Project Summary
Gender based violence in Namibia is constantly increasing day by day and nearly all this crimes are committed by men. This project aims at educating young men on the effects gender base violence has on the victims and communities.
The project will bring together 40 young people from all the 13 regions to one central point where this young people will receive training on issues relating to gender based violence. Once this young people receive training they will act as peer educators in their communities, the project will also run educational campaigns with the help of the peer educators through the country.
Background information
Gender-based violence is violence that is related to the way men and woman are expected to behave. It could be that a woman is beaten for failing to cook the dinner on time, or a man has to prove his manhood by showing aggression to a woman. Gender-based violence can be directed at children, adults or the elderly. A boy-child may be beaten if he cries because men are not supposed to show emotion. An elderly woman may be beaten if she fails to care for her children and her grandchildren, because traditionally elderly women are supposed to do this.
Gender-based violence is common in Namibia. According to the Legal Assistance centre It is estimated that one in five women are in an abusive relationship. “Hidden” issues such as witchcraft are also common in Namibia, although information on these issues is difficult to obtain as few people are willing to admit that such beliefs exist. Witchcraft can be related to gender-based violence because a man or a woman may use the threat of witchcraft to control another person according to the way he or she is supposed to behave, according to a gender stereotype. Statistics report the number of people directly affected by abuse, but they do not show the impact that violence has on family members, the community and even society as a whole. Children exposed to violence may experience emotional and behavioral problems, either immediately or later in life, and may come to believe that violence is acceptable. Neighbors, family members and community members may live their lives in fear of abuse. The increased use of police time, medical care and loss of productivity affects society at large. Abusers are also affected by the violence they commit, as they often lose the respect of their family and their self-respect. Some people think that gender-based violence is part of their culture. Although this can be true, information collected at the workshops in all 13 regions of Namibia showed that the same types of gender-based violence are present in many of the cultures in Namibia. This suggests that gender based violence is often not really about culture but simply about the need for one person to dominate another.
Culture is not something that stays still, it changes over time. If people assess what their culture was like one hundred or two hundred years ago, they will see that there are many differences between the past and the present. Just because something was done in the past, does not mean it has to happen in the present. This means that people do not have to blame their culture for the level of gender-based violence in their community. Culture can and does change.
Both men and women can be victims of gender-based violence. However, data shows that women are more likely than men to be victims of this kind of violence. There are several reasons for this: Men are often physically stronger than women. This can make it easier for a man to physically abuse a woman, than for a woman to physically abuse a man. In many cultures in Namibia, the traditional role of a woman is to serve the man. If the woman fails to do what the man wants, it is considered acceptable that the man should beat the woman.
Project Aims & Objectives
To create a campaign on gender base violence that targets young males between the ages of 18-35, and reach out to more than 2 000 males before the end of July 2011.
Principles and guidelines for managing resources
Resources are the most important thing that will determine if the project is successful, hence the project manager will work closely with the volunteer and partners in the project to make sure that the resources are maintained well and utilize to the highest potential this will be achieved by:
Time: planning the time well and making sure that project deadlines are met, the project team will also have regular meetings to make sure that the project is going as planned.
Money: All fund that the project receives will be deposited in the groups bank account, the finance officer under the supervision of the project manager will make sure that all finances are spend well and the whole money can be account for. S/He will also be responsible to submit the financial report that will be submitted to the donors.
People: All project staff and volunteers will have a job description so that they clearly know what is expected of them, they will also be presented with calendars so that they can tick off what they have succeeded in an they failed to do. As a project manager I intend on circulating information amongst my staff and volunteers to make sure they are well up to date with the project. Every Saturday the project members will come together to discuss their problems and success as well as to make sure that everything is going as planned.
Project Activities
Methodology: The projects will be take place in the 13 different regions of Namibia using different methods, the main idea is to bring 40 young males (3 from each region) to the capital city and train them as peer educators in gender base violence, after the training we expect them to go back to their regions and share the information they gained. The project will also do other awareness campaign such as sending short text massages to people and writing comic books for youths.
A time line: The project will run for a period of six months as from the 1 March to the 31 July 2011
Description of activities:
The activities are as follows:
Month | Activity | Description | Person responsible |
March | - Meeting with all stakeholders - Identify project team - Plan the workshop | All the stakeholders involved in the meeting will meet at one central point to discuss on how the project will be carried out. They will then identify the staff and volunteers that will work on the project, after the selection the team will start planning the workshop. | Michael Silvia John |
April | - Set a selection criteria - Ask stakeholders to suggest possible candidates - Screening and selecting the participant | The project team will set a selection criteria , ask the candidates to send us possible names of participants, they will then finally screen the applications and select the best candidates | Dawaro Michael Luwis Ricardo Andreas Andy Paul Sam Mellisa Pandu |
May | - Workshop | The 40 young people will come to the 3 day workshop to learn more about gender base violence and look at ways that they can be agents of change in their communities. | All staff and volunteers |
June | - Writing up the comic book - Sms Campains - Posters - Flayers | The different young people in the regions will run short campaigns using the materials and the skills that they gained in the workshop, | All |
July | Monitoring and Evaluation | All members will be involved in the Monitoring and evaluation to measure the impact of the project. | Participants, stakeholders, volunteers, staff |
Beneficiaries: the project aims at directly impacting 40 male participants and indirectly impacting 2 000 young people in Namibia.
Stakeholders: Women’s and child protection, National Youth Council, Catholic aids action, City police, Legal Assistance Centre
Volunteers: All Young Achievers members will volunteer their time and services.
Finances
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Monitoring and Evaluation
Indicators of achievement:
Objective: 40 young males have been trained as peed educators in gender base violence.
· 40 young people have been trained as peer leaders
· Successful project done by beneficiaries in their regions
· A decrease in gender base violence in Namibia
Evidence Required | How often | By who |
Number or participants that start the training | At the beginning of the project | Joe |
Number of participants that finish the projects | At the end of the project | Mammie |
Evaluation questionnaire | At the end of the project | Ester |
Photographs and videos of their mobilization projects in the regions | At the end of the project | Project partners |
Short texted massages from the public | At the beginning and at the end of the project | Michael |
Base line information: the youths coming from the regions should do small studies with young people how they understand gender base violence, they will then all bring together this information when they attend the workshop. The group will discuss how gender base valance can be stop by involving the community especially young men who are not really interested in this topic.
Evaluation techniques: the evaluation process will be done using different methods. Participating members will fill out an evaluation form before they start with the training and then one at the end of the training, we will also have a line were young people can send in their questions or contributions. All participants will also have to submit their reports as to what they did after they received the training and the small grant to do their projects in their communities.
Analyzing of information: The whole information collected from the evaluation will be analyzed by the project manager and participants of the project, answers from the questionnaires will be quantified in graphs and charts, which show the response from the project participants. The final project report will also contain the success of the project, challenges and how future projects can be improved.
Reporting on outcomes/learning: The final project will be compiled by Young Achievers with the help of partners, once it has been compiled it will be submitted to the project donors as well as shared with all the stakeholders involved in the project, the members also plan on publishing a journal with the outcomes of the project.
