Background

In September 2003, Raising Voices and UN-Habitat’s Safer Cities Program hosted a Regional Dialogue in Kampala that brought together over 30 GBV prevention activists and practitioners from 10 countries to share experiences and create relationships with others involved in regional GBV prevention work. During discussions it became clear that we needed a space to connect and share.

Participants highlighted:

  • The lack of deeply-needed connection, sharing, learning, and networking with other like-minded organizations.
  • The extreme challenge of accessing regionally-developed resources and materials.
  • The need of a space to share programs, approaches, strategies and ideas on GBV prevention.

So, the GBV Prevention Network was born! The Network’s dual purpose would be:

  1. Increasing regional exchange of resources and information.
  2. Highlighting to other activists, practitioners, donors, policy makers, and researchers, that GBV prevention efforts are growing in strength throughout the region.

The group asked Raising Voices to coordinate this Network, and Raising Voices has been doing this work since that time.

View a list of Regional Dialogue Participants here.

Why Prevention?

Prevention of GBV is still relatively new in the region – there is much to learn and share about quality and effective approaches. The Network exists to foster the development of this new and emerging field.

The Network aims to build a primary prevention movement in the Horn, East and Southern Africa – to foster a groundswell of activists and activism across the region, all seeking to create positive change.

The Network seeks to facilitate community action to change the norms that perpetuate violence—thereby addressing violence before it occurs. This is done by sharing information and resources, and by facilitating communication between organizations that seek to change the underlying cause of violence.