Johannesburg - One of the many tragic consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has been a notable upsurge in cases of gender-based violence (GBV).
With restrictions having increased the already high demand for GBV-related services, it has also been observed that this period has made it more difficult for women and children to access critical information and support.
It is for this reason that the Solidarity Fund has positioned itself to make a meaningful contribution in the lives of the thousands of women and children who have been negatively affected and displaced by GBV.
Together with other humanitarian efforts supported by the fund, GBV has been identified as one of the areas that need urgent attention. Already, the fund has disbursed R17m in Personal Protective Equipment, support and aid to organisations that assist the victims of GBV.
In addition to that, an announcement was made of the fund disbursing a further R75m, which will go towards assisting about 360 local community organisations that offer critical services to women and children affected by GBV.
The beneficiary organisations will be selected across the eco-system of GBV organisations and include those working in prevention, response and the judicial system.
“At the Solidarity Fund, we are all too aware of the responsibility we have to the South African people, as well as of the importance of supporting and leading meaningful initiatives that make a sustainable impact.
“GBV has become in itself a pandemic running concurrently with Covid-19, and we will use the resources at our disposal to do our part in fighting this scourge,” Nomkhita Nqweni, the fund’s chief executive, said.
The aid that the fund is providing goes to ensuring that existing local and community organisations that provide critical services in the GBV eco-system can continue to do so, especially now that the pandemic has not only created a public health crisis, but also brought about a harsh economic environment.
Determining who will ultimately become beneficiaries is a task in itself. To understand the priority of needs and direct efforts to maximise impact, the fund consulted widely with key stakeholders in the GBV space to determine the best course of action.
The key stakeholders were from the interim steering committee on GBV, the Department of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities, civil society organisations, international organisations, leading researchers and practitioners, as well as digital social justice accelerators.
“Communication geared towards behavioural change is also a critical element of this conversation. So as the Solidarity Fund, we will also invest in campaigns, whose main objective will be to encourage active citizen participation in the fight against GBV.
“We want perpetrators of GBV to introspect and stop this behaviour, we want members of society to not be apathetic to this problem,” Wendy Tlou, who is the executive head of the Humanitarian Response and Behaviour Change Pillars of the fund, said.
Data provided shows that between the beginning of the lockdown at the end of March to April 22, GBV’s command centre saw a tenfold increase in volumes to its helpline.
The Star