President launches fund to respond to gender-based violence
The response fund is a fulfilment of a resolution of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Declaration which followed the GBVF Summit held in 2018.
![Chants of 'my body, my choice' and 'you strike a woman, you strike a rock' reverberated around the Durban Promenade on Saturday as thousands of residents voiced their support for the Justice for Women march. The demonstrators-mainly women- marched along the promenade in an effort to draw attention to recent rapes and killings in the country. Organisers said the murder of several women including University of Cape Town student Uyinene Mrwetyana brought the spotlight on the femicide crisis facing South Africa.](https://images.caxton.co.za/wp-content/uploads/sites/51/2019/09/37shmarch20-Large-1.jpg)
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has launched a private sector-led, multi-sectoral Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund aimed at supporting the implementation of the National Strategic Plan (NSP), and the wider response in the country.
The response fund is a fulfilment of a resolution of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide Declaration which followed the GBVF Summit held in 2018.
The summit brought together government, civil society and other role players in an effort to find lasting interventions to end GBVF.
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Speaking at Thursday’s virtual launch, the President noted that whilst it has been a challenging year in which many of the priorities set by government for its term of office have had to take a back seat as the country responded to the COVID-19 pandemic, government has nevertheless made progress.
Progress has been made in a number of areas relating to gender-based violence and the financial inclusion of women.
“We convened a successful webinar on the ratification of [the] International Labour Organisation (ILO) Convention 190 on ending violence and harassment in the workplace, we joined the United Nations (UN’s) Generation Equality Forum and participated in advocacy around GBV and women’s financial inclusion.
“We also lobbied for gender-responsive trade policies to be developed as part of the African Continental Free Trade Area. As a country, South Africa has adopted a policy of 40% preferential public procurement for women-owned enterprises, and we are promoting a minimum target of 30% for the region.”
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