Community organisations agree to pull together in a fight against gender-based violence

A local non-profit organisation, Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training (Adapt), hosted a three-day workshop for community-based organisations and government agencies to find ways of fighting the scourge of gender-based violence in the community.

According to Nomalanga Ngwenya, the public relations officer at Adapt, the organisation was established in 1994 to help victims and perpetrators of gender-based violence in different communities across South Africa.

She said the organisation was initially meant for abused women but after realising that the cause of most of the women’s pain was caused by men, they decided to widen the scope and to include men.

She added that the purpose of the workshop was to bring together and connect local community-based organisations that offer community services to share their experiences. “This is not just a workshop in which the information will flow from one direction or organisation to others. This is a knowledge exchange kind of a workshop in which local community-based organisations working with victims and perpetrators of gender-based violence will share tools to deal with this problem in our society,” Ngwenya said.

Busi Buthelezi, a social worker at LifeLine Victim Empowerment, said the workshop was an eye-opener for her. “I’ve been working as a social worker for many years but I think today’s workshop was on point and probably a solution to gender-based violence in our communities.

“I have learned that this problem will only be defeated when different community organisations work together.”

The workshop, which was attended by various community-based organisations, social workers, JMPD, South African Police Service and community leaders, agreed to work together in fighting gender-based violence in society.

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