Question NW2803 to the Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
22 September 2023 - NW2803
Shaik Emam, Mr AM to ask the Minister in The Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities
Whether, following failed attempts by the Government to end gender-based violence, teenage pregnancy, substance abuse and school dropouts, she intends to introduce a holistic approach, together with the departments of Social Development, Basic Education, Sport, Arts and Culture, Police and Health, to deal with the scourge at grassroots level; if not, why not; if so, what are the relevant details?
Reply:
The department developed the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP on GBVF) to provide a multi-sectoral, coherent policy and programming framework to strengthen a coordinated national response to the GBVF crisis by all of government and the whole of society.
A key activity under Pillar 4 of the NSP on GBVF is the establishment of local level rapid response teams in every municipality with clear protocols for weekday, weekend, after hours’ services and protocols for child protection to amplify the response to the needs of victims.
The Department led the establishment of multi-sectoral Rapid Response Teams (RRTs) at local municipality level. The RRTs are coordinated by the Department of Cooperative Governance whereas the department takes charge for capacity building of these coordinating structures. The main purpose of the RRTs is to coordinate, multi-stakeholder planning and responses to ensure that they meet the needs of the local community in the fight against GBVF.