Action Ideas
Action Ideas
Up to 70 percent of women experience sexual or physical violence from men in their lifetime. Everybody has a role to play in combating this global pandemic. This is your chance to make a difference and be heard. Let us count you in!
Here are some suggestions for how you can Say NO:
Governments and Parliamentarians
Civil Society Organizations and Community Organizers
- Sign the global call for action on www.saynotoviolence.org to tell governments around the world that you want them to make ending violence against women and girls a top priority.
- Ask 3 people you know to join the network on www.saynotoviolence.org. Let us count you in!
- Join Say NO on Facebook and tell us why you think ending violence against women and girls should be a priority for decision makers around the world.
- Start or join an action – volunteer at your local shelter, raise signatures on a petition for legislation that addresses violence against women and girls, organize a vigil or a walk against violence, host a house party and screen a relevantly themed film. Every signature raised and every person reached is an action!
- Help organizations on the ground catalyze change – donate or raise funds for the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women that supports local and national projects in developing nations. Every dollar/pound/franc/dinar… is one action!
- Raise the profile of the issue - blog, tweet and chat about the issue in your social networking sites.
- Include activities to raise awareness and promote prevention of violence against women and girls in your curriculum. Every student reached is an action.
- Partner with Say NO by starting a Say NO club in your school and create a profile on www.saynotoviolence.org to report your actions and updates.
- Organize events, teach-ins, film screenings, workshops, conferences and campaigns to Say NO to violence against women and girls. Every signature gathered and every student reached counts!
- Help organizations on the ground catalyze change - organize a fundraiser at your school to contribute towards the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women that supports local and national projects in developing nations. Every dollar/pound/franc/dinar… is one action!
- Sign the global call for action on www.saynotoviolence.org. Tell governments around the world that you want them to make ending violence against women and girls a top priority.
- Join Say NO on Facebook and tell us why you think ending violence against women and girls should be a priority for decision makers around the world.
- Take Say NO to your social networking sites. Start a blogathon on the issue, tweet to spread the word, and add the Say NO widget to your websites and social networking profiles.
- Share your materials with other schools, universities and civil society organizations to inspire people to take actions. You can upload the materials you create to raise awareness on www.saynotoviolence.org.
Governments and Parliamentarians
- Add your name to Say NO in contribution towards the UN Secretary-General’s UNiTE campaign and let us know about your initiatives to end violence against women and girls. (Please refer also to UNIFEM’s 10-Point Checklist for National Accountability Framework for ideas.)
- Develop, adopt, strengthen and implement national and local plans of action for ending violence against women and girls.
- Review and implement legislation on preventing and ending violence against women and girls that is adequate and aligned with human rights standards.
- Ratify relevant international treaties to which your country is not already a party.
- Make emergency “frontline services” for survivors available and accessible.
- Initiate and support prevention efforts focused on women’s empowerment and community mobilization to prevent violence against women and girls and change public attitudes and behaviors.
- Start public awareness-raising programmes and campaigns. Recognize and reward women and men working locally or nationally to end violence against women and girls.
- Improve data collection, analysis and dissemination on the prevalence, causes, survivors and perpetrators of violence against women and girls, as well as impact of interventions, performance of public sectors and socio-economic cost of violence against women and girls.
- Address conflict related sexual violence by ensuring legislative and judicial means of ending impunity towards sexual violence in conflict and post conflict; train police, military and civilian peacekeepers to prevent sexual violence and protect women and girls.
- Provide sufficient resources to enforce laws and implement programmes.
- Help catalyze change on the ground - donate to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women that supports local and national projects in developing countries.
Civil Society Organizations and Community Organizers
- Partner with Say NO – create a profile for your organization/community on www.saynotoviolence.org and co-brand your advocacy and awareness raising initiatives.
- Say NO is built to collect, count and report your actions! Start a campaign, a petition drive for a new law, reach out to children and youth in schools, organize a march against violence, workshops and events to raise awareness, and count and record your actions on www.saynotoviolence.org
- Heads of States and Ministers from 69 countries and more than 600 Parliamentarians have signed on to Say NO. Work with government officials at the local and national levels to ratify relevant international treaties and to establish laws and policies that help end violence against women in your country or community. Find out about your country’s legal framework and policies on violence against women at: www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/vaw/v-database.htm
- Engage men, youth and faith-based leaders in your communities to raise awareness and prevent violence against women and girls.
- Run workshops and sensitization trainings on the prevalent forms of violence against women and girls for police, judiciary, medical professionals, teachers, media, private sector companies and faith-based leaders. Each person you reach is an action, so share your action stories on www.saynotoviolence.org.
- Upload your advocacy and awareness raising materials on your Say NO webpage to inspire others.
- Partner with Say NO and make ending violence against women and girls a priority for your company’s corporate social responsibility.
- Implement a zero-tolerance policy towards gender discrimination and harassment in your workplace and promote women’s leadership.
- Help organizations on the ground catalyze change by contributing to the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women that supports local and national projects in developing nations. Every dollar/pound/franc/dinar… is one action!
- Organize an awareness day in your company – hold gender workshops, invite your local NGO that is working to end violence against women for an information session, screen a film that highlights the issue. Count the participants and report your actions on www.saynotoviolence.org.
- Keep flyers and brochures on how to get help if abused in discreetly and easily accessible places within your premises. Raise the profile of the issue – contribute free advertisement space on visible forums and influential websites and post the Say NO banner and widget on your website.
Note: If you are organizing activities at a place with limited access to the internet, or you cannot access the Say NO website, please contact us at saynotoviolence@unifem.org or contact the UNIFEM regional/country office near you and tell us about your actions! We will carry your message to the global Say NO network.
