ACTIVITIES / PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY.

Under Domestic Violence Prevention here at Kyetume CBHC Programme we do a number of activities to address the DV (Domestic Violence) problem in our targeted communities of Nakisunga and Ntenjeru Sub counties in Mukono South Constituency of Mukono District in Uganda (East Africa). Such activities include though not limited to;

• Engaging communities to prevent Domestic Violence through outreaches that involve discussions and analysis of public perceptions and knowledge on the subject matter (Domestic Violence).

• Conducting capacity building workshops for community volunteers (change makers and domestic violence counselors) as well as police, local administrators and other stakeholders in the prevention campaign.

• Conducting community meetings as well as door to door sensitization home visits while disseminating Domestic Violence prevention messages in the community.

UPDATES / MAJOR EVENTS / ACCOMPLISHMENTS

The six months pilot phase of the project (November 2007-April 2008) ended with key accomplishments such as;

• Training of Trainers on Domestic Violence Prevention who would champion the training of other community activists at the grassroots.

• Training of community owned resource persons (CORPS) who championed the door to door household sensitization visits. These CORPS were later code named change makers to spearhead behavior change by influencing a positive shift in knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices that perpetuate domestic violence in their communities.
• Baseline / diagnostic community survey on levels of knowledge and perceptions about domestic violence. A status report is available.
• 13 community sensitization meetings and 617 home visits were conducted while promoting the DV intervention by raising awareness on the dangers of domestic violence and the need for its prevention.
• A delegation of partners from South Asia through Oxfam GB in Uganda paid a sharing/ learning visit to our Domestic / Gender-based violence prevention work and oriented us on the “we can campaign” which Oxfam GB in Uganda and partners anticipate to adopt and officially launch in the near future.

With the above accomplishments, the Programme was able to secure a full year funding from Oxfam GB in Uganda and we are proud to report on the following key accomplishments which include changes in the community as well as challenges encountered in the implementation course;

• Kyetume joined the rest of the world to commemorate the 16 days of activism against Gender-based Violence (25^th November -10^th December 2008). An open forum was held at Kyetume play ground where the guest speaker from CEDOVIP delivered a speech on sexual violence.
• The international women’s day was jointly cerebrated with other stakeholders at Mukono District grounds on 8^th march 2009. The day’s theme was “Increase investment in Girls’ education as a prerequisite for development”. Female change makers participated in the preliminary procession which among others entertained the congregation (approximately 500 people) and guest of honour (women member of parliament for Mukono District).
• 30 police and local administrators from the two sub counties of the project’s operation were trained to develop their capacity to handle and address issues of Domestic violence as well as devise possible avenues for domestic violence prevention. The training was officially opened by the Mukono District Police Commander who said that the intervention was one way of working together between police and civil society to prevent crime.
• 624 home visits were conducted by change makers, reaching out to 1674 individuals (688male, 986female) with Domestic Violence prevention messages. NB: These figures are for the 2 previous quarters (August to October 2008, November to January 2009 and the months of Feb and March 2009 .For the month of April 2009, 107 home visits were conducted reaching out to 272 individuals (167female and 105 males). The department has got a home visiting track tool.

• There is remarkable attitudinal shift among the police officers who attended the capacity building training on Domestic Violence prevention. I.e. they are now showing empathy while handling DV survivors’ cases and increasingly taking on a counseling and reconciliation facilitation role while attending to DV complaints.
• The change makers’ awareness on the forms of Domestic Violence has been raised and they have increasingly gained confidence to influence behaviour change in their communities by challenging negative beliefs and attitudes that perpetuate Domestic Violence.
• Community members are increasingly taking change makers as watch dogs for families’ stability whereby even before troubled couples approach them (change makers) the community tips them (change makers) on potential violent families and when they respond together with counsellors, peace once again obtains in such homes.
• Community members including men are beginning to disclose their experiences of Domestic Violence to area change makers for guidance on preventing more violence.

Key challenges:

• Men’s  involvement in DV prevention activities is still minimal at all levels. They are hardly found at their homes, they shun community meetings and very few attend church service.
• Communities still perceive our work as women emancipation work hence the slow process of change and the negative attitudes of men.
• Loss of resourceful persons through transfers i.e. police officers and Religious leaders through transfers. This may necessitate capacity building training for the new office bearers yet funds may not be readily available or budgeted for.  

Julius Zaake Wasswa

Programme Officer, Domestic Violence Prevention.

Tel (mobile) : +256 712 470 480

Email: zaakadreg@yahoo.com

Alternative: juzawasswa@kyetumecbhcp.org