A Movement in the Making
Highlights of the Unfolding Story
There is a movement underway.
No fanfare. No big pronouncements. Simply… People coming together and committing to do something about the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF) in South Africa… And then actually doing it!
This emanated from an organically emerging “End GBVF Collective” of activists and organisations – public, private, and nonprofit – that took it upon themselves to translate the National Strategic Plan (NSP – GBVF) into action to prevent and end GBVF. Let’s look at how this movement started…
In 2021, the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ), with help from activists in the Collective, pioneered the use of 100-Day Challenges to reduce the backlog of domestic violence protection orders in eleven courts across South Africa. In spite of COVID-19 getting in the way and causing the 100-day time frame to stretch, the backlog was reduced by 98%, in 120 days!
The Ford Foundation’s local office is one of the members of the Collective. Encouraged by the DOJ’s success, the Foundation decided to support piloting this way of organising collective action to localise the implementation of each of the NSP’s action pillars.
In 2022, the committee at the Collective leading each pillar of the Strategic Plan decided on the focus and location of its 100-Day Challenge pilot. Local teams were fielded, and facilitators and coaches (referred to as Ambassadors) were trained to support these teams.
Teams got to work. Some focused on GBVF cases in courts. Some on integrating post-crisis service provision. One team focused on the prevention of gender-based violence in a mining company.
More promising results followed. And more people got interested in the idea of organising collective action at the local level to translate the NSP into impact.
Though some 100-Day Challenges had setbacks. The team working on integrating information systems created a mobile app that could be used to harmonise all data points of entry. However, they could not replace the antiquated paper systems because they did not bring along some of the “guardians of the temple”. This highlighted the need to combine the 100-Day Challenge bottom-up approach with work at the leadership level to create the authorising environment for 100-Day teams.
The Ford Foundation decided to support the amplification of this work in 2023 and beyond. The focus shifted from investing in doing 100-Day Challenges (that focus on preventing and ending gender-based violence and femicide) to building the capacity to organise and support these 100-Day Challenges.
The initial focus in 2023 was on building the capacity to do this in courts, municipalities, and TVET (Technical Vocational Education & Training) colleges.
85 “Ambassadors” were trained. As part of the training, each Ambassador organised a 100-Day Challenge team and accompanied the team during its 100-day journey.
Many courts focused on reducing the backlog of GBVF cases: justice delayed is justice denied.
On average, the backlog in participating courts was reduced by 43% in 100 days.
The focus in municipalities was more eclectic. One municipality, for example, focused on reducing GBV incidents among youth by involving more than 800 youth in positive sports and recreation activities in Drakenstein Municipality within 100 days.
Mossel Bay Municipality established four GBVF hotlines that are now operational 24/7.
Getting 100-Day Challenges underway in TVETs was particularly tough. Most institutions of higher education are managed on a consensual basis. It takes time to get everyone on board and to act with urgency. Nevertheless, at Taletso TVET College in North West, the team created safe spaces and increased social worker visits, on three campuses. The 100-Day team saw intense collaboration with external stakeholders, for example Commission of Gender Equality and an NGO, Ambassadors For Change.
Beyond the results achieved through 100-Day Challenges and the capacity to support these developed in courts, municipalities, and TVETs, 2023 was a year of intense innovation for the movement. Below are some highlights.
A GBVF organisational maturity “health check” was developed.
This anonymous survey helps an organisation assess its level of maturity when it comes to behaviours, practices, and policies related to gender-based violence and femicide.
600 new organisations registered as Amplifiers in 2023.
As part of their training, Ambassadors did a 10-Day Challenge to sign up as many organisations as they could as “GBVF Amplifiers” – allies to the movement.
A prerequisite for this was to undertake the health check – starting from the belief that “charity begins at home”. Another prerequisite was to complete a GBVF 101 online course.
Municipal GBVF dashboard is under development. The dashboard tracks both incidence data on GBVF in each municipality and the robustness of the various systems and building blocks that indicate how serious and advanced a municipality is in preventing and ending gender-based violence and femicide. It was piloted in three provinces, and it will become available to all municipalities in 2024.
The Ending GBVF Collective website became a one-stop shop for organisations and government agencies interested in improving their ending GBVG performance, and for individuals and organisations interested in supporting these efforts. In addition to the health check, the dashboard, and stories of 100-Day Challenges in the sector, the website has links to a myriad of resources and tools that organisations can use in their efforts to prevent and end gender-based violence and femicide.
Perhaps most importantly, in 2023, the ending GBVF 100-Day Challenges became more firmly embedded in various institutional mechanisms of government.
This included the endorsement of – and engagement in – 100-Day Challenges from leaders at the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta), South African Local Government Association (SALGA), Department of Higher Education & Technical Training – TVET Colleges, Department of Women and Persons with Disabilities, and Department of Justice and Constitutional Development.
This bodes well for integrating this way of working into the machinery of Government, which is critical for making progress on the National Strategic Plan to prevent and end gender-based violence and femicide.
The movement will continue to grow in 2024 and beyond. By the end of 2024…
200 Ambassadors for 100-Day Challenges will have been trained.
More than 200 ending GBVF 100-Day Challenges will have been completed.
More than 1,000 organisations will have become Ending GBVF Amplifiers and will be using the Health Check survey to track their GBVF maturity.
More than 1000 volunteer catalysts will have started actively supporting the ending of the GBVF 100-Day Challenge teams.
And more than 100 district and local municipalities will be using the GBVF Dashboard to track progress in their journey to prevent and end gender-based violence and femicide.