Growing Collaborative Relationships Between Government and Civil Society in Kwa-Zulu Natal

“I believe such sisterhood relationships must be encouraged in order to improve coordination and stakeholder relations across all sectors.”

The Office on the Status of Women and Children is a directorate within the Office of the Premier is responsible for the coordination of women empowerment programmes and Gender Based Violence and Femicide.

A multisector team made up of government, civil society, municipalities and private sector can only successfully implement this work. The Office of the Premier has formed a very good partnership with We Will Speak Out and KZN Network who are active members of the Provincial Gender Machinery and the Provincial Gender Based Violence and Femicide Technical Working group.

The GBVF Technical Working group is a committee made up of government departments and civil society members who meet on a monthly basis to address high-level GBVF cases in the province. The GBVF TWG also operates as the Provincial GBVF Rapid response team. Reported cases are captured, tracked and compiled into a report by the TWG secretariat.

KZN Network, We Will Speak Out and the Office on the Status of Women and Children have formed a partnership on the Speak Out campaign, which aims to educate community members on GBVF and promote GBVF screening using a standardised tool. KZN Network through their network partners promote the GBVF screening tool in all districts, academic institutions and relevant structures, and We Will Speak Out will circulate the link through its faith networks. All cases of GBVF will be collated and submitted to District GBVF TWG for further handling.

The support I have received personally from Ms Cookie Edwards is heart-warming and inspirational. She is a very understanding person and a true activist. I enjoy every conversation with her. We have broken the professional boundaries which divide us and created spaces where we are able to motivate each other as people who have been given an enormous role to look after the community of KwaZulu Natal.

I believe such sisterhood relationships must be encouraged in order to improve coordination and stakeholder relations across all sectors.