Efforts to address and prevent gender-based violence by strengthening national institutions and civil society organizations are expected to get a boost at a special workshop to be held in Antigua and Barbuda from September 4-6.
Participants will review a strategy to reduce gender-based sexual violence, a press release from the Caricom Secretariat at Turkeyen said.
The strategy, initiated by United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), was finalized in 2011 and provides a framework for action and guidance in regional and in-country gender-related activities and will complement work being done in the area.
Other key issues for discussion and review include: improving regional and national legal and service delivery frameworks; strengthening coordination mechanisms between key players and exploring the development of a South-South and Technical Assistance Gender Collaboration Platform for the Caribbean region.
Participants will be drawn from UNFPA strategic partners, UN Women, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Caribbean Community (Caricom/Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), representatives of civil society organizations and national focal points.
Facilitators of the workshop include staff of the UNFPA Regional Office and the PANCAP Strategic Information and Communication Officer.
UNFPA is the PANCAP regional partner which has been at the forefront of creative, innovative policies and programmes regarding the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people that are rights-based and gender-sensitive.
PANCAP is a regional partnership established by Caricom Heads of Government in 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean, the release concluded.
