About Us

Founded in 2006, Sonke is a womxn’s rights organisation committed to feminist principles, using a rights-based and gender-transformative approach to achieve human rights and gender justice.

Sonke was founded on the belief that violence against womxn, and children is among the most pervasive and devastating human rights violations, one that deeply undermines South Africa’s democratic progress. A further driving motivation was a belief that gender inequalities, gender norms, and power relations underpinning domestic and sexual violence are bad, not only for womxn but also for men. Recognising that these norms and the harmful perceptions of what it means to be a man or a womxn encourage men to engage in high-risk behaviours, Sonke was established with a firm conviction that men and boys have a critical contribution to ending violence, transforming gender roles, and ultimately being part of the solution to achieving gender justice.

In line with the United Nation’s (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) motto, ‘Leave No One Behind’, Sonke prioritises work that improves the lives of the most marginalised populations, such as refugees and migrants, sex workers, the LGBTQIA + community, prisoners and ex-offenders, people living with HIV, children, and youth.

As a non-partisan civil society organisation, Sonke works with community-based organisations, faith-based organisations, UN agencies, media, academic institutions, government, international NGOs, the private sector, multilateral agencies, international human rights bodies, development partners, and intergovernmental agencies to achieve human rights and gender justice.

We work at community, national, regional, and global levels. In South Africa, Sonke is a registered NGO with offices in the Western Cape Province in Cape Town, Gauteng Province in Johannesburg and Diepsloot, Mpumalanga Province in Bushbuckridge, and Eastern Cape Province in Butterworth. The Men’s Wellness Centre is situated in Gugulethu, Cape Town. In addition to its offices in South Africa, Sonke has offices in Kampala in Uganda and works in 23 countries across Southern, Eastern, Central, and Western Africa through the Regional Programme and Networks Unit and the MenEngage Africa (MEA) Alliance.

Sonke plays an increasingly strategic role in supporting continental commitments to gender equality, including the African Union’s Agenda 2063 and the full implementation of the Maputo Protocol. Our role as secretariat of the MenEngage Africa Alliance allows us to convene and coordinate gender justice actors across over 23 countries, strengthening regional solidarity, advocacy, and policy influence.

Through our engagements with regional mechanisms such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the SADC Parliamentary Forum, and the East African Legislative Assembly, we support civil society efforts to advance human rights, sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR), and gender-transformative approaches at scale.

Our Philosophy

Sonke recognises that effecting sustained change to gender roles and relations requires addressing the forces that shape individual attitudes and community norms and practices traditions and cultures, government policies, laws and institutions, civil society organisations, the media and the family as well as underlying economic, political and social pressures. Effective responses to gender-based violence and HIV and AIDS require organisations to develop multifaceted strategies and build relationships with both traditional and nontraditional partners. We work closely with a range of organisations and individuals, including women’s rights organisations, social movements, trade unions, government departments, sports associations, faith-based organisations, media organisations, university research units and human-rights advocates. In addition, Sonke is committed to ensuring that programmes are informed by the perspectives and priorities of those working to advance the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transsexual and intersexual communities, people living with HIV and AIDS, and refugees and migrants. Women, sexual minorities, young people, refugees, migrants and other relevant stakeholders are represented in Sonke’s governance structures. We recognise the importance of engaged and empowered citizen activism that can both support the government as well as hold it accountable.
Spectrum of Change
We utilise the ‘spectrum of change’ model, drawing on a broad range of social change strategies that include:

Partnering with government to promote policy development and effective implementation

Advocacy, activism and community mobilisation

Networking and coalition work nationally and internationally

Capacity building and training with partner organisations

Innovative communication strategies for social change

Community education

Individual skills building

Research and monitoring and evaluation.
Registration Details

Our Vision

A world in which womxn, children, men, and gender-non-conforming individuals enjoy equitable, caring, healthy, and happy relationships that contribute to the development of gender-just and democratic societies free from poverty.

Our Mission

Sonke applies a rights-based approach to strengthen the capacity of governments, civil society, and citizens to advance gender justice and womxn’s rights, prevent gender-based violence, and reduce the spread of HIV and the impact of AIDS, thus contributing to social justice and the elimination of poverty.

Our values
Promote the rights of womxn and children

Transform gender relations by engaging with womxn, children, men, and gender non-conforming individuals

Respond to diversities among womxn and men in terms of sexual, ethnic, age, race, and class differences

Address structural and social determinants of gender inequality and, in so doing, promote social justice

Promote and support state accountability in fulfilling obligations to protect, promote, and enforce all rights that uphold gender equality.
Our principles
Sonke’s Code of Good Conduct provides a framework for employees regarding their beliefs, principles, and values that the organisation aspires to, including:

Acknowledging that every human being has a unique value and potential, irrespective of origin, ethnicity, culture, gender, age, sexual orientation, values, beliefs, politics, religion, race or socioeconomic or HIV status

Ensuring safeguards and measures are in place to prevent sexual exploitation, harassment, bullying, and abuse from taking place within the organisation

Recognising that all employees have the right to fulfil their potential

Acknowledging that all employees have a responsibility to support and empower their peers with knowledge and skills

Acknowledging that all employees have a responsibility to safeguard the children in their family and environment against all forms of violence, including corporal punishment

Respecting the rights, culture, and dignity of all the people we work with

Promoting unity and wellbeing within the communities we work in

Being responsive to the needs of the people of South Africa and the communities we work in across the globe

Ensuring that there is no discrimination against any member of the public on account of race, gender, gender identity, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, political persuasion, conscience, belief, culture, or language

Considering the circumstances and concerns of the beneficiaries when making decisions that affect them

Working with organisations that adhere to principles and values like those of Sonke.

Awards & Recognition
Tshegofatsa Rona Welfare & Community Organisation honoured Sonke’s Co-executive Director, Bafana Khumalo, with an award for championing the fight against Gender-Based Violence in 2025.

Sonke staff Amukelani Chauke and Jean-Marie Nkurunziza were recognized by Mail & Guardian newspaper in 2025 and 2011, respectively, as a young South Africans to watch out for, while Kgomotso Mophulane was recognized by Sunday World newspaper’s Unsung Hero initiative in 2023. The initiative recognizes young people who make exceptional contributions in their communities without seeking recognition.

Mail & Guardian Investing in the Future and Drivers of Change Health Award for the prison reform work.

Human Rights award by the Foundation for Human Rights’ inaugural Mogambri Moodliar Human Rights Awards.

Sonke was recognised by the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights as one of six “distinguished” organisations out of 160 applicants. As a young organisation, established only in 2006, Sonke was proud to be mentioned alongside organisations that are recognised globally for their pioneering work.

Co-founders and directors of Sonke, Dean Peacock and Bafana Khumalo won the Men’s Health Best Man Award in the Public Service category. The award recognized the two men’s efforts to halt the spread of HIV and AIDS and to stop all forms of gender-based violence in South Africa.

Sonke was recognised by Philanthropedia as one of the top-performing organisations working globally to end violence against women in 2012. The recognition was created by a global survey of 80 experts from 60 NGOs, research institutions and philanthropic organisations.

Sonke was listed as a runner-up in the Mail & Guardian 2012 Investing in the Future Awards for the One Man Can Campaign and runner-up in the Interpersonal/Community Category at the AfriComNet Awards for Excellence in HIV and AIDS Communication in Africa.
Recognitions for Promising or Best Practice
WHO’s Male Involvement in the Prevention of Mother-to-Child Transmission of HIV Paper

UNAIDS Innovative Approaches For Women And Girls Best Practices Report for the 2011 High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS

UNAID Best Practices Report for 2011 International Aids Society Conference Community Innovation: Achieving Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for Women And Girls through The HIV Response

WHO: Addressing violence against women and HIV/AIDS: What works?

ACTION AID Compendium of promising practices: Together we must end violence against women and girls and HIV and AIDS: Emerging practices addressing the intersection

Global Business Coalition Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Initiative – Men as Champions for Family Health: A Workplace Initiative

USAID Report on Engaging Men For Gender Equality and Improved Reproductive Health

About Us

Our Philosophy

Spectrum of Change

Registration Details

Our Vision

Our Mission

Our values

Our principles

Awards & Recognition

Recognitions for Promising or Best Practice