Assessing the impact of the response to gender-based violence (GBV) interventions in Gwembe district.
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Date
2023
Authors
Malambo, Morris Debson
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
The University of Zambia
Abstract
Background: Records at the Victim Support Unit (VSU) of the Zambia Police Service show that reported GBV cases annually from 2012 indicate an upward increase from 12,924 cases in 2012 to 18,080 in 2015, and 22,073 cases in 2018, to 25,121 cases in 2019, while in 2020 cases shot to
26,370 before showing a slight drop to 20,540 in 2021. (www.zambiapolice.gov.zm). Main objective: To assess the effectiveness of the response to Gender based violence interventions against women and girls in Gwembe district. Method: A quantitative cross sectional survey that was “Assessing the impact of the response to Gender Based Violence (GBV) intervention in Gwembe District-Zambia’’ The study was a descriptive cross-sectional in nature where a multistage random sampling procedure was used to select 8 wards and 16 villages. A systematic sampling was used to determine household interval in each village. A total of 102 respondents had either experienced or survived GBV in Gwembe district plus 17 key informants (implementers/stakeholders) comprised the sample under study. The study used semi-structured questionnaires to collect primary data. The study report is presented using descriptive statistics namely, frequencies and percentages. The findings were as follows: women realization of corporal punishment as being abuse stood at 89.9%, while whether GBV cases had declined in Gwembe district declined was 76.5%. However, reporting of cases of abuse to VSU stood at only 9.8%. With regard to impact of the response interventions against GBV in Gwembe district, efforts to bring the perpetrators to book by VSU was (10) 100% of 10 survivors, however the (92) 90.2% of 102 survivors did not report their abuse to VSU but handled the abuse domestically, usually by survivors’ relatives who charged the perpetrator with an animal e.g cow or some goats. The study found a significant relationship between distance and reporting of abuse to VSU as the majority of
women (72) 70.6% of 102 women who survived GBV lived within 5km radius, while survivors that lived beyond 15 km accounted for (22) 21.6 %, thus distance was a hindrance to reporting of cases. The study recommends that Government and cooperating: i. Establish a GBV response centre within Gwembe valley.
ii. To consider establishing a GBV one stop centre in Gwembe.
Description
Thesis of Master of Science of Public Health