Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development

Nisaa Institute for Women’s Development believes that raising public awareness about gender based violence (GBV) is the first step in persuading people to change their behaviour, and in improving legal polices and services for women. The organisation has six programmes each containing a number of ongoing projects. Its activities include:

• Providing emergency shelter for women and children whose lives are endangered by violence perpetrated against them by intimate partners/husbands.
• Conducting various forms of counseling services for adults and children as a form of intervention. This includes crisis telephone counseling, individual and group counseling.
• Promoting public awareness and education on violence against women to relevant stakeholders and to a broader audience locally, nationally and internationally.
• Developing and conducting training on specific competencies, gender issues and violence against women.
• Producing and developing publications at a range of levels and disseminating relevant information to a broader national and international audiences.
• Consolidating and expanding outreach services to Orange Farm and Soweto.

Nisaa’s prevention programmes activities include:Date Rape Campaign: This campaign includes a small booklet, posters and stickers for adolescents. It alerts teenagers to the high incidence of date rape and abuse among youth. It also offers information on how best to prevent date rape and more general information on sexual rights and sexuality.

Radio campaigns: Nisaa’s services are advertised regularly on different radio stations. Also on radio is a 30 episode drama that aims to increase awareness of violence against women and HIV/AIDS. It reaches rural communities in hard to reach provinces in South Africa.

Nisaa Resource Center and Website: Provides information for other civil society organisations, activists, women experiencing violence and other interested partners. The campaigns are highlighted, as well as Nisaa’s services and outreach. This programme is linked to the womensnet website where Nisaa offers online counseling and education services via the internet.

Anti Anti-Rape Bus Campaign: Posters, booklets, billboards, 20 buses, 12 taxis, and major daily newspapers carried the message of “You’re only half a man if you rape a woman”. This campaign was seen all over town and took the message to large numbers of people. It sparked public debate and strongly stated that rape will not be tolerated in the communities.

Peace on Earth begins at Home: This campaign developed during the holiday season, included a billboard, posters and greeting cards. The campaign makes the connection between domestic violence and global violence.

Gender, Women, Rights, Children.

Nisaa Institute for Women's Development objectives are to:

• Encourage women to gain control over their lives in ways that they deem appropriate.
• Provide refuge for women survivors of violence and their children when their lives are endangered by interpersonal violence.
• Establish organizational links and mechanisms that enable the use of the community, municipal, national and international resources for women’s emancipation.
• Lobby for appropriate legislation and resources that protect and maintain the dignity of survivors of violence.
• Raise awareness on violence against women through public awareness education, media intervention and a range of training.