Steven Klukowski
KEETMANSHOOP – Twenty-five residents from //Kharas and Hardap recently attended a Male Involvement in Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Reduction Strategy workshop in Keetmanshoop.
“The programme’s aim is to create space for effective male engagement, one of such places is at the workplaces so as to make employee wellness programmes inclusive of gender issues, men’s health, mental health and personal growth consciousness development in the workplace,” said Junian Gaweseb, the programme facilitator of Namibian Men for Justice Initiative.
He furthermore focussed on personal growth issues around the socialisation and construction of gender in men/boys and women/girls, which proves to have previously negatively impacted society’s gender relations, communication and Gender Base Violence (GBV) Incidences.
“In supporting this noble international and national causes, we have seen it fit to introduce into the work space this Male Involvement in Gender-Based Violence Prevention and Reduction Strategy training programme and strategic plan, which deals directly with empowering individuals to inform behaviour change from a personal perspective,” Gaweseb emphasized.
The programme facilitator further expressed hope that this training programme “will serve as a resource and training guide for mobilisation of men and boys, women and girls in the prevention of and mental health problems and further be a driving force for progressive social behaviour change in terms of addressing GBV, which is currently at an all-time high in Namibia”.
“It needs to be noted at this point that we have taken cognisance of the efforts being undertaken by the national Government and all its agencies and we are in support of and are part of these initiatives,” Gaweseb said.
One of the participants, Maria Undjondjo said as a community volunteer and sociology graduate, this training will expand her knowledge and enable her to “educate community leaders on how to accept and deal with gender-based violence and also gender discrimination at the workplace, which blocks women to excel in their careers”.
Rodney Kaenandjambo, a police officer dealing with GBV cases, felt he can gain valuable knowledge and experience from this training.
“I want to plough back what I am learning here into the community to bring about behavioural and mindset changes for both victims and perpetrators involved with gender based violence,” he said.
In 2018, the Namibian Men for Gender Justice Initiative, in partnership with Women’s Action for Development and Konrad Adenauer Stiftung, initiated an innovative approach, the Male Involvement in Gender Based Violence Prevention and Reduction Strategy. The strategy is aimed at assisting both would-be perpetrators or actual perpetrators and the victims and family as a whole. The organisation’s long-term vision is to create a society of honour and respect for human life, human dignity and human rights through the application of gender justice.