16 Days activities

During the 16 Days campaign, GL staff in Botswana will also be participating in the 16 Days activities organised by the Women’s Affairs Departement and BOCONGO.

The national commemoration by WAD took place in Nata on 27 November. It started with a march, followed by an official launch by the Minister of Labour and Home affairs, P. Siele.

BOCONGO hosted a “Gender Pitso” from 22 to 24 November, where all gender stakeholders came together to discuss progress made and developed a strategy to move forward with the gender agenda in Botswana.

Cyber Dialogues kick off with media debate
Botswana kicked off the 16 Days activities with a media discussion on whether the media are contributing to ending GBV. Several media houses attended the discussion. Panellists from the Press Council of Botswana and the Women’s Shelter spoke about their experiences with the media and speaking out as survivors of GBV.

Shupiwe Letso from the Women’s Shelter revealed that between April and June, the shelter counselled 127 people, 29 of whom are men. Between July and September, 70 people were counselled. The shelter does not have sufficient resources to accommodate all the people that come to the drop-in centre, but a second branch was recently opened in Molepolole.

Letso stated that the shelter is mainly a place where people can come to find relief from an abusive situation and get counselling. She emphasised that they do not always expect an abusive relationship to end because sometimes people simply need a space to think quietly and make the right decision.

Matshidiso Morewane from the Press Council of Botswana spoke about their participation at the GEM Summit in Johannesburg and how the media can get more female sources in their stories, for example through a directory of women’s sources.

During the Cyber Dialogues, most of the participants shared the views that were expressed in the face-to-face discussion, albeit at an online and regional level. Many people enjoyed the international dialogue, especially the contributions from Namibia and Zambia.

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