Port-au-Prince, 24 January 2017 --- The Ministry for the Status of Women and Women's Rights (MCFDF) organized, with UNFPA support, the United Nations Population Fund, and the International Medical Corps (IMC), a strategic planning workshop on gender-based violence (GBV) in Les Cayes, southern Haiti, on 17-18 January 2017.

Around thirty people from various public institutions and civil society have participated in this training.

According to the UNFPA GBV sub-sector coordinator for Haiti, "this training aimed to strengthen the capacities of the institutional and humanitarian actors regarding the strategic planning for the GBV prevention and response".

The goal was also, Elsa Maarawi added, to bring the same actors to a common definition of GBV as well as to recognize the need for a multi sectoral approach.

It was also a question, she stressed, of promoting the idea of informed consent In the very definition of GBV, so as to induce some institutional actors to reconsider their approach to rape and its definition.

The workshop was marked by plenary presentations and workshops around the guiding principles behind GBV actions, namely confidentiality, respect, security and non-discrimination.

During the workshop discussions, participants agreed on the need to strengthen care services, while setting up campaigns to raise awareness and prevent violence, particularly around the areas most affected by Hurricane Matthew.

UNFPA co-chairs with MCFD the GBV Working Group in the South and Grand'Anse departments to structure the response to gender-based violence.