Stop Gender Violence Campaign

In a nutshell

The Stop Gender Violence Campaign is a national coalition of civil society organisations working together to end gender-based violence (GBV). We call on government to create a National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence (NSPGBV) to end GBV in the country. The NSP GBV must be inclusive, multi-sectoral, and fully-funded, ensuring that accountability mechanisms for the performance of government are integrated into the document.

What we do

Introduction

In April 2014, civil society organizations across South Africa came together and launched the Stop Gender Violence Campaign (SGV Campaign) with the aim of holding the government accountable in doing more to address the issue of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa. The campaign was initiated in response to the extremely high prevalence of GBV in South Africa and the concurrent, inadequate implementation of legislation and policies addressing GBV; poor service delivery for survivors; lack of coordination between government departments in responding to GBV; and the lack of resource allocation for interventions to prevent and respond to GBV. The campaign engages with government and communities across South Africa as a means to collaboratively address the issue of GBV. One of the key campaign demands, is that government adopt a National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence (NSP GBV).

Key advantages of implementing an NSP GBV are:

''It requires a concerted involvement of the local community and civil society, which often serves to put pressure on the government to act and ensures that the voices of those directly or indirectly affected by the issue are taken into account.
It includes specific goals and timelines for their achievement,
It provides a financial and budgetary outline, which ensures its effective and realistic implementation.’’ (p.8 of the NSPGBV Shadow Framework)

In October 2017, the SGV Campaign launched its NSPGBV Shadow Framework Report.

Background

The National Council on Gender-Based Violence (NCGBV) was established in 2012 with the purpose of developing a national plan to address GBV for the period 2013 -2018. Concurrently, an Inter-Ministerial Committee (IMC) was established under the Department of Social Development (DSD), with the purpose of developing a national plan to address violence against women and children. After elections in 2014, the NCGBV was moved from the Department of Women to DSD. Currently, the NCGBV is not funded or functioning.

The DSD’s IMC developed the Integrated Programme of Action addressing Violence against Women and Children (POA on VAWC) in 2013. This plan ends in October 2018. The IMC’s POA on VAWC, however, has a number of weaknesses and gaps. Firstly, it cannot be a substitute for an NSP on GBV as it only focuses on VAW and VAC and thus excludes gendered violence against men and LGBTI individuals. Secondly, when drafting the PSO, DSD did not effectively and comprehensively consult with CSOs, communities and the private sector. Thirdly, the plan did not outline the costs of interventions, consequently making it challenging for government to allocate a specific budget for the implementation of the plan.

The NSP GBV Shadow Framework

The NSP GBV shadow framework identifies weakness in the DSD’s POA on VAWC. It identifies gaps and weaknesses in the POA and provides recommendations to address these. The NSP GBV shadow framework, developed as an output of the SGV Campaign, is intended to be used as a reference for government in their development of an NSP on GBV. Information can be extracted from the NSPGBV shadow framework report that could be plugged into an NSP GBV, but clear indicators and goals must be added. The SGV Campaign welcomes a collaborative partnership with the DSD in developing the new plan. The campaign further urges civil society organisations, the private sector and government to come together to implement an NSP for GBV.

How we do it

The SGV Campaign was initially launched by MOSAIC in collaboration with Sonke Gender Justice. Since April 2016, the campaign has been funded by Global Fund, and later, in June 2017, AmplifyChange provided additional funding. In 2014, the SGV Campaign instituted an SGV Campaign Task Team. The task team consisted of 11 members from different NGOs. Members were elected at a national meeting of NGOs and CBOs working in the sector in 2014. The team has evolved since then, and members are elected annually. Currently the task team has 9 active members.

MOSAIC and Sonke Gender Justice utilised resources in the various provinces to identify NGOs and CBOs working in the GBV and related sectors. Once contact had been made, the organisations arranged 2-3-day provincial workshops in the provinces to garner support for the campaign. Between April 2014 and May 2017, consultations were held with 240 civil society organisations across the country.

The campaign activities have involved the following:

Researching and developing a NSPGBV shadow framework report to outline what civil society expected from government, in response to the scourge of GBV. ''The National Strategic Plan (NSP) to end GBV aims to create a roadmap to align the country around a set of clear strategic priorities and create an accountability mechanism for the government, the private sector and civil society organisations in how they are addressing and responding to GBV.’’ (NSPGBV Shadow Framework Report, p. 6)
Provincial community consultations to ensure that all engaged stakeholders, including victims directly affected by GBV, have a voice.
Media - engaging with media (TV, radio and newspapers) as a means of raising awareness about the issue of GBV in South Africa and highlighting how South Africans have ‘had enough’ of GBV.
Marches – Protest marches have been held in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng to demand that government implement a NSP GBV.
Petition – A petition has been developed which any South African can sign, which calls for the government to institute a NSP GBV.
Postcards – Postcards with personal stories of incidents of GBV have been sent to the Minister of Women, as a means to motivate her to take action and develop an NSP GBV.

The SGV Campaign Task Team members held a strategic planning session from 14-15 February 2018 on the way forward, not only for the campaign itself, but also for the role of the task team members. This meeting was directly related to the fact that the funding for the campaign comes to an end at the end of June 2018. Our funds, from the Global Fund ended - 31 March 2018; and from AmplifyChange - 30 June 2018. The task team needs to discuss the campaign’s strategy regarding where to (from June 2018) onwards. This was then taken to an annual partner meeting, that took place from 28-29 March 2018, where it was further unpacked.

What we have achieved

The development of an SGV task team.
Hosting provincial engagements to motivate organizations to join the campaign.
Consultations with 240 civil society organisations.
Organising and facilitating NSP GBV marches in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng.
Awareness-raising through engagement with the media and through social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter), production of pamphlets, brochures, posters and t-shirts.
The launch of the NSPGBV shadow framework report in 2017.

What we have learned

South Africa’s NSP on HIV has served as a helpful example and motivation for also developing an NSP to address GBV. The NSP on HIV has highlighted the effective role that a NSP can play in ''garner[ing] the political commitment and funding required in tackling large social challenges that require a coordinated response among diverse stakeholders'' (NSP GBV Shadow Framework, p.8).
For an NSP on GBV to be truly effective, it requires mutual collaboration and cooperation between government, the private sector, civil society organisations and communities. In addition, the efficacy of the NSP is strongly dependant on a government’s support and political will.
There is a need for a National Council on Gender-Based Violence (NCGBV) which is responsible for effectively overseeing and coordinating the development and implementation of an NSP on GBV. Consequently, the SGV Campaign is pushing for government to reinstate the NCGBV and ensure that they have a funded mandate.

A special thank-you to Zarina Majiet of MOSAIC Training, Service & Healing Centre for Women, for providing the information for this profile. For more information on the Stop Gender Violence Campaign, please email: admin@mosaic.org.za .