A/HRC/32/3 E/CN.6/2016/8 I. Introduction 1. The United Nations Trust Fund in Support of Actions to Eliminate Violence against Women is a global, multilateral, grant-making mechanism that supports efforts to prevent and end violence against women and girls. It was established in 1996 by the General Assembly, in its resolution 50/166, and is administered by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women) on behalf of the United Nations system. 2. UN-Women provides the Trust Fund with a strong institutional foundation and field support through its regional, multi-country and country offices. The Trust Fund supports and strengthens the work of UN-Women and the United Nations system, working closely with the rest of the United Nations system through its inter -agency Programme Advisory Committee, 1 and plays a vital role in driving collective efforts to prevent and eliminate violence against women and girls. 3. The Trust Fund raises and distributes funds in support of multi -year programmes to address, prevent and ultimately end violence a gainst women and girls. To date, it has supported 426 initiatives in 136 countries and territories. The Trust Fund currently supports 111 initiatives involving civil society organizations, governments and United Nations country teams in 76 countries and te rritories, with grants totalling $57 million. In 2015, the Trust Fund almost doubled its grant -giving portfolio, to $14 million. 4. As at December 2015, the Governments of Australia, Austria, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Israel, Kazakhstan, Liechtenstein, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Trinidad and Tobago and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland had contributed to the Trust Fund ’s nineteenth grant-making cycle. Support was also received from the UN-Women National Committees of Finland, Germany, Iceland, Japan and Sweden and the UN-Women for Peace Association, the Swedish Postcode Foundation, Soko and Yuwei Design. The Trust Fund was also one of the beneficiaries of funds raised in June at the United Nations International Bazaar, an event supported by Mrs. Ban Soon-taek. 5. The present report, prepared for the sixtieth session of the Commission on the Status of Women and the thirty-second session of the Human Rights Council, describes the impact and achievements of the Trust Fund in 2 015. __________________ 1 2/17 In 2015, the Trust Fund convened eight inter-agency, regional and global meetings of the Programme Advisory Committee. In those meetings, 46 people from 15 United Nations agencies, funds and programmes participated in the grantee selection process relating to the nineteenth grant-making cycle. In 2015, agencies participating in the Advisory Committee included: the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the United Nations Development Programme, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the United Nations Population Fund, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women), United Nations Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the International Organization for Migration, the liaison office for the regional commissions in New York, the World Bank, the World Health Organization, the United Nations Capital Development Fund and the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Intergovernmental organizations and other experts at the global and field levels, including representatives from the Center for Women’s Global L eadership and Equality Now, were also actively involved in the grant -making process. 15-22220