Pathfinding Global Alliance - Cloned

In October 2023, the Board of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children decided to sunset the Partnership in its existing form and transition its workstreams to new arrangements. Due to strong demand from partners for the Pathfinding workstream to be sustained and strengthened, the Board requested the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children to lead it, consistent with the mandate to act as a catalyst to stimulate Member States’ engagement and support implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Since 1 January 2024, the Special Representative has launched an extensive consultative process with Member States and stakeholders to revitalize and redesign the Pathfinding framework, align expectations, and leverage cooperation. A series of consultations was undertaken to take stock of progress and remaining challenges and, in a participatory way, define the renewed framework, leading to the organization of the first technical workshop.

The Geneva Technical Workshop held under the Chatham House Rule, on 9th and 10th September 2024, gathered more than 90 participants, including 32 Member States, children, and key partners. This participative, open dialogue marked a turning point from consultation to co-design of the revitalized Alliance’s framework, aims, and goals. Participants defined and endorsed the renewed direction of the Pathfinding Global Alliance, a State-led and flexible cooperation platform that provides a practical space to connect, share, and learn, without adding new bureaucratic layers.

This renewed framework, under sound States’ ownership, represents a key opportunity to reaffirm the highest political commitment to translating intentions into expanded investment in children’s protection and well-being, thereby triggering more integrated services. The Alliance offers a wide range of opportunities to accelerate efforts to end violence against children by 2030 and beyond. Most importantly, it will provide a platform to share ideas, actions, and lessons learned, as well as to collaborate and demonstrate progress. After the workshop, a summary report of the meeting and the Pathfinding Global Alliance Overview were shared with all participants.

The Special Representative’s engagement leading to the Global Ministerial Conference on Ending Violence Against Children formed part of a deliberate, multi-year strategy that, in 2024, used the fifteenth anniversary of the UN mandate on violence against children as a global mobilization moment. Over 15 months, the Special Representative worked closely with Member States, the United Nations, regional organizations, Civil Society Organisations, Religious networks, donors and partners, survivors, and children to prepare the Conference. This included support for national multistakeholder preparatory processes, the facilitation of regional and thematic consultations, and the organization of webinars.

In 2025, the Special Representative visited and engaged with the national authorities of the following Pathfinding Member States: Angola, Gambia, Gabon, Japan, Mexico, Nigeria, Papua New Guinea, Romania, South Africa, Spain, Timor-Leste, Türkiye, United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. The Bogotá conference was co-hosted by Colombia and Sweden (both Members of the Pathfinding Global Alliance) in collaboration with the Special Representative, WHO, and UNICEF. It brought together high-level delegations from more than 120 countries. Member States adopted concrete national pledges to accelerate action toward ending violence against children by 2030. Several governments have submitted new or renewed commitments, including an interest in joining the Pathfinding Global Alliance to sustain and expand the momentum generated.

The Pathfinding Global Alliance, formally launched at the Conference, with 41 States, was designed as an innovative cooperation platform to reactivate and advance the child-protection and well-being agenda. Its purpose is to support Member States in translating political commitments into sustained progress through facilitating peer learning, strengthening cooperation, and sharing promising practices.

The Special Representative sustained momentum through regional meetings, webinars, and targeted bilateral follow-ups, which helped countries refine priorities, share practical solutions, and advance the implementation of their pledges. These engagements ensured continuity after Bogotá, strengthened peer learning across countries and regions, and supported Member States in translating global commitments into concrete national actions. This global mobilization, aligned with the Special Representative’s yearlong campaign and stocktaking report marking 15 years of the mandate, was presented to the UN General Assembly

The Marketplace for Knowledge-Sharing is a secure digital platform where Pathfinding countries can share expertise, access practical resources, and learn from one another. It will document the actions taken by various stakeholders that have led to impactful, concrete change, thereby enabling the acceleration of peer learning and showcasing how to turn Ideas into Action.

This platform is being developed with the support of the Government of Iceland and the United Nations System Staff College. A global mapping process is currently underway to collect concrete “Ideas in Action” under each of the seven building blocks of the Marketplace for Knowledge Sharing.

Building blocks of the marketplace:

• How can progress on ending violence against children be measured?
• How to ensure a whole-of-government approach to end violence against children?
• How to ensure a protective legal framework and a child-friendly justice for all children?
• How can cooperations and partnerships strengthen action to end violence against children?
• How to involve CSOs, religious & traditional leaders, communities & children?
• How to translate policies into a set of integrated services accessible to all children?
• How to prioritize Child Protection and well-being in the political agenda?

Child protection and well-being should be seen as an essential investment in building human capital and ensuring people-centred development across the lifecycle. Yet current levels of spending on the prevention and response to violence remain low. This Toolkit was developed in close collaboration with States, including Ministers of Finance and other stakeholders, to make the case for greater investment in child protection and well-being. This Toolkit builds on these efforts and provides a step-by-step guide to assess the economic costs of violence against children and the return on investing in violence prevention.

This Investment Case Toolkit, launched in May 2025, provides a roadmap: countries can systematically analyse, cost, and advocate for interventions that matter. Many workshops and consultations were undertaken at national, regional, and global levels to ensure strong ownership and implementation of this Toolkit. More and more countries are using evidence generated from investment case processes to drive, amongst others, increased allocations for social protection and workforce strengthening, aiming to have an integrated and cross-sectoral budget which spans across planning and finance ministries.

Since launch, membership has expanded from 38 States to 48, with many more expressing interest. An approximate 25% increase over the past twelve months.

The Alliance is gaining momentum by:

• Deepening Member State ownership and engagement
• Connecting national efforts to local realities through a bottom-up approach
• Facilitating peer learning and the exchange of promising practices
• Strengthening peer accountability
• Promoting context-specific partnerships and cooperation

Beyond States, the Pathfinding Global Alliance has seen the strong engagement of a broad range of stakeholders, including UN partners, civil society through the CSO Forum on Ending Violence Against Children and regional CSO networks, survivors, faith-based, cultural, and sports organizations, traditional leaders, academia, child- and youth-led organizations, and, most importantly, children and youth themselves.

The involvement of regional bodies illustrated the value of regional and sub-regional solidarity and shared accountability in accelerating progress. Engagement continues to expand across partners such as foundations, donors, technology, travel, tourism, and entertainment, supporting accelerated action to end violence against children.