Activists get training to fight gender-based violence

Mkhululi Ncube, Chronicle Reporter
EMTHONJENI Women’s Forum has trained and certified 59 Community Activists (CAs) from various church denominations in four parts of Insiza District with a mandate to fight sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and push for women empowerment.

The group comprising men, women and church leaders graduated on Friday in Bulawayo and will be instrumental in fighting GBV from church and at community level.

The trained CAs are from wards 14 to 18.
Emthonjeni Women`s Forum director Mrs Sikhathele Matambo said the CAs were trained under the Start, Awareness, Support, Action (SASA) Faith programme which has been running for the past six years.

“We have been running this programme for the past six years with focus on working with the faith-based organisations in reducing gender violence. The SASA programme was carried out in four phases, under the Start we were introducing the programme and the kind of work the Community Activists were going to do.

“On Awareness we were teaching them on how to prevent and how to respond to gender-based violence, on the Support phase we were giving them knowledge on the referral pathway on whom they can report SGBV cases they could not solve on their own.

On Action pillar, the CAs were taught on dealing with GBV cases within their churches, “she said.
Mrs Matambo said they targeted churches due to the influence religion has in communities and the fact that most people belong to one church or another.

She said despite this, many churches have not responded positively in dealing with GBV and have largely remained hard to reach places, hence their focus on them.

“The programme has done well in raising awareness, knowledge retention, perceptions and attitudes of SGBV cases because we are not only working with women but men and religious leaders as well.

The research we carried out showed a marked reduction in SGBV cases in the target areas we were working in. We introduced the CAs as a way of making sure that there is sustainability of the programme even after we have moved on.

“The CAs who graduated today will continue with the work they have been doing supported by the religious leaders who were part of the programme.

We have also handed over the programme to the Ministry of Women affairs who will engage with the CAs to make sure that the work continues outside the support we were providing,” she said.

Guest of honour at the event and Insiza Rural District Council ward 18’s Councillor Jostina Ndondo hailed the organisation for empowering the society to deal with SGBV issues.

She urged the CAs to be ambassadors of bringing peace within their communities by teaching society about the dangers of GBV.
“Go to the world and show leadership. Recognize SGBV against women and girls as a human right violation and a barrier to health and development. Create equality in your communities by advocating for power balances in relations amongst married couples. Continue challenging norms and values that perpetuate violence against women. Our work must continue beyond the end of the project,” she said.

A graduate of the programme, Mr Noel Chirwa from Insiza`s Ward 17 said CAs could be one of the best ways of fighting SGBV within communities.

Mr Chirwa said the work involves reaching communities and churches, educating people about the negative aspects of SGBV.
“Before the programme came, we had many cases of SGBV in my area but after the work we did our community is now aware of it and we are dealing with very few cases.

We educate churches and when there are community meetings, we are given slots as well to address SGBV issues.
“Such cases being brought to village courts have drastically decreased. Women are also now involved in self-help developmental projects which were introduced under this program,” he said.

Mrs Barbra Mguni from Ward 14 said women have been the greatest beneficiary of the programme as they have been liberated from the bad patriarchal practices which were prevalent.

“We are running a project which has seen women buying and owning cattle because poverty is also a contributor to SGBV. Some churches did not allow women to preach, speak or hold positions in church but through this programme we have been liberated. Our community is certainly a better place now,” she said.–@themkhust