Joint GBV Field Mission ZIMBABWE

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Joint GBV Field MissionZIMBABWE

• UNICEF/UNFPA/IOM
• 11 22 May 2009

Summary of Major Findings and Recommendations
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Mission Overview

• Identify GBV risks/threats, manifestations and
  available services/support for survivors in three
  locations in Zimbabwe that are known to have
  particular protection risks for GBV.
• Interview key stakeholders at UN, NGO,
  Government, civil society levels to inform
  recommendations on feasible options for
  coordinating GBV interventions.
• Produce a joint trip report with recommendations.
  

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Findings Strengths Assets

• Structure already in place from which a GBV
  coordination body can grow (Gender Forum)
• GBV prioritized in ZUNDAF
• National GBV Strategy and Action Plan with clear
  ideas on how coordination should be carried out
• DV Act Council in place
• Significant interest and buy-in from critical
  actors across UN, NGO and Government
• Already have multi-stakeholder buy-in and
  engagement

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Findings Strengths Assets

• GBV already identified as a priority within the
  soon-to-be-formed Protection Cluster
• Existing infrastructure (not starting from
  scratch)
• Laws and policies in place
• Communities want to talk about this men, women,
  boys and girls identify GBV as a serious problem
  that can (and must) be addressed

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Findings Challenges

• No clear understanding of what exactly is
  required (time, resources, skills) to effectively
  coordinate GBV interventions
• Strong will to act, but extremely limited
  resources for comprehensive programming
• Missed opportunities by NOT placing GBV within
  the humanitarian response efforts?
• (and) misperception of a disconnect between GBV
  within humanitarian and development contexts

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Findings Challenges

• Unintended consequences of well-meaning action
• Separate structures for children and adults
• Reporting requirements (police before health)
  mean most adult women (and most others) will
  never report
• Domestic Violence Act still not understood
• Need to consider and manage the possible backlash
• Most communities lack even basic services, and
  where they do exist they are not comprehensive,
  coordinated or survivor centered
• Clinical management of rape guidelines urgently
  needed

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Findings Challenges

• Still dont really know who is doing what where
• Most actors cannot define GBV need for more
  sensitization
• BUT cannot push for advocacy/sensitization in
  lieu of action services must be prioritized,
  access issues must be addressed (cost, location,
  sensitivity of staff, etc.)
• Misunderstanding among service providers on the
  barriers to reporting and perception that GBV is
  not a problem because few cases are actually
  reported
• Addressing GBV in the absence of basic services
  and food crisis

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Findings Mudzi

• Types of GBV Highlighted
• Sexual violence including rape, sexual
  exploitation, denial of access to education,
  emotional, physical and sexual abuse between
  intimate partners, forced early marriage (change
  in marriage patterns), forced wife inheritance,
  labia elongation
• Most at Risk
• Young girls, orphans and unaccompanied
  minors, married women, women in general, boys

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Findings Mudzi

• Perpetrators
• Male relatives, men with economic stability,
  church leaders, political party members, NGO
  workers, local authorities, teachers
• Parents pushing girls into exploitative
  relationships (early forced marriage and
  provision of sexual favors for goods/money)
• Prevention and Response Services
• Few services available which provide very limited
  services for survivors
• Misunderstanding among health and law enforcement
  actors on their roles and responsibilities
• Virtually no psychosocial services available
  except for Girl Child Network and World Vision
  that is not specifically addressing GBV
• One off GBV sensitizations that do not facilitate
  knowledge gain or behavior change

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Findings Mudzi

• Barriers to Accessing Services
• Few reporting structures, and lack of knowledge
  on how/where to report
• Intimidation by perpetrators or issue being
  settled in the family
• Stigma related to acknowledging victimization
• Blaming of the survivor (e.g. behavior, clothing)
• Fear of husband/perpetrator being jailed
• Perception that service providers are corrupt
• Negative attitudes of service providers
• Lack of transportation

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Findings Mberengwa

• Types of GBV Highlighted
• Sexual violence including rape, gang rape,
  sexual exploitation, early forced marriage,
  forced wife inheritance, labia elongation,
  emotional, physical and sexual abuse between
  intimate partners (including within HIV
  discordant couples), FGM?
• Most at Risk
• Young girls, orphans and unaccompanied minors,
  girls that are left accompanied, married women,
  women in general, boys

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Findings Mberengwa

• Perpetrators
• Male relatives, magumaguma, omalayisha,
  border jumpers, bus drivers, gold panners,
  teachers, police, NGO workers, local authorities
• Parents pushing girls into exploitative
  relationships (both early forced marriage and
  provision of sexual favors for goods/money)

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Findings Mberengwa

• Prevention and Response Services
• Basic health, security (VFU), and legal services
  available, but referrals must be made from one
  town to the next in order to access them
• Lack of coordination and knowledge among service
  providers on roles and responsibilities
• Confidentiality is not always maintained and
  services often promote stigmatization
• No agency is specifically working on the issue of
  GBV (only periodic awareness raising)
• Child Protection Committees established in some
  communities, but the issue of GBV not prioritized

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Findings Mberengwa

• Barriers to accessing services
• Shame/stigma associated with acknowledging
  victimization
• Negative attitudes of service providers
• Not being believed by parents
• Cases being settled out of court
• Services are not in place
• Transportation
• Not knowing how and where to report
• Among boys they feel as though they cannot
  access services from female health care
  providers, that they are not believed, and that
  their confidentiality will not be maintained

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Findings Mutare

• Types of GBV Highlighted
• Sexual violence including rape, sexual
  exploitation emotional, physical and sexual
  abuse between intimate partners (including within
  HIV discordant couples) economic abuse (denial
  of resources/misuse of resources) denial of
  access to education forced early marriage
  (girls 13, boys 17) forced wife inheritance
  girl pledging chiramu (forced fondling by male
  in-laws), trafficking (?)
• Perception that GBV is getting worse

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Findings Mutare

• Most at Risk
• Married women, adolescent girls, women
  female-headed households, orphans and
  unaccompanied minors, young girls, women in
  general, boys
• Perception that boys also at risk but will never
  report due to stigma, shame (feeling shy)

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Findings Mutare

• Perpetrators
• Male relatives, male neighbors, men with
  economic stability (sugar daddies), gold
  panners, diamond miners, police, soldiers,
  religious leaders, sugar mamas/other women,
  teachers
• Parents may also facilitate some forms of GBV
• Prevention and Response Services
• Services available (Social Welfare, VFU of
  police, FST, Simukai, Padare, Legal Resources
  Center, Victim Friendly Court, etc) but primary
  focus on children
• Question around sensitivity of frontline actors
  (e.g. police), especially in dealing with adult
  women

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Findings Mutare

• Barriers to Accessing Services
• Few reporting structures, and lack of knowledge
  on how/where to report
• Challenge in mandating survivors report to police
  first
• Cost of health services
• Intimidation by perpetrators or issue being
  settled in the family (e.g. for money)
• Girls no longer report to parents because they
  know that nothing will be done
• Zero community support for survivors
• Fear of husband/perpetrator being jailed
  (economic implications and community stigma)
• Disrespect by service providers and perception
  that nothing will happen
• Maintenance of client files and lack of
  confidentiality

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Way Forward

• Urgent action required to
• Better understand and articulate the DV Act
  amongst all actors and at all levels
• Abolish any policies (or misunderstandings of
  policies) that mandate that a survivor must first
  report to the police
• Disseminate basic CMR protocols (even if not the
  final Guidelines) enable health actors to gather
  forensic evidence
• Address data issue and impossibility of ever
  showing magnitude with numbers

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Way Forward

• Verification workshops within all three field
  sites and at Harare level to
• Discuss mission findings and implications
• Engage in joint action planning
• Establish field-level coordination structures and
  clarify TORs
• Contingency planning for possible escalation of
  humanitarian crisis

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Way Forward

• Establish a GBV coordination body
• As a sub-group of the Gender Forum
• BUT with clear and operational linkages to the
  Protection Cluster
• AND with focal points identified to ensure GBV
  issues are being considered throughout all
  clusters, sectors and other relevant working
  groups in both humanitarian and development
  spheres

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Way Forward

• Establish a GBV coordination body, cont.
• Be clear on leadership structure if
  co-leadership (e.g. UNFPA/UNICEF/Govt), be clear
  on roles and responsibilities and be ready to be
  held accountable
• Be realistic about time/resource commitments min
  1 meeting/month country-wide mapping
  information/data gathering training/technical
  support to field actors advocacy fundraising

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Way Forward

• Come up with a workable structure for provincial,
  district and ward level GBV coordination
  structures/mechanisms to decentralized and
  improve services and to facilitate information
  sharing and technical assistance between Harare
  and the field

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Next Steps for Mission Team

• Mission report submitted to UNFPA/UNICEF/ IOM in
  Zimbabwe by June 12 for review/ discussion and
  eventual wide dissemination
• Hard copies delivered to all actors who were
  interviewed in the 3 field sites and others
  without internet access
• Organize 2-week follow-up mission by UNICEF/UNFPA
  to facilitate field-level workshops and monitor
  progress in establishing GBV coordination
  structures
• Other technical assistance?

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QUESTIONS?