Factsheet: What are men doing about gender-based violence in Zimbabwe?

The fight against gender-based violence has largely been promoted by women organisations and activists, but their also some male-led and focused initiatives aimed at raising awareness among men around this problem. Zimbabwe’s 2023 theme, for the world commemoration of 16 Days of Activism Against GBV (Nov 25-Dec 10), is “UNITE! Invest to Prevent Violence against Women and Girls”.

This is a factsheet on advocacy initiatives and organisations whose objectives are to sensitise men on the subject of Gender-Based Violence (GBV).

Padare/Enkundleni/Men’s Forum on Gender

Padare/Enkundleni/Men’s Forum on Gender is an anti- gender and domestic violence social movement for men that was established with the sole purpose of addressing violence against women by challenging patriarchal practices, and promoting positive masculinities.

The organisation’s programmes include empowering communities through advocacy, training, and engaging men over problems of GBV, sharing knowledge on laws about domestic violence, naming and shaming harmful cultural practices and engaging traditional leaders.

Padare also promotes “referral pathways” to encourage all cases of violence to be reported to, and investigated by the police. The organisation has set itself to provide general thought leadership on how to engage men to help promote gender equality, tackle GBV as part of a drive towards inclusive social and economic development in Africa.

Padare says some of its key programmes include:

Walking in our daughter’s shoes: This programme challenged traditionally held beliefs about the girl child by helping men to seriously question their roles in the social development of their daughters. Through trainings and discussions, Padare says men are beginning to realise the role they play in the lives of their daughters.

Community Commitment Charters – This initiative recruits men to contribute towards denouncing harmful cultural practices contributing to GBV in Zimbabwe and Africa generally. Padare is promoting Dialogue and Discussions to help communities deal with GBV, mostly against women and girls.

Men Engage Zimbabwe

The organisation works with men and boys to address gender equality, reduce violence and the rights of women and girls by confronting complex issues like culture, human rights and stigma.

Some of the initiatives by Men Engage Zimbabwe include:

Engaging men and boys to address issues of male violence against women
Enhancing the capacity of traditional leaders and religious leaders in strengthening socio-cultural practices that promote gender equality in Zimbabwe
Carrying out community sensitivity workshops, trainings and dialogues on positive masculinities, male violence against women
Working with young boys through schools programmes in ending violence in schools specifically against girls.
Engaging, partnering and networking with women’s only organisations that work on the areas around women empowerment and gender based violence.

Men 4 Equality

The major objective of Men 4 Equality is to establish a critical mass of boys and men to promote and expand the gains of gender-mainstreaming. Part of the organisation’s work includes encouraging men and boys to be champions of gender equality.

Its initiatives and trainings include:

Movement Building #GenderEqualitySpaces (Cross cutting creation of male safe spaces that promote Social and Gender Norms Transformation)
Gender Equality Cubs (Boys Program to foster transformative masculinities)
Transformative Masculinities Knowledge Management (Advocacy, Research and documentation to cater for current and emerging issues and the Exemplary Males Initiative for positive masculinities mentorship)
“#KutsvaKwendebvu” – a men’s group chat on WhatsApp, under the hashtag circle, the purpose of the group is to discuss about manhood and that’s how they educate other men to raise a better generation.
Dialogues where they challenging patriarchy norms, traditional cultures that are the spearhead of (GBV) to many women in Zimbabwe and Africa at large and also promoting positive masculinities.

The purpose of these trainings and programmes is reaching towards the elimination of gender bias and to foster a gender-just society through provision of requisite information, services and support.

Fathers Against Abuse

Fathers Against Abuse is an organization that seeks to engage men and boys in the fight against gender-based violence.

Nurturing emotional intelligence while breaking down harmful gender norms

The programme is aimed at empowering the next generation to embrace gender equality, equity and respect for women by equipping young boys and men with tools to challenge gender stereotypes and to combat toxic masculinity. The programme is targeted at boys and young men aged 15 to 25. Its programmes include training in communication skills and management of emotions, as a way of fighting the problem of GBV against women and towards building a more balanced society.

UNESCO AND SAFAIDS

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and Southern Africa AIDS Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS) partnered in a project titled: ‘Involving men and boys in gender equality in Zimbabwe’. The project aimed at facilitating more gender-equitable and equal communities in Zimbabwe through training and sustainable dialogue with men that allows them to reflect on cultural and religious practices that undermine women. This is premised on research findings that show that culture and religion are the main drivers of GBV.

Gender Links

Gender Links is currently partnering with seven grantees in the #VoiceandChoice Southern Africa Fund in their “I am a Man, I can” campaign during the 2023 Sixteen Days of Activism Campaign.

This campaign aims to raise awareness about GBV, and encouraging men to publicly stand against gender based violence. The content is structured to educate, engage, and encourage men to actively support survivors and contribute to creating a safe society. Subsequent content focuses on educating men about their role in ending GBV, understanding consent, intervening as bystanders, and questioning their own actions to prevent sexual assault on women.

Roots

On 27 November, Roots in Zimbabwe hosted a “twitter rally” on GBV. A panel of four men, from Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Lesotho led a lively discussion on the problem of gender based violence. The conversation was recorded and shared on Twitter Host Account @roots_africa. The discussion focused on how men can contribute towards ending GBV in their communities.