Preventing Gender-Based Violence in Southern Africa

Context

Gender-based violence (GVB) is a widespread human rights violation, further exacerbated by the outbreak of Covid-19. In Southern Africa, the prevalence of GBV is high by international comparison. Especially intimate partner violence is widely accepted in society and is, as all forms of GBV, rooted in harmful social norms and practices. Up to two thirds of all women in the countries of Southern Africa state that they have experienced physical and/or emotional violence with intimate partner violence at the hands of a man being the most common form. Institutional and individual capacities to implement and coordinate innovative and context specific GBV prevention measures need to be strengthened further. In addition, there is no regular regional exchange among stakeholders to promote upscaling of good practices for GBV prevention.

Objective

Regional, national and sub-national stakeholders from different sectors jointly implement evidence informed and multisectoral GBV prevention flagships in Southern African communities.

Approach

Partnerships for Prevention of Gender-Based Violence in Southern Africa (PfP) follows a whole-of-society approach to address GBV on a broad scale. PfP supports cooperation between government, the private sector and civil society to establish multi-stakeholder partnerships. They implement GBV prevention flagships in South Africa, Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Zambia. PfP supports new initiatives that have been developed according to the needs of each specific context. They aim to prevent all forms of GBV. The regional character of the PfP is essential to promote good practices for GBV prevention and ensures cross-country exchange and learning in regional exchange formats. Moreover, the regional dimension encourages the development of new and upscaling of existing flagships.

Last update: May 2022