District Teams Announce Goals
At a National Launch held this morning, a total of 13 teams in 6 provinces announced their goals toward ending Gender-based Violence and Femicide at municipal level in 100 days. 100-Day Challenges are structured journeys for frontline teams and leaders that are designed to inspire and enable intense collaboration, continuous innovation, and fast and disciplined execution.
End GBVF Collective, formerly known as the National Strategic Plan on Gender-based Violence and Femicide (NSP GBVF) Multisectoral Implementation Collaborative, is piloting the 100-Day Challenge process as a way to fast-track the implementation of the NSP GBVF at municipal level.
The work of the NSP GBVF is organised into 6 Pillars of action.
Pillar 1 deals with accountability, coordination, and leadership
#noexcuseforabuse
Their focus area for the 100-Day Challenge in Sol Plaatje Municipality is the establishment of a Rapid Response Team. The goal is to fast-track sexual offense cases and reduce the backlog, including DNA results, toward successful perpetrator convictions. The National Prosecuting Authority aims for a 90% conviction rate as part of the 100 Day Challenge, as well as the improvement of child maintenance payments. The team will support this work by contributing to the planning of a GBV summit to address structural drivers of GBVF, and developing and executing an integrated Sol Plaatje Local Municipality safety plan. Phutanang community has been identified as a district hotspot and will be the location for GBVF campaigns targeting substance abuse by closing down illegal shebeens. The municipality has also committed to fix all streetlights in the key GBVF hotspots during the 100 Day Challenge.
Pillar 2 deals with prevention and rebuilding social cohesion
#tacklingtoxicmasculinity
To tackle the issue of toxic masculinity, and how this contributes to GBVF, the Pillar 2 team in Tshwane, regions 1 and 2, will be identify two schools from each region to implement an educational programme with the outcome of having the grade 8 learners develop an Anti-bullying pledge and be the ambassadors of this pledge in schools to combat acts of GBVF and support the victims and survivors of these human rights violations.
Pillar 3 deals with justice, safety, and protection
#nojusticenopeace
This Pillar has two teams, one working in Bloemfontein and the other in Tzaneen.
In Bloemfontein, the focus area is the Bloemfontein Maintenance Court. The team has set a goal to reduce the backlog cases (older than 6 months) by 75%, and a second goal is to improve the finalisation rate of maintenance enquiries from 50% to 75%. They also intend to screen all maintenance applications before enrolling them. The purpose is to ensure that matters that do not have any merits or cases that are not ready for court (for example where investigations are outstanding) are not enrolled.
In Tzaneen, the goal is to increase reported cases by 80%. The following sub-goals will make this achievable:
- Get a satellite police station in one of the rural areas
- Integrated service points (Thusong service centres)
- Temporary shelter
Three social workers on the team offer debriefing services to all team members when the going gets tough.
Pillar 4 deals with response, care, support, and healing
#victimcentricjustice
Their goal is to increase reporting of new cases by 300% in Matjhabeng Municipality, Lejweleputswa District, Free State. This will require coordinated effort between SAPS, DSD, the GBV court, civil society service providers, and the Thuthuzela Centre to provide reporting and psychosocial support services to emerging victims, survivors, and their families.
Pillar 5 deals with economic power
#saferworkspaces
This Pillar has partnered with Exxarro to end GBVF in the mining sector. Their overall goal: Say No To Gender Based Violence, Femicide and Sexual Harrassment: Reaffirming zero tolerance for GBV in the Mining industry.
Pillar 6 deals with research and information management
#integratedGBVFdata
This team is working in the Garden Route and is focussed on Knysna and Plettenberg Bay. Their goal is to, in 100 days, start using an integrated case management application for centralised victim/survivor-centric data to improve inter-departmental accountability and service delivery in the child sexual and related offenses case ecosystem. They aim to have 100% of cases in a given period registered on the system and referred to the Department of Social Development for the assignment of a social worker to each case by the end of 100 days.
Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) was officially declared a national crisis in 2019 following the first ever GBVF Summit on the African continent in 2018. The National Strategic Plan on GBVF was developed in consultation with all roleplayers and published at the beginning of 2020.
Ever since, End GBVF Collective, the largest single volunteer network in South Africa, has been working tirelessly to build the necessary capacity to bring this plan to action. Visit www.gbvf.org.za to learn more.
Ever since, End GBVF Collective, the largest single volunteer network in South Africa, has been working tirelessly to build the necessary capacity to bring this plan to action.
For media enquiries and to set up interviews with Pillar Ambassadors please contact Candice on 060 715 3607 or email [email protected]