UN Women at SVRI Forum 2026
Date:
The Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) Forum is the world's largest conference on evidence, practice and policy to end violence against women and girls, held every two years to bring together researchers, practitioners, donors and governments working on the issue.
This year the Forum returns to Bangkok from 5 to 9 October, only the second time it has been held in Asia. This edition is co-hosted by UN Women and UNFPA, through the UN Joint Programme on GBV Prevention in Southeast Asia.
Across the week, UN Women and partners are organizing and taking part in workshops, panels, poster sessions and presentations covering prevention, response, technology-facilitated violence, climate and conflict-related violence, and more. Below is a day-by-day look at where to find us. For full session descriptions, speakers and locations, see the SVRI Forum 2026 programme or the Whova conference application. Please note these sessions are exclusively available to registered SVRI Forum participants.
Oct 5–9 2026
UN Women at SVRI Forum 2026
Sessions, workshops and poster presentations
Monday, 5 October
- 14:00–17:00
- Workshop: From practice-based learning to action: Feminist praxis in the face of backlash — organized by Raising Voices, What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale, the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and Girls and SVRI/Safe Futures Hub
- Workshop: Rooted and rising: Feminist GBV prevention strategies from the ground up — organized in collaboration with UNFPA, Breakthrough, the Asia Network to End GBV, and What Works to Prevent Violence: Impact at Scale
- Facilitators: Melissa Alvarado, UN Women Asia-Pacific, Sujata Tuladhar, UNFPA Asia-Pacific, Dr. Pritha Chatterjee, Breakthrough (member of the Asia Network to End GBV), and Suniti Neogy, What Works to Prevent VAWG: Impact at Scale.
- Speakers: Hoang Tu Anh, Center for Creative Initiatives in Health and Population (Viet Nam); Nivea Saldanha, Asia Foundation (Timor-Leste) and Manisha Gupte, MASUM (India)
Tuesday, 6 October
- 7:00–9:00
- Democratizing digital and AI governance: A Latin American case study of the Olimpia Law — organized in collaboration with Red de Defensoras Digitales
- 11:00–12:30
- A decade of change: How rugby in the Pacific became a platform for preventing violence against women and girls
- 13:00–14:30
- From evidence to action: Using policy reforms and data to end VAWG at scale — organized in collaboration with SVRI and Economist Impact
- From global evidence to local action: Knowledge exchange on GBV prevention — hosted by Australia's DFAT and the UK's FCDO, through the UN Joint Programme on GBV Prevention in Southeast Asia (implemented by UN Women and UNFPA). Register here
- Speakers: Kathleen Bombell, Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; Melissa Alvarado, UN Women Asia-Pacific; “Ebby” Helio Afranio S. Xavier, Asia Foundation (Timor-Leste); Sheena Hadi, Aahung / Right to Play (Pakistan); Jennel Reyes, Masayang Pamilya Organization (Philippines); Sujata Tuladhar, UNFPA Asia-Pacific and Laura MacLean, UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
- 13:00–14:00 Poster session I
- 15:00–16:30
- Shaping ASEAN's next Regional Plan on the Elimination of Violence Against Women through participatory, evidence-informed policy development — organized in collaboration with ASEAN and ACWC Thailand
- From policy to practice, Fiji: Whole-of-society prevention through the Fiji National Action Plan to Prevent Violence Against All Women and Girls (2023–2029)
- From framework to practice: Piloting the statistical framework for measuring the gender-related killing of women and girls in Asia and the Pacific
Wednesday, 7 October
- 7:00–9:00
- Rethinking feminist funding: Evidence, foresight, and the future of resourcing ending violence against women and girls — organized by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and Girls
- 11:00–12:30
- When climate change hits: Gender-based violence response in Pacific Island communities
- 13:00–14:30
- Evidence to action: Cross-regional perspectives on sustaining movements for EVAWG from the ACT programme
- 13:00–14:00 Poster session II
- Bung Wantaim: A national civil society alliance to advance gender equality and women's empowerment in Papua New Guinea
- Beyond youth behaviour change communication: A community platform for promoting gender equality and preventing gender-based violence, learning from practice in Papua New Guinea
- Integrated and sustained VAW prevention: Evidence from SASA! Community and Faith interventions
- From policy to practice in Samoa: Lessons from operationalising the Pola Puipui Framework
- Feminist, movement-led approach to preventing violence against women and girls in the Pacific
- From policy to practice, Solomon Islands: Developing and implementing the national prevention strategy
- Building safe sport systems in the Pacific as an enabler of violence prevention against women and girls
- GOLKIPA: Transforming social norms through sport, community and faith leadership, a Pacific model for primary prevention
- Challenges and opportunities for faith-based social norms change in the Pacific in the context of backlash
- Long-term change through faith: Lessons from faith-based primary prevention approaches in the Pacific
- Community mobilisation during slow onset disasters: Lessons from the Strengthening Peaceful Villages programme in Kiribati
- Possibilities and promising practices for primary prevention through climate action
- 15:00–16:30
- Gender backlash as structural violence: Implications for ending violence against women in Eastern Europe and Central Asia — organized by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women and Girls
- 17:00–18:30
- Critical analysis of China's legal responses: Addressing technology-facilitated gender-based violence and identifying paths for improvement
Thursday, 8 October
- 9:00–10:30
- Translating RESPECT Women into practice: Country adaptations and insights
- From classroom to families and communities: Integrating Connect with Respect, gender-based violence prevention in Timor-Leste's national education curriculum
- 11:00–12:30
- Costing across the continuum: Costing national prevention frameworks in the Pacific
- Prevention of violence against women and girls through sports and faith: An integrated approach in the Solomon Islands
- UN Women Artificial Intelligence School (2025): Harnessing artificial intelligence for ending violence against women advocacy and movement building
- Measuring prevention at national level: Learning from Asian contexts — organized in collaboration with EQI
- Beyond borders and barriers: Centering migrant and refugee women in feminist approaches to violence prevention and protection
- 13:00–14:00 Poster session III
- Adapting gender-based violence prevention programmes in Southeast Asia: Practice-informed guidance — organized in collaboration with Prevention Collaborative and UNFPA
- Adaptive survivor-centred safe shelter in resource-scarce Pacific contexts
- Counting the cost: Financing violence prevention in Fiji
Friday, 9 October
- 12:00–15:00
- Development of global guidelines for LGBTQ+ inclusion in VAW and VAC household surveys — organized in collaboration with Equality Institute and SVRI