BY DELISA THWALA
MBABANE- Ezulwini is standing up to gender-based violence.
Conflict and displacement destroy the livelihoods of women and force them to adopt new strategies to support themselves and this has been the case for women residing at Ezulwini.
However a business man from Ezulwini Buka, has provided a solution to all women in the aforementioned area that have been victims and survivors of Gender Based Violence (GBV).
Mbuso Magagula who owns a construction company has offered to build a GBV centre, construction of the centre will begin next week when the rains have simmered down.
Magagula said there were a lot of GBV cases being swept under the rug and this led to women running away from their marital home and paternal homes.
“New livelihood strategies can increase the risk of more GBV. Women often have no safety net; they usually flee with few resources. A lack of access to economic opportunities while displaced often forces women and girls to resort to harmful measures to survive.
“This is why this centre seeks to house them, offer counselling and all the help they need to build themselves up again.” He said.
In addition he said women often face a trade-off between their protection and their livelihood. Most women in crisis situations actively seek to earn money, despite knowing the risks that having or earning money may bring.
He further said they need to make informed livelihood choices and to shape their livelihood options and the centre which is set to accommodate atleast 100 people, sought to nudge them in that direction.
“I believe programs need to involve women throughout the project lifecycle assessment and design; implementation; and monitoring and evaluation. Promising practices on designing safe economic programs throughout the project.” He said.
Worth noting is that expert interviews including input from practitioners, donors and academics working on GBV, found that the evidence of impact on protection from livelihood approaches in crisis settings is scarce, and that the literature on impact from no crisis settings is fragmented and focuses predominantly on domestic violence.
This guidance is therefore based on promising practices on how to design safe economic programs and livelihood activities.
Meanwhile Member of Parliament (MP) in Lobamba Allan Stewart said they were grateful for the upcoming centre. He said this will help curb the rising numbers of GBV cases in the area and country at large.
“GBV is one of the biggest problems that Eswatini faces and affects women and girls regardless of their age, race and social circumstances. GBV stems from a history of deeply rooted gender inequality and is essentially violence that is directed against a person because of their gender. Although GBV can be directed towards both men and women, the majority of victims are women.” He said.
