Gender-based violence (GBV) is a deeply rooted social failure that thrives on power imbalances, cultural norms, and systemic inequities. Conventional responses to GBV focus on external aid, professional intervention, and institutional frameworks. While these are important, the immediate need to help identify incidences of GBV and to support victims require critical attention in many rural communities across South Africa. Africa!Ignite and partners Zutari and Wild Coast Foods selected GBV as one of six themes to pursue in the Wild Coast under the Social Employment Fund (SEF) umbrella. Opting to include this in the "work for the common good", the main principle that underpins SEF, had a massive ripple effect in the 14 villages within the project scope.
In 2019, the South African National Roads Agency (SANRAL) launched an Asset Based Community Development (ABCD) project to help 14 villages impacted by the construction of the new N2 Toll Road as a pilot project to identify the assets they could leverage to create income opportunities while preserving their culture and natural heritage.
During the ABCD process, Gender Based Violence came into the spotlight as critical challenge to be addressed in parallel to economic development. The SEF provided an excellent platform to do this, and when Africa! gnite was given the opportunity to be a Strategic Implementation Partner (SIP) of the SEF in 2023, Action against GBV was included the programme
ABCD is tool that can be used by communities to drive their own development, without reliance on outside support, as individuals
In the case of Action against GBV, the ABCD process places the power to act in the hands of community members themselves, particularly survivors and advocates. They possess unique insights and skills that can drive anti-GBV initiatives. ABCD amplifies the contribution of individuals in identifying and taking action against social injustices, supporting community members in need to "start where they are, use what they have and do what they can" immediately, and not wait for external services to be fixed before problem solving can begin. For example, survivors can lead peer-support groups, leveraging their experiences to foster healing and awareness.
In Round 2 of SEF, participants were asked to select their theme of choice: these included Food Security, Greening the Environment, Placemaking, Community & Public Art, Action against GBV and Youth & Digital Inclusion.
Only a few individuals opted for the GBV theme, but during initial training, it was ascertained that many of the young people from the 14 villages had been victims of GBV themselves, and THEY saw SEF as an opportunity to take action, create awareness and start driving behaviour change from within their communities.
Since none of the project partners have clinical experience in dealing with GBV, the programme of work focused on teaching skill to:
However, the impacts of the work that the GBV teams went far beyond what AfricalIgnite and partners envisaged. The participant in the GBV theme leveraged their available assets and came up with creative ideas and campaigns leapfrog GBV awareness in their communities. They went far beyond what was taught, as they tapped into the other themes to reveal how deep seated incidences of GBV in their communities are. They raised campaign funds, tapped into community networks for donations of material and gained support from the Food Security and Community & Public Art themes to grow vegetables to support GBV victims with proper nutrition and to create billboards throughout the 14 villages to create awareness and provide vital information to victims.
