Empowering women who have fallen victim to abuse is a crucial step towards gender equality. In Botswana, the organisation ‘Women Against Rape’ (WAR) is providing support to women who have been raped or have suffered other forms of violence.

While the main focus is to assist women in recovering from the trauma, WAR also works to address the root causes of violence against women.

Its activities include

• support to survivors: victims are offered counselling, legal and medical aid, psychosocial support and emergency accommodation;
• education: awareness of gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS is raised to induce long-term changes in behaviour;
• research and advocacy: information is gathered to fine-tune the organisation’s activities and to bring about changes in policy and legislation;
• economic empowerment of women: through the provision of targeted training, the economic dependency of victims and potential victims is reduced;
• perpetrator rehabilitation: counselling and resolution services are offered to curb the incidence of sexual violence.

A significant impact could already be achieved: the rate of reporting and of cases won in courts increased, and hundreds of women went through the counselling process and participated in training activities. A large percentage went on to find employment following the training.

The European Commission provides support for WAR’s activities. A financial contribution of €370 000 was made available, covering 73 % of the total costs over a 30-month period.

Stamping out violence against women and girls forms part of the activities implemented to achieve the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG), gender equality.  In the context of the Africa-EU MDG partnership, gender parity is addressed in the framework of joint activities coordinated with the United Nations. The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women supports national and local action to address the issue.