Collective Action Magazine August 2022

Collective Action Magazine August 2022

01 ISSUE

AUGUST 2022

COLLECTIVE ACTION MAGAZINE

trauma informed approach

"A Social Conspiracy"

M ade possible by

In partnership with

Special Thanks

Our Team

A special thank you to the Ford Foundation and End GBVF Collective for this collaborative vision. A heartfelt thank you to all the organisations and collaborators who have partnered with us to make this vision possible. We appreciate and value all the role players within End GBVF Collective - Implementing the National Strategic Plan on GBVF that have come together in the effort to eradicate GBVF.

Editor in Chief Tracey-Lee Kotzen Editor Hazel Namponya Designers

Heidi Schutter Kyara Schutter Technical Consultants

Candice Ludick Lenina Rassool

Editorial Office

Mental Wellness Initiative NPC Address: 17 North Road, Hyde Park, Sandton, Johannesburg, Gauteng South Africa

Email: [email protected] Office No.: +27 (0) 63 912 8735 Website: www.mwi.org.za

Acknowledgement

We wish to acknowledge and thank the contributors who donated time, shared their knowledge and drew from their life and professional experience to enhance this magazine. We honour their courage and vulnerability to produce such intimate, evocative stories which aim to educate and illuminate on the issues of GBVF.

Nadim Matta Professor Corné Davis Contributors

Grant Stewart Kim Ballantine Adv Tarisai Mchuchu-Macmillan

Dr Shaheda Omar Tracey-Lee Kotzen Bern Bouwer Nishen Naicker Ayanda Tito Bonisile Khabanyane Lenina Rassool Natalie Abrahams

Sponsorship

For sponsorship opportunities in the upcoming editions contact: [email protected]

2 | Collective Action Magazine

The Collective Action magazine is a unified, yet diversified space and place of sharing and support for those dedicated to the GBVF response.

EDITOR IN CHIEF NOTE FROM THE

Welcome to this inaugural edition of the Collective Action Magazine!

Much has been achieved since the 2018 Presidential Summit to address gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa.

Following the summit and the subsequent publication of the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF-NSP, 2020), a multiplexity of civil society, government, corporate and private stakeholders have coalesced to operationalise and implement the NSP. This magazine serves as a catchment and share point for all the work being conducted across our nation in response to GBV. Here we can showcase various projects and programmes, share learning from both successes and failures, reflect on experiences, improve our practices, and keep one another motivated.

My fervent hope is that the members of the End GBVF Collective use this space to grow and deepen collaborative relationships with each other and expand on the work they are doing in response to GBV. Our struggle is a marathon, not a sprint and we are reminded that "if you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together".

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together

~African Proverb.

Chief Executive Officer Mental Wellness Initiative Tracey-Lee Kotzen

Collective Action Magazine | 3

in this

ISSUE

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN ON GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE?

08

13

#ENDGBVF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

16

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND COLLABORATION

18

TRAUMA INFORMED APPROACH

22

POETRY CORNER

23

SELF CARE-BURNOUT VS BURN-IN

26

BREAKING THE SILENCE

28

GBV CHILD SURVIVOR INITIATIVE

4 | Collective Action Magazine

in this

ISSUE

HOW TO GET AWAY WITH RAPE - A SOCIAL CONSPIRACY

34

42

#MENTALHEALTHMATTERS

GETTING IT RIGHT - TIPS TO PERFECT YOUR FUNDING STRATEGY

47

3 SIMPLE STEPS TO HELP YOU START YOUR PARTNERSHIP JOURNEY !

50

COLLABORATIVE ETHICS WHEN RESEARCHING VULNERABLE COMMUNITIES

52

THE WOMXN SHOW - SMASHING THE SILENCE AROUND GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE

54

57

GIRL! YOU KNOW I MATTER CONFERENCE

Collective Action Magazine | 5

A call for

The magazine is a platform where the End GBVF Collective can share success stories around collaboration, partnerships, programmes, innovation and personal growth, and lessons learnt

Articles, opinion pieces or personal reflections up to max 750 words Photographs (No depictions of violence in photographs)

Infographics welcome Your full contact details

Relevant to the GBVF response community of practice. Encourage learning and sharing; showcase innovations and successful models/practices

Health - wellness and healing Successful collaborations – great outcomes! Collaboration challenges – what worked, what did not work, what did you learn, how did you grow? Survivor voices – stories of triumph from survivors Research – scholarly and insightful reflections on your research process and findings Innovations - that have moved your work along in a powerful way Other items - that will add richness to the collective

[email protected]

6 | Collective Action Magazine

Welcome to our very first issue of the Collective Action Magazine which has been enabled by a contribution of stakeholders within the End GBVF Collective - implementing the National Strategic Plan to end Gender Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF). I was recently watching a talk by Vusi Thembekwayo with Entrepreneurs in Nairobi. Something he said profoundly struck a chord. He was talking about how businesses become big players on a global economic scale. America was one example, their obsession with the bigger vision is what set them apart. Their desire to become the biggest market player, drove them to think big and use the the idea that "there is strength in numbers". In so doing, they created big platforms that united the market into one collective and powerful force. This is the exact vision of this magazine. The issues around GBVF have not only become a chronic plague in South Africa, it’s cause and effects are spread through many tentacles affecting every function of our country. We understand that addressing and solving this problem will be impossible if we do not tackle it together, hence the name “Collective Action”. The vision of Mental Wellness Initiative and End GBVF Collective in establishing this magazine is to enable every role player in the GBVF space to work collaboratively. By starting this publication, we want to hear your voice, understand the work you are doing, learn from you, share ideas and knowledge, share resources, gather and implement solutions and innovations that will #EndGBVF. Each and every stakeholder is integral to this process, and without you there is no collective and no end to GBVF.

Editor’s Note

NOT IN NUMBERS BUT IN UNITY, THAT OUR GREAT STRENGTH LIES.

We look forward to connecting with you and hope you enjoy reading this issue.

Thomas Pane

Hazel Namponya | [email protected]

WHAT IS THE NATIONAL STRATEGIC PLAN FOR GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND FEMICIDE? Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in South Africa makes our country one of the most unsafe places in the world for womxn and children to live. This epidemic is a whole society problem that can only be dealt with through collaborative action between all sectors of society: government, civil society, business, the faith sector and communities. The National Strategic Plan on GBVF (NSP on GBVF) is a social policy document that provides a strategic roadmap for a multi-sectoral approach and sets out specific plans on how to journey together to end GBVF. There was extensive consultation around developing the NSP on GBVF which came about after #TheTotalShutdown Intersectional Womxn’s Movement, led 27 marches across South Africa and neighbouring countries on 1 August 2018 and handed over 24 demands to President Ramaphosa. This mass action by womxn from all sectors of society culminated in the first ever Gender Summit on the African continent on 1 & 2 November 2018. GBVF was officially declared a national crisis at the end of March 2019 when the Summit Declaration was published. This was the beginning of the journey toward the National Strategic Plan on GBVF that was signed into effect at the end April 2020. In the absence of a fully legislated GBV Council as envisaged in the NSP on GBVF, a multi-sectoral implementation collaborative, now known as End GBVF Collective, was established to drive the process.

End GBVF Collective is a national volunteer platform that brings together knowledge, skills and resources to build a Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) free society by implementing the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide. It is a mutual collaboration between government, civil society, academia and other institutions, development partners, the private sector and individuals dedicated to the prevention of GBVF in South Africa.

8 | Collective Action Magazine

All I am asking is to be safe.

The 6 Pillars of the NSP outline key focus areas with specific outcomes, namely: Accountability, Coordination, and Leadership; Prevention and Rebuilding Social Cohesion; Justice, Safety, and Protection; Response, Care, Support, and Healing; Economic Power; Research and Information Management. End GBVF Collective has self- managed working groups structured around the outcomes of these 6 Pillars with members from government, civil society, business, development agencies, and private citizens planning together to coordinate their efforts toward achieving the outcomes stated in the NSP on GBVF. Participants can join one or more pillars, as well as the communication team, according to their interests and skills. The GBVF NSP 100-Day Challenges An intervention by End GBVF Collective was brilliantly executed in the recently launched GBVF NSP 100-Day Challenges: #impactin100days. A true marvel and proof that we can work together. The purpose of the GBVF NSP 100-Day Challenges was to expedite the localisation of the NSP on GBVF as a response to GBVF by collaborating with local community stakeholders working within the GBVF sector. Ambassadors representing each of the six pillars were selected to champion this initiative which was rolled out in various districts, some of which are known to be GBVF hotspots. These included: Sol Plaatje (Northern Cape), Tshwane (Gauteng), Letaba (Bloemfontein, Free State), Lejweleputswa (Welkom, Free State), Limpopo and Mpumalanga, and Garden Route (Western Cape) At the start of the 100 Day Challenges, the district leaders designed specific challenges and selected The official Day 100 was on 9 July 2022. Whilst everyone recognises this was just the beginning, the fire that was ignited within communities holds a promising future for South Africa when is comes to combating GBVF. contributed to the escalating GBVF crisis. Together they formulated targeted interventions to counter the problems and set targets they aimed to achieve within the 100 Days. This was a resounding success as all teams not only reached their targets, but also gained deeper understanding of the barriers inherent to the GBVF problem and found new ways of working together to #endGBVF. Mentors and teams to participate in a process facilitated by Ambassadors to address identified key systemic problem areas that affected or

10 | Collective Action Magazine

Accountability, Coordination and Leadership PILLAR 1

1 2

Structure of End GBVF Collective and response areas

PILLAR 2

Prevention and Restoration of Social Fabric

3

PILLAR 3

Protection, Safety and Justice

Get to know more about End GBVF Collective, follow us on: Follow us

4

PILLAR 4

Response, Care, Support and Healing

End GBVF Collective @end_GBVF @endgbvf

5 6

PILLAR 5

Economic Power

End GBVF Collective

End GBVF Collective

Research and Information Systems PILLAR 6

Learn more at:

www.gbvf.org.za

STRATEGIC ALIGNMENT Systems for consensus building, mutual accountability, solidarity and affirming all partner contributions. Managing resourcing and funding.

COMMUNICATION

One Voice Newsletter Social Media Platforms Website

CO-ORDINATION AND SUPPORT FUNCTIONS

Collective Action Magazine | 11

1-2 November 2022

PRESIDENTIAL GBVF SUMMIT 2

" Accountability, Acceleration and Amplification"

"South Africa holds the shameful distinction of being one of the most unsafe places in the world to be a woman" -President Cyril Ramaphosa

As a pre-runner to the November national summit, local summits will be rolled out in all 9 provinces during September 2022. Heeding this clarion call, we are proud to announce the upcoming Presidential GBVF Summit 2. The purpose of this summit is to monitor the progress of the implementation of the 10 year roadmap towards the eradication of GBVF.

For more information and registration go to www.gbvf.org.za

#EndGBVF

#ENDGBVF STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIPS

"Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) has officially been a national crisis in South Africa since 2019. Acknowledged to be a whole society problem, a whole society approach is the only way to solve this social catastrophe."

Collective Action Magazine | 13

IMPACT IN 100-DAYS

Where does one start to solve a problem that has been hundreds of years of oppression in the making? The 100-Day Challenge model has successfully been implemented all over the world to solve “unsolvable” problems by creating an enabling environment for intense collaboration, radical creativity, and disciplined execution. It made sense to apply this approach to the GBVF crisis. The GBVF NSP 100-Day Challenges were designed during February 2022 by district leaders and End GBVF Collective Pillar Ambassadors. The halfway mark, referred to as a refueling station, was reached in April 2022. Some teams needed no refueling as the energy of the team was far from depleted. The team in Bloemfontein celebrated that in roughly 50 days they had almost achieved their 100-Day goal; clearing 75% of the cases in maintenance courts – an overambitious goal to start with, by all accounts!

#EndGbvf President Emeritus of RE!NSTITUTE (formerly Rapid Results Institute) by Nadim Matta Activist and Advisor on Good Governance

14 | Collective Action Magazine

Makhamuni Chauke, a social worker who was part of the Pillar 1 team in Sol Plaatje Municipality, stated at the refueling station that "this work is all about love". She was loving the work, her colleagues and the impact they were seeing and experiencing. There is a buzz in the air! Many organisations working on GBVF issues are reaching out to End GBVF Collective to find out how they can organise their own 100-Day Challenges: “Where can we get some guidance? How do we start?" asks one of the social workers. It is a pivotal moment in the trajectory of this work in South Africa. If carefully managed, this work could grow and transform the way society tackles the GBVF pandemic, or it can potentially fizzle out as the momentum of this short-term strategy declines, producing a far lower impact than intended. A moment that stands out for me in two decades of social impact work, is the 100-Day Challenge that took place in Nicaragua. This was the first time I was asked by a team leader at the World Bank to introduce the 100-Day

The hall went dead silent as the farmer gathered his thoughts: he stood up and said, “I have been a farmer for the past 40 years, and my father was a farmer before me. Over the years, many from the Government and all kinds of other agencies came to give us advice and tell us what we needed to do to improve our productivity. This is the first time someone asked me what I wanted to do!” I carry this moment with me in all 100-Day Challenge work. It is a reminder of the power that can be unleashed when those closest to problems feel the agency to solve these problems. The hardest, yet most-gratifying part of 100-Day Challenges is creating the conditions that enable people closest to the problem to genuinely feel the urgency, and to feel trusted, seen and respected. Many of us feel disenfranchised in our work, We get used to being told what to do. Finding our voice is liberating and the greater task of the 100-Day Challenges was to help each person involved find their voice which in turn creates an enabling environment for workers in this space to keenly champion their initiatives, and even go the extra mile. As Makhamuni says, "This work is about love”. As we move into the next phase, we need to keep this principle in mind: to ensure that these projects do not become empty shells, with the form of 100-Day Challenges but without a soul. After the review and impact assessment of the 100 Day Challenge has been successfully completed, the hope is that we can collectively create strategies for scaling this which may include a new approach to the 100-Day Challenges, peer learning laboratories, policy forums, training for ambassadors and leaders, and national campaigns that will mobilise local teams in every local district and municipality of South Africa. "What makes it so powerful as a catalyst for collaboration, a platform for trying new ideas, building for persistence and a conduit that reignites love and passion for the work?"

Challenge at their annual World Bank agriculture project where six 100-Day

Challenges were launched. They were hugely successful. We gathered 100 days after the launch to hear the teams describe what they had achieved and what they had learnt. An old farmer, who was one of the team members, was sitting at the back of the room. It was a large hall with more than 100 people. Others were sharing their testimonials however the farmer remained quiet. I recall his straw hat, the occasional glint in his eye, and the hint of a smile on his weathered face. On an impulse, I turned to the farmer, and I said: “You have been very quiet. We would love to get your perspective on the last 100 days”. “It is worth pausing and reflecting on the essence of 100-Day Challenges."

Collective Action Magazine | 15

GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE AND COLLABORATION

By Professor Corné Davis University of Johannesburg

The topic of gender-based violence has received much more attention over recent years following a number of catalytic cases and events that sparked a public outcry in South Africa in particular, but also globally, with specific reference to the Harvey Weinstein and Jeffrey Epstein cases. The advent of the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbated the already precarious challenges faced by GBV stakeholders in South Africa, particularly those of the victims. In spite of the publication of the NSP on GBVF and the subsequent establishment of the six pillar working groups as part of the strategic plan to end GBVF, media reports reveal troubling statistics. One of the most alarming figures is that of 934 children who gave birth, some as young as 10 and 11 years old, soon after the easing of the Covid-19 restrictions. The staggering picture painted by this figure makes it evident that significant progress in successfully intervening in GBV and particularly violence against children and child rape has not yet been made.

16 | Collective Action Magazine

There is strength in numbers

Other concerning statistics are shown on the South African Depression and Anxiety Group website and the World Happiness Index (2022), where South Africa is placed at 101, painting an even more grim picture of the probable extent and scope of GBV’s impact on all stakeholders. The call for a strategic shift in thinking and action is clearer than ever. In 2020, the Department of Strategic Communication at the University of Johannesburg partnered with the Shared Value Africa Initiative (SVAI) and their GBVF #ITSNOTOK movement to engage with two key stakeholder groups, private sector leaders and employees, who had not previously been included in GBV research. Conversations were held with CEOs and directors of 73 private sector organisations in South Africa to determine, 1) the level of awareness of GBV in South Africa; 2) gather their views on where the topic of GBV should be placed within the business framework; 3) what employees expect their employers to do about GBV as it also affects employees; and 4)what strategies they would put into place to address GBV in line with the NSP. A second stream in this research project targeted employees, and conducted a survey across sectors in South Africa to assess: the level of awareness of GBV, its prevalence in its various forms, their opinion about the drivers of GBV and recommendations on how GBV should be addressed by the private sector. Findings of this study will be released on 11 August 2022 and will include an update on the cost of GBV to South Africa by leading health economist Prof Koustuv Dalal from Mid-Sweden University.

In a summary, we are all stakeholders in the issue of GBV globally. In spite of all the work that has been done, intimate partner violence, child rape and domestic violence are prevalent among all socio-economic groups in South Africa and most cases are never reported to police. Some of the challenges that inhibit the work of ending GBV are systematic. There are numerous reports on the inefficiency of the South African Police Service, irregularities and ineptitude at South African courts resulting in shockingly low conviction rates and insufficient support services available to victims. The need for education of both perpetrators and victims and for support structures at all levels cannot be ignored. Against this background, the importance of communication and collaboration cannot be overemphasized.

To date, most GBV research has been conducted from a public health perspective and is largely informed by the work done by various NGOs. While findings and >Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4 Page 5 Page 6 Page 7 Page 8 Page 9 Page 10 Page 11 Page 12 Page 13 Page 14 Page 15 Page 16 Page 17 Page 18 Page 19 Page 20 Page 21 Page 22 Page 23 Page 24 Page 25 Page 26 Page 27 Page 28 Page 29 Page 30 Page 31 Page 32 Page 33 Page 34 Page 35 Page 36 Page 37 Page 38 Page 39 Page 40 Page 41 Page 42 Page 43 Page 44 Page 45 Page 46 Page 47 Page 48 Page 49 Page 50 Page 51 Page 52 Page 53 Page 54 Page 55 Page 56 Page 57 Page 58

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