Professional Documents
Culture Documents
PROGRAMMING THROUGH
TACKLING VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN AND GIRLS
LEARNING FROM OXFAMS RAISING HER
VOICE PROGRAMME
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RHV Theory of Change Model
The important thing is that the work in each The RHV global mid-term evaluation12
area and at each level reinforces the (MTE) found that country projects that
others: this is when transformative change, were working across all three spheres had
like shifts in the balance of power, can the greatest impact on womens
begin to happen. Eliminating violence meaningful participation and leadership.
requires transformations of power in Similarly, working in all three spheres is
institutions at all levels, from the family to essential for tackling GBV/VAWG. The
the state, which challenge the universal MTE evaluators noted A lesson for all
culture of gender discrimination, patriarchy gender and governance programmes is to
and impunity. It requires transformations in make sure that good balance is achieved
the individual and collective beliefs that across the different spheres. For
condone the social acceptability of example, the RHV project in Uganda
VAWG/GBV and in the institutions with a realized that successfully influencing
duty to protect citizens from violence whose legislation at the national level would make
structures and policies perpetuate it.11 little difference to womens lives if the
project did not also engage with
As a result, RHV supports work in all three grassroots women and support them to
spheres, strengthening womens capacity use that legislation to claim their rights. It
and confidence in the personal sphere, is now piloting in-depth capacity building
and supporting their capacity to act with 90 activists in three targeted
effectively in social and political spheres, communities in Mityana, Apc and Luuka
thereby helping to make governments more Districts.
representative and accountable.
Since the MTE, many projects have used
the analysis to adapt and refine their
programming, to redress the balance of
work in the personal, social and political
spheres. In Mozambique, where there has
been a strong (and singular strategic)
focus on public-awareness raising around
the 2009 Domestic Violence Law, they
have developed an innovative way to audit
progress of the four ministries responsible
for the Laws implementation. Using
scorecard findings they compare ministry
performance and hold them to account on
Women demonstrating in Kampala, Uganda, for Domestic
Violence legislation which passed into law in December 2010 commitments they have made. This shows
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a shift from working exclusively in the
social sphere to connecting this to I was speaking very little before. Now I
programming in the political sphere. RHV can express my thoughts and speak out in
partners in South Africa, Nepal, Pakistan, public. I have my own vision and can
Honduras, Armenia and Guatemala have initiate something on my own.
all shifted to a deliberate new engagement Project participant, Armenia
with political parties. Similarly, many RHV
projects strengthened their work at the In the personal sphere, alongside RHVs
personal level. For example, in Honduras, work to build womens awareness of their
Bolivia, Nepal and Indonesia, partners rights, confidence and self-esteem, and
facilitated focussed reflection and analysis their understanding of how to influence
of intra-family power dynamics, and policy processes, networking and
divisions of household roles and lobbying, there is also a need to provide a
expenditure as a powerful mechanism for network of support for women who have
exploring barriers, including feared or real experienced VAWG/GBV.
violence.13
RHV Strategies in the personal
Part of the added-value that RHV brings is sphere to address VAWG/GBV as a
to facilitate linkages between these barrier to increasing political
different levels: supporting grassroots and
participation and leadership
national coalitions and movements, and
developing alliances to bring womens
include:
collective voice to international debate and
1. Creating safe and supportive social
policymaking.
spaces for women to collectively
analyse their experiences of violence,
Central to this is the need for context-
build their confidence to reject the
specific analysis of the centres of power
notion of it as normal and socially
that act as barriers to womens political
acceptable, and to challenge the
participation and leadership and our
attitudes and values which condone
understanding of the interplay between
and sustain it.
them.
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together for the first time on one 3. Raising public awareness to increase
platform, developed mutual trust and understanding of the rights of women
strengthened the collective voice of to violence-free lives. Working with the
local women. The women leaders think media and using drama have been
alike on many womens rights issues innovative RHV strategies.
despite different ideological and party
political backgrounds, and have In Nigeria, RHV organized a mock
worked together to resolve local tribunal, where women spoke publicly
problems, such as violations of about their real experiences of
womens employment rights and cases violence. Although some victims used
of domestic violence. an alias and requested not to be video-
recorded, about 90 per cent of the
women confidently and openly
testified. This exposed the devastating
consequences of violence against
women. Rosemary shared her story:
Violence against women is real. As an
acid bath survivor, I testify to that. It is
not just the physical abuse but also the
psychological trauma I go through
whenever I realize I have to face
society wearing this face. With the
support I have been receiving from
Women leaders demanding their rights on 100th
International Womens Day rally, Islamabad [RHV partner] WRAPA, I am finding it
easier to cope. The tribunal
It is said that one and one is eleven, highlighted the failure of the formal
alone, one person is only one, but, when justice system and increased public
another person joins, they gain the power and political support for the passage of
of eleven. the Violence Against Persons
Razia Mudasser, Women Leader Group, Prohibited Bill.
Attock, Pakistan
4. Raising awareness and engagement
2. Strengthening the advocacy capacity with those in positions of influence,
of RHV projects and partners for anti- including men, religious and traditional
VAWG/GBV policy change. institutions, and political parties on the
issue of VAWG/GBV, and working to
In Honduras, a national coalition, La challenge men on the division of labour
Tribuna de Mujeres contra los with women in order to free women up
Femicidios,15 has brought together for greater political participation and
eight organizations and networks to leadership.
develop a national campaign against
the murder of women. The campaign is In Nigeria, following training given to
raising awareness of VAWG/GBV and grassroots women leaders to increase
demanding that public authorities their understanding of womens rights,
make a strong commitment to reducing VAWG/GBV and skills in negotiation
impunity. Already, the number of and advocacy for womens inclusion, a
women reporting incidences of group of Hausa women in Kano State
violence is increasing at municipal drafted plans to curtail VAWG in
level, as women become more collaboration with religious and
confident that they will be taken traditional leaders and succeeded in
seriously. voicing their opinions and initiating a
debate on marital rape.
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The African Women Protocol is actually power dynamics in their private lives.
strengthening our good culture that is Equally critical is enabling civil society
gradually fading away in the heart of organizations to act collectively and
modernization. Its provisions are not totally effectively on VAWG/GBV in the political
strange to our cultures; it is part of our sphere in order to be able to hold
forgotten cultures overtaken by ages. institutions to account on their duty to
Chief Ibiang Enang, traditional ruler from protect women from violence.
Nko community
RHV has played an important role in
5. Using power analysis to inform the fostering links between strong grassroots
creation of strategic and catalytic legal organizations and national partners and
and political spaces: developing coalitions. These alliances, when well
political agendas; influencing planning balanced, can reinforce both the personal
and budgeting; and networking with and collective power of women.
and supporting progressive allies in
government. Raising Her Voice in the
POLITICAL sphere: laws, and
6. Developing leadership models that local and traditional government
bridge the gap between community-
level mobilizing and national-level structures
influencing and lobbying.
In the political sphere, RHV aims to get
the voices of marginalized women heard
The Pakistan model, working with by: supporting government institutions to
1,500 local and district government engage with women; opening up spaces
representatives, is a good example of for active dialogue; strengthening or
this approach. Razia Mudasser is drafting new laws and policies, and
committed to changing perceptions advocating for their passage; and
and raising awareness about womens supporting women to participate formally
role. She claims that women leader and safely as voters, elected
groups have sparked a sense of representatives and candidates.
accomplishment; women leaders
collectively counter incidences of RHV Strategies in the political
violence or injustice against women. sphere to address VAWG/GBV as a
With Razias help, the mother of 17- barrier to increasing political
year old Khalida (killed by family participation and leadership
members after refusing a forced include:
marriage to an elderly man) took the
1. Advocacy to strengthen anti-
case to the police and the courts, VAWG/GBV legislation (with domestic
confronting the traditional decision violence laws often as a starting point)
making body, the Panchayat. Winning including: working with progressive
their case in spite of strong opposition members of parliament to produce
and harassment led to a landmark drafts; lobbying parliamentarians; and
ruling and a written commitment from opening up spaces for debate at the
the Panchayat to end so called honour highest levels.
killings. Since then no incidence has
taken place in Bahadur Khan in Tehsil, In Nigeria, RHV coordinates the
Hazro, Attock Distict, north west of campaign of the Legislative Advocacy
Islamabad. Coalition on Violence Against Women
(LACVAW), which calls for legislation
Being part of such initiatives in the social to prohibit VAWG in private and public
domain can give individual women spaces and to provide redress for
experiencing violence the confidence, violations and discrimination. An
capacity and supportive social innovation was the engagement of a
environment to challenge the unequal Legislative Technical Expert (a former
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MP) to use her political contacts and programme interventions and collaboration
strategic influence to facilitate the can increase the risk of VAWG/GBV, and
reintroduction of the Violence Against how we have a duty of care to minimize
Persons Prohibition Bill. these risks and provide protection.