The root causes of violence against women lie in historical and contemporary structural inequalities that shape the lives of poor black women and men. These inequalities have to be challenged by those most affected and most excluded in order to create a transformed, peaceful and equal society. Project Empower works at two levels – focusing on the personal – which addresses individual practical nee
ds and develops individual agency and at a community/society level that looks for longer term structural change. Through organising women, raising consciousness of inequalities, developing women’s leadership, activism and advocacy, and through solidarity, women at community level begin to challenge and change inequalities and build more peaceful and equitable communities. Through the support of Project Empower, women in Ndumo have secured the right to access land, to be represented on traditional councils and to secure employment on development projects. Previously excluded from community participation, young women in six shack settlements across eThekwini are participating in a range of community structures such as development committees, street committees, community policing forums and clinic committees and are successfully presenting the interests of young women on these structures. Women leaders in nine communities lead consciousness raising groups involving more than six hundred women in regular sessions where women share and analyse their experiences, discuss strategies for change and plan and implement action.
