Essential Services Package for Women and Girls Subject to Violence

The Essential Services Package is a guidance tool identifying the essential services to be provided to all women and girls who have experienced gender-based violence, including services that should be provided by the health, social services, police and justice sectors. This package also provides guidelines for the coordination of these services.

Five modules – an overview as well as standards and guidelines for the health, police and justice, social services, and coordination and governance sectors – were finalized in December 2015 and launched at the Global Conference on Ending Violence against Women in Istanbul (co-organized by UNFPA, UNW and the Government of Türkiye). These modules are available in a consolidated PDF document, or as individual documents (below).

A sixth module, on implementation, was launched in 2017. This module is available as a separate PDF document (below).

The Essential Services Package was created by the United Nations Joint Global Programme on Essential Services for Women and Girls Subject to Violence, which was launched by UNFPA and UN Women in December 2013, with support and funding from the Government of Spain and the Australian Government. The participating UN agencies include: UNFPA, UN WOMEN, WHO, UNDP and UNODC.

The joint programme aims to bridge the gap between international commitments on ending and responding to gender-based violence and what is actually implemented at the country level.

See the Using the Inter-Agency Minimum Standards For GBV in Emergencies Programming and The Essential Services Package Across Contexts publication here.