REPORT LOCAL GOVERNMENT GENDER BASED VIOLENCE ACTION PLANS WORKSHOP. Date: October 2009 Venue: Council Chambers, Overberg District Municipality

Transcription

1 REPORT LOCAL GOVERNMENT GENDER BASED VIOLENCE ACTION PLANS WORKSHOP Province: District: Western Cape Overberg District Date: October 2009 Venue: Council Chambers, Overberg District Municipality 1

2 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Background 4 Process and activities 5 Outcomes 5 Way Forward 5 Annexes A - Programme 6 B - List of participants 8 C - GAP and GBV Status Report 9 D Group work and discussions 12 E - GBV Action Plan: Overberg District Municipality 15 F - Messaging / slogans / posters /calendar 17 G - SADC Village level report 19 H - Workshop Evaluation 21 Report on meeting with Deputy Mayor 23 2

3 Executive Summary This is a report on the proceedings of the Local Government Gender Based Violence action plan workshop held on October 2009 at the Overberg District municipality. The West Coast District Municipality has five local municipalities namely Theewaterskloof, Cape Agulhas, Overstrand and Swellendam local municipalities. The purpose of the programme was to; Establish the status of the Gender Action Plans developed in Popularise the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development. Develop 365 Day Local Action Plans to end Gender Based Violence or strengthen existing GBV action plans. Develop messages for backstopping the local 365 Day Action Plans to end GBV. Establish communication strategies for the GBV action plans. Inform councils about the collection of good practices for addressing GBV at the local level and in the Gender Justice and Local Government Summit. See the full workshop programme attached at Annex A. The workshop was attended by participants 6 (3 men and 3 women); see Annex B for the full workshop participants list. Current status report on GAP (gender action plan) and GBVP (gender based violence action plans) can be found in a table depicting the current status in terms of challenges and support required, attached at Annex C. All for the group work and discussions are attached at Annex D. The Draft District Gender Based Violence Action Plans that the participants produced are extremely weak but they almost refused to draft any unless there was buy in from the relevant stakeholders. What was produced is attached at Annex E. The GBV messages/slogans/posters and calendar are attached at Annex F. The SADC Protocol village level report is attached at Annex G. The participants evaluated the workshop as having been an insightful workshop. They did find the outputs unrealistic as the target audience was incorrect. A summarised version of the evaluation forms is attached at the end of this report at Annex H. A meeting report of a scheduled meeting to discuss a way forward is attached at Annex I. 3

4 Background The 365 days of Action is a concept, first adopted in South Africa, to extend the 16 days of Activism on Gender violence Campaign to a coordinated and comprehensive year-long response to end gender violence through the development of a National Action Plan. The plan serves as an important tool to strengthen efforts to end gender violence by holding governments, civil society and other stakeholders responsible for commitments they make. The United Nations Secretary General s 2006 report on gender violence highlights the significance of: Comprehensive and coordinated National Action Plans driven by governments States should build and sustain strong multi-sectoral strategies, coordinated nationally and locally Work to end violence against women requires not only a clear demonstration of political commitment but also systematic and sustained action, backed by strong, dedicated and permanent institutional mechanisms. States should build on the work done by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), scale up and institutionalize it and share experiences with other countries The SADC Gender and Development Protocol signed in August 2008 sets a target for governments to halve current levels of gender based violence by 2015 and emphasises that States should adopt an integrated approach to address gender violence. South Africa adopted a 365 Day National Action Plan in May 2006 which was launched by the Deputy President in March However, national action plans are only as good as they are implemented at local level if they are to make a difference in the lives of ordinary women, men, girls and boys. The project to develop gender action plans for local government was the outcome of a number of processes. Following the launch of the research, At the Coalface: Gender and Local Government in Southern Africa, Gender Links in partnership with SALGA Gauteng convened a roundtable meeting to review the Gender Policy Framework for Local Government and plan for effective gender mainstreaming in governance processes in the sphere of local government. The final Gender Policy Framework for Local Government was launched in August In November 2007 provincial representatives from SALGA joined a Training of Trainers workshop in Johannesburg to develop the Gender Action Plan Manual for South Africa that was to be used to roll out the gender action plans in all provinces from April to July In 2008 the Western Cape, along with other provinces, developed a gender action plan in which gender based violence included. In this plan gender based violence features as one of the key areas of service delivery. It should be noted that as this was a provincial plan and as such required further fine tuning to suit the specific needs and circumstances of each municipality in the province. Some municipalities have gone ahead and developed their local action plans while others are still in the process of doing this. 4

5 The intention of the GBV action plan workshops is to build on the preceding processes as well as to provide support and backstopping. Participants are encouraged to take time to reflect on progress that has been made in addressing gender violence since these initiatives as well as address the challenges that have been encountered by the different municipalities in developing local plans. The opportunity is also used to devise strategies for collecting good practices to showcase at the first annual Southern Africa local government and Gender Justice Summit and Awards. Process and activities The manual titled, Localising gender justice initiatives allows for maximum participation of participants through various plenary and group work sessions. Gender action plan current status update With each of the nine provinces in South Africa having a developed gender action plan by July 2008 (processes referred to above), it is important to get an update on the status of these and to find out during the GBV action plan workshops if these plans have been filtered down to all district and local municipalities. This session is used to establish whether they have been adopted, whether GBV action plans already exist, and what some of the challenges are that are hindering implementation as well as the kind of support SALGA and GL can offer to address these challenges. Highlights are also shared and a way forward it mapped where necessary. SADC protocol quiz With the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development having been adopted in August 2008, a need was indentified to design a programme that domesticated the Protocol through village and community level workshops, with the aims of raising awareness around the Gender Protocol at the grassroots level. The SADC Protocol on Gender and Development module of the GBV action training manual uses a short SADC knowledge quiz is to test the participants knowledge on the protocol, these quiz results are then consolidated (as below) and the results are use as baseline data on Protocol knowledge. Participants go on to discuss and prioritise the various targets and how these can be implemented in the everyday work of councils. NB: Please see the SADC protocol village level report attached at Annex G and the discussion that followed. Checklist for change and developing a GBV action plan Local government can address gender based violence as a key service delivery issue in a number of ways and before participants start the process of developing the actual GBV action plan, the group goes through a checklist for change that can assist municipalities to get started on either developing a local action plan to end GBV or to see if their action plan addresses key concerns. This checklist is put together across the levels that local government use for planning, i.e. prevention, support, response and coordination and it also includes the transversal issues of monitoring and evaluation and budgets. 5

6 Communicating the action plan Once the participants have developed their GBV action plans, it is important for them to identify very practical tools that they can use to communicate their action plans that target the members of their relevant communities. Communicating gender based violence issues to communities is difficult and therefore if participants have any questions around communication these GBV action plans, it should be addressed during this particular session and therefore it is important that local government officials and councillors put across their messages on GBV to their community members more effectively. Southern Africa Local Government and Gender Justice Summit Before officially concluding the workshop and after summarising everything that was presented during workshops, participants are taken through a PowerPoint presentation on the first Southern Africa local government and gender justice summit and awards that will be taking place. The application process and adjudication process is explained and pamphlets are distributed to all participants. Outcomes Roadmap for ending gender violence at the local level, specific to the needs of that particular municipality / community. Mechanisms for sharing good practice and strengthening practice on the ground. Way Forward All relevant role-players should attend this workshop. A meeting scheduled for December will include gender and the SADC Protocol where Gender Links has been asked to help to ensuring the Action Plan gets drawn up. Mayors, MMs and Directors will be present at that meeting. Once an Action Plan has been drawn up by relevant stakeholders it can be adopted at council meeting. 6

7 Annex A: Programme PROGRAMME Time Action Who DAY ONE 8:00 8:50 Welcome and opening 8:50 9:10 Purpose of the workshop 9:10 9:30 Report on the gender action plans that were developed in 2007 SALGA 9:30 10:00 Discussion How can challenges in implementing committed actions be overcome? What support is required and from who? GL facilitator SALGA 10:00 10:30 TEA 10:30 10:45 SADC Protocol Quiz GL facilitator 10:45 11:30 DVD: Roadmap to equality To introduce the SADC Gender Protocol and its relevance to local government 11:30 13:00 Strategies to popularise the protocol 13:00 14:00 LUNCH 14:00 15:00 GBV as a key service delivery issue Checklist for change for local government GL facilitator 15:00-17:00 Developing a 16 Days calendar and action plan Prevention Response Support Budget, monitoring and evaluation 16:00 16:15 TEA DAY TWO 8:30 9:00 Report back GL facilitator 9:00 10:00 Communicating the local GBV action plan 9:30 11:00 Group work: Developing messages and slogans Developing a calendar of dates 11:00 11:30 TEA 11:30 12:00 Designing a poster 12:00 13:00 Report back 13:00 14:00 LUNCH 14:00 15:00 Gender Justice and Governance Summit: Collecting, documenting and presenting good practices on prevention of GBV by local municipalities 15:00 15:30 TEA 15:30 16h30 Way forward and open discussion Support for implementing 365 Day action plans GL facilitator 7

8 Time Action Who Collecting local best practices on preventing gender violence Gender justice and local government summit Monitoring and evaluation AOB 8

9 Annex B: List of participants Attendance List Local Government GBV Action Plan Workshop: Western Cape, Overberg District Municipality Name Sex M/F Organisation/ Municipality Tel Fax 1. Colleen Ryan F Gender Links govcord@genderlinks.org.za 2. J. Swartz M Overberg District kswartz@odm.org.za Municipality 3. Belinda. Swartland F Theewaterskloof belindasw@twk.org.za Local Municipality 4. A.Scholtz F Cape Agulhas Local almares@capeagulhas.com Municipality 5. M. Dennis M Overberg District mdennis@odm.org.za 6. D.Barnard F Overberg District dbarnard@odm.org.za 7. Gerhard Smit M Overstrand gsmit@overstrand.gov.za Municipality 8. Kwezi Cain F SALGA kcain@salga.org.za Attendance statistics by gender Females 5 63% Males 3 27% TOTAL 8 100% 9

10 Annex C: Current status report on GAP (gender action plan) and GBV (gender based violence action plans) Overberg District Municipality Local municipality Gender action plan in existence/adopted Person responsible for Issues Highlights / achievements Challenges faced Support required from SALGA and GL 365 Day GBV action plan existence / adopted Cape Agulhas - No - No Overberg District - No - No Overstrand - No - No - Luzeth Smith Human Development Manager - 16 Days of Activism plan in existence - Putting gender into our planning and our IDP AND LED - Women, youth and disabled - No person - 50% women as councillors - IDP Manager and Focal Person and Gender committee - Gender committee was adopted in IDP - All policies adopted are gender sensitive - To get this information to the broader community (lobbying) - Needs more women in official leadership positions - Human Resources - Funding - Integration - Co-operative governance - Need someone to assist us at the office - Support in terms of community education - In developing action plans - In driving the gender process and inequalities in workplace and society - 10

11 Local municipality Gender action plan in existence/adopted Person responsible for Issues Highlights / achievements Challenges faced Support required from SALGA and GL Theewaterskloof - No - No 365 Day GBV action plan existence / adopted - No focus person ad hoc under IDP Unit and look through a gender lens - Trauma centres improved - 16 days of Activism campaign internal involves all staff wearing white ribbon and fact sheets issued and useful list of contacts given - Issues of abuse put on staff web page with information and contacts - Harnessing CDWs - Inter departmental cooperation - KPIs - More women councillors - None - Under capacitated in terms of personnel and funding. Focus is on bringing services to the community. Current IDP Imbizos seen a - Capacity development of a plan 11

12 Local municipality Gender action plan in existence/adopted Person responsible for Issues Highlights / achievements Challenges faced Support required from SALGA and GL 365 Day GBV action plan existence / adopted shift to move social development issues hence funding and resources needs to be put into place 12

13 Annex D: Group work and discussions Exercise 1: What is the SADC protocol on gender and development? Group 1: What work is already happening to achieve the targets in the Protocol? Some awareness programmes happening. IDP Imbizos are held. 16 days campaign. Zivikele training held at SAPS on GBV. Addressed in LED Strategy, IDP, SDBTP (Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plans and targeting women as entrepreneurs/pms. Procurement policy makes provision to empower women (PDI (Previously disadvantaged individuals) built into criteria for tenders and quotes. Provides support Grant in Aid to HIV/Aids, Substance abuse, crime and ECD early intervention/awareness programmes. Housing selection criteria. Education around birth certificates (teenage mothers). Education on SMMEs. Safety and security plans Dept of Community Safety. Women in Construction (Extended Public Works Programmes). There is some awareness with lots of room for improvement. Protocol Child protection meetings. Figure 1: Councillor and Officials engaging in group session Group 2: Have a look at the pamphlet with all of the targets, which of these would you prioritise? Productive resources/employment and economic empowerment. Health /HIV/Aids. Governance (representation and participation and decision-making). Education and training. Peace building and conflict resolution. Media. Group 3: How can the targets in the Protocol be included in the work of your councils? IDP. SDBPIP Service Delivery Budget Implementation Plan. Employ Human Rights Focal person. Put gender on the agenda. Look at getting funding from Special Projects, Global funding, Mayoral funding and project Figure 2: Belinda Swartland of Theewaterskloof Local Municipality reporting back after group discussion 13

14 funding. Group 4: How can you begin to popularize the SADC protocol? Workshops and peer education training. Imbizos. Ward committee meetings. NGOs/CBOs/FBOs. Involvement of CDWs. Make use of local media/newsletters. Each municipality is to develop a plan which is to be in line with the checklist. Regular engaging with community members. Women s focus groups to be created and it needs focus areas. Continuous workshops. Training for councillors and officials. Figure 3: Groups working on SADC Protocol targets and priorities Discussions: Questions and comments that took place during the Checklist for change for local government section This helped us to look at what can be done practically. West Coast District municipality Process what needs to happen next? The people who attended were very few and did not feel very hopeful about the way forward. On the first day I sourced the necessary people and arranged to meet with them on the second day. What has been used to communicate GBV SAPS do the communicating, we are the role-players. NGOs and CBOs organised a march on women s abuse to spread the word. Loud hailers and media was used. We need to get the message on Prevention, Support, Budget, Men, women and children across. Reduce or eliminate violence against women and children or gender based violence, ensure counselling for victims of abuse. The law must take its course. Figure 4: Three local municipalities working on District Action Plan 14

15 Annex E: DRAFT GBV action plan DRAFT DISTRICT GENDER ACTION PLAN FOR LOCAL MUNICIPALITY IN THE OVERBERG DISTRICT WESTERN CAPE STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE Gender - Based Violence 365 day action plans To develop Audit of current comprehensive GBV statistics in year long plans for the area; plan for ending gender reducing this. violence. Prevention Women s Safety To make communities safer ACTION WHO TIMEFRAME BASELINE TARGETS / INDICATORS Conduct a gender safety audit and convene an annual women safety Assessment focus group. SAPS, Social workers, CDW,, NGOs, FBO s IDP/Human Development Department August to March Yearly (during IDP revision) - Audit - Year Plan adopted by council. - Linked to IDP and Budget 01 July to 31 June Minutes Transcripts Attendance registers BUDGET Rural Area - Satellite police stations. Police Visibility to be improved. Conduct Shebeen Audits on Farms - identify illegal practice. SAPS Audit of satellite police stations. Increase in satellite police stations by 5%. Audit report 15

16 STRATEGIC OBJECTIVE ACTION WHO TIMEFRAME BASELINE TARGETS / INDICATORS Clearing of public Open spaces Improve visibility by clearing of alien vegetation. Colour code areas (e.g. green routes safety, reddanger) Municipal Delivery) (Service Audit overgrown spaces of open Decrease in overgrown spaces. Clearing plan BUDGET Ruins (buildings) to be renovated or demolished. High Mass lighting/street lighting in informal settlements. Proper street naming and clear marking of street names in cases of emergency. Establish Neighbourhood watch. Council/Town Planning Municipal (Service Delivery)-Electrical Department Council/Town Planning Community Safety forum/municipal law enforcers 16

17 Annex F: Messages / slogans / posters DEVELOPING MESSAGES AND SLOGANS AND POSTERS FOR THE CAMPAIGN Arena for action Day What needs to be communicated to or by these groups Slogan What communication tool should be used Individual Abused woman or man 14 February Services available to them, support groups etc. Break the silence Imbizos and clinics and places where people frequent where pamphlets can be dropped Abused child 1 June International Children s Day Abusive men Father s Day Notifying them that they have rights How to treat a women Know the Difference Break the Silence Children should be loved Children can be heard and seen Real men are not violent Real men are respectful Plays at school/ drama Leave pamphlets at pubs on a Saturday afternoon Family/ Household positive parenting 10 October Women are precious Mother, father, Parents Day guardian Community need to mobilize communities to create safe spaces Love is blind Love does not hurt Dance with pamphlets and posters Schools 14 Feb God sees us as equal God loves all of us Talk at church Religion 01 May equally 17

18 Arena for action Day What needs to be communicated to or by these groups Slogan What communication tool should be used Society - Political leadership Culture Any day except a public holiday 8 March International women s day Our legal obligations Stats from police We chose you because we trust you March Posters New Years Day Music is fun, so is life Respect yourself Madonna s song and pamphlets and a fun day with music and games 18

19 Annex G: SADC Protocol village level evaluations Records of village level meetings conducted and evaluation forms after each of these To be completed by facilitator Name of country: South Africa, Date 21 October 2009 Theme of Protocol GBV Action Plan Workshop village meeting Participants list Number of women participants Number of men participants Attached to report 3 (50%) 3 (50%) Civil society 0 representatives present 19

20 Knowledge Q u i z administered? 1. Where and when was the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development signed? 2 (33%) people answered correctly and (67%) 4 had incorrect answers. 2. Has your country signed the protocol? 5 (83%) people answered correctly and 1 (17%) answered incorrectly. 3. Which two countries have not yet signed the Protocol? 1(16%) person answered correctly and 5 (84%) answered incorrectly. 4. How many targets does the Protocol have? 1 (16%) people answered correctly and 5 (84%) answered incorrectly. 5. What is the target for women in decision-making and when should it be achieved by? 0 (100%) people answered correctly and 6 (0%) answered incorrectly. Answer sheets to the quiz as baseline data 6. What is the target for ending or reducing GBV? 1 (16%) people answered correctly and 5 (84%) answered incorrectly. The overall awareness of the SADC Protocol was very low at the beginning of the workshop given the total number of correct answers 6 %, as compared to the total number of incorrect answers, 94%. However, after the workshop and DVD presentation, the knowledge had increased as evidenced by the 100% result. Filed. Issues raised Can we get copies of the pamphlet and distribute into our communities The Protocol is a major achievement for women and the alliance How do we get the information on the ground Responses We would love to distribute the information as widely as possible including the community so it would be advised for them to get us groups that we could come and conduct village workshops with. Follow up meeting/next steps Evaluation forms To do the Action Plan process and introduction on 02 & 03 December 2009 for the correct target audience. Attached to the report. 20

21 Annex H: Workshop Evaluation Total no. of returned forms: 5 WORKSHOP EVALUATION EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR POOR VERY POOR 1. PROGRAMME DESIGN PROGRAMME CONTENT DOCUMENTATION 2 4. FACILITATION 2 5. GROUP WORK OUTPUTS OUTCOMES AND FOLLOW UP PLANS LEARNING OPPORTUNITY NETWORKING OPPORTUNITY 10. ADMINISTRATIVE ARRANGEMENTS COMMENTS 1. Which session did you find most useful? Why? Understanding SADC Protocol on Gender and development. Everything. This was my first time on such a course. DVD. Communicating the GBV Action Plan. To get started on a communication strategy in the Municipality. Listening to what other municipalities have done with regards to mainstreaming. It is good to learn from each other s achievements and mistakes. 2. Which session did you find least useful? Why? Everything was interesting (2). Working on the action plan. The group was too small and the participants felt that they were the wrong people for the job. 3. How will you apply what you have gained from this engagement? a. Would like to get more involved in gender issues. b. Will be more focussed on GBV. c. Take it back to Programme Manager. d. I will share this with all the other departments in the Municipality that is responsible for Human Development. 21

22 e. Work on our Municipalities gender action plan. Since the Provincial workshop I have gained additional information and knowledge of how gender links in through legislation at local level. 4. Any other comments? Our facilitator (Colleen) was outstanding. All role players should be invited like your politicians, Municipality, Mayor and CDWs. The absence of the other departments like CDWs and Human Development Department. 22

23 Annex I: Meeting with Deputy Mayor EVENT REPORT BACK FORM NAME OF GL STAFF DESIGNATION EVENT LOCATION Colleen Ryan Gender and Governance Co-ordinator Meeting with Deputy Mayor, Warnick October at Overberg District Municipality Overberg District Municipality, Bredasdorp DATE 23 October 2009 KEY CONTACTS Telephone Fax E mail Address Warnick October warnicko@odm.gov.za OBJECTIVES I had held my first day of the GBV Local Action Plan workshops and only five people attended. I needed to devise a strategy for ensuring the training gets supported by the relevant people. I had asked who the appropriate person in Council would be and was referred to the Deputy BRIEF DESCRITION OF EVENT REASONS FOR GL s PARTICIPATION Mayor. Meeting with Deputy Mayor of Overberg District Municipality to discuss a strategy for developing an Action Plan for Gender Based Violence as a key service delivery issue. This is a District where a GBV Action Plan should be developed at District Level. NATURE OF GLS INPUT I explained the process leading up to our conducting the said workshop and its importance given our legal obligations, ie. Constitution and local government s role. I then introduced the SADC Protocol on Gender and Development and highlighted the targets and SA s commitment to achieving it. I also highlighted the importance of it being in KPAs. OUTCOME- GENERAL The input was found very useful and I was referred to the Programme Manager, Mr Winston October, who then popped in while I was conducting the workshop. OUTCOME- GL I was invited to attend a Summit on Planning for the Overberg District by the Programme Manager that is to be held on 02 & 03 December with all the local municipalities of the area to then introduce the SADC Protocol and to possibly decide on a way forward to draw up an Action Plan. Present at the summit would be the Mayors, Speakers, Members of Portfolio Committees, Ward Committee members and Councillors. 23

24 ANY SPECIFIC POINTS This would be a brilliant strategy to ensure that Gender gets put FOR OTHER UNITS/ on the agenda and gets highlighted to the appropriate persons in SATELLITE OFFICES TO decision making positions. This would be very nice especially NOTE since the District seems to not see Gender as an important matter judging by their attendance at the workshop. NEXT STEPS To get approval from Management whether I could attend this event. ANY OTHER COMMENTS I do think it would be quite a good time to do it given that it was during the 16 days of Activism Campaign. Mr October thought that this would make my input very appropriate given that it would be done during the campaign. 24