Strategies Adapted by the Government and Civil Society Organizations CSOs to Address GBV in Domestic and Public Spheres in Uganda Paper Presented in a conference to mark the 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence ID: 815181
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Slide1
GENDER BASED VIOLENCE (GBV) IS A DEVELOPMENT ISSUE
Strategies Adapted by the Government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to
Address
GBV in Domestic and Public Spheres in Uganda
Paper Presented in a
conference to mark the
16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence
at Uganda Christian University, Mukono campus.
The conference based on the main UN theme:
“From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Make Education Safe for All!”
.
Solomon Mwije
solomonmwije33@yahoo.co.uk
© 2015
Slide2Paper Discussion Content
The discussion in this paper majorly concentrates on two issues:
1) GBV is a development issue
causes and effects related to development, but also succinctly bring out how development can reduce GBV and its impacts;
2) Strategies adopted by the government and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)
to address GBV in the domestic and public spheres in Uganda but not exclusively forgetting the challenges and missing links in these strategies
Slide3Introduction
The gender differences in power relations result into differences in resources accessibility, life opportunities, and benefits for both men and women and boy and girls in their life time.
One of the most concomitant effects of such gender differences is Gender Based Violence (GBV).
35% of women worldwide experience different forms of violence I
In some national studies the percentages goes to 70% and beyond.
More than two-thirds of ever-married Ugandan women (68%) have experienced any kind of violence (physical, sexual or emotional) by a husband or other intimate partner
and 7/10 women have experienced either physical or sexual violence
Slide4Introduction Cont.
Gender involves; social, behavioral, cultural attributes, expectations, and norms associated with being a female or male (woman or man)
Results into social-cultural, political, and economic gender inequalities.
Inequalities result into and perpetuate gender based violence (GBV)
Most people confuse gender with women!
Thus confusing GBV with violence against women (VAW. GBV is broader than VAW because
both women and men girls and boys experiences it but
affects children and women disproportionately
.
Slide5Gender Based Violence (GBV)
The United Nations (1995)defines gender based violence as
“
any act of violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or mental harm or suffering to men or women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life
”
Key important aspects
Violence /aggression (intentional or unintentional; verbal or nonverbal)
Occurrence (private or public)
Intention (conscious or unconscious harming)
Likelihood (suffering from the violent acts)
Perpetrator or survivor (female or male)
Slide6Forms and Acts of GBV
Physical
Pushing, hitting, grabbing, beating, hair pulling, banging head on the floor or wall, kicking, choking, burning, use of a weapon, FGM or other harmful traditional practices, etc.
Psychological
Shouting, swearing, insults, threatening violence, humiliating, locking someone out of the house, criticizing, extreme jealousy, threatening to hurt the children, threatening abandonment, constant questioning about someone’s activities, etc.
Sexual
Forced sex/rape, marital rape, unwanted touching, grabbing sexual parts of the body, inserting objects into someone’s private parts, coercion, unfaithfulness, making someone do sexual things against their will, refusal to have protected sex, forced prostitution, forced marriage, defilement etc.
Socioeconomic
Withholding family finances, stopping someone from getting or keeping a job, demanding someone’s earnings, spending jointly-earned family income without your spouse’s consent, preventing someone from owning property or inheriting land, not allowing someone to have money, denial of opportunities, such as education, etc.
Slide7Factors associated with GBV prevalence
Poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse, previous experience of the abuse, gender related traditional norms and customs, socio-economic and political empowerment especially by women, weak community sanctions and state laws against perpetrators, weak judicial systems, among others.
These factors give a reflection of causes of poverty thus showing a relationship between gender inequalities, GBV, and development.
Slide8Implications of GBV to Development at Household Level
GBV has negative impacts on agriculture, income security, health, and education thus affecting the general wellbeing
Household productivity
Survivors can lose jobs,
Children get malnourished
Children dropout of school
Survivors have high risks of acquiring HIV/AIDs
Psychological problems
The costs of treating survivors and filling cases against perpetrators
The end result is increased poverty characterized through isolation, vulnerability, powerlessness and physical weakness of the survivors but also perpetrators.
Slide9Implications of GBV to Development at Community Level
GBV at community level is mostly attached to all other agents of socialization. Implications include;
Community production
Vulnerability to extreme poverty
Survivors susceptible to HIV/AIDS and other health problems
Denial of basic needs, for instance health services to women, education to children, and food, etc., limits survivors to enjoy their rights thus challenging life sustenance
Slide10Implications of GBV to Development at National and International Level
The state is both a direct and indirect perpetrator of GBV.
It is viewed as a direct perpetrator:
When the state fails to protect the rights of citizens
When it formulates and implements policies and laws that disregard human rights
When it adventures on the minority groups (such as women, prisoners, disabled),
When it denies the responsibility for acts of GBV done in the domestic spheres, among other acts;
The state can also indirectly perpetrate GBV
If it fails to review gender insensitive laws and policies
Fail to allocate resources to programmes that address GBV or promote gender equality.
Slide11Implications of GBV to Development at National and International Level
GBV has multiplier effects on economic, social and political development and such effects may, in short-run and long-run, affect development processes of any state
Direct costs are actual expenditures related to GBV
Indirect costs represent the value of lost productivity from both paid work and unpaid work
Foregone value of lifetime earnings for those who have died as a result of GBV
Food insecurity
Reduced income levels of people thus affecting national Growth Domestic Product (GDP
Amplifies school dropout and health risks thus affecting national human capital,
Increases levels of corruption in at all levels,
Enhances and enlarges inequalities: - undermines survivors’ capabilities of participating in development processes
Slide12STRATEGIES ADOPTED BY THE GOVERNMENT AND CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS TO ADDRESS GENDER-BASED VIOLENCE IN THE DOMESTIC AND PUBLIC SPHERES
IN UGANDA.
Knowing such kinds of statistics in most communities (whether in public or domestic spheres) gives many actors a leverage to devise a combination of economic, social, and political and legal measures to address GBV through transforming personal attitudes and cultural norms that propagate GBV to create social change.
Slide13Strategies
Adoption of international and regional policy frameworks
Some of the international policy instruments that policy makers can refer to when taking action to make a difference include,
The 1979 United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW),
The 1995 Beijing Global Platform for Action, and
The 2008 Southern African Development Community (SADC) Protocol on Gender and Development (SAFAIDS, 2010), etc
Some of the regional policy instruments include;
The 2003 Protocol on the Rights of Women in Africa (also known as the Maputo Protocol),
The 2006 International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) Protocol, and
The 2008
Goma
Declaration
Slide14Strategies Cont.
The national legal and policy reforms
:
Constitution of the Republic of Uganda,
Children’s Act,
Domestic Violence Act,
Penal Code Act, Land Act,
Female Genital Mutilation Act,
The pending law being discussed by the legislatives is the Marriage and Divorce Bill
Other government policy frameworks that have helped in addressing gender issues include the
Decentralization strategy and
The 2007 Uganda Gender Policy.
The National Gender Based Violence Policy is under formulation hoping to guide actions of different groups engaged in prevention and response to GBV.
Slide15Strategies Cont.
Provision of legal help
: Judicial / legal systems
The government and CSOs help in securing justice through supporting survivors and communities to access judicial services
CSOs are also involved in offering legal aid to GBV survivors.
For instance, FIDA-Uganda the Association of women lawyers (established in 1974)
Slide16Strategies Cont.
Protection and giving shelter to survivors
:
The establishment of the Family Protection Unit with police stations
A number of CSOs (local, national, and international) also provide temporary shelters for GBV survivors.
Examples:
Tororo
by MIFUMI project, Mubende and Nebbi shelters by Action aid International Uganda.
The services offered at these centers include
provision of temporary accommodation/shelter, protection from perpetrators, counseling, prosecution, representation in court, provision of medical care, provision of basic needs food clothing etc
Slide17Strategies Cont.
Resource allocation
Funds through the Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development
Local Councils budget for women programmes
NGOs fund and implement GBV projects using partnership strategies and such agencies and organizations include
World Health Organization (WHO), United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA), CARE-international, OXFAM,
ActionAid
International, and Irish Aid among others
Slide18Strategies Cont.
Empowerment of GBV survivors
Affirmative action
Universal Primary Education (UPE) and Universal Secondary Education (USE), but also Functional Adult Literacy (FAL) programmes
CSOs as major catalysts of empowerment in communities
National Association of Women’s Organizations (NAWO), Women and Rural Development Network (WORUDET) located in
Pader
district, Raising Voices, CARE-International,
ActionAid
, The Center for Domestic Violence Prevention (CEDOVIP), among others
Slide19Strategies Cont.
Research and Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E):
Ministry of Gender Labour and Social Development
Uganda Bureau of Statistics
Organizations such as
ActionAid
International, Raising Voices, CARE-International, FIDA-Uganda, UWONET, WHO, etc
Information dissemination in form of posters, bulletins, newspapers, magazines, journals, among other publications, but also through radio and television programmes
Slide20The Strategic Missing Links in Strategies Addressing GBV by Government and CSOs
Words on paper and in talking are missing in action.
The loopholes in some strategies have limited the government and CSOs to address gender issues especially GBV in domestic and public spheres.
Slide21Strategic Missing Links
Legal pluralism
None engagement of men/boys in strategies
Limited of coordination among relevant actors / stakeholders
Poor policy and law formulation and implementation
The missing political will
Undermining cultural norms and religious values:
Limited resource allocation:
Inadequate Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) of working strategies
Slide22Way Forward
Engage of men/boys in strategies
Coordination among relevant actors / stakeholders
Policy and legal reforms (have one formal legal system)
Increase women representatives and motivate them to influence political decisions
Use cultures and religions (Put measures that integrate cultural norms and religious values)
Improve resource allocation and eliminate corruption
Train authorities on GBV issues (police, teachers, health workers, LCs, etc)
Mainstream gender issues in school curriculum, organizational cultures, etc
Continuous research, Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) and sustainable information dissemination on GBV
Slide23CONCLUSION
As long as power relations between males and females are still dominant GBV will still persist
So; promote gender equality and in turn reduce GBV
Liberty in word (talking and writing) does not of itself transform into liberty in action!!
Do something !!