The Implementation Collaborative of the Gender-based Violence and Femicide National Strategic Plan (GBVF-NSP) is piloting the 100-Day Challenge as a way to fast-track the implementation of the national strategic plan at local level.
The first leadership design session in preparation of the launch of the 100-Day Challenge took place at the AFM Deo Doxa in Stateway, Welkom, on Thursday (27/01).
This session was attended by 22 participants, who represented the government, community-based oranisations and non-governmental organisations.
During the sessions local ambassadors devised a challenge that will have a lasting impact on the response to GBVF, as well as the care and support of victims’ families and survivors.
Their focus will be to work within the South African Police Service, the Victim Empowerment Programme and court systems to strengthen and support victims, survivors and their families.
This will include psychosocial and legal support which will make it easier for them to navigate the system and access justice.
“I was absolutely delighted with the degree of collaboration and the intensity and transparency with which the stakeholders engaged,” said Tracey Kotzen, ambassador of the the GBVF-NSP and part of the facilitation team at the event.
“I noted with great excitement that 50% of the participants were men, which I thought was a powerful statement about the accountability of the community.”
According to Candice Ludick, communications coordinator of the 100-Day Challenge, the challenges are structured journeys for frontline teams and leaders that are designed to inspire and enable intense collaboration, continuous innovation and fast and disciplined execution.
GBVF was declared a national crisis in 2019 following the first-ever GBVF Summit on the African continent in 2018.
The GBVF-NSP was developed in consultation with all stakeholders and published at the beginning of 2020.
Ever since, the GBVF-NSP Multisectoral Implementation Collaborative – the largest single volunteer network in South Africa – has been working tirelessly to build the capacity to bring this plan to action.
