Partnering to prevent violence against women and girls in communities.

ActionAid Zimbabwe (AAZ) in partnership with Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWEZI), Leonard Cheshire Disability Zimbabwe (LCDZ) and Family AIDS Caring Trust (FACT) held a series of sensitising the district and community stakeholders on phase 3 (Support phase) of SASA Together model in two districts (Shamva in Mashonaland Central and Nyanga in Manicaland Province) under Towards Resilient Communities with Health, Equality and Safety for All (TORCHES) project funded by People’s Postcode Lottery (PPL).

The stakeholder meetings were held from 15 to 19 May 2023 with the aim of reflecting on the second phase ‘Awareness phase’ and providing an overview of the ‘Support phase’ of the project. The support phase aims at building skills and encouraging community members to join power with others to prevent violence against women.

The meetings were an eye opener for the district and community stakeholders as they learnt of the different types of power in SASA Together. In all the districts, the meetings were attended by the District Development Coordinators, representatives from the Social Welfare, Police Victim Friendly Unit and Health departments.

During the meetings, FAWEZI Program Officer, Rujeko Chibaya addressed about the awareness phase which focused on deepening analysis of men’s power over women and the community’s silence about it and the phase ended in March 2023. 

PPL Project Manager, Betty Sithole introduced the support phase as a phase in which SASA champions and leaders will be confidently leading activities and joining their power with that of community members to balance power and prevent violence against women and girls.

“We are grateful to the communities that we work with for receiving this program bringing remarkable results as evidenced by the evaluation report which showed that cases of violence are now reducing. As a consortium we are thankful and we appreciate government who complement our work.”

“In the support phase, power with is the power felt when two or more people join to do something they may not have done alone. We will be supporting women who experience violence, holding men who use violence accountable, supporting couples trying to change and supporting community members to speak out as a way of preventing violence against women and girls,” said Betty.

LCDZ Project Officer, Martin James also sensitized stakeholders on the importance of including persons with disabilities in all TORCHES activities and beyond. 

“Inclusion of Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) should be at leadership and participatory roles in all community activities. In the support phase we will be purchasing furniture for learners with special needs, provision of assistive devices to some pupils at project schools or wards we operate in as well as conducting trainings on disability inclusion issues to all Tuseme mentors and volunteers,” said Martin.

Each of the partners will be bringing in a distinctive skill so at to achieve the intended desired outcome of communities using collective power to formalize and sustain change that prevents violence against women. FAWEZI will be working towards addressing concerns that hinder girls and boys social and academic development through a methodology called ‘Tuseme’ which means Speak Out as well as using SASA Together practice. FACT will also specialise in ensuring power dynamics between women and men can change for the better in Nyanga community whilst LCDZ an important player in the consortium will be bringing the disability factor ensuring that no one is left behind through facilitating for disability-friendly execution.

The TORCHES project is aimed at creating communities where women and girls, including people with disabilities, are free from violence and have amplified voices and agency. The project is being implemented in three districts namely Shamva, Nyanga and Chitungwiza.