Published 13 May 2014
FPD in partnership with the National Centre for Knowledge on Men’s Violence against Women (NCK) and Uppsala University Hospital in Sweden have completed the 3 year Gender Based Violence Capacity Development Project through a generous grant from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency. SIDA donated six million Swedish Kronor (SEK 6.000.000) towards the success of the project.
The overall objectives of the project were:
To improve the knowledge, attitudes and skills of health care and educational professionals on violence in general and gender based violence through training, specifically to allow them to recognise, counsel, collect forensic evidence where appropriate, and to refer such victims to appropriate support services.
To improve service delivery for victims of violence through building referral linkages between public sector facilities such as schools and hospitals and organisations that provide support services to victims of violence such as places of safety, rape counselling services, etc.
To increase awareness amongst key opinion makers of violence as a priority public health issue.
FPD and NCK designed gender based violence courses to increase the number of health care professionals and educators experienced in gender based violence training in South Africa. FPD met and exceeded all training targets, ensuring that a total of 5 960 delegates were trained over a period of three years. The overall target was 3 775 delegates.
FPD has established a partnership with Zivikele Training in order to develop a community level response to manage violence and gender based violence.
FPD has also established a partnership with Soul City Institute, Sonke Gender Justice and the Medical Research Council to implement a $10 million project to increase services to survivors of sexual assault.
FPD is currently working closely with the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA), on the Increasing Services to Survivors of Sexual Assault Programme (ISSSAP) that was launched on the 28 March 2013 at the Phoenix Thuthuzela Care Centre in KwaZulu-Natal. Minister of Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mr. Jeff Radebe, was the main speaker and he also signed a pledge committing to do gender based violence advocacy with care and compassion by turning victims into survivors with other stakeholders.
The FPD training ensured that services were delivered to rural and urban areas, with 2 686 delegates from rural areas, and 3 274 delegates from urban areas. Training also targeted delegates from the public sector, with the aim of improving service delivery to the poor. A total of 4 095 of delegates worked in the public sector, 598 in the private sector and 1 267 from the NGO sector (including FBOs).
This project impacted enormously on poverty reduction by providing scholarships to 5 960 delegates to attend training on gender based violence. This also enables health care workers and educators to improve service delivery to victims of gender based violence. The improved service delivery also has an impact on the lives of people in South Africa.
“Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.” Albert Einstein.