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GBVF Response Fund 1 receives R10m contribution from Vodacom

Earlier this week, after President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that booze was back on the menu, the Presidency confirmed the launch of the Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) Response Fund 1.

Headed by the International Women’s Forum South Africa (IWFSA) the fund calls on the private sector to respond to the scourge of gender-based violence and femicide by contributing resources. These resources will in turn be used to find lasting interventions to put an end to gender-based violence and femicide.

“When millions of our citizens have to live in fear from violence and even death simply because they are women or girls, a part of our soul as a people is lost. Gender-based violence and femicide is not a secondary priority. It is not a women’s issue. Gender-based violence is overwhelmingly and unequivocally a human rights issue,” Ramaphosa said at the launch of the fund.

“I want to reiterate that the Fund will be managed and administered under the strictest principles of good governance, due diligence, transparency and accountability,” the president added.

At the launch it was revealed that Anglo American had made a contribution of R30 million to the fund while ABSA and the Ford Foundation each contributed R20 million to the fund.

Now Vodacom has thrown its hat into the ring with a R10 million contribution to the fund.

“We are delighted about the launch of the GBVF Response Fund 1 as it is going to help the private sector collaborate closely with the public sector to end the scourge of Gender-Based Violence in South Africa. As pioneers in the use of technology in the fight against GBV, at Vodacom we have always believed that fighting GBV requires a coordinated approach and partnership between government, civil society and business,” External Affairs director for Vodacom South Africa, Takalani Netshitenzhe said in a press statement.

“Accordingly, we welcome President Cyril Ramaphosa’s bold vision and plans to look at tackling the scourge of GBV. We will use the R10 million we have pledged for programmes identified by the GBVF Response Fund 1,” Netshitenzhe added.

The telco went on to elaborate and state that its R10 million pledge will cover areas such as response, care, survivor support and healing as well as economic empowerment.

As you might be aware, gender-based violence is something Vodacom has been fighting for sometime now.

Toward the end of January, Vodacom zero-rated the Bright Sky app on its network which includes downloading the app from the Google Play or Apple App Store.

“As a partner of government and civil society organisations that champion the rights of women and children, it is our firm belief that the pledges will go a long way towards ending GBV in the country, a social ill of our time that has started reversing the strides made in gender equality since the dawning of our democracy 27 years ago,” Netshitenzhe concluded.

We hope to see many more entities in the private sector getting involved in this initiative and that with more support and resources, South Africa can address the scourge of gender-based violence in a meaningful way.

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