Gender Based Violence Activism

Gender Based Violence Activism is an awareness raising project that is directed at youth. Firstly, the project intends to address the the gender based violence issues in the local community. It entails a conscious decision in rasing awareness and educating youth about the subject matter. Secondly, this project involves mainly youth, specifically those in secondary schools. We believe that the youth is a mechanism to mobilise change in society. A new way of thinking in youth has a potential to change the current situation in our community. The Gender Based Violence Activism project values youth.

What skills and resources were you able to draw from the community for this project?

Community engagement is yet to commenced. The project is still an idea that is currently being structured before community engagement to embarked upon. This project is sensitive in nature thus proper planning and structuring is required. There is however intention to get involved with the services of local social workers, psycologists and similar professionals to ensure that the project is armed with professional skills and knowlegde. This will enable the project to flourish and be a success.

The challenges

The Gender Based Violence Activism project was started due to the perpetual state of affairs not only in our community but in the country. This project started mainly because of the recent acts of violence towards females in the country. There is awareness in our project that acts of violence are not only restricted to females but equally apply to males, although focus has mostly been placed on female directed violence. The aim of the project is to be gender neutral as far as possible and raise awareness for both sides. Due to the perpetual nature of this subject matter, Gender Based Violence Activism was establish to address this issue for the benefit of co-existance between the two sexes in the upcoming generation. We are aware that failure to address the current state of affairs will be to the deteriment of the upcoming generation. On this reason Gender Based Violence Activism project was established.

Addressing the challenges

The project has only started recently. The success of the project will be judged after an approximate period of five years due to the different factors that play a role in this project. A lot needs to be done before the ultimate goal is achieved. This firstly entails, getting appropriate training in addressing the public in a professional and appropriate manner. Secondly, there are different cultural views that need to be taken into account, especially because of cultural diversity in our community. Thirdly, awareness has to be raised in our community of our project in order for schools to associate themselves with the project. With due regard of the abovementioned a lot of work still has to be done.