Project description

Title: Partnerships for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Southern Africa (PfP)
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)​​​​​​​
Country: South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia, Zimbabwe
Lead executing agency: South Africa: Department of Women Youth and Persons with Disabilities; Lesotho: Ministry of Gender, Youth, Sports, and Recreation; Zambia: Provincial Administration – Southern Province​​​​​​​
Overall term: 2017 to 2024

Context

Gender-based violence (GVB) is a widespread human rights violation, further exacerbated by the outbreak of Covid-19. In Southern Africa, the prevalence of GBV is high by international comparison. Especially intimate partner violence is widely accepted in society and is, like all forms of GBV, rooted in harmful social norms and practices. Up to two-thirds of all women in the countries of Southern Africa state that they have experienced physical and/or emotional violence with intimate partner violence at the hands of a man being the most common form. Institutional and individual capacities to implement and coordinate innovative and context-specific GBV prevention measures need to be strengthened further. In addition, there is no regular regional exchange among stakeholders to promote upscaling of good practices for GBV prevention.

Objective

Regional, national and sub-national stakeholders from different sectors jointly implement evidence-informed and multisectoral GBV prevention flagships in Southern African communities.

Approach

Partnerships for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Southern Africa (PfP) follows a whole-of-society approach to address GBV on a broad scale. PfP supports cooperation between the government, the private sector, and civil society to establish multi-stakeholder partnerships. They implement GBV prevention flagships in South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. PfP supports new initiatives that have been developed according to the needs of each specific context. They aim to prevent all forms of GBV. The regional character of the PfP is essential to promote good practices for GBV prevention and ensures cross-country exchange and learning in regional exchange formats. Moreover, the regional dimension encourages the development of new and upscaling existing flagships.

Last update: May 2022

Contact

Begoña Castro Vázquez
begona.castro@giz.de
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Additional information

• Partnerships for the Prevention of Violence Against Women and Girls in Southern Africa (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 0,86MB, EN)
• Baseline Report – Lesotho (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 1,19MB, EN)
• Baseline Report – South Africa (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 1,64MB, EN)
• Factsheet Nokaneng (Lesotho) (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 0,42MB, EN)
• Factsheet Men’s Initiative (Lesotho) (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 0,39MB, EN)
• Factsheet Prevention in Schools (South Africa) (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 0,51MB, EN)
• Factsheet Media (South Africa) (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 0,37MB, EN)
• Output D Research uptake (GIZ 2019) (PDF, 0,28MB, EN)

• YouTube: The effects of COVID-19 on gender-based violence (GBV) (Video)
• Website: Partnership for Prevention Resource Hub: Useful resources on VAWG prevention
• Website: Partnerships for Prevention of Violence against Women and Girls in Southern Africa (PfP)

Nadia Ahidjo is a political analyst with a background in research, strategy, and stakeholder relationship management in Francophone Africa (West and Central), at Trust Africa.

She has worked with key Pan-African institutions including the Pan-African Parliament and the African Union. Prior to joining Trust Africa, Nadia worked with the Institute for Security Studies coordinating early warning and research on Central Africa. She also worked with Africa practice, providing communications and strategic advisory services to a wide range of clients from the public and private sectors. Nadia has lived in Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, South Africa, and Switzerland and is fluent in French and English. She studied at Rhodes University in South Africa and at the Centre for African Studies of the University of Basel in Switzerland. She is passionate about Africa, the rights of the vulnerable (especially women and children), and conflict resolution. This passion is reflected not only in her professional work but also in her role at the Bokamoso Leadership Forum whose primary aim is to give young Africans a voice in spaces where they are often ignored.

Some quotes from the interview:
– On the role of Civil Society Organisations (CSO)
« When you find there is a gap between decision-makers and what happens at the grassroots level, we encourage the conversation to happen so that decision-makers actually know what the victims are going through »

– On African institutions
« African institutions are moving forward. Yes, we’re taking a couple of stepbacks but essentially, we’re making progress and civil society organizations have a role in supporting this progress. »

– On sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) and women
« Sexually gender-based violence is not only against women, but men also suffer from it. It is true most of the victims in Africa are women, because of the place of women in African cultures and their vulnerability. »

– On addressing sexually gender-based violence (SGBV)
« Sexually gender-based violence is a structural issue. It is born out of how people view the place of women. Rape as a weapon of war is not new. What we need to do now is to influence the way people think. »