A/HRC/38/3 E/CN.6/2018/9 During 2017, 99 women were assisted by the Centre’s legal department and 19 cases were won. A. Preventing violence against women and girls 39. Transforming attitudes, beliefs and behaviours is an essential part of making progress towards a world without violence. Trust fund grantees use a wide range of approaches to deliver results that demonstrate how interventions can alter customs, institutions and practices that normalize violence against women and girls. 40. In the United Republic of Tanzania, for example, Equality for Growth, a local women’s organization, is working to bolster women’s economic rights and reduce the risk of violence by creating safe environments, in six markets, in two districts of Dar es Salaam. Some 2,081 market traders (1,354 men and 727 women) from the six markets took part in the campaigns on the causes and impacts of gender-based violence, as well as on how to handle issues in the markets and how to report cases. In March and April 2017, Equality for Growth conducted several visits with journalists to the six markets. During the visits, interviewees said that the situation had improved, as compared to before the project. They credited such activities as awareness sessions on gender-based violence delivered in the market, the imposition of fines on perpetrators of violence and education sessions by paralegals and legal community supporters as having contributed to the reduction in violence against women. Cases of violence against women are reported to have dropped by a third. 41. Episcopal Relief and Development implemented a project that addresses genderbased violence in post-conflict Liberia through the engagement of interfaith, Christian and Muslim organizations in six districts of Grand Cape Mount and Rivercess. A midterm assessment showed that the percentage of faith leaders who reported publicly speaking out against violence against women and girls in the previous yea r had increased, from 27 per cent, at the start of the project, to 100 per cent. Some 8,300 members of churches and mosques were reached by their faith leaders and informed about how to access services. Faith leaders are increasingly challenging deeply roo ted stigma by speaking out against practices that compromise or disadvantage women and girls and, importantly, are using the knowledge they acquired on the various forms of violence as guidance as they counsel families or refer cases to service providers. B. Fostering the implementation of law and policy 42. The Azerbaijan Young Lawyers’ Union set up a trust fund-supported project to provide women with free legal, medical and psychological support services, as well as refuge from violent partners and family members; the project set up the only shelter for survivors of violence currently operating in the country. The project was, in part, a response to the concluding observations of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women on Azerbaijan’s fifth periodic report. The Committee called on Azerbaijan to ensure that women and girl victims of violence have access to immediate means of redress and protection, including a sufficient number of adequate shelters in all regions. During the rep orting period, 203 survivors of domestic violence who came to the centre benefited from the rehabilitative, protection, legal and medical services provided. Moreover, 30 women were the beneficiaries of small grants, helping them towards financial autonomy, an important factor in eliminating domestic violence. So far, 17 businesses have been supported or established within project activities on empowering women and girls who have 17-22602 11/16