USAID Awards $500,000 to Local Organizations in Africa and Europe to Address Gender-Based Violence

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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced $500,000 to grantees in North Macedonia, South Africa, Nigeria, Botswana, and Bosnia and Herzegovina for projects that will reduce gender-based violence (GBV). Through the Collective Action to Reduce Gender-Based Violence (CARE-GBV) Small Grants Program, the grantees will build organizational cultures that promote self-care and wellness for staff to help strengthen the quality of GBV programming.

Staff of GBV organizations often deal with burnout and secondary trauma due to the nature of their work. The grantees will elevate staff wellness and resiliency in GBV programming; fill global data gaps related to self-care and wellness for staff of GBV organizations; and build on learning from the COVID–19 pandemic.

• In Bosnia and Herzegovina, Žene sa Une (ZSU) will create a Staff Wellness and Resiliency-Building Program to facilitate learning about GBV prevention, staff wellness, care, and resilience. ZSU will continue to support post-pandemic operations that accommodate a 30–40 percent increase in need for services in safe houses from domestic violence and increased need for support from its child care center.
• In Botswana, WoMen Against Rape (WAR) will build institutional capacity to prevent, recognize, and respond to the presence of vicarious trauma in client-facing staff, as well as promote emotional resilience, while building staff capacity to better support and respond to the needs of GBV survivors.
• In Nigeria, Sexual Offences Awareness and Response Initiative (SOAR) will strengthen the overall capacity and culture of civil society organizations by promoting staff wellness and resilience in those organizations for effective GBV prevention and response programming.
• In South Africa, Sexual Violence Research Initiative (SVRI) will develop an online course and host a knowledge exchange series focused on self-, staff-, and collective care, wellness, and resilience.
• In North Macedonia, Crisis Center Hope will support GBV advocates with practices in self-care, wellness, and resiliency.

USAID received 518 applications from 68 countries, of which five finalists were selected to receive awards ranging from $50,000 to $125,000 over a one-year period. Each of the final organizations selected for the CARE-GBV Small Grants Program are locally-led by women, including women who identify as GBV survivors. 

USAID’s CARE-GBV strengthens collective prevention and response in GBV development programming across USAID. The program will achieve this strengthening by supporting USAID’s Bureau for Development, Democracy, and Innovation (DDI) Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment Hub (GenDev) in the development of guidelines, strategic plans, training, and professional networking support. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).