GBV Solve: Open Funding Call for Innovative Solutions to End Gender-Based Violence
Announcing GBV Solve: Open Funding Call
Aparajita and J-PAL South Asia are hosting an Open Funding Call to identify and fund innovative ideas to address sexual harassment and violence in India.
What We're Looking For
INNOVATIONS: Anyone passionate about addressing the problem is invited to send their best ideas. Through this call, we will identify and support innovative, practical, and sustainable ideas that can also be rigorously tested for impact through randomized evaluations.
What You Get
- CATALYTIC FUNDING: Selected awardees will receive funding up to INR 50 lacs to pilot and implement their ideas in the field
- EVALUATION INCUBATOR: Selected awardees will also receive support on designing impact evaluations
- RIGOROUS TESTING: Potential for your innovation to be rigorously tested for measurable impact
Focus Areas
We welcome innovative ideas across these key areas:
- Supporting Grassroots Interventions: Build capacity of case workers, constables, front-line workers, and paralegal volunteers. Support solutions from the grassroots with unrestricted, long-term funding for women-led organizations.
- Building Capacity and Legal Services: Mobilize lawyers as a cohort, provide legal services, create fellowships for women lawyers at district level, and strengthen paralegal volunteers.
- Engaging Men and Boys: Make men part of the conversation on inclusion. Engage through multiple platforms with counselling and mental health programs.
- Bystander Interventions: Government-encouraged intervention programs, social media campaigns, and training for witnesses including friends, colleagues, and family.
- Training Service Providers: Train transport and delivery workers on bystander intervention. Involve vendors, bus conductors, and auto drivers - leveraging their networks.
- Awareness and Behavior Change: Creative campaigns using film, media, and social platforms to shift attitudes and challenge harmful social norms.
- Mental Health Support: Counseling services, trauma-informed care, and psychological support for survivors and those at risk.
- Online GBV Solutions: Combating harassment through digital platforms, collaborating with tech companies, and addressing online anonymity.
- Workplace Interventions: Prevention policies, safe reporting mechanisms, and supportive environments in formal and informal workplaces.
Who Can Apply
The competition will invite applications from anyone passionate about creating a difference in this space. Whether you're an individual, organization, researcher, or innovator - if you have an idea that can address sexual harassment and violence, we want to hear from you.
Next Steps
Applications are now open. Selected awardees will work closely with Aparajita and J-PAL South Asia to pilot their solutions and measure their impact.
Together, we can build a safer India for women.
New Survey Reveals: 1 in 2 Women in Jaipur, 2 in 3 in Delhi Experienced Harassment Last Year
Survey Overview
In 2024, J-PAL South Asia conducted 10-minute surveys with women in Jaipur and Delhi to capture the prevalence of sexual harassment in public spaces in India.
Sample
- 1,899 women in Jaipur
- 2,093 women in Delhi
- Ages 19-40
- Surveyed in public spaces: bus stops, street markets, and metro (Delhi)
Key Findings
Prevalence
The numbers are stark: 1 out of 2 women in Jaipur experienced sexual harassment outside their home in the last year. In Delhi, the figure is even higher: 2 out of 3 women experienced harassment.
More specifically:
- 34% of women in Jaipur have been groped, stalked, flashed, or assaulted outside their home in the past year
- 42% of women in Delhi have been groped, stalked, flashed, or assaulted outside their home in the past year
Where Harassment Occurs
Women experience sexual harassment on the streets, in buses, in shops, and even at hospitals, colleges, and places of worship. Most sexual harassment occurs during daytime.
Location breakdown:
- 70% of women reported being harassed on the roadside
- 50% of women reported being harassed in public transport
- 42% of women faced harassment waiting for public transport
Impact on Women's Lives
The psychological and practical impact is profound:
- 95% of women say they are anxious about being sexually harassed when they leave their home
- 2/3 of women feel extremely anxious about facing sexual harassment of some form when they travel outside their home
- The risk of sexual harassment affects women's decisions about whether to work and where to work
- It significantly influences women's decision-making processes
- It undermines women's confidence and affects their work
- Women fear reporting incidents to the police
The Hidden Cost: Trade-offs Women Make for Safety
Fear of harassment forces women to make costly sacrifices in their daily lives:
- Education: Women are willing to choose a college that is 8.8% (or 5.8 ranks) lower in quality for additional safety
- Time: Women are willing to travel an additional 27 minutes daily or 40% more than their daily travel time for additional safety
- Money: Women are willing to travel by a route that costs INR 17,500 (USD 250) more per year as long as it is safer
Workplace Harassment
Sexual harassment extends into professional settings:
- 53% of women have been subject to sexual comments, gestures and jokes at the workplace
- More than 70% of respondents have felt uncomfortable at the workplace because of presence of a colleague
- 20% of respondents reported unwanted attempts by colleagues to engage in sexual activities
- 68.7% of individuals who experienced sexual harassment at work chose not to make a formal written or spoken complaint
Barriers to Reporting
Reasons why women do not report incidents to the police:
- Police would trivialize the matter
- Blame them for the incident
- Turn around and harass them
- Less than 8% of women knew of any helpline number to call if harassed in public spaces
- Six in ten respondents rely on informal networks for support in incidents of harassment
Why This Data Matters
These findings reveal the urgent need for evidence-based solutions. Despite the extent of the problem, quality data and solutions to tackle gender-based violence are missing. National surveys do not collect data on violence outside the home, and other survey estimates are a decade old.
This survey represents a critical step toward bridging the data gap and informing evidence-based interventions that can make a real difference in women's lives.