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About the UN Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women and Girls

The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and Girls (UN Trust Fund) is the United Nations’ only General Assembly-mandated, UN system-wide, pooled funding mechanism dedicated exclusively to ending violence against women and girls (EVAW/G). Established by the UN General Assembly in 1996 following the Beijing World Conference on Women, the UN Trust Fund represented the first time the UN formally recognized ending violence against women and girls as a global funding priority — reflecting decades of advocacy by women’s rights and feminist movements and the commitments of Member States. The UN Trust Fund’s mission is to end all forms of violence against women and girls worldwide by: 

  • mobilizing and directing strategic, flexible, and demand-driven pooled funding in support of efforts to end violence against women and girls;
  • principally supporting women-led and women’s rights organizations as key drivers of locally led efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls; and
  • generating practice-based evidence, convening partners, and advancing advocacy and accountability to strengthen a coordinated, feminist, and survivor-centered global response.

Administered by UN Women on behalf of the UN system, the UN Trust Fund is now a proven, feminist-informed grant-making mechanism that has mobilized over US$250 million and supported 725 initiatives across 140 countries and territories.

Between 2022-2025: 

  • Over 800,000 women and girls directly benefited from and/or actively participated in UN Trust Fund grantee partner initiatives, e.g. accessing direct support such as capacity building initiatives, shelters, helplines, legal aid, and counseling. (over 112,000 women and girls in 2025)
  • More than 1.1 million partners were directly engaged in projects as key agents of change and received training and capacity-building. (over 250,000 people in 2025)
  • Over 76.6 million people reached overall through UN Trust Fund funded projects (12.1 million people of which 6.5 women and girls, in 2025)

Key aggregate results of the 2022-2025 Strategic Plan

partners
partners

increased capacities to promote/influence gender-responsive legislation and its implementation, with the support of UN Trust Fund grantee partners (indicator 0.1.d)
partners
partners

increased capacities to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment through national and/or local (multi)sectoral strategies, policies and/or action plans (indicator 0.1.e)
multi-stakeholder dialogue processes
multi-stakeholder dialogue processes

organized by UN Trust Fund grantee partners to promote engagement of governments with civil society and other partners to advance gender equality and women’s empowerment (indicator 0.1.h)
evidence and/or practice-based methodologies, approaches or models
evidence and/or practice-based methodologies, approaches or models

developed and/or implemented to achieve or advance behavior and social norms change for EVAW/G, through UN Trust Fund grantee partners (indicator 0.3.b)
institutions
institutions

strengthened capacities to improve the provision of essential services, goods and/or resources for women, supported by UN Trust Fund grantee partners (indicator 0.4.a)
women's organizations
women's organizations

increased capacities to deliver and/or monitor the quality of services, resources and goods for women in humanitarian and development settings (indicator 0.4.c)
women
women

accessed information, goods, resources and/or services through UN-Women-supported platforms and programmes in humanitarian and development settings (indicator 0.4.d)
women and girls
women and girls

who have access to justice in cases of VAW/G (e.g., legal aid, facilitation to reach court, etc.) through support from UN Trust Fund grantee partners (indicator 0.4.f)
US dollars
US dollars

disbursed annually in support of civil society organizations, especially women’s organizations, working towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment, through UN-Women programmes and grant-giving (indicator 0.5.a)
advocacy initiatives
advocacy initiatives

organized with partners to increase quality, flexible, core funding for civil society organizations working on gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially women’s organizations (indicator 0.5.b)
civil society organizations
civil society organizations

working on gender equality and women’s empowerment, especially women’s organizations, strengthened capacities to exercise their leadership role towards the achievement of gender equality and women’s empowerment (indicator 0.5.d)
women and girls
women and girls

including women and girls living with and/or affected by HIV, with increased capacities to participate in public life and exercise leadership, supported by UN Trust Fund grantee partners (indicator 0.5.e)

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