MAV has designed the following key strategies:
- To develop a Team of Role Models – high profile men who are prepared to stand up and say no to violence against women
- To train young people (boys and girls) to have a changed mindset
- To train women to adopt defensive and dissuasive strategies to avoid GBV
- To offer support to perpetrators of GBV through counseling
This current campaign addresses 1 and 2 above
MAV is therefore planning the following key actions and initiatives.
- Target boys and young men 12-22 years old (target 6000 boys and men in first year)
- Target secondary schools, tertiary institutions, NGOs, social groups and centres, and the work place, wherever young people are found
- Run a national awareness campaign to say no to violence against girls and women
- Train a team of facilitators to deliver workshops and presentations to the target audience
- Develop the appropriate training materials
There is growing violence in our country and most of it is directed towards women and girls who are seen as the more vulnerable elements in our society. Not a day now goes by without us reading in the press of another woman or girl attacked, raped or killed.
WIN has been working on women’s empowerment now for 5 years since it was founded and has quickly come to the realisation that we are often addressing women on these issues, who are of course convinced of the need for action. Men, however, see these issues as “womens’ problems”. The issue of violence in our society, and specifically violence against women, is not a womens’ problem, it is society’s problem. And we therefore need men to stand up and say no to violence against women. This is the basis of our campaign. We all know that violence leads to a vicious circle where young boys, who see violence at close quarters, imitate the models they have seen. And we believe the same is true of young girls who have seen their mothers beaten and therefore often accept that this is also their fate. We need to break this vicious spiral and men need to play their role, alongside women, in stopping this violence. It is important for all Mauritians to realise that they must stand up and say NO TO VIOLENCE.
