Gender Based Violence - Organisation Profiles

Western Cape Network on Violence against women

Who & what is the Western Cape Network? The Western Cape Network & its members are a strong, united body which coordinates and integrates organizations and individuals through advocacy, public awareness, training and support with a developmental approach in order to progressively realize women’s right to a life free from all forms of violence.

Our Vision:

For women to be free from all forms of violence and oppression in the public and private sphere

The WCNVAW comprises a Provincial Office (Athlone, Cape Town) and a satellite Rural Office (Worcester); with regional networks that provide support, advocacy, networking and training to non-profit and community based organisations in the Western Cape working on challenging violence against women and children. Membership of WCNVAW is also open to individuals (men and women), including counsellors, trainers, researchers, legal advisors, government officials and parliamentarians. The total membership is 545 organisations and individuals, who pay a membership fee of between R20.00 and R100.00 per annum (depending on their financial resources and structure) to WCNVAW. The Provincial Management Committee attends to policy-making decisions while each Regional network attends to their respective management decisions. Each region has a Regional Representative on the Provincial Management Committee.

Website: http://www.wcnetwork.org.za

ACORD

The Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development (ACORD) was established in 1976 as a consortium of international non-governmental organisations (NGOs), with the purpose of collectively responding to emergency situations in some of Africa’s poorest, most crisis prone and marginalised areas. Over the years, the work developed further into relief, rehabilitation, long-term programming research and capacity building. Informed by the analysis of its work over the three decades, the changing paradigm of development, the process of globalisation and the changing landscape of institutions and civil society in Africa, ACORD went through a transformation process with major implications on its organisational vision and role, programming framework and intervention strategy. The change was geared at strengthening the African ownership and positioning the organisation for sustainable Africa wide impact towards social justice.

During the period 2002-2006, ACORD made significant strides, transforming itself from a Northern consortium into an Africa-Led International Alliance working in common cause with people who are poor and have been denied their rights to understand, challenge and change the conditions that cause poverty and exclusion. 45 projects primarily addressing consequences of poverty evolved into 12 decentralised country and regional programmes focused around the four thematic leads of livelihoods, conflict, HIV/AIDS and gender, and aiming to address root causes of poverty through a combination of practical work, research and advocacy. The secretariat was relocated from London to Nairobi and a primarily African management team was recruited. In June 2005, ACORD signed a head quarters agreement with the Government of the Republic of Kenya and in November 2005, three African individuals joined ACORD’s Board of Directors.

ACORD is present across the continent, collaborating with a vast network of community based organisations, in Southern Africa: Angola and Mozambique; Eastern and Horn of Africa: Ethiopia, Eritrea (being phased out), Sudan, Uganda, Tanzania and Kenya; Central Africa: DRC, Rwanda and Burundi; and Western Africa: Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Guinea (Sahel I) and Chad, Cameroon and Nigeria (Sahel II). ACORD has a well established HIV/AIDS Prevention and Support Programme (HASAP), providing capacity building services to internal and external stakeholders and emerging thematic programmes in conflict and gender. In 2006, ACORD launched a Pan Africa programme on food sovereignty.

ACORD has maintained its charity registration and a liaison office in the United Kingdom and its legal status as stated in the Memorandum and Articles of Association. The founding Northern NGOs remain members and primary donors of ACORD.

Website: http://www.acordinternational.org

APC - Women’s Networking Support Programme

The APC ( Association for Progressive Communications) Women’s Networking Support Programme emerged in 1993 as a response to several convergent needs and demands from within the women’s movement. The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women - UNWCW and the rapid development of international communications technologies were key factors which gave rise to the Programme’s beginning.

In many countries around the world, women have become active on a variety of ICT issues, ranging from securing local access, participation in national policy meetings on ICT, the development of information services, repackaging information, women’s computer networks, and gender sensitive training materials, to rendering recommendations on the design and implementation of information and communication technology.

A few examples:

During the NGO Forum of the fourth United Nations Conference on Women (UNWCW), electronic information was repackaged into different formats such as newsletters, radio broadcasting, and faxes, translated into several languages, and disseminated world wide.

In several African countries - where an ICT infrastructure is still under construction - women have intervened on policy issues such as access, control, and decision-making.
Women from around the world took strong positions prior to and during the Global Knowledge Conference in Toronto, Canada in June 1997. They were able to get gender on the agenda of the conference and successfully lobbied online to get a dozen women included as conference speakers and experts.
Women around the world have been very successful in building women’s online information services such as WomensNet in the USA, SAWNET in South Asia, and the global Virtual Sisterhood network.

Asian women media practitioners, women activists and advocates, educators, and policy makers are involved in studying and information sharing on existing communication policies related to gender in various countries in the region and are re-examining national communication policies or self-regulation from a gender perspective.

The Network of East West Women facilitates global workspaces for women. They sponsor several electronic conferences and mailing lists, among them a Russian language online forum for the discussion of gender issues in the countries of the former Soviet Union and another forum for women around the world to discuss sexual politics and orientation.

Although many women’s organisations around the world have been successful in using and adapting ICT, still the vast majority of women experience barriers in making use of this technology. These barriers are often basic: from insufficient resources to procure the necessary hardware and software to the absence of (reliable) telephone lines and/or electricity. The lack of positive role models and support, language concerns such as the dominance of English, absence of training or culturally or gender sensitive training materials, are another group of difficulties which obstruct women’s full and effective use of the new information and communication technologies.

The APC Women’s Networking Support Programme bases its work on the premise that adoption of new information and communication technologies by women is often hindered by problems which result from gender inequities. On a global level, women have restricted opportunities for education, they have fewer resources to obtain hardware and training, and they encounter unequal access to decision-making on the design and implementation of ICT. These problems are often more pronounced for women in the South.

Website: http://www.apcwomen.org

African Women’s Development and Communication Network

The African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) was set up in 1988 to share experiences, information and strategies among African women’s non-governmental organisations (NGOs) through advocacy, training and communications so as to advance African women’s development, equality and other human rights. FEMNET aims to strengthen the role and contribution of African NGOs focusing on women’s development, equality and other human rights. It also aims to provide a channel through which these NGOs can reach one another and share experiences, information and strategies to as to improve their work on African women’s development, equality and other human rights.

FEMNET is governed by a Constitution and the following governance and administrative structure:

• National focal points in African countries whose representatives attend a tri-annual Programming Conference and General Assembly;
• An elected Executive Board which includes two Board members per sub-region and a Chairperson. In addition, there are two Ex-Officio Board members (immediate past Chairperson and the Executive Director);
• An elected Board of Trustees to oversee FEMNET’s assets
• A Secretariat that implements FEMNET’s programmes and is headed by an Executive Director.

FEMNET’s specific objectives include:

• exchanging experiences in planning, implementing and evaluating women’s programmes and projects through interaction with NGOs, development agencies and relevant regional and international intergovernmental bodies;
• promoting women’s activities in Africa through the strengthening of existing organisations and the establishment of new ones as may be needed;
• playing vanguard and catalytic roles in the treatment of feminist issues which cannot be handled by government gender mechanisms due to the threat that such issues pose to patriarchal states;
• promoting the better utilisation of African women’s NGOs by development agencies and regional and international intergovernmental organisations (IGOs) such as the African Union (AU) and the various United Nations (UN) agencies;
• mobilising resources for African women’s development, equality and other women’s human rights by local, regional and international sources; and enabling collective action by African women’s movements in order to tackle regional gender issues.

Since its inception in 1988, FEMNET has played a leadership role for African women’s NGOs at regional and international decision-making and policy fora.

Website: http://www.femnet.or.ke

Raising Voices

Raising Voices is a small, results-oriented organization based in Kampala, Uganda. It is recognized regionally and internationally as a pioneer in preventative approaches with proven capacity for creative and practical programs. Raising Voices is regularly sought out by a variety of international organizations and decision-makers to consult on program design and development, provide technical support and capacity building on violence against women and children, and human rights.

Raising Voices has published several articles and program tools on violence prevention such as Mobilizing Communities to Prevent Domestic Violence: A Resource Guide for Organisations in East and Southern Africa (2003) and Rethinking Domestic Violence: A Training Process for Community Activists (2004). Raising Voices also co-founded the Center for Domestic Violence Prevention, a vibrant NGO in Uganda, which is already a leader in Uganda on domestic violence prevention.

Raising Voices is a project of the Tides Center in the USA, a registered public charity, exempt from federal income taxation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. The Tides Center provides administrative, financial management and organizational support to the project.

Violence against Women programming has been underway at Raising Voices since our inception in 1999. Raising Voices received the Women’s Safety Award from Women and Cities International in 2004 for innovative efforts to prevent violence against women. Our work has also been recognized as good practice by WHO, USAID and CDC.
Violence against Children work began formally in 2004 with extensive research in Uganda about the problem. We are currently developing various programs to prevent and respond to violence against children.

The work of Raising Voices is generously supported by HIVOS, The Ford Foundation, The Sigrid Rausing Trust, American Jewish World Service, and the Oak Foundation.

Website: http://www.raisingvoices.org

GBV Prevention Network

In September 2003, Raising Voices and UN-Habitat’s Safer Cities Program hosted a Regional Dialogue in Kampala that brought together over 30 GBV prevention activists and practitioners from 10 countries to share experiences and create relationships with others involved in regional GBV prevention work. During discussions it became clear that we needed a space to connect and share.

Participants highlighted:

• The lack of deeply-needed connection, sharing, learning, and networking with other like-minded organizations.
• The extreme challenge of accessing regionally-developed resources and materials.
• The need of a space to share programs, approaches, strategies and ideas on GBV prevention.

So, the GBV Prevention Network was born! The Network’s dual purpose would be:

• Increasing regional exchange of resources and information.
• Highlighting to other activists, practitioners, donors, policy makers, and researchers, that GBV prevention efforts are growing in strength throughout the region.

The group asked Raising Voices to coordinate this Network, and Raising Voices has been doing this work since that time. Prevention of GBV is still relatively new in the region – there is much to learn and share about quality and effective approaches. The Network exists to foster the development of this new and emerging field.

The Network aims to build a primary prevention movement in the Horn, East and Southern Africa – to foster a groundswell of activists and activism across the region, all seeking to create positive change.

The Network seeks to facilitate community action to change the norms that perpetuate violence—thereby addressing violence before it occurs. This is done by sharing information and resources, and by facilitating communication between organizations that seek to change the underlying cause of violence.

Website: http://www.preventgbvafrica.org

Isis-WICCE (Isis Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange)

From Mexico to Beijing and New York, Isis-Women’s International Cross-Cultural Exchange (Isis-WICCE) still carries on the vision of its founders Jane Cottingham and Marilee Karl of communicating ideas, creating solidarity networks and sharing information to overcome gender inequalities.

The organisation is named after the ancient Egyptian goddess ISIS who symbolises Wisdom, Creativity and Knowledge. Founded in 1974 in Geneva, Switzerland as an action oriented women’s resource centre to meet the need for information by women from various regions of the world, Isis-WICCE has three main programmes: The Exchange Programme, Information and Documentation Programme and the Publication Programme.

Isis-WICCE relocated to Kampala, Uganda at the end of 1993 with an objective of tapping African women’s ideas, views and problems and share the information with women at the international level. Since the move to Kampala, Isis-WICCE started National-and regional level programmes to facilitate the flow of information from Uganda to other parts of Africa and the rest of the world, and to contribute towards the strengthening of the Uganda and African women’s movement.

Website: http://www.isis.or.ug

Kivulini Women’s Rights Organisation

Kivulini Women’s Rights Organization is a registered non-governmental organization based in Mwanza, Tanzania. Kivulini advocates for women’s and girl’s rights in Tanzania by emphasizing the prevention of domestic against women and girls. The Kiswahili word Kivulini means .in the shade.. It implies a place of safety, under a tree or otherwise, where people meet for discussions and offer support to one another. Kivulini was established in 1999 to create opportunities for community members to come together, talk, organize and work towards preventing domestic violence so that women and girls are able to enjoy their rights as stipulated in the Constitution of The United Republic of Tanzania, African Charter and various human rights conventions.

Website: http://www.kivulini.org

The MIFUMI Project

Protecting Women and Children Against Violence
MIFUMI is a development NGO and leading indigenous women and children’s rights agency working to end violence against women and children in the east of Uganda. The project was born out of the efforts of the Mifumi village, which rallied around the building of a Primary School in the late 80s. This led to the registration of a charitable organization as MIFUMI UK in 1995 and MIFUMI Uganda in 1997. MIFUMI is unique for being a rural based agency with a national and international reach. We work with grassroots communities and have a large constituency of grassroots children, women and women’s groups as our allies. From a small agency, Mifumi has grown to become a national women and children’s rights agency with strong leadership in the field of domestic violence. Capacity has grown from 1 staff member to over 20 staff. Mifumi, Uganda works in close collaboration with Mifumi, UK, a sister organization mainly engaged in fundraising and international partnerships development.

Mifumi Domestic Violence Intervention Pilot Project: 1999 - 2000
MDVIP was established as a pilot with the aim of promoting protection for women and children. The principle of work was adopted from the Duluth Model (Minnesota, USA) that the community must bear the burden of domestic violence and the perpetrator held accountable. The pilot gave rise to the DV Project II which was a national pioneering project in the Country.

Community Advocacy Against Violence - Domestic Violence II: 2001 - 2005
Following on from the MDVIP pilot project, Mifumi established a community advocacy against domestic violence in Uganda. The project strengthened the capacity of women and children’s organisations to deliver domestic violence services across five districts in Uganda. Three legal aid clinics provide legal services through lawyers, paralegals and women advocacy workers. Over 13,000 women and children have been supported through the advice centres. Avantgarde work to work with and counsel men is also taking place. Research on domestic violence and health has been carried out as well as work with the health sector to develop a positive response to women disclosing abuse. The project also provides training to the police, judiciary and health professionals as well as lobbying for improved legislation for women and children including the Domestic Relations Bill (DRB). We intend to lobby for a Domestic Violence Bill. First formal training of Uganda Police on domestic violence and abuse was carried out in October, 2003 in conjunction with Prof. Dr Susanne Baer of Humboldt University, Berlin. Mifumi is now lobbying for increased Magistrates courts outreach circuits.

Website: http://www.mifumi.org/

Sister Namibia

Sister Namibia (sister@iafrica.com.na), a feminist women’s rights organisation based in Windhoek, Namibia, was founded in 1989 on the eve of national independence to give women a voice in the building of a democratic post-colonial society. For the first ten years, the main activity of the organisation was the production of Sister Namibia magazine. From 1999 onwards, we began to broaden our scope. We now engage in the fields of media, education, research, advocacy and cultural activity in order to promote women’s human rights and full equality in a world free from violence, discrimination and oppression. Through our bi-monthly Sister Namibia magazine we raise awareness among women, men and young people of the ways in which political, social, cultural, legal and economic systems of power control girls and women. We also profile women leaders in all fields of society, advocate for and inform about gender-related law reform, and oppose and challenge all forms of sexism, racism, homophobia and other discourses and practices that oppress and divide people. We print 10 000 copies of each edition and distribute them nationally through NGO networks, as well as to subscribers and libraries around the world. A website and electronic newsletter are currently being developed to further our information-sharing activities.

Website: http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Sister+Namibia/200…

Sonke Gender Justice project

The Sonke Gender Justice project, started in February 2006, tries to address the social aspects of the HIV epidemic, with a particular focus on gender issues. Sonke Gender Justice’s vision is a SADC region in which men, women, youth and children can enjoy equitable, healthy, and happy relationships that contribute to the development of a just and democratic society. To achieve this, the Sonke Gender Justice project works to build government, civil society and citizen capacity to achieve gender equality, prevent gender based violence and reduce the spread of HIV and the impact of AIDS.

Sonke Gender Justice aims to:

• Build government capacity across the SADC region to develop policies and successfully implement initiatives that address HIV/AIDS and gender based violence as matters of national and regional priority.
• Build civil society capacity across the SADC region to use rights-based advocacy to promote gender equality, end gender based violence and reduce the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS.
• Improve the cohesion and coordination of government and civil society sector responses to HIV/AIDS and violence against women and promote peer to peer exchanges.
• Provide training and technical assistance on the implementation of Men as Partners activities that encourage men at all levels of society to take a stand for gender equality, oppose gender based violence and be more involved in reducing the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS.
• Promote positive shifts in social norms regarding gender roles and relations in the region through partnerships with existing media and the development of new IEC materials.

Website: http://www.genderjustice.org.za

Sexual Violence Research Initiative

In May 2000, with the support of the Global Forum for Health Research, the Key Centre for Research on Women in Melbourne, Australia, hosted a meeting of representatives from all regions of the world and several networks of organizations working on sexual violence.
The group reached consensus on the need for a global initiative on sexual violence research, and a coordinating group of experts from different disciplines and regions was set up to guide the work.

The SVRI builds on the experience of the WHO Multi-country Study on Women’s Health and Domestic Violence Against Women and on the other initiatives of the Global Forum for Health Research. A Coordinating Group of experts on sexual violence research provides overall guidance for the Initiative. The SVRI was hosted by the WHO Department of Gender, Women and Health for an initial period of 2 years. After a competitive process, the Gender & Health Research Unit, Medical Research Council, South Africa, was selected to host the SVRI. The SVRI Secretariat is now based at the MRC South Africa.

The SVRI furthermore aims to promote research on sexual violence and generate empirical data that ensures sexual violence is recognised as a priority public health problem. The SVRI does this by building an experienced and committed network of researchers, policy makers, activists and donors to ensure that the many aspects of sexual violence are addressed from the perspective of different disciplines and cultures.

The SVRI objectives are to:

• Increase awareness of sexual violence as a priority public health problem through evidence based communication and information.
• Strengthen the support and funding base for research on sexual violence.
• Build capacity in sexual violence research.
• Improve knowledge of sexual violence internationally to influence policy and service delivery.

Website: http://www.svri.org

SWEAT

SWEAT is a South African non-profit organisation, based in Cape Town, that engages with sex workers on issues of health and human rights. We are a small, dynamic and flexible organisation with seven full-time staff and three work programmes: training and support; advocacy and lobbying; and research. Our primary goal is to achieve a legal adult sex work industry in South Africa, in which the human rights of sex workers are realised and where sex work is acknowledged as work. As such our work with adult sex workers focuses on:

• Organising sex workers to claim their rights, including setting the standards for fair and safe working conditions;
• Decriminalisation of adult sex work in South Africa;
• Access to health, legal and social services;
• Promoting safer sex practices and sex workers’ health and well-being.

SWEAT has been in existence for over ten years and has been able to reach sex workers and employers in the industry through outreach work that is non-intrusive and non-judgemental. We go out to where people are working, at times when they are working. We are available to those who want our services while ensuring minimal disruption to their work; and we respect those who do not want our services. We give out condoms and educational materials, and use every opportunity available to engage in conversation regarding health and safety issues. We are responsive to any issue or need that we encounter and where we cannot assist, we will provide a referral to someone we think or know can help. We are also engaged in more in-depth work around safer sex through workshops with sex workers collectively in brothels, as well as with groups of sex workers that we have organised outdoors. The focus is on working with people collectively and using these spaces to promote thinking and acting on issues. Similarly, we are supporting the beginnings of a national .movement. of sex workers launched by participants at a national meeting in 2003. At present we support quarterly meetings of a national leadership core, as well as monthly local meetings of persons involved in this .movement.. Our direct work with sex workers and others in the sex work industry in Cape Town informs our work directions in an ongoing way concerning health and safety issues, as well as our work around law reform. The advocacy and lobbying programme campaigns for the decriminalisation of adult sex work, addresses local legislation that impacts on sex workers and engages in issues relating to regulation and working conditions with sex workers. Our research programme began in 2003. We are developing a credible information base that will assist us in our work directions, as well as enabling us to act in the interests of sex workers.

Website: http://www.sweat.org.za

The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children (SBCWC)

The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children (SBCWC) was opened in 1999 as the first multi-disciplinary service (one-stop) centre for abused women and children in South Africa. This provided an opportunity for organisations to come together as partners to develop an appropriate on-site multi-agency service delivery model for the effective management, treatment and prevention of violence against women and children. It also presented an opportunity for a partnership approach between government departments and the non-governmental sector.

The Centre has since evolved to be the prime learning site nationally for providing holistic, integrated services to survivors of violence. Some of the services provided are managed directly by the Saartjie Baartman Centre.

These include:

• a 24-hour crisis response
• a residential shelter for abused women and their children
• legal assistance
• and job-skills training.

The other services are provided by organisations working in partnership at the Centre and include:

• an after-hours crisis response for children
• specialised counselling services in rape/sexual assault
• drug and alcohol abuse
• trauma and domestic violence
• job-skills training and job placement projects
• HIV/AIDS programmes; community outreach
• advocacy and lobbying
• training
• research

The Centre is situated in Manenberg on the Cape Flats, in Cape Town an area with extremely high rates of crime, gangsterism, child abuse, unemployment, substance abuse and domestic violence. There are few resources available in Manenberg and the surrounding areas and as a result the Centre provides services to a wide range of constituencies: neighbouring townships, farming communities in the Phillippi, Constantia, and Stellenbosch areas, and ‘informal’ settlements.

Website: http://www.saartjiebaartmancentre.org.za

WANEP - West Africa Network for Peacebuilding

WANEP is a network of peacebuilding civil society organizations with structural presence in all the countries of ECOWAS, including Cameroun and Chad.The network seeks to build collaborative relationship among peacebuilding organizations towards conflict prevention and resolution. Its credibility and commitment to peace and stability in West Africa has been recognized by ECOWAS through the appointment of WANEP as the civil society representative at the ECOWAS secretariat. The establishment of the network has been a response to the growing pathologic civil based violence and war in West Africa caused by mismanaged socio-political structures and systems. WANEP`s niche is built on its ability to facilitate a platform for concerted structural and social reforms amongst societies in West Africa sub region. It works towards achieving this through streamlined thematic programs.

These include:

• the Women in Peacebuilding, the Non Violence and Peace Education
• Research and Documentation
• Democracy and Good Gorvernance
• the Early Warning and Preventive Peacebuilding. Within the WANEP-Nigeria structure, its mode of operation is through the six geo-political zones. These zonal arrangement facilitates an ownership process among zonal network groups and also encourages the local generation of intervention strategies to peculiar conflicts within the zones.

Website: http://www.wanep.org

WOUGNET - Women of Uganda Network

Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) is a non-governmental organisation initiated in May 2000 by several women’s organisations in Uganda to develop the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) among women as tools to share information and address issues collectively. WOUGNET’s mission is to promote and support the use of ICTs by women and women organisations in Uganda, so that they can take advantage of the opportunities presented by ICTs in order to effectively address national and local problems of sustainable development. The new ICTs, in particular, email and the Internet facilitate communication with each other and the international community. Indeed, access to information about best practices, appropriate technologies, ideas and problems of other groups working on similar concerns have been identified as critical information and communication needs of women organisations in Africa. While our emphasis is directed towards Internet technologies, we are also interested in how these technologies can be integrated with traditional means of information exchange and dissemination including radio, video, television and print media. Our goal is to improve conditions of life for women by enhancing their capacities and opportunities for exchange, collaboration and information sharing.

WOUGNET activities are carried out under three major program areas:

• Information Sharing and Networking
• Technical Support
• Gender and ICT Policy Advocacy

Through the programs above, WOUGNET expects to make a significant contribution to the use of ICTs in Uganda that is in line with the national vision of “a knowledge-based Uganda where national development and good governance are sustainably enhanced and accelerated by timely and secure access to information and efficient application of ICT”.

WOUGNET’s key funding partners since inception include:

• Association for Progressive Communications (APC - www.apc.org)
• Dimitra Project/FAO - www.fao.org/dimitra
• Global Fund for Women - www.globalfundforwomen.org
• Hivos - www.hivos.nl
• the Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation ACP EU (CTA - www.cta.int)
• the United Nations Development Program, Pro-poor access options (UNDP - www.undp.org)

Website: http://www.wougnet.org

RWN - Rwanda Women’s Network

Rwanda Women’s Network (RWN) is a national humanitarian Non-Governmental Organisation dedicated to the promotion and improvement of the socio-economic welfare of women in Rwanda through enhancing their efforts to meet their basic needs. The Network came into being in 1997 taking over from its parent organisation, the US-based Church World Service (CWS), which had initiated a two-year program (from 1994 to 1996) in the country following the 1994 genocide. To date, RWN caters to survivors of sexual and gender-based violence across the country in the recognition that women and children bore the brunt of the genocide, and remain the most vulnerable and marginalised groups within Rwanda civil society.

Website: http://www.rwandawomennetwork.org

People Opposing Women Abuse

People Opposing Women Abuse was established in 1979 as a response to the high levels of violence against women experienced in the community. POWA has thus, effectively been operational for the past 23 years. The Organisation is a registered non-profit Section 21 Company - Registration No. 2001/003984/08. POWA was primarily initiated by volunteers and offered services to women who experienced domestic violence, sexual harassment, rape and adult survivors of incest. The Organisation has a strong gender sensitive stance and seeks to empower women through the process of counselling, education, advocacy and lobbying. POWA is based in Berea, in the Johannesburg inner city area. We serve the entire Gauteng, and have branches in Katlehong and Vosloorus in the East Rand, Sebokeng in the Vaal and Soweto. Our clients are drawn mainly from the Magisterial districts of Johannesburg, Pretoria, Vereeniging, Soweto, Wynberg, Randburg, Germiston, Thokoza, Kempton Park and all the West Rand areas. Our helpline takes calls nationally, although we deal mainly with women in the Gauteng Province. POWA was the first organisation in Gauteng to set up a shelter for abused women in 1984. We currently run a shelter in the West Rand that accommodates 10 women and their children at a time, and have recently opened our second shelter, with the same capacity, on the East Rand. Although abuse of women happens across all sectors of society, our target is primarily women who come from communities with limited or no resources at all, or those who cannot afford alternative resources in their areas. These areas are some of those that historically have poor infrastructure such as no street lighting, unsafe public transport areas etc. This in turn encourages the increase in crime, particularly crimes against women. These communities are also characterised by limited employment opportunities, overcrowding, lack of educational facilities, extensive HIV/AIDS related issues and alcoholism. All these factors impact very strongly on violence against women.

Website: http://www.powa.co.za

Step Up!

Step Up! was incorporated as a 501 C 3 organization in 2005 in response to the ongoing trauma experienced by Rwandan women as a result of the genocide in 1994. During the 1994 genocide Tutsi women were specifically targeted for torture and extermination. Many of those who survived were left with unwanted pregnancies, infected with HIV, and have subsequently become impoverished, psychologically traumatized and chronically ill. In the years since its incorporation Step Up! has partnered with a self-help group of Rwandan women in south Rwanda, in addressing their needs; as well as responding to the request of the Kigali Health Institute, the ministry of the Rwandan government which oversees the training of all health related professions in developing a certificate training program in mental health counseling. Future plans are to build a counseling center in Rwanda to assist women survivors of rape and other forms of gender-based violence.

Recent Activities:

• November 2007 – Further training of lay counselors to include skills to assist individuals newly diagnosed with HIV. Additional group of 16 volunteers trained as lay counselors. Training session in Kibungo, eastern Rwanda, for 34 Anglican priests in beginning trauma psychology.
• July 2008 – Step Up gives 12 cows to ABASA members who have stables. This project mirrors Rwanda’s rural economic development plan for each household to own a cow. Local officials have promised to assist in cow breeding and veterinary care free of charge.
• July 2008 – In response to a request by the Kigali Health Institute (KHI), a Step Up team of experts provided a 10 day workshop in trauma counseling in Kigali, Rwanda as part of a postgraduate certificate in professional counseling.

Website: http://www.stepuprwandawomen.org/index.html

COVAW (K) - The Coalition on Violence Against Women - Kenya

The Coalition on Violence Against Women - Kenya , COVAW (K), is a registered, non-partisan and non-profit making national women’s human rights non-governmental organization. COVAW (K) works to promote and advance women human rights through working towards a society free from all forms of violence against women.

COVAW (K) was established in 1995 as a result of a workshop organized by WILDAF (Women in Law and development in Africa ) that sought to strengthen the networking capacities of women organizations in Kenya . At this workshop, violence against women was identified as a serious women rights violation that needed concerted efforts to address. This saw the birth of COVAW (K). For the last 10 years COVAW focused on the maxim of .breaking the silence on violence against women.. Since inception, COVAW (K) has continued to be instrumental in placing violence against women as a crime and a human rights violation in the public domain and has successfully spearheaded the campaign against the vice. COVAW (K) has moved to the next level and is currently addressing the root causes of violence against women by focusing on .breaking the cycle of violence against women.. COVAW (K) is membership based and welcomes membership from individuals that are committed to the eradication of violence against women and the advancement of women’s human rights. The members play a crucial role in the implementation of program activities. There are currently over 100 members and volunteers.

Website: http://www.covaw.or.ke

Sisters Beyond Boundaries

Sisters Beyond Boundaries is a development organization that was formed in the year 1999.It existed as a trust until 2005 when it was registered as an NGO. SBB was formed as a response to a need to have an organization that could specifically address sexual reproductive health and rights especially for women and youth and other SRHR related problems.

SBB members are women professionals drawn from various fields including lawyers ,teachers and social workers. The idea was conceived by secondary school teachers who were concerned about the plight of young women and youth who were dropping out of school as a result of unwanted pregnancies .HIV/AIDS orphans were forced out of school and girls were dying while trying to procure backstreet abortions.

Website: http://sistersbeyond.com

 

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