Foreword

I am pleased to introduce the third annual report of the Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

This report highlights the positive impact of the projects on the lives of communities, even with delays encountered as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. We remain engaged with entities across the United Nations system to encourage them to develop projects that provide seed funding for income-generating activities to put victims on the path to sustainable economic empowerment and independence.

We continue to engage victims and communities so we can benefit from their feedback on the projects in which they participate and their ideas for the future. They are at the heart of our response and at the core of the implementation of the Trust Fund in Support of Victims of Sexual Exploitation and Abuse. I hope that we will be able to continue this important work with the support of Member States and global and local partners.

Catherine Pollard
Under Secretary-General for Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance

Our Work

The Trust Fund supports United Nations and non-governmental organizations to implement projects that provide support to complainants, victims and children born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse by United Nations staff members and related personnel.

The funding provided through the Trust Fund is used for projects that:

Provide specialized services required by victims and children born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse, including medical care, legal services, and psychosocial support
Address service gaps in the provision of assistance and support
Raise awareness on prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse among the victims and the community, including reporting channels
Provide additional support and communications for complainants, victims and children born as a result of sexual exploitation and abuse.

Psychosocial support

The victims are provided with psychological first aid and counselling and are referred to specialized mental health clinics.

Medical care

Victims receive treatment for the consequences of sexual exploitation and abuse, including referrals to services such as HIV post-exposure treatment, post-exposure prophylaxis, and reproductive and sexual health care.

Income generation

Trust Fund projects provide sexual exploitation and abuse victims the knowledge and tools to facilitate sustainable economic empowerment and help them to reclaim their dignity and rebuild their self-esteem. They learn how to start their own businesses, sell their products to generate income and provide for their families.

Awareness-raising

To increase the knowledge of victims and communities about their rights and support available, awareness-raising campaigns are an essential part of projects supported by the Trust Fund. Project teams engage with communities throughout the entire life of a project.

Trust Fund Projects

Project: Victim assistance and support in Beni, Bunia, Goma, Kalemie, Kavumu and Uvira
Location: The Democratic Republic of the Congo

The projects aim to support women at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, and victims of sexual exploitation and abuse in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The projects build the capacities of the community-based complaint network in the region to receive and transmit complaints of misconduct, including sexual exploitation and abuse, and implement prevention activities.

Over the course of 2020, the project implemented the following activities:

Recruited 18 trainers
Identified 477 beneficiaries, including 82 children for schooling activities and 395 for vocational training
Purchased and distributed school kits to 82 children
Organised three training sessions for 60 community-based complaint network members.

Project: Adult literacy programme in eight communities in the Montserrado County
Location: Liberia

In 2020, the project jointly run by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the National Adult Education Association of Liberia (NAEL) aimed to address educational gaps of individuals in the most vulnerable situations, including victims of sexual exploitation and abuse.

The main activities implemented in 2020 were:

Literacy classes supported by 16 facilitators
Two-week refresher training for facilitators
Delivery of classes to 183 beneficiaries in eight communities

The 183 beneficiaries finished a two-cycle literacy and numeracy training programme.

Watch this video to find out more about the Liberia project.

Project: Assistance for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse and their children born as a result of these misconducts
Location: Haiti

In 2020, the Review Committee approved a project offering assistance for victims of sexual exploitation and abuse and their children born as a result of these misconducts in Haiti. Project activities are being implemented over the course of 24 months until the end of December 2022.

This is the first Trust Fund project in Haiti. It is managed by the United Nations Development Programme and implemented by Associazione Volontari per il Servizio Internazionale (AVSI), which provides holistic support to 34 children (17 girls and 17 boys) and other victims.

Since its establishment, the Trust Fund has supported 12 projects, with 7 projects active or completed in 2020.

Trust Fund contributions (IN USD)

Albania2,000

Australia150,954

Bangladesh100,000

Bhutan10,000

Canada232,132

Cyprus17,900

Ecuador1,000

Finland60,045

Germany120,000

India100,000

Italy578,816

Japan200,000

Luxembourg50,000

Nigeria100,000

Norway123,337

Pakistan10,000

Philippines7,500

Portugal49,503

Slovakia35,352

Sri Lanka10,000

Switzerland52,000

Uganda10,000

United Kingdom1,099,520

USA170,000

Way Forward

The United Nations implements a system-wide approach to realizing victims’ rights to assistance, including through provision of support to partners delivering projects financed by the Trust Fund.

Priorities for 2021 and 2022 include:

Strengthen outreach to encourage more project ideas and proposals from agencies, funds, programmes and civil society partners
Continue collaboration with the Office of the Victim’s Rights Advocate and Senior Victims’ Rights Officers on mapping, gaps in services and specialized projects
Awareness-raising activities and capacity-building for community-based complaint networks
Continue documentation of the impact of projects and feedback from beneficiaries
Disseminate information on the impact of the Trust Fund and testimonies of beneficiaries through the Trust Fund website, social media campaigns and various United Nations and Member State events