The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is taking steps to improve research, data collection, and reporting on gender-based violence (GBV) in the region. A five-day workshop held from February 17 to 21, 2025, in Johannesburg, South Africa, brought together 90 delegates from 14 of the 16 SADC member states to tackle challenges in GBV data management and reporting.
The SADC Secretariat, in collaboration with UN Women and GIZ’s Partnerships for Prevention of GBV in Southern Africa Programme (PfP), organized the event. Participants included government officials from gender, police, health, and statistics sectors, as well as civil society organizations and SADC partners involved in GBV prevention and research. The workshop provided a space for discussions on increasing the use of GBV data in policy and decision-making.
The initiative aligns with Objective 4 of the SADC Regional Strategy and Framework of Action for Addressing Gender-Based Violence (2018-2030), which focuses on information and knowledge management. This framework seeks to ensure the availability of accurate and timely GBV data to guide policy development and advocacy efforts.
To support these goals, SADC introduced a set of GBV indicators in 2021, approved by Gender Ministers, for annual reporting by member states. A GBV Scorecard was also developed to track progress on qualitative indicators and aid advocacy and policy discussions. The workshop reviewed the status of GBV reporting across member states and explored solutions to challenges in data collection and analysis.
