With the onset of COVID-19 came an alarming increase in cases of domestic violence in Ecuador. Counterpart’s Open Government Project sought to prevent, address and monitor gender-based violence in the large city of Manta through the creation of a consortium.

The consortium comprised representatives from 40 entities, including civil society organizations, local government, and the judiciary. The group developed a model to stop violence against women and coordinate immediate legal, psychological, and health services to deal with cases of domestic violence.

The multisectorial approach  brought together stakeholders to collaboratively address the issue of gender-based violence.   

Image taken from the promotional video against domestic violence.

During COVID, the consortium and the Counterpart team adapted its work to manage over 400 cases of gender-based violence, especially those related to domestic violence. The consortium identified the work each of the member institutions carried out in the prevention of violence against women, as well as a Protection Roadmap and Service Guide for the Prevention and Attention of Domestic Violence.

The consortium also carried out efforts to strengthen the capacity of nearly 10,000 representatives from local government, neighborhood leaders, and private sector executives. These efforts featured sessions covering best practices in transparency, open government, and system approaches to preventing gender-based violence.

To make the project sustainable, a web page was designed to promote the service, including a form where citizens could log on and file complaints. This page will be managed by the inter-institutional consortium and Manta’s City Council for the Protection of Rights to better coordinate and address future cases that arise. 

The activity demonstrated how the Open Government Project can be used to promote transparency and governance principles across local government, the judiciary, and civil society organizations. The project promoted the consortium’s work on women’s issues, which reached hundreds of thousands of people. A promotional video the project created on the importance of women’s participation in open government reached nearly 4 million people^.

To read more about the Open Government Project, click here.