Grand Challenges Innovation Seed Grant Round 1

Applicant Name Valerie Pruc

Reference number N/A

Title of Application Breaking the Cycle of Violence Against Women in South Africa

Reference: 2060 Page 1 of 5

Date submitted: 04/17/2017
Applicant Details
Title Breaking the Cycle of Violence Against Women in South Africa

Forename(s) Valerie

Surname Pruc

Nationality United States of America

ORCID iD N/A

Country Telephone No. (440) 409-6094

Email Address vpruc@email.sc.edu

Position Student

Organisation University of South Carolina

Country of residence United States of America

Are you affiliated with any Development Centers?

People Opposing Women Abuse

Gender Female

Website (if applicable) www.powa.co.za

Name of Department within Institution

Projects and Training Department

Telephone (Department)
+011 642 4345

Other Professional Affiliations

N/A

Research Expertise
Please indicate your research expertise below:
Violence Against Women
Gender Inequality in South Africa

Issue Area Being Addressed

Sexual Violence Against Women in South Africa

Research Interests
Please give details of your research interests:
 My research interests include the societal roles of women and men in South Africa, the institutional
struggle to protect women in South Africa, best practices for helping women victims of violence in South
Africa, the underreporting of violence against women in South Africa, and the importance of community
dialogue in solving the issue of violence against women.

Academic Contributions
Please give details of your recent academic contributions starting with the most recent first.
N/A

Reference: 2060 Page 2 of 5

Date submitted: 04/17/2017

Home Organizational support

Please provide details of any support (space, facilities, equipment, salary and infrastructure, technical
or other assistance) that will be available to you at your organization. If there is no organizational
support please respond
‘None'.

People Opposing Women Abuse has headquarters in Johannesburg, South Africa. They currently have
five branches located in some of the most disadvantaged communities in the Johannesburg and
Pretoria regions. Additionally, they have two shelters in both the East and West Rand of Johannesburg.
There are salaried employees at each of these branches providing frontline services such as in-person
and over-the-phone counseling, shelter services, legal advice and court preparation, educational
seminars, skills training, and community dialogue. The organization conducts its own research on
violence against women, transforming this research into evidence-based practice. POWA also
participates in advocacy for South African women at the policy-level. The organization has a wide base
of volunteer legal advocates and other volunteers who assist POWA with skills training and educational
seminars. The expertise of the employees and volunteers, in addition to the research conducted by
POWA, will be readily available to our organization as we begin Phase I.

Please list the Sustainable Development Goals you are applying to address:
The Sustainable Development Goals that I am applying to address are:
#3: Good Health and Well-Being
#5: Gender Equality
#10: Reduced Inequalities
#16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions

Title of Proposal
(Max 21 words)
Breaking the Cycle of Violence Against Women in South Africa

Section I. What is your idea? (500 words)

Use this section to briefly describe your idea and context.
a. Indicate in one or two sentences in bold the essence of your idea.
b. Describe the hypothesis for your proposal and why you expect it to succeed.
c. Why is your idea unique?
Due to the patriarchal nature of the social system in South Africa, gender inequality has continued to be
supported, facilitated, and enforced throughout South Africa unabated. In turn, South African society tends
to favor men, usually at the cost of women. With society setting up men to be in a more powerful position
than women, violence against women becomes a consequence in this particular social system. Studies
report that 40% - 50% of women in South Africa have experienced intimate partner violence. However,
this number is severely underreported. For example, approximately 55,000 rapes against women are
reported annually in South Africa, but the actual number of rapes against women is estimated to be nine
times higher than the number that has been reported. Despite the high rate of violence against women,
the government struggles to enforce laws protecting women. Additionally, violence against women tends
to be found at the intersection of poverty. Because of this, these women survivors are frequently
financially dependent on their partner, which gives the woman no choice but to return to the relationship,
despite the violence she may face. If a woman is given the proper resources to exit a dangerous
relationship safely and successfully, while also becoming financially independent, she will likely break this
vicious cycle. Unfortunately, there are only a few local organizations attempting to solve this issue in
South Africa. People Opposing Women Abuse is one of the most successful of these non-governmental
organizations addressing the issue of violence against women in South Africa. POWA shows great
strength in its well-established counseling, legal, advocacy, community outreach, and educational
programs. Unfortunately, the organization only has 5 branches throughout the country of South Africa,
with only 2 shelters in the East and West Rand of Johannesburg available to hold up to 10 women and
their children. Annually, POWA’s own shelters only have the capacity to hold 60 women and 55 children.
With such high rates of violence against women, it is clear that POWA has a significant need for building
capacity so that it can extend its reach and make an even greater impact in curbing violence against
women. If People Opposing Women Abuse further expands their effective frontline services for
women survivors of abuse throughout South Africa, including in-person and over-the-phone
counseling, shelter services, legal advice and court preparation, educational seminars, and skills
training, then the cycle of women’s abuse will be halted, and the lives of these women survivors
will be directly bettered through the organization’s interventions. Considering their strengths in
providing successful programs for survivors, if POWA were to receive funds for the purpose of
expanding its services further throughout South Africa by creating additional branches and
shelters, their effectiveness in helping women survivors of abuse would greatly increase. Rather
than funding numerous NGOs attempting to deal with the same issue of violence against women within
South Africa, we will focus on building capacity within an NGO that has already proven that their
interventions are effective and efficient in creating life change and breaking the cycle of violence for those
South African women who are survivors of abuse. South Africa has shown over the years that it lacks a
comprehensive, united, multi-disciplinary response to the issue of violence against women. In order to
curb this violence, it is important to not only focus on the issue at the policy level, but to place more focus
on the grassroots level, as well, through an organization such as POWA.

Section II. How will you test your hypothesis? (1500 words)
Use this section to briefly describe the project design and implementation plan.
a. Describe your experimental plan, including any new technologies or tools to be developed.

My experimental plan is to follow the social development model by building capacity, both internally
and externally, through collective community action and organization in order to eliminate both
violence against and the social oppression of women. We will expand POWA’s reach by opening a
sixth branch of POWA in the Western Cape of South Africa in the Imizamo Yethu township, which
is one of the most disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape. Although POWA has already
established five branches and two shelters in disadvantaged communities throughout the
Johannesburg area, the women of the disadvantaged communities of the Western Cape are
currently considerably underserved in terms of shelters and other programs to break the cycle of
violence against women. Additionally, these women lack the resources to address this issue on
their own. This branch located in Imizamo Yethu would house not only a shelter for women
survivors of abuse, but also the women-centered and rights-based interventions that have been
developed by POWA in their currently established branches. These programs will address the
intersectionality of violence against women and poverty. When POWA becomes a part of a
community, the organization brings their sheltering, counseling, legal advocacy, skills training, and
community dialogue programs in order to focus on creating a well-rounded approach to respond to
and prevent violence against women so that we can work to eliminate barriers to the development
of women. Through these programs, we will work on both individual and group empowerment by
providing self-help strategies that will help these women to gain leadership skills, enter the job
market successfully, and eventually achieve financial independence. POWA’s skills training and
educational programs can range from 1 to 5 day workshops to year-long multi-faceted capacity-
building programs. Additionally, we will work closely with the community in which we establish this
new POWA branch, so that we will truly understand the needs and strengths of this community in
order to properly address the issues at hand. We will make sure to utilize the evidence-based
practices that POWA has developed over the years since its establishment in 1979.

b. How will the work you describe be performed within the budget (USD$100,000) and time
period ([24] months) allocated for the initial Phase I award? This 24-month time period should
include project work time, ramp up and required reporting.

In working with the budget of USD$100,000 and the time period of 24 months, the Phase I award
would allow us to bring together a salaried team of two social workers, with one specializing in
counseling and the other specializing in program implementation, along with pro-bono legal
advocates and other volunteers. We will allocate a portion of the budget to rent, utilities, and
furnishing expenses for the new location in the Western Cape which will be housing the shelter
and programs facility. Additionally, we will use a portion of the budget for educational and skills
training program materials. Within the first 3 months we plan to bring in the two social workers, in
addition to volunteers, who will begin to set up the new location so that it is fit for its purposes. We
will also be meeting with community members and creating dialogue to identify the needs of the
community in order to ensure that we are addressing the issues in a way that matches with the
community’s expectations, but also in a way that matches with POWA’s intersectional approach to
prevention and intervention. Within the following 3 months, we will begin offering counseling
services and implementing skills training that is best fit to the the community and its economic
traits. In those 3 months, we will continually evaluate what is working and what is not, and re-
evaluate if necessary at the end of the sixth month. In the seventh month, we plan to open up the
shelter program to the community so that we can address the women’s individual needs on a more
consistent, long-term basis. We will continue these programs throughout the 24 month period,
ensuring that we are constantly evaluating the programs and their efficiency and effectiveness
within the community.

c. What essential data will you generate during your Phase I award?

Throughout Phase I, we plan to generate data on the number of women that use the services
provided by POWA in the first 12 months. We will measure the number of women again that use
these services in the second 12 months of the program to gauge if the community is using the
services. We will also generate data on the success of women that have come through our
shelter, skills training, and legal advocacy programs. We will measure this success based on if the
woman was able to begin the process of becoming financially independent by successfully
completing the provided skills training, finding a source of income, and entering into transitional
housing. Additionally, we will generate data on the rate at which women were able to break the
cycle of violence in their own lives through POWA’s programs.

d. Describe your data sharing plan that is equitable, ethical and efficient in line with our open
access policy.
 We will ensure that our data sharing plan is equitable, ethical, and efficient by posting our data
findings after the 24 month period in an open access journal that is fully available to the public.
The transparency of our findings is a top priority for our organization, and we will not make
false claims in order to continue to receive funding. If we find flaws within our program through
the data that we provide, we will be sure to use that data ethically in order to re-evaluate the
strengths and weaknesses of the structure of the program.

e. If your experiments in Phase I are successful, what are the next steps? (Please note
additional funds for Phase II are not guaranteed. Fresh applications for Phase II are
reviewed and assessed for scalability based on data collected at Phase I)

If experiments in Phase I are successful, we will continue to create a larger network of POWA
branches within the most disadvantaged communities in South Africa. Hopefully, we will be
able to expand the size of the shelters so that we may effectively accommodate the large
numbers of women in need of a safe space to live and work through the issues of poverty and
the violence they have faced. Our goal is not only to build capacity internally, but to build
capacity within the communities themselves in order to halt the cycle of violence against
women. If we were granted Phase II funding, we would place a focus on providing educational
programs in schools and community centers to the children, men, and women in order to build
the capacity to respond to and prevent violence against women.

Budget

Please include a breakdown of allowable direct costs under the following categories: personnel,
supplies, subcontracts, travel, and other expenses (equipment).
Salaries: Two social workers each paid at $25,000, one research analyst paid at $10,000

Materials and consumables: Educational/skills training materials, beds, food, computers

Equipment

Travel: Travel to and from headquarters in Johannesburg to train new shelter employees

Other: Building rental; Utility expenses (phone, internet, water, electricity, etc.)

Summary of financial support requested Total %

Personnel $60,000 60%

Materials and consumables $8,500 8.5%

Travel $2000 2%

Other $29,000 29%

Budget Justification of financial support requested

We will require two social workers to open the new POWA branch and one research analyst to gather
data throughout the course of Phase I. Additionally, we will need to provide the educational materials for
seminars and skills training programs, as well as the proper technology, such as computers, to equip
participants with the proper skills to enter the workforce successfully. We will also require that an
employee travel from POWA headquarters in Johannesburg to the new branch in Imizamo Yethu in order
to provide guidance to the new branch’s social workers in the early stages of Phase I. Most importantly,
we need to rent a residence for the program so that the new branch is able to support both the frontline
services, as well as the shelter program.

Partnerships
Section III. Scaling Innovations through Partnerships (250 Words)
This GCA grant program seeks to encourage relationships across the globe. Use this section to
describe how your project will either build on an existing partnership or start a new one. Keep in mind
that the program will provide limited additional funding for travel to facilitate collaboration but only to
those who win the awards i.e you can only make a request for travel support to collaborators
institution if you win phase I funding.
Note: In crafting your application, you are encouraged to use your Phase I approach to develop
collaborations for a future phase II application. We therefore strongly encourage a data sharing plan to
foster strong partnerships.
If you were to apply for Phase II, and assuming you are successful, how would you scale your
innovation and who would be the appropriate partner to work with?

If I were to apply for Phase II, I would scale my innovation to the state-level in South Africa by primarily
continuing my partnership with People Opposing Women Abuse. Additionally, this organization
currently has its own partnerships with Oxfam and Vital Foundation. Oxfam is an international non-
governmental organization that focuses on fighting the injustices of global poverty. Vital foundation is a
South African non-governmental organization that focuses on fighting domestic violence and child
abuse in South Africa. With these additional global and state-level partnerships, we would be able to
greatly expand upon the programs of POWA with their expertise and access, while bringing awareness
to the issue on a greater scale. Eventually, it may be possible to bring the effective evidence-based
interventions that POWA has implemented in South Africa to other countries around the world served
by Oxfam that suffer from similar levels of violence against women, while utilizing and the global
knowledge that Oxfam has to offer as a large international non-governmental organization and
adapting POWA’s programs to other countries’ cultural needs.
References
About Oxfam. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from
https://www.oxfamamerica.org/explore/ about-oxfam/

Empowerment of Women and Girls. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from
http://interactions.eldis.org/gender-based-violence/country-
profiles/south-africa

Le Roux, Elisabet. (2015, April 16). South Africa's Rising Rates of Violence
Against Women Demand a Unified Approach. Retrieved April 15, 2017,
from http://theconversation.com/ south-africas-rising-rates-of-
violence-against-women-demand-a-unified-approach-45837

Marumo, T. (2006). People Opposing Women Abuse (POWA). Retrieved March

10, 2017, from
https://www.changemakers.com/competition/endabuse/entries/people-
opposing-women-
abuse-powa

People Opposing Women Abuse (2015). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from
http://www.saferspaces.org.za/organisation/entry/people-opposing-
women-abuse-powa

POWA. (2017). Retrieved March 10, 2017, from http://www.powa.co.za/POWA/

Vital Foundation. (n.d.). Retrieved April 15, 2017, from

http://www.vitalfoundation.co.za/
Partnerships
References