Portal on Gender-Based Violence in Africa Expanded with ADRF Support

Update |

The Covid-19 pandemic has been marked by a sharp increase in gender-based violence (GBV) in Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, as well as other countries around the world. This has been largely attributed to lockdown restrictions, which have isolated victims in the same physical space as their abusers, reduced availability of shelters and other support mechanisms, and exacerbated economic anxiety and mental health pressures – all major drivers of GBV.

The pandemic also accelerated digitalization, which increased the scope of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV). According to UN Women, online abuse, harassment and exploitation increased in Africa as learning moved online during the pandemic. Similar concerns about online harms are discussed in the African Union’s Guidelines for Gender-Responsive Responses to COVID-19.

Alt Advisory, a South Africa-based public interest consultancy, launched endgbv.africa as a resource for domestic and international responses to GBV online and offline before, during and after the pandemic. When it launched in 2022, the portal featured GBV maps and assessments on legal and policy developments, trends and statistics, as well as key terminologies on six African countries: Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

With a grant from the Africa Digital Rights Fund (ADRF) – an initiative of the Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa (CIPESA) – Alt Advisory has revamped and expanded the portal to cover an additional seven countries – Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Mauritius, Nigeria and Uganda. The project also features a spotlight series on the experiences of sexual minorities in Botswana and Uganda.

The new seven-country factsheets were developed in collaboration with researchers from different fields, with multidisciplinary perspectives on GBV, expanding the breadth of information on organisations and movements previously unknown due to varying degrees of online visibility. This collaborative approach has strengthened the regional network of gender rights advocates across national borders.

“We hope that the project’s focus on TFGBV has enabled researchers to develop their own insights into emerging forms of harm, which could potentially enrich future policy advocacy in their contexts,” said S’lindile Khumalo, Senior Associate at Alt Advisory.

Alt Advisory’s Equity and Inclusion and Media teams are working to spread the word about the portal to maximize its adoption and impact. The firm will also continue to fundraise to expand the portal’s coverage across the African continent and translate resources to increase its relevance and accessibility to a diverse audience. All of this is in tandem with efforts in law and policy reform, advocacy and activism on GBV and related issues. “As the portal continues to evolve, we hope it will contribute to ending GBV in our lifetime,” Khumalo concluded.