The Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) and its partners such as: the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Southern African AIDS Trust (SAT) and REPSSI (a non-profit organisation) are working on HIV/AIDS and Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (SRHR) programmes in Southern Africa that promote gender equality, respect for women's and girls' rights, and the prohibition of all forms of gender-based discrimination.
Key to SDC’s strategy in the region has been work with both women and men boys and girls on reducing traditional harmful practices such as female genital mutilation, negative gender stereotypes, attitudes and behaviours, sexual and intimate partner physical violence. SDC also supports the capacity building of duty bearers in order to respond appropriately to gender based violence for both the victims and perpetrators.
In Zambia, Swaziland, Malawi, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Botswana and Lesotho for example, UNFPA through the Safeguard Young People programme is scaling up the engagement of men and boys for the promotion of SRHR and gender equality. The project which started in 2013 has delivered encouraging results as witnessed by the significant reduction of gender based violence cases reported to the authorities in the targeted areas.
REPSSI which is working on psychosocial support in Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland, Tanzania, Zimbabwe and Malawi is educating communities on how to respond and assist both girls and women affected by gender-based violence before referring them to specialised services, and how best to broach the issues in their communities.
Through various programmes in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Botswana and Malawi, SAT is capacitating both young girls and boys to reflect on their community specific experiences in order to contextually deal with violence of any form. At another level, service providers are being trained on how to recognise gender-based violence and how to respond appropriately, even when girls and women put their injuries down to other causes.
Feedback from participants in the various countries in the region indicates that positive changes can be observed after a relatively short period of time.
“Girls empowerment training has made me believe in myself and the positive impact I can have on the community,” says Julia Moyo from Zimbabwe. “I feel I have an in depth knowledge on issues such as gender based violence, child marriage and so on. I look forward to imparting this knowledge to the community,” added Julia.
Violence against women however continues to manifest itself in many forms. The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence which started on 25 November with theme “Leave No One Behind: End Violence against Women and Girls” marks an opportunity to draw attention to the issues of domestic violence, sexual abuse, rape, female genital mutilation and forced marriage among others in Southern Africa.
These issues are integral to Switzerland’s long-standing efforts to help eradicate any form of violence and strengthen women's rights in general.
