Joe Slovo 27th Anniversary
Press Release.
To mark the 27th anniversary of the passing of Joe Slovo the Joe Slovo Foundation the Empire Partner Foundation, Afri-tec Technologies and The South African Local Government Association (SALGA) are collaborating in gathering and obtaining more accurate data on gender-based-violence and abuse at local government level. The three will collect continuous anonymised data at the grassroots level (victim, bystander, clinic, school, university, and hospital), combining it with ‘heat-mapping’ as per the globally successful ‘Cardiff Violence Prevention Model’ – developed by Cardiff University. This data will be instrumental in creating a GBV Database, which will on monthly basis provide SALGA and national government with data to understand in detail the deadly scourge of GBV. Data collected will be key in assisting authorities to determine preventative measures at local government level against GBV, monitor and evaluate interventions.
SALGA has endeavoured to bring focus to its mandate of supporting local government transformation in a complex environment, characterised by a highly diverse membership-base of municipalities as well as supporting its members to fulfil their developmental obligations and to provide solutions to the challenges facing local government. Given the scourge of Gender-Based Violence and Femicide in South Africa, the extent and prevalence of GBVF cases, compounded by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, has triggered a ‘secondary pandemic’ in the country. Only 20% of cases of GBV are reported to the police. This means SALGA members lack a complete understanding of where and when GBV occurs, which severely limits their ability to develop successful interventions.
The Joe Slovo Foundation the Empire Partner Foundation, Afri-tec Technologies and SALGA have all been at the fore front of finding lasting solutions to the scourge of GBV. The partnership announced to was first mooted last year when the Joe Slovo Foundation approached the Empire Partner Foundation and Afri-tec Technologies, who were already collating violent crime stats and pioneering tech solutions to combat GBV, to work together in seeking lasting solution by gathering and obtaining more accurate data on GBV.
One touch of a red-hot stove is usually all we need to avoid that kind of discomfort in the future. The same is true as we experience the emotional sensation of stress from our first instances of social rejection or ridicule. We quickly learn to fear and thus automatically avoid potentially stressful situations of all kinds, including the most common of all:
This is enabling a grassroots practical response to GBV, if we want to stop violence in general and especially GBV we need to know when and where it is
specifically happening.
We encourage mobile app developers to join us in combing data to fighting the GBV pandemic in a similar way we have been fighting the Covid19 pandemic. The more we know, the more
we can isolate, the more we can eliminate.
The Empire Partner Foundation and Afri tec recently launched Afri-Tec Alert Safety App, which encompasses multiple safety features, including on GBV-F. The App has been well received on the market from a safety point of view and by NGO’s who deal with deadly scourge of the GBV-F. The Empire Partner Foundation team said “Using tech driven applications like the Afri-Tec Alert app, will promote community involvement in assisting victims of GBV or preventing vulnerable women and children from becoming victims of GBV”
Dolny added: “We encourage all south Africans (male and female) to download the Afri-tec Alert app and use it -not just as protection for themselves but for others too. If you see someone in trouble use the app.”