Elevating Voices, Fostering Collaboration, and Transforming Norms for a World Free from Gender-Based Violence
The CUNY Graduate School of Public Health and Health Policy (CUNY SPH) has embarked on a groundbreaking collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to lead the charge in the global fight against gender-based violence. This partnership marks a pivotal moment as CUNY SPH takes the reins of the renowned 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign, previously housed at the Center for Global Women’s Leadership (CGWL). The move ensures the continuity of this crucial initiative, which has been a beacon in raising awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights violation for over three decades.
Launched in 1991 at the first Women’s Global Leadership Institute, the 16 Days campaign quickly gained international recognition, spanning 187 countries with participation from over 6,000 organizations and reaching over 300 million individuals. Unfortunately, in August 2022, CGWL closed its doors after 31 years of transformative global work. However, the legacy of the campaign lives on at CUNY SPH, where it will undergo a significant transformation under the school’s guidance.
CUNY SPH aims to take the campaign beyond its traditional 16-day timeframe, turning it into a year-round initiative. The school recognizes the importance of sustained efforts to address gender-based violence and will leverage its platform to amplify the voices of local and global feminist activists and movements. The campaign’s evolution will be guided by virtual conversations with these activists, exploring ways to shift norms, secure accountability, and dismantle power structures oppressing women, girls, and gender-diverse individuals.
Senior Associate Dean for Academic and Student Affairs at CUNY SPH, Terry McGovern, emphasizes the need for gender-justice organizations and movements to collaborate across various contexts. She envisions fostering such collaborations through innovative, interdisciplinary, and multi-level work in diverse communities. CUNY SPH’s vision for achieving health equity lies in new models of public health education, research, training, and practice.
The 16 Days campaign will find its new home within CUNY SPH’s Sexual and Reproductive Justice Hub (SRJ Hub). This hub focuses on advancing gender-justice research, education, and advocacy, particularly centering the experiences of women of color and marginalized populations. Recent work by the SRJ Hub includes analyzing the impact of donors on funded interventions, examining the influence of plural legal systems on sexual and reproductive health and rights, and launching the nation’s first sexual and reproductive justice-focused professorship, named after women’s health pioneer Byllye Avery.
CUNY SPH Dean Ayman El-Mohandes highlights the critical importance of protecting reproductive autonomy, especially at a time when these rights face erosion on various fronts. The partnership with UNFPA and the transformative approach to the 16 Days campaign align with CUNY SPH’s commitment to addressing these challenges head-on.
As CUNY SPH takes the lead in guiding the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence campaign into a new era, the collaboration with UNFPA underscores the school’s dedication to fostering collaboration, amplifying voices, and driving transformative change. The shift from a 16-day initiative to a year-round effort reflects a commitment to tackling gender-based violence with sustained and comprehensive action, ensuring a brighter, more equitable future for all.
