Addressing Gender-Based Violence Through Community Empowerment

This 36-page publication was written for community members who attended workshops held by the Gender Research and Advocacy Project of the Legal Assistance Centre in Namibia during 2008. The workshops were held across the 13 regions of Namibia in an attempt to identify some of the root causes of gender-based violence and help communities identify preventative actions they could implement, based on their understanding of the underlying issues in their community. It was written to serve as a record of the information discussed and the ideas generated during these workshops and to communicate this information to community members unable to attend.

Each chapter in this booklet covers a different area on gender-based violence and how gender-based violence can be tackled.

• Chapter 1: What is gender-based violence and why is it a problem?
• Chapter 2: Domestic violence
• Chapter 3: Rape
• Chapter 4: Married equality
• Chapter 5: Parent-child relationships
• Chapter 6: Abuse of the elderly
• Chapter 7: Alcohol
• Chapter 8: Witchcraft
• Chapter 9: Empowering communities to take a stand against gender-based violence