Below is a summary of the workshop:

Identified Gaps
Identified gaps common in the represented countries included:

• lack of political will,
• lack of resources, and
• inadequate capacity by states and civil society.

The gaps resulted into:

• Failure to reach women and girls and address their specific needs particularly in relation to violence, conflict and HIV and AIDS.
• Failure of justice and rehabilitation needs of victims, comprehensively dealing with conflict and post-conflict related violations against women and girls.
• Lack of all-inclusive involvement, especially of men in efforts against gender-based violence (GBV)

Challenges Identifies by participants

• Legislators and other policymakers do not consider gender-based violence as a serious issue, nor appreciate its link to HIV/Aids
• International conventions such as the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) are not enforceable, while justice systems are not easily accessible nor responsive to the needs of survivors of violence
• State laws such as the succession law are not sensitive to the specific rights of women such as the right to land.
• There are limited state structures to guarantee the protection of victims of gender-based violence
• There exists weaknesses within the state systems such as police, health structures to prevent or protect survivors of gender-based violence
• How to ensure that women voices are heard and heeded to in all processes.
• An overwhelming number of children with no ‘fathers’, therefore lacking identity and claim to land
• There are practical restrictions in addressing the needs of the survivors of violence that range from institutional incapacities, poverty, social stigma, negative cultural perceptions, etc

Key Lessons from Workshop

• Because of the multiple consequences of Sexual and gender-based violence, women should benefit from all interventions and processes in communities aimed at prevention, protection and dealing with the socio-economic and health consequences of Sexual and gender-based violence
• The context within which sexual and gender-based violence occurs should be taken into consideration
• Operationalise international and domestic legislations vis a vis gender-based violence i.e CEDAW and UN Security Council Resolution 1325
• There needs to be a multi-sectoral approach to survivors of gender-based violence, with emphasis on the involvement of men
• There is need to strengthen already existing safe houses and build, where necessary, safe-houses for victims of gender-based violence working closely with the police department to ensure their security, including ensuring holistic interventions in such spaces while being sensitive to local socio-cultural realities in the different countries.  

Recommendations and Way Forward

• A was, in principal, formed bringing together countries represented at the workshop. Countries represented by more than one participant would decide among them who would be their country representative at the network. An annual meeting was suggested with Rwanda being proposed to be the chair of the network.  The meeting would be to adopt and operationalize these recommendations

 

• Document PoH  model detailing its holistic approach and process in addressing the needs of gender-based violence survivors, followed by a validation workshop by Network members and other like-minded organizations working in gender-based violence. The workshop would include training of trainers for pilot testing of the model in member countries. Venue for the workshop will be determined by the network members.

• Implementation project with the pilot PoH model in member countries with active participation of the survivors in evaluating success of the replication at the country level.

 

• Have an annual retreat for a learning interaction between the members. This followed the realization of the need to broaden counseling activities to include the care of care-givers learning from each other’s counseling strategies and experiences.

• Create awareness in the community and among policy makers and legislators on GBV response, i.e., creation of community spaces and safe-houses for women. This would include involving the youth and encouraging their leadership, and turning these into spaces for learning and promotion of dialogue between communities and policymakers in the context of each particular country.

 

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