The City of Cape Town’s Mayoral Committee Member for Urban Management, Alderman Grant Twigg congratulated recipients on the skills that they had recently acquired at a gender-based violence awareness workshop. A special ceremony to award the certificates was hosted by Subcouncil 14 on Thursday, 6 May 2021.
The City’s Mayoral Urban Renewal Programme (MURP) together with Subcouncil 14 and the Western Cape Provincial Government’s Department of Social Development, conducted a youth empowerment programme to address gender-based violence (GBV).
The 70 participants included out of school and in school youth from the Gugulethu and Nyanga areas.
These programmes aim to empower GBV ambassadors on GBV related interventions through a train-the-trainer programme to minimise the scourge of GBV affecting school-going and out-of-school youth through capacity building, support, mentoring and coaching.
Five GBV workshops were held from 1 March to 5 March 2021. These workshops entailed the following learning areas;
- Introduction to GBV
- Sharing emotions
- Engaging men and boys to reduce GBV
- Anti-social behaviour
- We have the power to empower ourselves
‘These workshops are aimed at encouraging young people to highlight GBV issues that continue to ravage our communities, especially during the Covid-19 pandemic. Failure to address these issues entails a significant cost for the future of our youth as numerous studies indicate that children growing up with violence are more likely to become perpetrators of violence in the future,’ said Alderman Twigg.
‘What I would like to share with others, is the need to acknowledge that GBV is a disease and the sooner we treat it the better. If we don’t treat it, it will take over our lives. You don’t need to abuse someone in order to feel good about yourself. GBV is a very serious thing. It affects all of us,’ said Nolufefe Mazokwana, a participant.
‘If you abuse women or children, you are a coward. Please stop GBV,’ said Elethu Buhe, also a participant.