Honors Theses
Date of Award
2004
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Croft Institute for International Studies
First Advisor
Michael Metcalf
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
This thesis seeks to examine the work of the Non-Governmental sector in alleviating violence against women in South Africa. The first chapter analyzes VAW in two time periods—1948-1994 and the post-Apartheid era, 1994-2002. The second chapter provides an overview of the roles and methodology of NGOs in post-Apartheid South Africa and presents a list of strategies that an effective NGO must employ. Finally, Chapter 3 is a case study of POWA (People Opposing Women Abuse), a Johannesburg-based VAW NGO. The case study uses the strategies and typology laid out in Chapter 2 to evaluate the work of POWA. The researcher utilized a combination of books, journal articles, websites, government documents, and quantitative research studies. For the case study, the researcher developed two questionnaires which were sent to two departments at POWA—the Training and Public Awareness department and the Information and Resource Center; the responses were compiled into two tables and several pages of text (Chapter 3). The study found that the NGO sector in South Africa is performing the ground work of fighting VAW—^providing counseling, legal aid, education workshops to abused women and advocating on their behalf as well as providing counseling and workshops to men, children, and even perpetrators. POWA is leading the coalition of NGOs that fight VAW in South Africa. Though POWA is often limited in both human and financial capital, it possesses the ability to change the current atmosphere of violence against women in South Afnca.
Recommended Citation
Richardson, Shane Julia, "Battling from the Bottom Up: The Alleviation of Violence Against Women by the Non-Governmental Sector in South Africa" (2004). Honors Theses. 2285.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/2285
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