Empowering Women - Ending Violence in Southern Africa

The GL Funding for Leadership and Opportunities for Women

edited by Colleen Lowe Morna, Anne Hilton

Gender Links' Violence Against Women Baseline Studies show that one in three women in Southern Africa have experienced gender violence in their lifetime. The highest percentage of such violence is the kind least reported to police - psychological, verbal, economic and emotional abuse. For many years GL documented these harrowing firsthand accounts through its "I" stories series. In 2012, with the support of the Netherland government's Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women (FLOW) fund, GL piloted a unique model to assist 1500 survivors of gender violence to reclaim their lives through entrepreneurship training linked to the GBV and local economic development plans of Centres of Excellence for Gender in Local Government. In September 2015 GL conducted an extensive review of the project to find out what had changed and how best to move forward. Drawing on data from the Gender Empowerment Index (GEI) administered at the beginning and end of the project, as well as first-hand accounts and interviews, GL found both a marked improvement in the financial circumstances of the women, and in their personal agency. The review also led to several recommendations on how the model can be strengthened in the next phase, as part of GL's vision of ending violence, community by community, by 2030 - the deadline for the new Sustainable Development Goals.