Cultivating access to health services for all is meaningless without understanding that a culture of violence, stigma and discrimination on the basis of gender acts as a barrier: it denies women and girls their rightful place within the community and blocks them from life saving care. Violence is cross cutting and includes physical, emotional, sexual, psychological and economic harm, stripping away basic human dignity.
According to the Botswana National Relationship Study (2018), 37% of women have reported experiencing some form of GBV in their lifetime. In the Violence Against Children (VAC) Survey (2018), the prevalence of sexual violence perpetrated against girls under the age of 18 years old was recorded at 9.3%. The World Population
Review (2020), states that Botswana sits with the second highest rape incidence in the world with 92.90 incidents per 100,000 people. In the face of these statistics, we gear our efforts toward breaking the chain of GBV and dismantling violence within our communities with the support of our donors and partners.
‘Failure to address this issue … entails a significant cost for the future. Numerous studies worldwide and in Botswana have shown that children growing up with violence are more likely to become survivors themselves or
perpetrators of violence in future. Therefore, addressing Gender Based Violence requires a community-based, multi- pronged approach, and sustained engagement with multiple stakeholders. ‘ – Gender Based Violence Advisory Note (2020), Ministry of Immigration, Nationality and Gender Affairs (Botswana).
We work with our communities to ensure that the root causes and effects of GBV are
addressed through our interventions.
Our activities include:
Project Name | Primary Target | Key Interventions |
---|---|---|
1. GBV, Human Rights and HIV Project | Women & Girls | 1. Awareness raising 2. Advocacy for policy and law reform 3. Strategic impact litigation 4. Provision of Legal Services 5. Movement building 6. Community-led monitoring and documentation of rights violations |
2. | ||
3. |
We have made major strides in this area, having accomplished the following:
Report on GBV Assessment in Maun
GBV Advisory Note (2020) Ministry of Immigration, Nationality and Gender Affairs
BONELA Addresses GBV (2018) (Facebook)
Stop GBV – BONELA in conjunction with the Botswana Police Service (2019) (Facebook)