26 recently have begun to explicitly deal with the issue of GBV.<sup>30</sup> (See Box 2.4 for information on the way in which the World Bank’s judicial reform projects in Ecuador and Uruguay have dealt with GBV).

## **Box 2.4 .  Treatment of GBV in two World Bank judicial reform projects:  Ecuador and Uruguay**

The first World Bank judicial reform loan in Latin America to explicitly deal with GBV was the Ecuador judicial reform project, approved in 1996. Among many other activities, the project funded legal aid services for poor women in the cities of Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca. During the project’s execution, the two NGOs hired provided services to more than 20,000 women, frequently on family violence cases. They also provided referrals to complementary services such as medical and psychological treatment, and support groups for survivors of family violence were created. Legal education was provided to judges in the use of international conventions on violence against women, such as Belem do Para and CEDAW. An evaluation (using interviews with beneficiaries and a control group of non-beneficiaries, as well as focus groups) showed that the legal aid activity has produced several notable results for beneficiaries: women were better off legally and economically, had a better knowledge of their own and their children’s rights, and their children were more likely to stay in school. Of course, sustainability of service provision after project completion is a concern. It hinges on both political commitment and fiscal health, since cost-recovery possibilities are limited.

A World Bank project in Uruguay was more narrowly focused on gender issues; funded with nonreimbursable resources, the project supports Uruguay’s implementation of the CEDAW and Belém do Pará Conventions. Technical assistance and training are designed to: (a) strengthen local institutions charged with the implementation of the National Plan for the Eradication of Violence Against Women and (b) promote access to justice for survivors. The project also finances legal and institutional diagnostic work to develop a more comprehensive response to GBV, as well as the development and implementation of a multidisciplinary training program to promote coordinated responses among judicial staff (judges, state attorneys, public defenders), social services and law enforcement agencies. The Project builds on a strong partnership between government and civil society, by integrating a participatory process and awareness-raising activities in the area of women’s human rights.

Sources: World Bank (2003) and World Bank (2004).

# **_Special police stations or police cells for women_**<sup>**_31_**</sup>

Specialized women’s police stations (WPS) exist in several countries of the region, including Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Nicaragua, Peru, and Uruguay. There is no single model for these stations; target populations, type of violence cases received, range

> 30 IDBjudicial reform projects in El Salvador, Guatemala and Venezuela have explicitly dealt with the issue of GBV, as have World Bank projects in Chile, Ecuador, Guatemala, Peru and Uruguay. 31 This sub-section draws heavily on Jubb and Izumino (2003).