By 
The EU – UN Spotlight Initiative Africa Regional Program (SIARP) is guided by the 2030 Agenda, the AU Agenda 2063, AU Gender Strategy, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), and other Africa regional instruments. SIARP has a continental scope and will work towards the elimination of all forms of violence against women and girls, including harmful practices.
The SIARP is implemented in two streams by four UN agencies (UN Women, UNFPA, UNICEF and UNDP), whereby UN Women leads the overall coordination of Stream I that aims to promote regional responses to addressing Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), Harmful Practices (HP) and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Reproductive Rights (SRH &RR) in Africa.
The African Union Commission is a strategic partner and counterpart of the program, as well as a signatory of the Program Document, and where possible, there is joint implementation of these activities. Further to this is the role of civil society networks and academic institutions, who provide normative insight and guidance on the key priorities of the initiative.
Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a global pandemic and the most pervasive and widespread human rights violation. More than 1 in 3 women (36.6%) in Africa report having experienced physical, and/or sexual partner violence or sexual violence by a non-partner. Across Africa, 125 million girls and women alive today were married before their 18th birthday. An estimated 200 million girls and women alive today are believed to have been subjected to female genital mutilation (FGM). A 2020 study by UNFPA, Avenir Health, Johns Hopkins University and Victoria University points to the risk of 13 million additional child marriages and 2 million more cases of female genital mutilation over the coming 10 years as a result of COVID. Reproductive health and sexual health are an integral part of health, integrally linked to the right to health. Attaining and maintaining women’s and girls’ rights and health therefore implies respecting and promoting fundamental human rights of women and girls.
The AU has a strong and comprehensive normative and institutional framework on gender equality and women’s and girls’ rights, one that continues to evolve and become stronger. The Solemn Declaration on Gender Equality in Africa, the Maputo Protocol and the AU Gender Strategy are key components of this normative Framework; as are the continental Campaigns on Ending Child Marriage; FGM; Maternal Mortality (CARMMA), Gender Is My Agenda and Free to Shine.
African civil society, and women’s and girls’ rights organizations and networks, in particular, are critical actors in promoting and monitoring legal, policy and institutional reform on each of the priority areas of the SIARP, i.e., VAWG, HP and SRH&RR. Within civil society are multi-disciplinary coalitions and networks which provide opportunities for transformative and sustainable change, and play a central role in legal and policy reform as well as social norm change. Such impact happens when women’s rights
organizations and networks, with youth leaders, faith-based organizations, organizations of persons with disabilities, traditional leaders, broader civil society as well as governmental actors join forces and work around shared agendas. There has also been advancement in the area of monitoring and accountability on AUC and REC commitments to gender equality, for instance in the monitoring frameworks of the AUC and RECs themselves and/or civil society barometers (e.g. (e.g. the SADC Gender Protocol Alliance’s SADC Gender Protocol and the EAC Gender Equality and Development Barometer developed by EASSI).
It is against this background that the SIARP will convene a high-level multi-stakeholder continental summit in the side-lines of the African Union Summit in October 2022 to showcase, network and promote cross-learning among CSOs (especially women’s CSOs), AU Member States, AUC, UN system, development partners and other relevant actors) on EVAWG, SGBV/HP and SRH and RR. To facilitate this event, UN Women seeks to engage the services of an international consultant, who will provide technical and administrative support in the design, coordination and implementation of the activity
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