The End Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Movement is tasked with implementing the National Strategic Plan on GBVF, aimed at addressing the GBVF epidemic in South Africa.

What is Gender-based violence? Gender-based violence refers to violence that occurs due to role expectations related to the gender associated with the sex assigned to a person at birth, and the unequal power relations between the genders in the context of a specific society. This type of violence can include physical, economic, sexual, psychological, and economic abuse as well as rape, sexual harassment, and trafficking of women for sex, and sexual exploitation.

What is the National Strategic Plan on GBVF? The plan is divided into six focus areas (i.e., pillars for accountability, coordination, and leadership; prevention and re-building social cohesion; justice, safety, and protection; research and information management; economic power; and response, care, support, and healing), with problem analysis, strategic principles, and key deliverables guiding the work of each pillar.

Since 2021, this multi-sectoral collective has been applying a 100-Day Challenge approach to effect change in a selection of the thirty GBVF hotspots in South Africa. The approach is time-bound and makes use of intense collaboration, frequent innovation, and rapid implementation. Based on learnings from crises that were successfully resolved, 100-Day Challenges are fast, and set goals that are almost impossible to achieve. The right team is assembled and committed to the goal, and the work plan evolves as the days go by, with experimentation built into the process. The End GBVF Movement 100-Day Challenges have had significant successes.

For example, in 2023 the Mossel Bay End GBVF 100-Day Challenge team established four hotlines and helpdesks in police stations to provide reliable, safe spaces for victims of GBV. Another example was the Domestic Violence teams who improved the finalisation rate of Domestic Violence cases in participating Limpopo courts from 42% to 78%.

This year, the focus is on providing victim-friendly courts. Municipalities, courts, and TVET Colleges are working together in Limpopo and Mpumalanga, with Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (COGTA), the South African Local Government Agency (SALGA), Department of Higher Education and Training (DHET), and the Justice sector as convenors of the 100-Day Challenges. This first cycle of End GBVF 100-Day Challenges finishes in August 2024.

To Find Out More

• Contact Leonie (leonie@leonievorster.co.za), who represents PsySSA in the End GBVF Collective
• Visit the End GBVF Movement website and the FAQ section
• Follow the End GBVF Movement on social media

Read about the End GBVF Movement activities and opportunities to join the fight against GBVF in the next TVD newsletter

by Bianca Barnard

Over the last month, South Africans have grappled with the aftermath of natural disasters, from flooding in the Eastern Cape, a series of tornadoes in KwaZulu-Natal and a 2.5 magnitude earthquake in Johannesburg and the West Rand. These acts of God create a real and perceived sense of insecurity and instability in South African society, communities, and patients. Still, the impact on mental health practitioners is often forgotten.

Practitioners form part of the communities devastated by natural disasters. Unfortunately, registration as a mental health practitioner does not provide immunity to the psychological impact of the loss of safety and security and a gained sense of fear and anguish. As with a patient, there is a need to rebuild a sense of stability and safety by addressing basic needs and initiating the trauma recovery process. However, more intervention is often needed. Given the responsibility to care for others, mental health practitioners must attend to their own psychological health.

These periods of disaster create an increased demand for mental health services, longer working hours, and increased patient loads. This leaves practitioners susceptible to burnout and compassion fatigue. Psychologists also experience the secondary trauma of working with patients who have been victims of loss.

While the onus remains on mental health practitioners to prioritise their own mental health, it can be challenging. Some helpful tips on navigating these are as follows:

• Acknowledge your humanness and put in place professional boundaries. Where possible, take leave to give yourself sufficient time and space to address the material reality and process what has happened. Do not over-commit yourself or continually place the needs of others before your need for self-care.
• Try to limit working in a silo. Where possible and appropriate, utilise an MDT and share the load of patient management with colleagues. Connecting with peers, colleagues, and supervisors will also help mental health practitioners avoid feeling isolated, a feeling commonly experienced due to the private nature of our work.
• Use the source of support available to you – be that a supervisor, peer group, psychologist or faith group – to ground yourself and recreate a sense of stability.