognized experts in the respective areas of specialization and vetted by networks of practitioners. Several additional modules are in development. The centralized database is fully searchable and available in English, French and Spanish.