03 Jul, 2025

This annotated bibliography looks at the existing resources available for understanding and responding to the kidnapping / abduction of women and girls in West and Central Africa, specifically relating to the Burkina Faso context. Literature and resources were reviewed to gather information on: - The types of kidnap / abduction that women and girls face - What can be learned about potential avenues for GBV risk mitigation relating to abduction - What lessons have been learned about how to prevent abduction of women and girls and / or support victims of abduction on their return.

26 Jun, 2025

Around the world, efforts to advance gender equality and combat gender-based violence (GBV) are facing intensified resistance. A global wave of rising conservatism, backlash against women’s rights, and shrinking civic space is threatening decades of hard-won progress. This trend is not confined to any one region—it is unfolding across continents, in both conflictaffected and stable settings alike. The Arab States region has not been spared. Across the region, the discourse surrounding GBV and gender equality is increasingly constrained. Political instability, growing conservatism, and further restrictions on civil society have placed significant pressure on women’s rights organizations, activists, and service providers. These challenges undermine both policy advocacy and the delivery of life-saving services to GBV survivors. Yet despite these obstacles, organizations, agencies, and advocates continue to adapt and persevere—developing contextspecific, resilient, and often innovative str...

26 Jun, 2025

Across humanitarian settings, the consequences of recent funding cuts are reverberating through every cluster — from health to food security, education to shelter. Yet among the most severely impacted are gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response services. According to OCHA1 , GBV is now globally the second mostaffected humanitarian cluster by funding reductions. The first is the health cluster- who as providers of Clinical Management of Rape, are critical to GBV response services. As a result, life-saving services are closing across crisis-affected regions, particularly in the Arab States, leaving millions of women and girls without protection, care, or recourse. This is not just a funding challenge. It is a fundamental protection crisis. The erosion of GBV services undermines humanitarian effectiveness, reverses progress on gender equality and signals an unacceptable retreat from our shared commitments to principled, accountable response, as enshrined in international human...