United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence against Women is managed by UN WOMEN on behalf of the UN system and was established in 1996 by the UN General Assembly. It is an essential source of funding to promote strategies and solutions that make women safer, strengthen courts, law enforcement and enhance services for women.
It awards annual grants based on an open and competitive process. For 2008, an estimated US$15 million is available, the largest in the history of the UN Trust Fund, and triple that of the previous year. For Pakistan, the Fund is managed by UN WOMEN South Asia Regional Office in Delhi, which receives directly all the proposals. The regional office received 250 proposals in total from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Nepal, Maldives, and Sri Lanka and Bhutan.
The NGOs which applied will be informed about the status of their concept note by the end of July 2008 after the meeting of the South Asia inter-agency project appraisal committee (PAC) which will pre-select and recommend only up to 3 concept notes to the Global inter-agency PAC which will meet in New York for further review and selection. Those applicants whose concept notes are approved by the Sub regional and Global PAC's will have to submit detailed project proposals (results matrix, work plan, evaluation plan and a disaggregated budget) by September 2008. Disbursement of funds to the final short-listed grantees will take place towards the end of October.
The UN Trust Fund receives more requests for funding than it is able to support. In 2007, it was only able to approve 5% of all proposals submitted. Of the 5% of the proposals that were approved globally in 2007 – only two were from South Asia. National Commission on the Status of Women in Pakistan and the Ministry of Gender and Family in Maldives were granted last year.
Within the overall focus of supporting the implementation of national laws and plans of action on violence against women, the 2008 Call for Proposals invited civil society organizations, governments and UN Country Teams to submit programs on two areas: first, up scaling promising or proven approaches on ending violence against women and girls, and second, supporting innovative and catalytic proposals that will expand the global knowledge base on effective approaches to end violence against women. The deadline for applying was 26 May 2008.
In Pakistan, the last grant was made to National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) in Pakistan. The title of the project was Public–Private Partnership to End 'Honor Crimes' in Pakistan by Supporting the Implementation of the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act 2004
The project mainly focused on "honour killing" as one of the most brutal crimes against women. The project supported the effective implementation of the law (that killing in the name of honour would be treated as intentional murder-Criminal Law Amendment Act, 2004). It also planned to develop a credible data base; capacities of law enforcement agencies in designing and conducting need-based interventions in two selected districts.