Final Joint Steering Committee meeting and official closure event of the Spotlight Initiative takes place in Dushanbe

Representatives of key ministries, UN, EU, national and international organizations, civil society, media, youth, and activists joined the event to get familiarized with key results of the joint programme achieved during the programme lifespan and discuss the sustainability of key interventions as a next step.

During the final National Steering Committee meeting, summary of key results achieved cumulatively during the years of implementation from January 2020 to December 2023 were presented. It was stressed that the programme has achieved high-level results, including review and analysis of key legislation, policies, and procedures of Tajikistan, incorporated programme topics into the key national development policies, state programmes and action plans, strengthened inter-sectoral cooperation, raised awareness and knowledge of more than 99,284 individuals.

The programme also ensured provision of better medical and psychological services to those who have experienced violence, built the capacity of service providers, strengthened data collection for better planning and response and supported civil society and activists networking, capacity building.

Within the official closure event of the joint programme, information about key results of the initiative in Tajikistan were demonstrated, including highlights from the journey of Nuriya – a girl character that fights inequality, School of Gender Advocates, civil society organizations strategy and capacity building, knowledge platform, engagement of men and boys in prevention of gender-based violence, school reporting mechanism, women economic empowerment, among others.

“It is symbolic that we close this joint programme within the International Campaign of '16 Days of Activism against gender-based violence' that this year focuses on investing to prevent violence against women and girls. We are grateful to European Union for this unprecedented investment they made to bring the spotlight to the complex issue of the elimination of violence against women and girls”- said Ms. Parvathy Ramaswamy, UN Resident Coordinator.

“Investing in women and girls is our greatest and most underused path to accelerate the full achievement of the SDGs. We will only achieve the Goals if every woman and every girl, everywhere, can live a life of dignity and security, free from violence.”- she added.

H. E. Raimundas Karoblis, the EU Ambassador to Tajikistan noted: “This is the end of the programme, but not our commitment. EU continues to fight for the world that is free from any type of violence. We continue mainstreaming the gender-based violence as one of our top priorities in all our policies, programmes, and projects regardless of focus area. The 16 days of activism against the gender-based violence that is currently ongoing, is a good opportunity to bring the attention to this problem because the awareness raising that gradually leads to behavioral change is one of the most important factors, which ultimately will lead to the real change in every village, in every affected family.”

The Spotlight Initiative is a global, multi-year partnership between the EU and the UN to eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls. The overall vision of the Spotlight Initiative in Tajikistan was to ensure women and girls enjoy their right to a life free of violence. The funding of 7 million US dollars for the programme in Tajikistan contributed to the elimination of sexual and gender-based violence by responding to the needs of women and girls and addressing the underlying causes of violence against women and girls, as well as developing the capacity to prevent and effectively address domestic violence and other forms of abuse, using a multi-sectoral and intersectional approach.