Call for Partners: Gender-Based Violence Programme (Mozambique)

Deadline: 25-Sep-2026

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) invites NGOs, civil society organizations, and academic institutions to support gender-based violence (GBV) prevention and response for forcibly displaced and stateless persons in Mozambique. Led through the Protection and Solutions Programme in Mozambique, the initiative takes a comprehensive, survivor-centred approach to preventing and responding to GBV. It focuses on strengthening national systems and community-based mechanisms so that affected people can access safe, equitable, timely, and quality GBV prevention and response services. The programme is grounded in the Results Framework of UNHCR Mozambique’s Multi-Year Strategy and is structured around three core components: prevention, response, and mitigation.

About the UNHCR Mozambique GBV Programme

The programme seeks to address gender-based violence among forcibly displaced and stateless populations through coordinated action at community, service-provider, institutional, and inter-sectoral levels. The initiative aims to strengthen existing systems while developing community-based mechanisms that can help prevent GBV, ensure survivors receive appropriate support, and reduce risks across different areas of humanitarian assistance. All interventions are designed around a rights-based, inclusive, and age-, gender-, and diversity-sensitive approach. Key Objectives of the Programme

The programme aims to:

- Strengthen GBV prevention and response systems - Improve access to quality GBV services - Promote survivor-centred approaches - Increase community awareness of GBV risks - Challenge harmful gender norms - Empower women and adolescent girls - Strengthen referral pathways - Improve the capacity of service providers and government actors - Identify and reduce GBV risks across sectors - Promote safe and confidential access to services - Strengthen community-based protection mechanisms - Integrate protection from sexual exploitation and abuse into programming

Three Core Components: Prevention, Response and Mitigation

The programme is organised around three interconnected components. Prevention Prevention activities focus on reducing the underlying risks and drivers of GBV through awareness, community engagement, empowerment, and capacity development. Response Response activities ensure that survivors and people at risk can access timely, confidential, and quality services. Mitigation Mitigation measures focus on identifying and reducing GBV risks across humanitarian and development-related sectors, including shelter, food security, WASH, education, and health. Together, these components provide a comprehensive approach to addressing GBV among forcibly displaced and stateless persons. GBV Prevention and Community Awareness Prevention efforts place strong emphasis on community awareness and participation. Activities may include engaging communities in discussions about gender-based violence and challenging harmful social and gender norms. The programme also encourages the participation of all genders in prevention efforts, recognising that meaningful change requires broader community engagement. Empowering Women and Adolescent Girls Women and adolescent girls are a particular focus of the prevention component. The programme promotes empowerment through: Women’s empowerment, self-reliance, and resilience are viewed not only as GBV prevention strategies but also as broader approaches to advancing gender equality. Women and Girls’ Safe Spaces The programme will establish Women and Girls’ Safe Spaces to provide secure environments where women and girls can access empowerment opportunities and psychosocial support. These spaces are intended to contribute to prevention and resilience while creating supportive environments for women and girls affected by displacement and other vulnerabilities. Capacity Building for Communities and Authorities Capacity building is an important part of the programme.

Support will target:

- Communities - Community volunteers - Service providers - Government authorities - Other relevant actors Capacity development is intended to improve knowledge, skills, and institutional ability to prevent GBV, identify risks, respond appropriately, and strengthen referral systems. GBV Survivor Response Services The response component focuses on ensuring that GBV survivors and persons at risk receive appropriate support in a timely and confidential manner.

Services may include:

- Comprehensive case management - Psychosocial support - Health services - Legal services - Safe accommodation The programme places strong emphasis on quality, confidentiality, safety, and survivor-centred service delivery. Strengthening Referral Pathways Effective referral pathways are central to the GBV response. Partners are expected to contribute to mechanisms that enable survivors and people at risk to safely access appropriate services. Referral systems should connect affected people with relevant health, psychosocial, legal, accommodation, and other support services while maintaining confidentiality and respecting informed consent. Building Service Provider Capacity The programme also prioritises strengthening the capacity of service providers and government actors. Capacity development can help ensure that frontline services are better equipped to respond to GBV cases appropriately and provide quality, timely, and confidential assistance. Assessing Existing GBV Response Systems The programme includes gap analysis of existing systems to identify areas where targeted interventions are needed.

This analysis can help identify:

- Service gaps - Capacity limitations - Referral challenges - Protection risks - Barriers to accessing services - Areas requiring institutional strengthening Findings can then inform targeted GBV prevention and response interventions. GBV Risk Mitigation Across Sectors GBV mitigation is mainstreamed across multiple sectors rather than being treated as a