Soul Beat Africa

• GLOBAL OVERVIEW OF STRATEGIES AND PROMISING PRACTICES - tackling social norms and empowering women...
• PROGRAMMES ADDRESSING GBV IN AFRICA - working in schools and using information and communication technologies...
• MEDIA AND COMMUNICATION RESOURCES - SBCC and community mobilisation resources...

• 1. DFID Guidance Notes: Shifting Social Norms to Tackle Violence Against Women and Girls [January, 2016]By Michaeljon Alexander-Scott, Jenny Holden, and Emma BellFocusing primarily on tackling the harmful social norms that underpin perpetration of intimate partner violence (IPV) and non-partner sexual violence, this Guidance Note by the Department for International Development (DFID) aims to summarise the role of social norms in sustaining harmful behaviours and contributing to violence against women and girls (VAWG). It highlights promising practices for programme design and provides practical guidance on monitoring and evaluation, so that DFID programmes can both benefit from and contribute to the emergent evidence base.
   
• 2. Strengthening Community Platforms to Address Gender Norms [February, 2016]By Ibou ThiorSeveral studies have reported that girls' and women's risk of HIV infection is associated with gender inequality and violence. This technical brief from AIDSFree describes the elements of programmatic approaches to strengthen community platforms to address gender equality and harmful gender norms, which can lead to risky behaviours, violence, substance abuse, pursuit of multiple sexual partners, and domination of women. It draws examples from successful community platforms for addressing GBV.
   
• 3. Voice and Agency: Empowering Women and Girls for Shared Prosperity [September, 2014]By Jeni Klugman, Lucia Hanmer, Sarah Twigg, Tazeen Hasan, Jennifer McCleary-Sills, and Julieth SantamariaThis World Bank Group report draws on 14 thematic and country papers and distils the findings to shed light on constraints facing women and girls worldwide - from epidemic levels of gender-based violence to biased laws and norms that prevent them from owning property, working, and making decisions about their own lives.
   

• 4. Kwanele - South Africa Launched in July 2015, Kwanele is a five-year pilot programme working in 20 schools in Khayelitsha township in South Africa to decrease the high level of gender-based and sexual violence in schools and ensure a safe learning environment for girls. The programme is implemented by the Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication (SCI) in partnership with Grassroot Soccer South Africa (GRS), with support from Comic Relief, as part of the Sexual Violence in Schools in South Africa (SeVissa) initiative.
   
• 5. Holding Government Accountable to Gender-based Violence in the Republic of Congo ProjectFrom December 2011 to March 2014, this project worked to strengthen documentation, reporting, and monitoring of domestic and sexual violence incidences and the responses of law enforcement agencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo. By tracking and documenting cases using information and communication technology platforms and building the capacity of local women's and human rights organisations, the project sought to give survivors a voice, produce evidence to better understand the issue, and put pressure on governments to combat GBV. The project was implemented by the Women's Rights Programme of the Association for Progressive Communications (APC) and AZUR Developpement.
   
• 6. I Care About Her Campaign - ZambiaSince 2012, this project in Zambia has been working to transform attitudes and mobilise men and boys to end violence against women and girls. The project uses mass media, marches, community discussion groups, and a school curriculum, to engage men and boys as champions in the fight against VAWG. Oxfam is implementing the programme in partnership with the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), Zambia National Women's Lobby (ZNWL), Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf), Women in Law in Southern Africa (WiLSA), and the Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWEZA).
   
• 7. Thuthuzeleka Radio Drama Series - South AfricaThuthuzeleka is a 13-part serial radio drama produced to encourage support for survivors of sexual violence and promote access to South Africa's Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCC) for care and treatment. The radio drama is designed to raise awareness and dialogue around sexual offences, as well as highlight the services and expertise available from the TCCs. Provided free to community radio stations, Thuthuzeleka (meaning 'be comforted' in isiXhosa) was produced by CMFD (Community Media for Development) Productions for Sonke Gender Justice.
   

• 8. Multisectoral Responses to Gender-based Violence in Mozambique [2015]This Pathfinder International Technical Brief discusses primary and secondary prevention constructs to categorise efforts to prevent and respond to GBV in Mozambique, a country that only recently started to recognise GBV as a public health and human rights issue. In that vein, Pathfinder developed two projects: "Enhancing Reproductive Rights to Reduce Violence against Women in Gaza Province" and "Enhancing Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights of Women and Youth in Mozambique: Integrating Comprehensive GBV Services and Support and Safe Abortion Care in Inhambane and Gaza Provinces". This brief offers a critical analysis of the projects' shared strategy and implementation experience, and discusses lessons learned.
   
• 9. One Hand Can't Clap by Itself: Engagement of Boys and Men in Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma's Intervention to Eliminate Female Genital Mutilation and Circumcision in Kembatta Zone, Ethiopia [September, 2015]By Erin Stern and Althea AndersonThis report discusses findings of a study to document and assess how Kembatti Mentti Gezzimma (KMG) has engaged with men to challenge social acceptance of, and reduce the prevalence of, female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM-C) in the Kembatta zone of Ethiopia. KMG has been working to encourage communities to abandon the practice of FGM-C for the last two decades. Feedback received by KMG indicates that its interventions have not only reduced the practice of FGM-C, but also reduced other harmful practices against women including bride abduction, widow inheritance, and intimate partner violence.
   
• 10. Effectiveness of an Integrated Intimate Partner Violence and HIV Prevention Intervention in Rakai, Uganda: Analysis of an Intervention in an Existing Cluster Randomised Cohort [2015]By Jennifer Wagman, Ronald H Gray, Jacquelyn Campbell, Marie Thoma, Anthony Ndyanabo, Joseph Ssekasanvu, Fred Nalugoda, Joseph Kagaayi, Gertrude Nakigozi, David Serwadda, and Heena BrahmbhattPublished in the Lancet Global Health journal, this article discusses the potential effectiveness of combining interventions to prevent IPV with HIV services, as a strategy to reduce incidences of both. The article is based on a study conducted that measured the effects of exposure to the Safe Homes and Respect for Everyone [SHARE] Project in Rakai, Uganda, which sought to reduce physical and sexual IPV and HIV incidence through social mobilisation, behaviour change, and counselling activities.
   
• 11. Findings from the SASA! Study: A Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial To Assess the Impact of a Community Mobilization Intervention To Prevent Violence Against Women and Reduce HIV Risk in Kampala, Uganda [June, 2014]By Tanya Abramsky,Karen Devries, Ligia Kiss, Janet Nakuti, Nambusi Kyegombe, Elizabeth Starmann, Bonnie Cundill, Leilani Francisco, Dan Kaye, Tina Musuya, Lori Michau, and Charlotte WattsRecognising that IPV is an independent risk factor for HIV infection, researchers in this SASA! study sought to assess the community-level impact of SASA!, a community mobilisation intervention to prevent violence and reduce HIV-risk behaviours. The study is a cluster randomised controlled trial (CRT) to assess the community-level impacts of SASA! in Kampala, Uganda.
   
• 12. Congo's Online Domestic Violence Map: Building Access to Justice, Health Care, and Social Rehabilitation for SurvivorsBy Karen HiggsThis case report discusses the experience and lessons learned from the Holding Government Accountable to Gender-based Violence project (see Programme Experience 5. above) in the Republic of Congo, which used interactive online mapping and capacity building to strengthen documentation, reporting, monitoring, and support services related to domestic and sexual violence. The case report explores how combining information and communication technologies with ground level support and interpersonal communication was used to spotlight issues of sexual and domestic violence.
   
• 13. Prevention of and Response to Gender-Based Violence in Two Provinces of Burundi [August, 2014]By Nichelle Walton This project brief discusses the RESPOND Project's interventions to strengthen GBV prevention and response efforts in two provinces in Burundi. The RESPOND Project worked with the Ministry of Public Health and Fight Against AIDS (MSPLS) to "strengthen the capacity of health facilities to provide services to GBV survivors, promote gender-equitable norms at the community level, and strengthen linkages between communities and the health care system to facilitate access to GBV response services." According to a project assessment, "overall, results indicate that services for GBV survivors and gender-equitable norms in the community improved."
   
• 14. Good Practice Brief on Male Involvement in GBV Prevention and Response: In Conflict, Post-Conflict and Humanitarian Crisis Settings in Sub-Saharan Africa [2013]By Tim Shand, Maja Herstad, Piotr Pawlak, Tabitha Paine, Jean-Marie Nkurunziza, Seynabou Tall, and Nkonzo KhanyileThis Good Practice Brief presents examples of programmes that involve men and boys in prevention and response to GBV in conflict, post-conflict, and humanitarian crisis settings in sub-Saharan Africa. It was produced to help provide a better understanding of the importance of engaging men and boys in GBV prevention and response in emergency settings, and is intended to inform policy-making and programming to enable incorporation, replication, or adaptation of these good practices into other GBV prevention and response programmes.
   

• 15. SBCC Resource Collection on School-Related Gender-based Violence [2015]Edited by Susan LeibtagThis collection of Social and Behaviour Change Communication (SBCC) resources was drawn together as part of The Health COMpass's ongoing series of "Trending Topics," monthly theme-based collections of health communication resources and tools for the online portal's users. This Health COMpass "Trending Topic" covers the subject of school-related gender-based violence and provides a selection of tools and project materials designed to address this issue.
   
• 16. Gender Hub: Sharing Knowledge for Gender Justice in NigeriaThe Gender Hub is a free online portal or knowledge hub that "aims to strengthen the cadre of gender expertise and its application in Nigeria." The resource was developed through the Voices for Change, Nigeria (V4C) programme, which seeks to promote gender equality and women's empowerment by equipping "a wide range of young women and men to 'speak up and speak out' to challenge gender stereotypes and discriminatory social norms."
   
• 17. How to Support Community Members Affected by Gender Based Violence: A Guide for Community Activists and Human Rights Defenders [2015]Developed by Sonke Gender Justice, this guide is designed to provide practical guidance for activists and human rights defenders in South Africa who work with community members around issues of GBV. It addresses two key aspects of GBV response: (1) it assists community members with attaining justice for GBV by empowering them with information and assisting them in demanding that their rights are upheld; and (2) it includes guidance on how to support and advise survivors, their families, and friends in a way that is sensitive to their experiences and feelings, and is empowering.
   
• 18. Mobilising a Response to HIV, Gender, Youth and Gender-Based Violence in South Africa: A Toolkit for Trainers and Programme Implementers [September, 2015]This toolkit was produced as part of the Sexual HIV Prevention Project (SHIPP) to support in-house training on gender, HIV, youth, and community mobilisation for programme implementers working on HIV and GBV prevention at the district and community levels. The toolkit modules cover a range of topics and can be selected based on organisational needs and specific knowledge gaps among staff and volunteers.
   

• The Soul Beat 232 - Communication to Address Gender-based Violence