Southeast Asia GBV Prevention Platform

22/05/2026

The impacts of are not gender-neutral. They can deepen existing inequalities and increase risks of .

While recognition of the links between and gender-based violence (GBV) is growing, prevention-focused approaches and evidence on what works remain limited. To support regional learning on this issue, the Platform hosted an online dialogue, “Learning from Practice, Weaving Our Power: Climate Change and in Southeast Asia”, on 5 May 2026.

The dialogue was jointly designed and organised with women’s rights and climate-focused organisations, Banteay Srei and the Center for Environment and Community Research (CECR - Trung tâm Nghiên cứu Môi trường và Cộng đồng). It brought together nearly 30 practitioners from across the region to explore how GBV prevention can be integrated into , grounded in evidence and practice-based knowledge.

Key takeaways include:
1️⃣ Climate change intensifies the risks of GBV
2️⃣ Climate communication must be grounded in lived realities
3️⃣ Women and marginalised must share decisions
4️⃣ Systems must be ready before crises happen
5️⃣ Integration requires dedicated funding

Many thanks to our speakers:
🟡 Natchatira Thuraichamy, IJET Project Coordinator, Cansea Climate - Climate Action Network Southeast Asia
🟡 Mimi Surbakti, Executive Director, Yayasan Srikandi Lestari
🟡 Jelen Paclarin, Executive Director, Women's Legal and Human Rights Bureau - WLB

The Platform will continue to provide a space for practitioners across Southeast Asia to exchange learning, strengthen collaboration, and drive more integrated approaches to GBV prevention within climate action.

🔗 Read the full reflections on our website: https://prevention-platform.org/d/climate-change-and-gbv-prevention

UN Women Asia and the Pacific UNFPA Asia and the Pacific

22/05/2026

An opportunity to spotlight your work, launch a new initiative or tool, spark collaboration, strengthen networks, or mobilise around shared priorities to end violence against women, violence against children, and other forms of GBV.

Host your own event at the SVRI Forum 2026: https://www.svriforum2026.org/participant-driven-events/

➡️ Deadline for proposal submission: 14 June 2026

Host your own event at the SVRI Forum 2026. 🌍

The SVRI Forum is a global gathering of researchers, practitioners, policymakers, funders, and advocates working to end violence against women, violence against children, and other forms of GBV.

Throughout the Forum, participant-led events create spaces for connection, bold conversations, strategy, learning, and action.

These independently organised sessions are an opportunity to spotlight your work, launch a new initiative or tool, spark collaboration, strengthen networks, or mobilise around shared priorities.

💫 Bring your ideas, your questions, your community, and your vision for change to the Forum.

➡️ Submit your proposal before 14 June 2026.
🔗 Find out more at the link in comments.

19/05/2026

📣 We are hiring!

The Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform (the Platform) is looking for an Implementation Coordinator with a minimum 8-10 years of experience in project/program coordination, or management support roles within international development programs, preferably regional or multi-country programs in Southeast Asia.

Key responsibilities:
✅ Management Support (40%)
✅ Stakeholder Liaison and Relationship Management (25%)
✅ Event Organisation (15%)
✅ Information Management (10%)
✅ Project Support (10%)

⏰ Deadline: 12 June 2026 (5:00 PM GMT+7)
🔗 For more information and application: https://tinyurl.com/implementation-co-vacancy
🟡 Learn more about the Platform: www.prevention-platform.org

15/05/2026

The SVRI Forum is coming to Southeast Asia for the first time in 2026. The Platform will co-host the Forum together with Sexual Violence Research Initiative and the UN Joint Programme on in Southeast Asia, implemented by UN Women Asia and the Pacific and UNFPA Asia and the Pacific.

The SVRI Forum is the world's largest conference on research and practice to end violence against women and violence against children, held every two years.

Here are the 6 facts about SVRI Forum 2026 ⬇️

15/05/2026

How can better respond to the diverse realities of women and groups who face multiple, overlapping forms of discrimination?

This question guided the second session of the Platform’s Prevention in Action Learning Series, which explored key learning from the Join Us for Social Transformation (JUST) Project in Cambodia.

Co-created and organised in collaboration with the Cambodian Women's Crisis Center (CWCC), Action on Disability and Development (ADD International), and the Samrongtong Disabled People Development Federation (SRTF), the discussion highlighted how intersectionality can be embedded in GBV prevention and response efforts in ways that are practical, intentional and responsive to diverse lived experiences in Southeast Asia.

Key takeaways include:
1️⃣ Start with participatory mapping
2️⃣ Invest in leadership from those most affected
3️⃣ Address layered stigma and discrimination
4️⃣ Adapt tools, do not just translate them
5️⃣ Build trust through peer networks and safe spaces

Many thanks to our speakers:
🟡 Socheat Thak, Executive Director, CWCC
🟡 Gnem Touch, Network Liaison and Country Representative for Cambodia, ADD International
🟡 Sum Sameng, Executive Director, SRTF

Sujata Tuladhar, Technical Adviser at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), reflected that the JUST Project is a strong example of thoughtful adaptation in practice. She shared how the project reflected the five minimum steps outlined in the forthcoming regional GBV Prevention Adaptation Guidance Note, developed through the UN Joint Programme in partnership with the Platform. Stay tuned for its release. 📢

The Platform invites you to watch the highlight video from the session below. To learn more:

🔗 Read the full recap on our website: https://prevention-platform.org/d/lessons-from-the-just-project-in-cambodia

🎥 Watch the full recording: https://tinyurl.com/full-SASAWebinar

UNFPA Asia and the Pacific | UN Women Asia and the Pacific

12/05/2026

The Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform (the Platform) was pleased to participate in Women Deliver 2026, held from 27 to 30 April in Narrm (Melbourne), Australia on the unceded lands of the Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung people of Kulin Nation.

Alongside more than 6,000 delegates from over 180 countries, we brought Southeast Asian knowledge and experience into a global conversation on and . We arrived with a clear intention: to connect, to learn and to contribute to discussions that can strengthen GBV prevention efforts across Southeast Asia.

Over four days of dialogue and exchange, one message stood out: the power of spaces like lies not only in the number of people gathered, but in a shared commitment to a more just and equitable future for girls, women and gender-diverse people.

Read the full reflection of the Platform’s experience at to learn:
✅ Why it is important for us to show up
✅ How we contributed to the space
✅ What we learned from the concurrent sessions
✅ What this experience means for GBV prevention in Southeast Asia

🔗 https://prevention-platform.org/d/reflection-from-WD2026

Cowater International

01/05/2026

As the Women Deliver 2026 Conference comes to an end, a few things feel clearer after a week of conversations with CSOs, WROs, and advocates from Southeast Asia and beyond.

For the Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform (the Platform), being in this space matters not only to engage in global conversations, but to ground our work in how these discussions connect (or don’t) with regional realities.

It was especially important to spend time with CSOs, WROs, and OPDs from across Southeast Asia. Spaces like this help connect regional perspectives to global conversations, while keeping the work anchored in the leadership and priorities of those closest to the issues.

On the final day (30 April), we facilitated a thematic consultation on the on , a global call to action emerging from the conference to help shape priorities and commitments.

Across discussions, from feminist leadership to disability inclusion, one question kept surfacing: - who holds it, how it is shared, and whether systems truly enable meaningful participation.

The work is already happening, but is still not where it needs to be, especially as backlash and rollbacks on gender equality accelerate. It requires:

🔵 adequate resourcing to match the scale and urgency of violence, alongside a shared understanding of prevention, strong political will, and enabling environments for long-term change;

🔵 locally led movements, meaningful cross-sector coordination, and evidence grounded in real contexts;

🔵 skilled practitioners, accountability mechanisms, and time, recognising that shifting norms, systems, and power is sustained, long-term work.

The Platform is grateful to be part of this space to learn, connect, and exchange. As we leave Melbourne, the focus is clear: how these insights can inform more grounded, connected, and context-responsive GBV prevention efforts in the region, and what it will take for commitments to land differently in our contexts, not just as language, but as real, meaningful change.

Cowater International

30/04/2026

The learning continues on Day 3 at the Women Deliver 2026 Conference.

Like many practitioners gathered at , the Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform is here to exchange knowledge, challenge perspectives, and learn how different organisations are responding to evolving challenges and emerging threats.

From the sessions we attended on Day 3 (29 April), here are a few key takeaways we’d like to share:

🔵 Funding: Flexible and trust-based support allows organisations to listen, adapt, and respond to shifting realities, making it possible to reach diverse communities and act on what partners identify as priorities.

🔵 Feminist leadership: Representation alone does not guarantee inclusive or accountable leadership. What matters is how power is practised: how decisions are made, whose voices are heard, and whether systems enable shared power, transparency, and care.

🔵 and digital spaces: A session on Australia highlighted how digital environments are shaping norms around gender, consent, and relationships, particularly among young people. It underscored the need to address not just individual behaviour, but also the systems, platforms, and narratives that enable harm.

These insights prompt important reflections for our work in Southeast Asia:

🟠 How do these dynamics show up in our contexts?
🟠 Where do they differ and why?
🟠 And what would it take to resource organisations, practice leadership, and design prevention approaches grounded in those realities?

As the landscape continues to shift, the Platform’s commitment is clear: to keep learning, adapting, and strengthening efforts that are context-specific, evidence-informed, and locally led.

Cowater International

29/04/2026

Tomorrow (30 April) at the Women Deliver 2026 Conference, the Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform will be leading the Thematic Consultation on the .

Let’s come together to continue the conversation and brainstorm how the Declaration resonates with our work.

📅 30 April 2026
⏰ 7:30 am - 9:00 am (Melbourne time)
📍 Declaration Hub, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre

🔗 For more information about the : https://linktr.ee/MelbourneDeclaration

🔗 Declaration hub: https://womendeliver.org/declaration-hub/

Organised by: The Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform, and ACT Working Group on Strategic Communications and Advocacy

Cowater International

29/04/2026

Catching up with a familiar advocate at

It was lovely to catch up with a familiar face, Shiela May Aggarao of the Nationwide Organization of Visually-Impaired Empowered Ladies (NOVEL Philippines), among the nearly 6,000 attendees at the Conference.

Shiela recently joined the Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform (the Platform) as a speaker in our online dialogue with Organisations of Persons with Disabilities (OPDs). She is a feminist advocate for the rights of women with disabilities and community-based inclusive development.

Reflecting on her experience at Women Deliver, Shiela shared:

“Having been part of the previous Women Deliver where we launched the Feminist Accessibility Protocol, it’s encouraging to now see real progress — from its implementation to stronger participation and representation of women and gender-diverse people with disabilities, not just in accessibility, but across plenaries and side events.”

She also reflected on why spaces like Women Deliver matter for advocates working on disability and gender equality:

“Spaces like this matter because not everyone has the opportunity to be here. Being part of it creates opportunities to amplify voices, build connections, and strengthen advocacy for disability inclusion.”

As we continue strengthening efforts in Southeast Asia, the Platform remains committed to working alongside OPDs and partners to deepen inclusion, expand networks and turn these connections into sustained collaboration.

Hope to connect again soon, Shiela. Until next time 👋

Cowater International

28/04/2026

“When women thrive, everyone benefits.”

The Southeast Asia Gender-based Violence Prevention Platform (the Platform) is proud to have joined nearly 6,000 people from 189 countries on Day 1 of the Women Deliver 2026 Conference. The moment underscored the momentum of a global movement and reminded us that, amid growing pressure on multilateralism and declining funding for , we must continue to stand in our collective power.

Day 1 brought bold, urgent voices to the stage. We heard from inspiring women leaders who not only demonstrated what women can achieve, but are actively driving meaningful, lasting change for future generations.

🔵 Former Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard reminded us that when women thrive, everyone benefits - this is not a zero-sum game.

🔵 UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed called on us to never deny the power of hope, and to build genuine partnerships with civil society and young people.

🔵 CEO Maliha Khan introduced the , calling for accountable states, a stronger collective voice, and systems rebuilt to serve people - not the other way around.

Change calls us here. As the Platform, we are ready to respond by continuing to work with partners, practitioners and advocates to strengthen collective action for across Southeast Asia.

Cowater International