Reducing Gender Based Violence

The 2005 EDHS indicated that violence against girls and women in Ethiopia is a common phenomenon and

tolerated in both urban and rural families. A sizeable majority (81%) of women believe that a husband is

justified in beating his wife for one of the following situations: if she argues with him; is she goes out without

telling him; if she neglects the children; if she burns the food; and if she refuses to have sexual relations

with him. Whereas only 51.5% of men agreed with one of these reasons, indicating that interventions must

be directed at both women and men to change acceptance of gender-based violence (GBV). In 2007,

CARE conducted a situation analysis to better understand the gender-based violence, especially impacts on

OVC, in target intervention sites of Addis Ababa, Oromiya, and Amhara regions. Information was gathered

on attitudes, prevalence of GBV, and efforts to combat it. Findings indicate the need for increasing

community awareness on the causes of GBV and ways to reduce its occurrence.

Men, women, girls and boys will be targeted to raise awareness and mobilize preventative and responsive

actions to address GBV. Men and boys in particular will be addressed with assistance from the Male Norms

Initiative. Community leaders, religious leaders, teachers, health professionals and other stakeholders will

also be engaged as major players in the community in the fight against gender-based violence. The direct

beneficiaries of the project will be vulnerable girls, adolescents and young women with a special focus on

children affected by HIV/AIDS and persons living with HIV who have been exposed to physical, sexual or

psychological violence. An estimated 20,000 OVC will be served in COP08 with protection services to

prevent GBV and provide support to victims. The main objective of the program is to reduce the incidents of

GBV against orphans and vulnerable children by raising the communities' awareness of the issue and

changing the attitudes and behaviors of targeted communities.

The results of CARE's GBV situational assessment will be used to tailor interventions to educate and

protect OVC and their families from GBV. This program will adapt existing GBV materials into a trainer of

trainer's manual for application by local Ethiopian and international partners working in the areas of gender,

OVC and HIV prevention. The project focuses on community sensitization, capacity building of stakeholders

against GBV, strengthening appropriate health service delivery for victims of violence, facilitating linkages

and referrals for counselling and legal aid for survivors, conducting life skills training, and promoting

educational and economic opportunities for OVC. All the stakeholders (e.g. law-enforcement entities, legal

organizations, community organizations, elders, etc.) will work collaboratively together to enforce and

implement the existing government policies and laws pertaining to GBV.

The project implementation is in partnership with two local nongovernmental organizations (NGO), Amhara

Women's Association in Amhara Regional State and Hundee in Addis Ababa City Administration and

Oromiya Regional State. With the idea of scaling up and the application of innovative activities gleaned from

the first year, there are a number of new activities planned for 2008. CARE will work to strengthen the

collaborative efforts between civil society organizations and government bodies to play pro-active roles in

the formulation and implementation of anti-GBV policies and practices in the three target communities.

Technical assistance will be provided to the two local NGO to develop community-based support

mechanisms, networks and advocacy alliances to increase the reporting of abuses, support for the victims,

legal prosecution for the perpetrators and prevention efforts to raise awareness of GBV laws and OVC's

rights.

The Reducing GBV Among OVC project will aim to establish systems, referral mechanisms and services for

confidential reporting and handling of victims of gender-based violence including linkages to appropriate

services offered by other PEPFAR funded projects. CARE will use materials developed in other African

countries to adapt GBV Guidelines for use by communities, law enforcement agencies, and other PEPFAR-

funded programs. The project will establish model gender-based violence protection units at district and

ward levels and monitor the support being provided. It is important to establish centers at the local level

where the survivors of GBV can receive supportive services. Currently there is only one safe haven for

women in Addis Ababa and the demand for services far outstrips the shelter's capacity. The new protection

units will be run by the local NGO partners - Hundee and Amhara Women's Association with support from

local government offices, community members, and CARE International. These stakeholders will be

responsible to look for sustainable ways of running the centers.

CARE will work with the surrounding health facilities and PEPFAR clinical partners in the three target areas

to raise awareness of GBV and how they can identify and assist victims, especially adolescent girls. CARE

will take lessons learned from the Rwanda study done by the IntraHealth Twubakane Project which looked

at the feasibility of screening for GBV as part of PMTCT services. The GBV program will pilot post-exposure

prophylaxis (PEP) at three health facilities in urban settings for cases at risk of HIV infection. Health

providers trained in maternal and child health will be trained on how to counsel young girls and women and

will ensure their access to counselling and testing (CT), PEP, sexually transmitted infections (STI),

antenatal care, PMTCT, and ART services as needed. Health providers will also be given information about

where to refer the patients for further assistance from the community and PEPFAR-funded programs. These

pilot programs will be in the same areas as PC3 and other PEPFAR partners to ensure a linkage to OVC

and PLWH care services.

Another important component of the GBV program will be to work with men and boys to actively engage

them in activities that address the attitudes and behaviors that perpetuate gender-based violence. CARE

will work with EngenderHealth to provide a tailored Men as Partners training for young boys and men in the

three communities to create role-models and advocates on the issue. CARE will prioritize community

leaders, male caregivers/volunteers, and older OVC boys participating in the PC3 project to receive this

training. In the process of changing attitudes, the training will build on positive male norms while challenging

practices such as female genital cutting, abduction and early marriage, wife beating, child abuse, rape, and

sexual harassment. By working with men and boys the project will strive to have responsible community

members who can positively influence their society. CARE will work with community members to establish a

system for tracking changes in the incidence of early marriage, abuse, rape, and sexual harassment.

The emphasis area of this project is on gender - reducing violence, increasing gender equity in HIV

services, addressing male norms and increasing OVC's access to legal protection and income. A key

element of this will be working with men and boys to create a commitment of their responsibility for the well-

being of their wives, children, mothers and sisters. Under this project, OVC and their guardians, especially

Activity Narrative: female headed households, will receive small business training and livelihoods support to address their

economic needs. While the overall effort of the project is to reduce GBV, project beneficiaries will receive

multiple services following an individual needs assessment. CARE will work closely with PC3 activities in

the same areas in order to provide comprehensive care to OVC. As CARE is a partner in the PC3 program,

the organization is well-placed to use the existing PC3 M&E tools to report who is receiving what type of

services and to avoid double-counting. Through the local partners, this activity plans to train a total of 240

caregivers and volunteers and reach 20,000 OVC.

Following nine months of implementation, CARE will conduct an evaluation of the interventions - including

the protection units, the BCC activities, and the clinic-based services to compare data from the situational

analysis to see how the program influenced the knowledge, behavior and incidence of GBV in the three

target areas. The results of this evaluation will be shared with PEPFAR OVC partners to help improve

protection services for OVC.