Our Programs

Support to GBV and Gender Equality Initiatives in Benin 

Benin
| 2022–2025
This project, with funding from the Embassy of the Netherlands in Benin, aims to prevent gender-based violence and promote gender equality in Benin through partnerships and initiatives at the national level.
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Through the Support to Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Gender Equality Initiatives in Benin program, EngenderHealth is supporting the efforts of the Ministry of Social Affairs and Microfinance in the fight against GBV and to promote gender equality in Benin. Our work focuses on national-level strategies to prevent GBV. We are partnering with organizations in Benin to expand and strengthen the vital work that they are already doing.

According to UNFPA data in 2018, 14.6% of ever-partnered women aged 15–49 in Benin experienced physical or sexual intimate partner violence in the preceding 12 months. GBV profoundly damages individual lives, societies, and economies. Addressing and preventing GBV is critical to transforming gender norms and advancing gender-equitable communities.

Through this program, EngenderHealth will report on and validate the national GBV study, create and implement a digital GBV library, assess Benin’s national gender policy, and support improvements to the Integrated Data System on Family, Women, and Children. Through an innovative and flexible fund, we will help strengthen GBV interventions led by the Benin Feminists Network and GBV reduction media initiatives led by the Union of Media Professionals of Benin. Additionally, the program supports the Ministry of Defense by including a course and awareness-raising module on GBV for student soldiers in training at military schools. We are also providing support to ONG Ya Tchégbo, a local organization, to set up and run an emergency shelter in Cotonou for women survivors and their children.

Together with our partners in Benin, we are working to develop and enhance national and social programs preventing GBV to ensure that everyone can live free from violence.