2024 Call to Action Webinars Series

In 2024, the Call to Action, led by Germany, held a series of webinars on GBV funding, localized coordination, programming with WLOs and WRLOs, the inclusion of adolescent girls’ needs in humanitarian settings, and the 2023 Call to Action Annual Report. These webinars served to highlight crucial workstreams within the Call to Action and to discuss key recommendations to jointly tackle GBV.

GBV Funding Prioritization

The first webinar on GBV funding prioritization was held with the Funding Task Team and all three Call to Action Working Groups as contributors. The webinar made participants familiar with the Call to Action’s previous work to overcome the chronic and disproportionate underfunding of GBV prevention and response. Further, it offered an opportunity to review key commitments and successes since the Call to Action High-Level Roundtable on GBV Financing which Germany and the Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC) held in New York in November 2023. While all speakers emphasized that progress had been made, participants concurred that increased efforts are needed to maintain GBV funding on the international agenda amidst high levels of needs.

 Strengthening GBV Partnerships

The second webinar on strengthening GBV partnerships through localized coordination featured contributors from the GBV AoR, UNHCR and UNFPA. They introduced key Call to Action and other global commitments to advance localization and emphasized the crucial role of WLOs and WRLOs for effective GBV coordination on national and sub-national level in both IDP and refugee contexts. Participants called for promoting WLOs’ and WRLOs’ leadership in humanitarian coordination. Lastly, they emphasized the need to create an enabling environment for inclusive coordination practices, thereby enhancing accountability.

The strengthening of GBV partnerships through programming with WLOs and WRLOs was the focus of the third webinar. Contributions from a multitude of WLOs and WRLOs across South America, Africa, the Middle East and Europe along with their partners UNHCR, USA and CARE, showcased good practices to promote locally led programming. Beyond that, they highlighted funding and advocacy opportunities to empower WLOs and WRLOs. Participants explored strategies for enhancing collaboration with WLOs and WRLOs in GBV programming and identified challenges in securing direct funding. Lastly, they offered actionable recommendations for scaling these initiatives to ensure that women-led approaches are effectively integrated into global GBV response strategies.

Listening to Adolescent Girls

In the spotlight of the fourth webinar during the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence was the review “Listening to Adolescent Girls – A Review of the Inclusion of Adolescent Girls’ Needs within the Humanitarian Response in Northeast Nigeria” following a commitment made by UNFPA and UNICEF during the Call to Action High-Level Roundtable on GBV Financing in New York in November 2023. The review carried out an inter-agency multi-sectoral analysis in a humanitarian context to determine if and how adolescent girls’ needs are being met. The analysis found that while there are promising practices within the humanitarian response in northeast Nigeria, there are areas that need to be improved to meet the multisectoral needs of adolescent girls. These are areas such as sexual and reproductive healthcare, menstrual hygiene management, identifying risks and responding to GBV, ensuring accessible and quality education, and addressing adolescent girls’ unique nutritional needs.

The webinars were successful in sustaining momentum across key cross-stakeholder workstreams of the Call to Action that will inform future advocacy priorities.