Prevention of violence against women and girls in Southern Africa
P4P is a new program funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) with an initial duration of three years until 2020 for three countries (South Africa, Lesotho, Zambia – Southern Province). In Southern Africa, gender-based violence (GBV), especially violence against women and girls (VAWG), is among the most severe and widespread human rights violations. The prevalence and acceptance of VAWG is very high in international comparison. Between half and two-thirds of all women state that they have experienced violence at some point in their lives; violence by a male intimate partner is the most common form. The VAWG epidemic poses a serious obstacle for efforts to achieve global, regional and national development goals. The elimination of VAWG is therefore firmly anchored in the Sustainable Development Goals. The revised SADC Protocol on Gender and Equality (2016) stresses the importance of VAWG, which has led to a renewed dynamism at the level of SADC member states for addressing VAWG. But while policies, legal frameworks and action plans are largely in place, challenges remain in regard to ineffective coordination and implementation, especially of prevention interventions. Considering the magnitude of VAWG in the countries of Southern Africa, a broad-based effort is required. To this end, the program will support the formation of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSP) that will leverage financial and technical contributions from governments, civil society organisations, private sector companies, the media and academia. The program’s module objective is therefore formulated as follows: “Cooperation between governmental, non-governmental and private sector actors for the prevention of violence against women and girls in Southern Africa is strengthened.” This objective is attained through four interdependent outputs:
- Capacity strengthening for better coordination and implementation of prevention approaches
- “Flagships projects” with concrete preventative action
- Accompanying research to strengthen the evidence-base around prevention of VAWG
- Regional exchange to promote learning across the Southern African region
PROJECT IS PART OF
