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FM AMEMBASSY PRETORIA
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RUEHDU/AMCONSUL DURBAN PRIORITY 1663
RUEHJO/AMCONSUL JOHANNESBURG PRIORITY 9952

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PRETORIA 000354 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM AID SA
SUBJECT: S/GWI PROJECT PROPOSALS: CHALLENGING CULTURE AND 
CREATING OPPORTUNITY 
 
REF: SECSTATE 132094 
 
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SUMMARY 
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¶1. (U) Post is honored to nominate Justice and Women's (JAW) 
Impepe (Blow the Whistle) Campaign and Malibongwe's 
Empowerment and Training Centre for the Secretary's Office of 
Global Women's Issues small grants initiative. In a country 
where one in three women can expect to be raped in her 
lifetime, JAW's campaign takes the novel approach of 
challenging the deep cultural practices and beliefs that 
exacerbate the crisis of sexual violence, involving 
traditional leaders, youth groups, government and police in 
their solution.  To address the plight of unemployed and 
formerly homeless young mothers, as well as women just 
released from prison, Malibongwe's training center offers 
life skills counseling, job readiness and entrepreneurship 
classes and a micro-enterprise program that teaches women to 
develop profitable and sustainable small businesses. 
Together, these projects address two ofthe most debilitating 
problems facing South African women: one of the highest 
incidences of rape in the world and an unemployment rate for 
women of just over 25 percent.  Out of a pool of more than 50 
applications, these two proposals best address these priority 
issues with initiatives that are creative, sustainable and 
have the potential to be replicated to reach a broader 
community.  The projects are presented in priority order. End 
summary. 
 
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JAW'S BLOW THE WHISTLE CAMPAIGN: PROBLEM STATEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- ------ 
 
¶2. (U) In South Africa, victims of sexual violence are unable 
to access support at a community level or from government 
providers.  Rural women and girls in particular are excluded 
from health services and legal recourse because customary 
practices and beliefs dictate that victims must keep silent 
about rape and sexual abuse.  Traditional communities believe 
that rape and sexual violence are "family matters" that must 
be dealt with privately.  Consequently, women do not report 
rape and the practice of paying damages or compensation to 
the victim's family is the typical response. Additionally, 
communities already traumatized by extreme poverty, HIV/AIDS 
and high levels of crime and violence do not have the 
capacity to respond to crimes of sexual violence in a humane, 
compassionate and cooperative way. Communities also struggle 
to hold police and health care providers accountable for 
service provision to victims. 
 
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION: BREAKING THE SILENCE 
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¶3. (U) The Impepe project was born out of experience.  In 
August 2009, nine men gang raped a teenage girl in Yanguye at 
gun point in front of her family, sparking a crisis for the 
local JAW staff.  For the first time, the organization had to 
directly confront a situation involving the community in 
which they lived and worked.  The staff of JAW feared taking 
action as they were afraid of retaliatory violence, but 
recognized they had to respond.  Ultimately, JAW staffers 
found the courage to address the practical needs of the 
victim and her family as well as address the deep culture 
which bred the violence. They held a series of community 
meetings, one of which used forum theatre methodology to 
encourage participants to discuss the rape with the 
characters in the drama.  This unique approach led the 
participants to acknowledge the community's silence about 
Qparticipants to acknowledge the community's silence about 
rape and begin to explore ways to take a visible stand 
against gender based violence.  Outcomes included a decision 
to reinstate defunct community policing structures and a 
community march involving 300 youth.  As a continuation of 
the work they began last year, JAW proposes to work 
collaboratively with two rural communities and local 
government service providers over 18 months to develop a 
sustainable, democratic and cooperative response system that 
supports victims of sexual abuse and violence to access their 
constitutional rights to bodily integrity, dignity, gender 
equality, sexual and reproductive health, health care, police 
protection and legal support. 
 
¶4. (U)  JAW seeks to build the capacity of Yanguye and one 
other rural community to respond to rape and sexual violence 
rather than building dependence on NGOs and external 
resources to maintain the intervention.  They propose to: 1) 
build awareness for rights of sexual assault survivors at a 
community level; 2) build the capacity of traditional leaders 
 
PRETORIA 00000354  002 OF 003 
 
 
and formal community structures such as Community Policing 
Forums (CPF) to take action on sexual violence against women 
and children and 3) build cooperation between communities and 
local government structures to improve service delivery to 
victims.  They will achieve these desired outcomes through 1) 
community legal literacy training on the Sexual Offenses Act 
and related issues including sexual and reproductive rights, 
police, legal and health support services for victims and 
prevention and identification of sexual abuse of children and 
2) community conversation and informal "tea sharing" groups 
in homes to surface cultural practices, rebuild social 
connections and rejuvenate the community's sense of 
compassion and ability to support others.  JAW will conduct 
similar legal training and conversations with traditional 
leaders and Community Policing Forums.  They will also train 
the leaders and CPFs to build referral systems between all 
stakeholders and to monitor state service provision and 
community practices with the goal of devising appropriate 
interventions when breakdowns occur.  JAW will measure their 
performance in terms of the numbers of community members and 
leaders who complete the training, the numbers of CPFs 
successfully rejuvenated or newly formed, the numbers of 
incidences reported through the referral systems and through 
statistics on the numbers of community cases processed 
through the law enforcement, health and judicial systems. 
 
¶5. (U) JAW requests $91,000 to conduct this project over an 
18-month period.  Out of this total, $50,890 will be spent on 
project staffing costs consisting of a project manager and 
assistant, a senior coordinator, a facilitator and five 
mentors and interns.  JAW budgeted $17,802 for workshop costs 
such as venue hire and materials, $11,273 for monitoring and 
evaluation and $10,604 for operating costs. Post is using a 
rate of R7.60 = $1.00 
 
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RECIPIENT: LOCAL GENDER JUSTICE ORGANIZATION 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (U) Justice and Women (JAW) is a local, registered 
non-profit organization in existence since 1997.  JAW has 14 
staff members, of which 11 are women.  It is managed by Jenny 
Bell, a social worker with 15 years experience in the NGO 
sector.  Attorney Amber Howard Cornelius coordinates JAW's 
Access to Justice Program and supervises 3 paralegals, a 
community development facilitator and seven community 
interns.  They are accountable to a board of trustees which 
meets on a quarterly basis to review organizational 
activities and expenditures and make management decisions. 
The organization has financial management, procurement and 
employment policies in place which inform all management 
decisions.  The chairperson of JAW Trust, Charmane Pillay, is 
a family law attorney in private practice who is the national 
gender convener for the National Democratic Lawyers 
Association and an Acting High Court Judge.  In accordance 
with JAW's constitution, all trustees are women from diverse 
backgrounds who work in the legal, NGO and governmental 
sectors. JAW's work has been supported by Oxfam, the Joseph 
Roundtree Charitable Trust, the Open Society Foundation and 
UNODC. 
 
¶7. (U) The Human Rights Officer in conjunction with the 
Community Grants Office will manage the grant.  The Impepe 
campaign will complement the Mission's Women's Justice and 
Empowerment (WJEI) programs, especially as they relate to 
police training on the handling of sexual offense cases and 
Qpolice training on the handling of sexual offense cases and 
the Thuthuzela Care Center (TCC) model.  It will also 
complement PEPFAR programming where the legal literacy 
training touches on sexual rights and the prevention of HIV 
infection. 
 
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MALIBONGWE'S EMPOWERMENT AND TRAINING CENTRE: PROBLEM 
STATEMENT 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
¶8. (U) In South Africa, more than two million people are 
homeless, with one in four South Africans living in squalor 
and sub-standard accommodations.  Many of these families are 
headed by disadvantaged young mothers who lack job skills or 
prospects.  They are forced to live in unsafe conditions and 
engage in risky behaviors in order to survive and provide for 
their children.  Additionally, with women comprising five to 
eight percent of the prison population, former inmates are 
swelling the ranks of the homeless. Although government and 
NGOs offer services to assist the homeless, young mothers and 
the recently incarcerated with immediate needs, few programs 
exist to assist these women in reaching their full potential 
and reintegrating into society. 
 
 
PRETORIA 00000354  003 OF 003 
 
 
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PROJECT DESCRIPTION: SKILLS AND JOBS 
------------------------------------ 
 
¶9. (U) Malibongwe plans to partner with three other 
non-profit organizations to offer an 18-month pilot program 
to address this gap in services for women in Pretoria and 
Johannesburg in the province of Gauteng.  They propose a day 
program that will target not only unemployed and formerly 
homeless women, but also women who are former prison inmates. 
 The Empowerment and Training Center will be a safe space for 
women to heal from past abuse and learn how to make more 
positive life choices through counseling and mentoring. 
Additionally, the Center will offer job readiness courses, 
arts and crafts training and entrepreneurship skills in the 
context of a micro-enterprise program. 
 
¶10. (U) Malibongwe's pilot project aims to mentor an initial 
group of 30 women, followed mid-year by a second group of 40 
women.  Partnering with Joy Bringers, a non-profit 
organization which focuses on transforming the lives of 
prisoners, Malibongwe will offer classes and individual 
counseling on life and parenting skills, anger management, 
abuse recovery, art therapy and a re-entry group for 
ex-offenders.  Each woman in the pilot groups will be given a 
mentor who will help her develop a realistic plan to become 
self-sufficient.  In collaboration with St. Augustine College 
in Victory Park, the Center will also offer job readiness 
courses in resume preparation, interviewing skills and basic 
computer skills.  The staff of Malibongwe will also train the 
women in original arts and crafts design and creation for 
resale with retail outlets already identified in local 
airports and tourist areas. Junior Achievement South Africa 
will partner with the Center to run an intensive business 
program where the women will start and run their own 
businesses after selecting a product or service.  The 
participants will be grouped by interest into 
micro-enterprises of five women each and taught how to create 
and sustain a small business.  They will use the traditional 
"Stovkel", or savings club, model with each group member 
contributing a set sum weekly and receiving a payout once a 
year to grow her business. Malibongwe will measure the 
pilot's performance in terms of the number of women trained 
in each area with the goal of 14 profitable and sustainable 
micro-enterprises established at the end of the 18-month 
period.  They will also measure their success in terms of how 
many women have been able to secure jobs and safe housing for 
their families. 
 
¶11. (U) Malibongwe requests $49,590 to conduct this pilot 
project over an 18-month period, having already received a 
grant of $5,400 from The Octane Fund.  Out of this total, 
$25,650 will be spent on project staffing costs consisting of 
a project director and outreach coordinator.  Malibongwe 
budgeted $23,940 for education and training course materials 
and craft supplies. Travel and administration costs will be 
covered by the Octane Fund. Post is using a rate of R7.60 = 
$1.00 
 
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RECIPIENT: LOCAL NON PROFIT FOCUSING ON WOMEN AND CHILDREN 
--------------------------------------------- ------------- 
 
¶12. (U) Malibongwe, in operation since 2007, is an initiative 
of Masiphane Projects/CDPT, a local registered non-profit 
organization.  The project director, Sheila Wise Rowe, has a 
Master's degree and has been trained in monitoring and 
evaluation through USAID.  Formerly on staff with the Harvard 
Qevaluation through USAID.  Formerly on staff with the Harvard 
School of Public Health's Peer Education Project in South 
Africa, she has developed numerous partnerships with the 
business and civil society communities. The staff and 
volunteers have been trained in peer counseling and have many 
years of experience in art and crafts design, business, sales 
and manufacturing.  As a program of Masiphane Projects, 
Malibongwe undergoes yearly financial audits. 
 
¶13. (U) The Human Rights Officer in conjunction with the 
Community Grants Office will manage the grant.  Malibongwe's 
Empowerment and Training Center will complement the Mission's 
Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) programming through USAID. 
It will also complement PEPFAR programming where the life 
skills training touches on sexual rights and the prevention 
of HIV infection. 
GIPS