We strive to end the cycle of violence and abuse now, particularly against women and girls in an effort to cultivate peaceful communities that uphold gender equality for all.

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).

Getting It Done

We work with our communities to ensure that the root causes and effects of GBV are
addressed through our interventions.

Our activities include:

• Conducting community assessments around GBV to understand the specific context;
• Educating communities to dismantle harmful attitudes that perpetuate GBV from the context of culture and upbringing within society;
• Educating Women and Girls around their rights to ensure that they are able recognize violations aimed at them;
• Providing legal services in the event of Human Rights violations;
• Building Community Linkages among leaders such as Dikgosi (Traditional leaders), Balaodi (District Commissioners), Teachers, Priests/Pastors (Religious leaders, Health and Social Workers as well as the Police to establish a working ecosystem against GBV; and
• Advocating for the improvement of laws around GBV and higher prosecutions of perpetrators within the justice system.

Projects

Our Results

We have made major strides in this area, having accomplished the following:

• Reached people in districts with education around GBV, for the purpose of dismantling harmful culture attitudes and social norms;
• Reached _____ women and girls in _ district with education around ascertaining and vindicating their rights in the face of GBV;
• Provided _____women and girls in _____districts with legal services;
• Training of _____women and girls in_ districts to become human rights
• champions;
• Out of the ___women and girls who were assisted with legal services, _ perpetrators were prosecuted and brought to justice; and
• Reached __ policy makers and legislators on the issue policy and law reform.

Resources

Report on GBV Assessment in Maun

GBV Advisory Note (2020) Ministry of Immigration, Nationality and Gender Affairs

Videos

BONELA Addresses GBV (2018) (Facebook)

Stop GBV – BONELA in conjunction with the Botswana Police Service (2019) (Facebook)