The Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund was founded in 2021 and has continuously tackled the epidemic of GBV in South Africa by helping to combat the issue in numerous communities.
Koketso Rathumbu, the fund’s advocacy and communications manager said it works by providing support to community-run organisations that deal with GBV or co-ordinating victim support.
“We fund organisations that are registered and have managed a certain threshold of funding and tax clearance among other criteria. However, we also exercise a level of empathy and understand that some of these organisations can be small.
“An example could be that of a woman who has turned her home into a care centre for children. We see the potential for grow in such cases and facilitate it,” Rathumbu said.
She emphasised that GBV takes on a myriad of forms and can include but is not limited to: violence against women and children, violence against members of the LGBTQ community and others in marginalised groups.
One of the organisations the fund has worked with is Kids Haven. The organisation is located in Benoni, Ekurhuleni.
The Kids Haven Child and Youth Care Centre is in Benoni, and community activities are held largely in the communities of central Ekurhuleni, but also in Thembisa (North Ekurhuleni) and Katlehong (South Ekurhuleni).
It primarily serves the towns of Daveyton and Etwatwa (expansions of Mayfield, Mogoba, and Barcelona), Tsakane and its extensions, Wattville and eMandleni IS, KwaThema and Marikana IS, and Duduza and Alra Park in Nigel.
“Kids Haven implements this holistic approach to child protection and care. Working with children who have been through trauma is complex.
“There is no single intervention or ‘cookie-cutter’ approach that can be applied,” a representative said.
An approach that the organisation uses is counselling children, providing specialised therapy and providing a safe and caring home to children where good adults are in charge and children follow a routine that makes sense.
“Kids Haven is part of the first and second round of the GBVF Fund support. This sustained support has been very important and allows us to consistently deliver our programmes to support teenage girls in particular in the community.
“In our experience, families struggle to have open conversations with their children on matters of sexual rights and responsibilities, peer pressure, and intimate partner violence.”
Since the inception of the GBVF Fund, Rathumbu said she has seen a slight difference.
“We recognise that as a country we still have a long way to go, We still see cases daily. As a fund we want to catalyse action that brings about much-needed change in the country,” she said.
IOL