Projects
Policy Advocacy
Sonke has a strong history of engaging in advocacy work to promote the inclusion of provisions which include men and boys in laws and policies relating to gender and HIV, as well as advocating for the enacting of these laws and the constitutional commitments to dignity, equality and freedom.
Sonke's Policy Advocacy and Research team has recently been strengthened by the which will enable us to undertake more policy and research related work. Particularly, the team now has strong legal skills.
Prisons Sexual Violence HIVFramework
By Scott Spiegler
Edited by Emily Kheen
Stop the Traditional Courts Bill
The Traditional Courts Bill is currently being considered by parliament in order to provide updated legislation for traditional justice processes and institutions. The Bill will affect over 17 million South Africans. The Bill being proposed is blatantly unconstitutional and violates the human rights of women and men in rural communities.
Sonke is joining a large group of human rights organisations in a nation-wide campaign to stop the Bill.
Sexual Violence in Prisons
With its prisons policy project, Sonke seeks to improve prison conditions and government accountability for sexual violence and HIV prevention in prisons.
Sexual Offences Act Implementation
As part of its civil society advocacy initiatives, Sonke has worked alongside the Shukumisa Campaign to improve the implementation of the Sexual Offences Act. Despite South Africa’s progressive legislation, it remains very difficult to obtain justice for sexual offences. Good laws alone are not enough: they must be combined with strong advocacy if they are to change practice.
Sexual offences laws in South Africa were updated in 2007. The Criminal Law (2000Sexual Offences) Amendment Act 32 of 2007 (2000SOA) consolidated all sexual crimes in one law, defined sexual crimes gender-neutrally to apply to both men and women, and ensured rape survivors access to post-exposure prophylaxis (2000PEP), among other provisions. Despite this promising reform, the implementation of the SOA uneven around the country. The government has been slow to produce implementing policy, with the Draft National Policy Framework just produced this year.
Shukumisa, which means to “shake things up” in isiXhosa, is promoting a South Africa where everybody treats rape as a serious crime – a country where quality health, policing and legal services are available to all rape survivors nationwide.
The Shukumisa Campaign actively monitors police stations, courthouses, and hospitals to determine what services are in place for rape victims, as required by the SOA and its implementing policies. After each round of monitoring, Shukumisa compiles the results of its monitoring into reports which it submits to the South African Police Service (2000SAPS), the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development and the Department of Health.
Shukumisa currently also seeks to re-open the comments process for the recently produced Draft National Policy Framework on Sexual Offences. In its current iteration the Draft Framework does not adequately incorporate procedures to empower rape survivors throughout the complaints, treatment, and prosecution processes. More specifically, it does not adequately incorporate a role for civil society in ensuring the progressive realisation of services for rape survivors.
Research on the Implementation of the Sexual Offences Act
Sonke undertook to monitor 50 South African Police Services stations throughout the Western Cape. This quantitative research project assesses the baseline compliance level of SAPS’ constitutional duties to provide support for rape victims.
The findings have been analysed for notable patterns, such as patterns appearing in rural, urban and peri-urban locations, analysed by communities’ income brackets and by crime prevalence in each location. This research is being submitted to peer-reviewed journals for publication and will subsequently be shared in reports.
This research was enabled by a fellowship granted to Sonke’s PAR Specialist, Emily Keehn, from the UCGHI Women’s Health & Empowerment Center of Expertise, with funding from the U.S. National Institutes of Health, Fogarty International Center.
UCLA Law - Sonke Health & Human Rights Fellowship
University of California, Los Angeles School of Law (UCLA Law) and Sonke Gender Justice Network (Sonke) present the UCLA Law - Sonke Health & Human Rights Fellowship. Launched in 2011, the program provides specialized training to top graduates from South African law schools for careers as impact-oriented public interest lawyers in the areas of health, human rights, HIV prevention, and gender equality.
Traditional Courts Bill Media
Recent Coverage
- Bearing unwanted gifts, Business Day - 11 May 2012 (95.29 kB)
- Chiefs lobby for power lost in apartheid transition, Mail and Guardian - 11 May 2012 (262.48 kB)
- Contralesa two-faced about sexuality, Sunday World - 13 May 2012 (95.41 kB)
- Leave gay rights alone, Sunday Times Review - 13 May 2012 (203.62 kB)
- Minister opposes new bill, Saturday Argus - 12 May 2012 (104.78 kB)
- Zumafia- the path to a gangster`s paradise, Pretoria News, 9 May 2012 (424.13 kB)
- Traditional Courts Bill faces stiff opposition, Pretoria News, 09 May 2012 (183.32 kB)
- Public Hearings on Traditional Courts Bill, New Age, 8 May 2012
- In the interests of a few men, The Star, 8 May 2012
- Traditional Courts Bill not in tune with law, Pretoria News, 8 May 2012 (159.81 kB)
- Ministers death casts shadow over events, Business Day, 7 May 2012 (95.12 kB)
- Respect our rights, City Press Voices, 6 May 2012 (366.34 kB)
Brothers for Life
Brothers for Life is a National Campaign targeting men over the age of 30. The initiative has been initiated by Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA), Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke), South African National Aids Council (SANAC) and other key stakeholders. It is aimed at addressing the risks associated with having multiple and concurrent partnerships, men’s limited involvement in fatherhood, lack of knowledge of HIV status by many, low levels of testing and disclosure, and insufficient health seeking behaviours in general.
UN Trust Fund Project
The UN Trust Fund project seeks to engage men to strengthen the implementation of GBV laws and policies and promote gender equality in Kenya, Rwanda and Sierra Leone. This project will be running over a period of 3 years from September 2011 until August 2014.
MenEngage Training Initiative
The MenEngage Africa Training Initiative is a training programme focusing on building the skills and capacity of individuals, organisations and government to undertake work engaging men and boys in prevention and response to GBV, HIV and AIDS and other social problems.
Learning Centres Initiative
The Learning Centre Initiative aims to highlight the good practice of Reproductive Health Uganda (based in Hoima) and the Planned Parenthood Association of Zambia (based in Choma) in working with men and boys on sexual and reproductive health.
MenEngage South Africa
Recently, with support from UNFPA, Sonke and other partners in South Africa have started to explore the idea of a MenEngage country network in South Africa that has a specific youth focus and which focuses on a broader range of sexual and reproductive health issues than only HIV. To date, provincial steering committees have been established in two provinces, the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal.
MenEngage Global Alliance
MenEngage is a global alliance of NGOs and UN agencies that seeks to engage boys and men to achieve gender equality, including more than 400 NGOs from Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Asia and Europe. The Alliance came together in 2004 with the general goal of working in partnership to promote the engagement of men and boys in achieving gender equality, promoting health and reducing violence at the global level, including questioning the structural barriers to achieving gender equality.
MenEngage Africa
MenEngage is a global alliance of organizations who engage men and boys to achieve gender equality, promote health, reduce violence and to question and address the structural barriers to achieving gender equality.
The global alliance consists of representatives from each continent. These delegates in turn co-ordinate the country networks on their respective continents. Sonke chairs MenEngage Africa, which consists of 12 country networks across Africa.
UNFPA Study on Involving Men and Boys in GBV Prevention
The Sonke Gender Justice Network study on involving men and boys in preventing and responding to gender-based violence in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian settings came to an end in December 2011. The study, which was funded by UNFPA, involved scanning the African continent to compile relevant actors and programmes which indicated good and promising practice and a regional survey for UNFPA country offices which provided more in depth knowledge about success factors and key resources for involving men and boys. The study was finalized with a case-study of key UNFPA-supported programmes in Uganda.
The study provided evidence of good practice in existing programmes, which is encouraging; especially since involving men and boys in GBV prevention and response is a relatively new field. The results included collected methods and resources on involving men and boys in GBV prevention and response, how to more effectively address underlying causes to GBV, how to avoid a backlash for men and women who challenge gender norms and how to increase ownership of programmes. Interesting findings and conclusions involve the following:
- Men and boys are still sometimes included in a reactive manner – when programmes targeting women and involving women’s empowerment for example result in men feeling excluded and when there is an increase in GBV. The study shows that it is essential to address men’s potential feeling of disempowered in order to avoid a backlash towards women.
- It appears that concurrent strategies for involving women, men, girls and boys are necessary - where the focus for men and boys is to deconstruct masculinities and the focus for women and girls empowerment.
- Perpetrators and LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersex) persons are often neglected in GBV prevention and response programmes even when they represent key target groups. LGBTI forms a population group which is often severely affected by GBV (for example regarding hate crimes/violence targeting LGBTI persons and corrective rape).
- There isn’t necessarily a linear relationship between changing attitudes and norms on the one hand and changing behaviour on the other. Programs in the study often appeared to aim for changing norms and attitudes through awareness raising, which in turn was expected to change behaviour. It is however essential to closely follow up on norms and attitudes and to make sure that both attitudes and behaviours are part of the programming. It appears that the material from the Uganda case-study indicate that men had not always internalized gender transformation aspects even if some behaviours had changed.
- It is important to focus on the benefits for men and boys when involving them in GBV prevention and response programmes – and to connect these programmes with the realities of their everyday lives. Positive messages involving how positive actions and attitudes can benefit men are crucial in order for them to internalize messages and ideas and realize that they have a stake in behaviour change. “Blame language” should be avoided when possible since it easily creates defense mechanisms.
- • In order to address underlying causes of GBV it is recognized that programmes/interventions need to be gender transformative and hence promote equitable relationships, challenge male gender norms and change gender relations. Many programmes are struggling with achieving gender transformation. Building on community participation for carrying out and managing GBV prevention and response programmes and to base the programme on the lived experiences of the participants is however a good starting point to achieve gender transformation and ownership. Nonetheless, the study indicates progress since some informants for example express that GBV has decreased, that men increasingly solve conflicts through dialogue, that gender norms increasingly allow men to take on traditionally female tasks, attend family planning appointments and that women’s decision making in the household has increased. It, however, appears that even if men want to change, the community context can make this very hard. It is hence essential to work on both the individual and community level to ensure a supportive community context.
Conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian settings can be seen as a window of opportunity in terms of changing gender relations since attitudes, values and cultures often are re-negotiated. It is important to analyze and monitor gender relations and power dynamics in these changing contexts in order to develop programmes which increase gender equality – or at least do no harm in terms of GBV.
Policy Advocacy
What is policy advocacy?
Advocacy is a set of targeted actions directed at changing policies, positions or programmes. Advocacy Networks are groups of organizations and individuals working together to achieve changes in policy, law, or programs for a particular issue.
Through advocacy, networks can engage in high-level dialogue with policymakers and other influential leaders on broad policy issues. Advocacy can include work that focuses on one specific issue, campaigns that span a specific period of time, or ongoing work that on a broad range of issues. Advocacy can be conducted on national, regional or local levels.
The policy advocacy work of the MenEngage Africa Network targets decision-makers on the progressive and proactive engagement of men and boys in the areas of health, HIV and AIDS, sexual and reproductive health, gender-based violence, parenting and human rights.
The MenEngage Africa Network is very important as a structure: networks are powerful tools to allow organizations and individuals to share ownership of common goals.
Why is policy advocacy important?
Policy initiatives can lead to large-scale changes in men’s behaviours and attitudes about gender and health. Because policy is one of the collective forces that defines and sustains gender norms, it also has the potential to challenge social norms and institutional cultures that perpetuate inequalities and violence. With effective policies in place, it is easier to implement work to engage with men and boys. Without effective policies, such work is much more difficult.
Public policies and engagement with the public sector are therefore central to the goal of scaling up work with men and boys and achieving societal change in gender norms. It is essential to build a shared policy agenda on engaging men and boys among civil society, national policy-makers and regional bodies.
To achieve this, and to be most effective, policies should be ‘gender-transformative’ and ensure that they do not reinforce negative societal values and norms. Gender-transformative action seeks to promote equitable relationships, challenge male gender norms, transform the traditionally accepted norms associated with being a man or a woman, and change gender relations. Thus the MenEngage Africa Network advocates for policies, laws and plans to prioritise work that is gender-transformative.
It is also important to remember that policies and laws alone cannot effect long-term and sustained change. They are a necessary first step, but they must be followed up by effective implementation, without which policy alone is ineffectual. Such implementation should be stimulated, enforced and monitored by civil society, as policies alone will not achieve large-scale social change.
How do we go about influencing policy?
It is important for policy advocacy to be based on strong research. Therefore, a thorough scan of existing policy is necessary before any advocacy work begins. This process identifies strengths and weaknesses within current policies and laws, highlighting any gaps that need to be addressed.
Once such scans are complete, policy reports or policy briefs are usually produced. A policy report may summarize all the strengths and weaknesses of a policy or set of policies, while a policy brief may highlight the recommendations which have been produced by the policy scan.
The MenEngage Africa Network shares such results among its partners, especially those within the country relevant to the policy scan. A number of different activities could then be planned to take forward the results of the policy scan. These can include:
- Organizing meetings with government officials or policy-makers to influence new policy development, discuss the adjustment of existing policies, or persuade government officials to prioritise particular programme approaches or services.
- Making submissions and commenting on drafts when new policies are being developed.
- Informing the public and opinion leaders about a particular issue and mobilizing them to apply pressure on those who can take action.
- Creating support among community members and generating demand for the implementation of particular programme approaches or services.
- Developing mechanisms to hold government to account and to monitor the implementation of policies and commitments, and creating pressure for the necessary resources to be made available.
International Men and Gender Equality Study (IMAGES) in Zambia and Eastern DRC
The United Nations has continuously called for engaging men and boys in gender equality. Measurement of progress on the Millennium Development Goals reveals that progress has been made in empowering women. However, progress in areas that require engaging men – reducing violence against women, increasing women’s income relative to men’s, and reducing inequalities related to the care burden – is left far behind.
Sonke Gender Justice Network and MenEngage Africa, in collaboration with Instituto Promundo, will, with funding from the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida), conduct an International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES) in Zambia and the Eastern DRC.
The purpose of the IMAGES study is to build understanding of men’s practices and attitudes related to gender equality in order to inform, drive and monitor both policy development and interventions to promote gender equality. The results of IMAGES are expected to be used:
- To feed into future national and regional policy briefs and recommendations;
- As a baseline for future interventions on gender equality, particularly those engaging men and boys, by MenEngage Africa, its partners and other interested organisations;
- To support the work of UN agencies and other Non-Governmental Organisations within Zambia and across the region.
The in-country lead researcher or organisation is in the process of being identified. The survey will also be undertaken in collaboration with Instituto Promundo and the Zambia National Women’s League Men’s Network. Overall coordination and support will be undertaken by Sonke Gender Justice Network, South Africa.
As advisory group with national partners will also provide input to the process.
About the IMAGES study
Originally developed by Instituto Promundo and the International Center for Research on Women, IMAGES is a quantitative and anonymous household survey which has been previously conducted in seven countries on different continents (including Rwanda and South Africa). It includes questions regarding key areas for gender equality such as men’s attitudes and practices related to; health, division of labour in the family, caregiving, awareness of existing laws and policies, transactional sex and gender-based violence.
The results from the previous surveys reveal that change seems to be happening as younger men and men with higher levels of education show more gender-equitable attitudes and practices. Men who report more gender-equitable attitudes are more likely to be happy and to talk to their partners. Women who report that their partners participate in daily care work report higher levels of relationship satisfaction. In most sites, younger men and men with more inequitable gender attitudes are more likely to regularly abuse alcohol.
The data is also very useful for e.g. understanding the extent of and the factors involved in men’s use of violence and demand for sex work and sexual exploitation. Factors associated with men’s use of violence were according to the study rigid gender attitudes, work stress, experiences of violence in childhood and alcohol use.
Activities to be undertaken in Zambia and Eastern DRC
The upcoming activities in Zambia include:
- Identifying partners to form a national research team and an advisory group as well as securing the engagement of government officials in the process.
- Holding a planning meeting to establish a work plan, discuss the proposed methodology, and identify technical assistance needs during the study.
- Developing research instruments in collaboration with the research team.
- Implementing and collecting data for the IMAGES study.
- Producing a report and sharing the results widely, including through a dissemination meeting.
MenEngage Africa Symposium
Strengthening Capacity of Civil Society and Government to Work with Men and Boys on Gender-Based Violence and HIV. In partnership with Swedish International Development Agency (SIDA), The Commonwealth Foundation, UNICEF ESARO Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa and the Ford Foundation
5 - 9 October, 2009
Turbine Hall, Johannesburg, South Africa
With over 240 delegates representing 25 African countries attending the Symposium, the MenEngage Africa Symposium was a huge success. Delegates attended a range of panel discussions, participated in skills building sessions and developed detailed workplans for their regions and countries.
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Gary Barker (ICRW) and Dean Peacock (Sonke) present at the MenEngage Africa Symposium in Johannesburg.
Sonke Gender Justice Network is a South African NGO working with men and boys across Africa to promote gender transformation, human rights and social justice.
MenEngage is a global alliance of NGOs and UN agencies that seeks to engage boys and men to achieve gender equality. Members include more than 400 NGOs from Sub-Saharan Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Asia and Europe.
Presentations
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ME Africa Symposium videos
Day 1, Opening Plenary: Introduction and Frame Issues
Day 1, Plenary Learning from Women's Rights Organisations
Day 1, Plenary Context for Global MenEngage and Follow-On Work
Day 3, Plenary Work with Men and Boys: Emerging Practice
Day 4, Regional Meetings, South Africa
Day 4, Plenary, Engaging with the Media
Fatherhood
This project aims to celebrate men who care by profiling South African fathers in the local media. My Dad Can forms part of the international MenCare campaign being spearheaded by MenEngage. It is a national media drive to identify positive local role models and profile them in the media as examples of good, involved fathers, funded by First National Bank and First for Women.
OMC Community Radio Project
Through a grant from the Canadian government (CIDA) Sonke is formally partnering with 12 community radio stations in six of South Africa’s provinces. Sonke has provided radio station staff with training on gender and HIV and has developed a series of One Man Can radio episode guidelines to form the basis of weekly radio shows that promote male involvement in issues relating to gender equality and HIV.
OMC Access to Justice Project
Sonke and the Thoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme have partnered to support victim empowerment in Limpopo province, and especially to include men and boys in advocacy and support initiatives.
OMC Klipfontein Health Project
Sonke has been funded by the Western Cape Department of Health to raise awareness and promote health services to men in the Klipfontein district. This includes raising awareness about HIV and AIDS and the related services available in the area, such as councilling and testing.
OMC Prisons Project
The Prisons project works with prisoners in the Western Cape on issues of health, offering training, hosting events and collaborates with the provincial Department of Correctional Services.
OMC Refugee Health and Rights Project
Sonke's work with refugees and migrants focuses on addressing the specific gender and HIV vulnerabilities of refugees and migrants, on challenging xenophobia and the frequent violations of rights faced by refugees and migrants and on advocating for access to vital health and social services. Currently Sonke implements the Refugee Health and Rights Programme in Johannesburg and Cape Town.
OMC Medical Male Circumcision Project
Sonke strongly supports medical male circumcision (MMC) as a measure for preventing HIV transmission. This position is informed by the increasing body of evidence which shows that MMC can reduce the changes of infection by as much as 60%. With this in mind, Sonke has recently launch a small project to promote MMC amongst urban young men in South Africa. The project is being carried out in partnership with Artists Proof Studios (APS).
OMC Soccer Project
As part of our commitment to strengthening the capacity of partner organisations, Sonke is working closely with three organisations in the Soweto and Alexandra townships of Johannesburg to host a series of soccer tournaments that are accompanied by Sonke trainings. The aims of this work are to increase their skills and scope in working with men and boys on gender equality and HIV and AIDS. The project is funded by Oxfam GB and has been running since 2007.
Community Mobilisation - Bushbuckridge
Until 2014, Dumisani Rebombo is running the One Man Can (OMC) project at our new satellite office in Bushbuckridge, Limpopo. The project forms part of a four-year randomised control trial being undertaken by Wits, UCSF, UNC and ??? and seeks to show how Sonke's OMC community mobilisation model can reduce the levels of violence in these communities and ultimately reduce the levels of HIV infection amongst young women.
