The UNFPA-IOM Joint Programme on Prevention of Violence against Women in Central America aims to contribute to the reduction of violence against women, with particular attention to trafficking, femicide and violence experienced during migration, through an approach based on “thinking regionally to act nationally and locally.”

Operating from 2013 to 2016 in Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua and Panama, the programme is part of the Central American Security Strategy, implemented in partnership with national governments, the General Secretariat of the Central American Integration System (SG-SICA) and the Technical Secretariat of the Council of Ministers for Women of Central America and the Dominican Republic (STMCOMMCA).

The programme strengthens coordination between institutions, encourages dialogue on the issue to harmonize protocols for the care of survivors, while also strengthening national institutions for information and monitoring, building capacities to prevent violence against women and address the needs of survivors, and raising awareness.