Issue 7 Articles
SA’s National Strategic Plan: female condom needs to play a bigger role
Since the beginning of the Aids epidemic, condoms have been the single most efficient available technology to reduce the transmission of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections. Condom use forms one of the three elements of the ABC strategy: Abstinence, Be- faithful and Condom use. The National Strategic Plan (2000NSP) and the United Nations Joint programme on AIDS (2000UNAIDS) acknowledge that condoms are key to preventing the spread of HIV and Aids. Sonke plays a role in trying to meet some of the objectives of the NSP of halving HIV and Aids by 50% by 2015 through employing various strategies such as condom distribution, community education and training.
Sonke hosts its second annual donors round table forum
On 14 October 2010, Sonke Gender Justice Network hosted its second Donor’s Forum meeting. Representatives from fourteen donor organisations and sister organisations Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development and Thohoyandou Empowerment Programme attended. Present were eight Sonke’s staff members: Executive Director Dean Peacock, Resource Mobilisation Coordinator Angelica Pino Davis, ICT and M&E Coordinator Mwendabai Yeta Mkhizhe, OMC National Manager Nyanda ka-Khanyile, Deputy Director Desmond Lesejane, Director of International Programmes and Network Building Bafana Khumalo, MenEngage Policy Coordinator Tim Shand and Media and Government Relations Manager Mbuyiselo Botha.
Sonke works with IRC against GBV in Cote D’Ivoire
Subsequent to our preparing issue 7 of this newsletter, the Ivory Coast has again been destablised by civil unrest. The disagreement over election results has divided the country with devastating effects for the humanitarian work being done in the area, including the work that Sonke and the IRC have partnered on. The project discussed in this article has thus been suspended.
2010: using the media for advocacy
With the first-ever FIFA World Cup in Africa, 2010 has been a momentous year for our continent. It also proved a notable year for Sonke Gender Justice Network, as it launched several new awareness campaigns launched to raise awareness about the potential social dangers, like child exploitation, that global events like a World Cup can bring with it.
Advancing gender advocacy through community radio
Small- to medium-scale, context-specific community ‘interventions’ can help generate meaningful discussion of local problems. Community radio is one of the most powerful interventions or media for getting out information, starting discussion and raising awareness about development issues, such as the effect of the AIDS epidemic and gender inequality on local communities.
Sonke helps Traditional Leaders heal community ills
In early 2008, Sonke Gender Justice began a local One Man Can campaign together with traditional leaders in Mabeskraal Municipality in South Africa’s North West Province. In this rural area, HIV, Aids and gender-based violence have torn families apart. Under Apartheid, Mabeskraal formed part of the Bophuthatswana ‘homeland’, notorious for its social and economic underdevelopment. The resulting unemployment and widespread poverty continue to negatively shape male identity and gender relations.
