Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Awareness Campaigns

A community dialogue on domestic violence in Thulamela Municipality, during one of the Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Campaigns.

Akonaho Victim Empowerment Programme hosting an awareness-campaign in a local school.

Lead organisations

Partner organisations

Department of Social Development
South African Police Service

Province

Limpopo

City

Thohoyandou

Timeframe

01 Oct 2018 - 31 Mar 2019

Topics

Bullying, Domestic violence / Intimate partner violence, Gender-based violence, Sexual violence, Victim support

Sectors

NGOs/CBOs

Types of prevention

Primary prevention, Secondary prevention, Social prevention

Uploaded by

Giselle Warton

Last updated on

25 Jan 2021

In a nutshell

The Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Awareness Campaigns aim to raise awareness about domestic violence with the intention of prevention as well as increased reporting of incidents of abuse in Thulamela Municipality, Vhembe District. Akonaho Victim Empowerment Programme's next campaign will be run from 1 October 2018 until 31 March 2019.

What we do

Akonaho Victim Empowerment Programme is involved in the provision of services to victims of sexual violence and domestic violence. The Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Awareness Campaigns seek to encourage, through education and empowerment, an attitude of zero tolerance towards family violence and sexual abuse in Thulamela Municipality, Vhembe District. The vision is to have well informed, empowered communities that have a zero tolerance attitude towards perpetration of sexual assault and domestic violence.

How we do it

The Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Awareness Campaigns involve community dialogues on domestic violence, home visits, and presentations at schools to raise awareness concerning domestic violence.

The community dialogues involve mobilizing community members to engage in public dialogue on issues related to domestic violence. The community dialogues involve youth and elderly members of the community.
Our home visits involve going door-to-door, to inform members of households about gender-based violence.
Our campaigns in schools, involve visiting schools where we hold awareness-raising campaigns on topics such as domestic violence, as well as child abuse and bullying.

What we have achieved

Members of the communities from a variety of age groups are informed about domestic violence.
For the Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Campaign which will be held from 1 October 2018 – 31 March 2019, we plan to:
- Visit and host campaigns at eight schools.
- Conduct 150 home visits.

What we have learned

We have learned that interventions to raise awareness about domestic violence are still needed in our community - Thulamela Municipality, Vhembe District. Through our previous campaigns, we have noted that the awareness-raising has brought about attitudinal and behavioural change with regards to domestic violence, in those who participate in the campaigns.

A special thank-you to Rudzani Thagwana of Akonaho Victim Empowerment Programme, for providing the content for this project profile. For more information on the Akonaho VEP Domestic Violence Campaigns, please contact Mudau Emmanuel on: