Sixteen Days of No Violence against Women approaching

The Sixteen Days of Activism campaign is upon us. This is the period 25 November and 10 December when activists raise awareness around gender violence. This year’s global theme is 16 Days campaign is Structures of Violence: Defining the intersections of Militarism and Violence against Women. However NGOs in Southern Africa will launch the global theme under the banner: War and peace at home and in the region. Click here to read through Gender Links – Sixteen Days. https://www.genderlinks.org.za/page/16-days-of-activism-2010

The focus of this year’s 16 Days activities is to take stock of achievements in addressing violence against women. The overarching theme for this year is ‘Score a goal for gender equality: Halve gender based violence by 2015′ which is also the main target around GBV in the SADC Gender Protocol. There will be a focus on actions at local government level through the Gender Links Centres of Excellence for Gender Mainstreaming in Local Government that are currently being rolled out across the SADC region. Gender Links wishes to extend the 16 Days of Activism beyond big cities and towns to reach communities in more remote areas that are usually marginalised and left out of such campaigns and this will form one of the organisations’ key indicators of success. A call for good practices on addressing gender based violence at the local level that will be showcased at the March 2011 Gender Justice and Local Government Summit will be linked to the 16 Days Campaign where documentation of the case studies will begin.

Visit the Gender Links Website to view the call and report of the first Gender Justice and Local Government Summit that took place in March 2010.

As per tradition the role of media in ending gender based violence will come under spotlight during the campaign. This will include a reflection on the findings of the Gender and Media Progress Study with special attention to the chapter on media coverage of gender based violence. Country launches of the study will also take place. GL’s Opinion and commentary articles will also be published daily on the GL website and distributed to mainstream media in the region and beyond based on the theme of the day.

A key sub theme will be “Making IT work 4 gender justice”. The latest accessible information technology including online chats, face book and twitter will be used to ensure that all stakeholders remain linked up across geographical boundaries throughout the campaign. We will also send SMSes throughout the region with announcements and updates for each day’s activities and themes.

Click here for the regional schedule of cyber dialogues. https://www.genderlinks.org.za/page/16-days-of-activism-2010