Sustainability
Fighting violence against women
EARLY LESSONS
Project: Combating violence against women in Latin America – ComVoMujer (regional programme)
Commisioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development
Term: 2010 to 2018
THEN: Machismo and violence against women are rife in Latin America. It is estimated that around one woman in three is subject to physical or sexual violence in the Andes region and in Paraguay alone. The impact on their lives is considerable, but violence also has economic consequences, for example when the victims are unable to work. Academic research commissioned by GIZ shows that every year, medium-sized and large companies in Bolivia, Paraguay and Peru alone lose more than EUR 14 billion as a result of violence against women. Yet without a sound statistical basis, neither companies nor government nor civil society had a grip on the real scale of the problem.
NOW: More than 400 companies are involved in prevention through campaigns and training. Some work alone, others in cooperation with the state or civil society. So far, almost 30,000 people in Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru have received training. The issue has a high social profile thanks to public awareness campaigns, which have already reached over 60,500 people. 1,800 journalists have been trained, and following advice from GIZ, Ecuador’s telecommunications company CNT has developed an emergency call app: pressing a single key will connect the caller to the emergency services number. The app is preinstalled on all CNT smartphones, so nobody has to request it specially. And to put a stop to violence against women in the first place, children and young people are being made aware of the issues through a learning circuit.
NOW: More than 400 companies are involved in prevention through campaigns and training. Some work alone, others in cooperation with the state or civil society. So far, almost 30,000 people in Bolivia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru have received training. The issue has a high social profile thanks to public awareness campaigns, which have already reached over 60,500 people. 1,800 journalists have been trained, and following advice from GIZ, Ecuador’s telecommunications company CNT has developed an emergency call app: pressing a single key will connect the caller to the emergency services number. The app is preinstalled on all CNT smartphones, so nobody has to request it specially. And to put a stop to violence against women in the first place, children and young people are being made aware of the issues through a learning circuit.
published in akzente 1/18
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