TRAILBLAZER - KHETHIWE SIBANYONI BY JESSIE TAYLOR
Fighting genderbased violence through survivor support
K
hethiwe Sibanyoni spent her lockdown during the Covid-19 pandemic assisting the victims of genderbased violence by providing them with a small token of comfort. Today, she has launched a foundation that works to combat gender-based violence and provide support to victims of it. Giving comfort to gender-based violence survivors Khethiwe started by putting together comfort bags to offer hope to survivors of gender-based violence. Today, she has developed Khethi’s Foundation which works to reduce femicide and gender-based violence through collaboration, raising awareness, and supporting and empowering survivors. She assists women who are in danger or are experiencing gender-based violence to connect with shelters and the police to allow them to access safety and social services, saying her work is “moving a victim from a place of pain to a home of healing”. The foundation focusses on detection, prevention, and correction, and is developing an Educare programme
30 | Public Sector Leaders | August 2023
that will empower survivors with knowledge, practical skills, and training for economic independence. “After thorough research, we realised that genderbased violence numbers are fuelled by high dependency on male counterparts, especially for financial security. This programme, therefore, aims to provide these survivors with knowledge, practical skills and training so they have realistic incomegenerating options”. This will allow more women to become economically independent and reduce their vulnerability to gender-based violence. Research showed that during the lockdown, calls for help from women experiencing gender-based violence increased dramatically. At the time, the government gender-based violence and femicide command centre alone recorded more than 120 000 victims in the first three weeks of lockdown.
