Page 7 - SCAT GBV Report - Addressing Gender-Based Violence - 2021

report and provide the backdrop to the current enquiry, which concerns the strategic pathways to change through which LDAs channel their efforts, and the stakeholders and dynamics they engage with in doing so. Particular attention is given to some of the critical intersections that LDAs have to criss-cross in acting against GBV at a local level. Emerging from an analysis of these pathways and intersections in rural milieus, some broad recommendations are made to inform SCAT’s future strategies and contribute to a growing body of knowledge on the vital role of community- based organisations (CBOs) in South Africa’s rural landscape.
The study utilises the methodological approach of a case study where, building on the SCAT/CLS findings, a number of thematic areas frame the case and guide the data collection and analysis. These thematic areas are:
• The strategic approaches that drive LDAs’ community interventions to address gender inequality and GBV.
• The conceptions of social change that underpin LDAs’ gender programming strategies in rural contexts.
• The form and function of the referral networks and collaborations between LDAs and other community stakeholders and service providers.
The case study focuses on a sample of eight LDAs operating in the rural areas of the Northern Cape, Western Cape and Eastern Cape. These organisations were purposively selected from the wider population of SCAT-supported LDAs (totalling 31), and they all currently implement gender-focused projects. Relevant laws, policies, frameworks and literatures were gathered and analysed in order to situate LDA strategies and tactics more broadly. Primary data was collected through 28 interviews with the following groups: LDA coordinators, fieldworkers and board members; LDA stakeholder allies from non-governmental organisations (NGOs), CBOs and government structures; and key informants from the wider civil society sector.5 See Appendix One for the full list of respondents. A thematic analysis of primary and secondary data formed the basis for extrapolating the strategic pathways, critical intersections and recommendations detailed in this report. Whilst these extrapolations are not generalisable to the LDA population as a whole, nor to CBOs working in rural areas in general, they do offer analytical insights that serve as a resource for strategy and practice in working against GBV in rural South Africa.6
The report is structured as follows:
• Section 1: A short overview of the context, with a particular focus on the role of
LDAs in rural settings.
• Section 2: A description and analysis of the multiple and intersecting strategic
pathways that underpin LDA approaches to addressing GBV and gender
inequality.
• Section 3: A discussion of the critical intersections that LDAs navigate in context-
specific ways.
• Section 4: A brief word on key tactics for how LDAs operationalise their gender
strategies.
• Section 5: Concluding recommendations to inform SCAT’s future support to LDA
partners in challenging persistent and systematic gender discrimination and violence.
5. The coordinator is the person who runs the LDA; stakeholder allies are individuals from other organisations or institutions with whom the LDA works closely; and key informants are individuals with extensive knowledge and experience in the field that is the focus of this study. Note that the interviews were initially planned to take place on- site, at the offices of each LDA. However, due to Covid-19, all interviews were conducted remotely using WhatsApp video calls. All study participants gave formal consent to being interviewed and their names and affiliations being included in the report.
6. The research project received ethics clearance from the Faculty of Law Research Ethics Committee at the University of Cape Town.
“Finish this Elephant”: Rural Community Organisations’ Strategic Approaches to Addressing GBV 7