(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) A workshop aimed at strengthening national institutions and civil society organizations to address and prevent gender-based violence will be held 4-6 September, 2012, in Antigua and Barbuda.

Participants will be drawn from United Nations Population Fund’s (UNFPA) strategic partners, UN Women, Economic Commission for Latin American and the Caribbean (ECLAC), the Caribbean Community (CARICOM/Pan Caribbean Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (PANCAP), representatives of civil society organizations and national focal points. They will review a strategy to reduce gender-based sexual violence. The strategy, initiated by UNFPA, was finalized in 2011 and provides a framework for action and guidance in regional and in-country gender-related activities and will complement work being done in the area.

Other key issues for discussion and review include: improving regional and national legal and service delivery frameworks; strengthening coordination mechanisms between key players and exploring the development of a South-South and Technical Assistance Gender Collaboration Platform for the Caribbean region.

Facilitators of the workshop include staff of the UNFPA Regional Office and the PANCAP Strategic Information and Communication Officer.

UNFPA is the PANCAP regional partner which has been at the forefront of creative, innovative policies and programmes regarding the sexual and reproductive health of adolescents and young people that are rights-based and gender-sensitive.

PANCAP is a regional partnership established by CARICOM Heads of Government in 2001 to respond to the HIV and AIDS epidemic in the Caribbean