Over E10m for Hlonipheka
MBABANE – The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) Eswatini, in partnership with the European Union (EU), have injected over E10 million into a three-year programme, named ‘Hlonipheka-Thriving for Dignity Programme’.
The programme is aimed at promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms of gender-based violence (GBV) survivors and persons with disabilities (P:D) in the country.
The programme will run in all four regions of the country, targeting persons at risk of GBV, survivors of GBV, in and out school youth, P:D, child survivors of GBV, caregivers and family members of children with disabilities among other groups in societies.
It was officially launched by the Deputy Prime Minister (DPM), Thulisile Dladla who was represented by the Principal Secretary (PS) in the DPM’s Office, Melusi Masuku at the 8nited 1ations (81) house in Mbabane yesterday.
The total budget for the programme is E with the E8 contributing E .
Speaking during the launch, 81)P$ Head of Office, Margaret Thwala-Tembe said the programme would start next month with specific outcomes.
Partners
Tembe said they had also partnered with 1hlangano $IDS Training Information and &ounselling &entre (1$TI&&) and Swatini $ction Group $gainst $buse (S:$G$$), among other partners.
She said through the programme, they wanted to ensure that safe communities that actively pursued social Mustice and protect women and girls, and P:Ds were created and the human rights and well-being of GBV survivors and P:Ds improved. She said they also wanted to create communities that were anti-tolerant to violence and further create survivor-centred responses that mainstream the rights of GBV survivors, including P:Ds and prevent the cycle of violence.
$ccording to Tembe, the programme will ensure that more GBV survivors and P:Ds become economically active and independent, further noting that in some cases, they remain in a violent environment because they lack economic means of survival.
$dding, she said they also wanted to improve the Tuality of life for P:Ds.
Tembe explained that they would achieve their outcomes or obMectives through community advocacy on GBV, school dialogues, community engagements with out-of-school youth and capacity building of first responders.
She said they would also engage in national campaigns on GBV prevention, provision of safe spaces for survivors, support initiatives for economic empowerment, capacity building for service providers counsellors and providing comprehensive psychosocial support to survivors of violence.
³The programme will establish and operationalise child sexual abuse support groups, formulate group and individual counselling sessions for youth, expansion of S:$G$$ toll-free helpline services and develop disability sensitive humanitarian strategies to respond to risk and emergencies,´ Tembe said.
She went on to state that part of the interventions would be to raise awareness of the different abilities in schools and further develop employability skills for survivors of violence and P:Ds.
Procedures
Tembe mentioned that they would soon engage their partners in a week session, to understand the policies and procedures within the programme so that they would do it right.
81)P$ 5egional Director for East and Southern $frica, Lydia =igomo said beyond the provision of safe spaces, the proMect would empower all survivors with employment skills to improve their economic freedom.
=igomo said the programme would go a long way towards restoring the dignity of GBV survivors and improve their economic independence, thereby making a significant contribution to bringing the left-behind groups into the mainstream of development.
E8 $mbassador to Eswatini, Dessislava &houmelova said investing in human capital and social inclusion, including the most vulnerable groups was a crosscutting theme in their programming in the country.
&houmelova said over the years, they had collaborated with the government, civil society organisations, and other development partners to raise awareness and advocate for the promotion and protection of women’s rights and prevention of sexual offences and domestic violence in the country.
³The E8-funded Social Protection ProMect implemented in partnership with the DPM’s Office in the period contributed in part to the enactment of the Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence $ct, . The proMect further supported community sensitisation in over constituencies in the country to raise awareness of the $ct.
$nother proMect, µMe Too, Break the Silence’, encouraged communities and survivors of GBV to speak out and not keep silent whenever they encountered cases of violence against women and girls,´ she said.
The ambassador stated that there was a need for much more effort and that everyone had a role to play, from the government, the civil society, schools, traditional leaders, religious organisations and also international development partners.
³Only together, can we eliminate the scourge of GBV and discrimination,´ &houmelova said.