Sonke Gender Justice warmly acknowledges Global Affairs Canada for its partnership in advancing gender equality and strengthening feminist leadership across South Africa through the Inkanyezi project. Even in its inception and early implementation phase, Inkanyezi has laid a powerful foundation for long-term, community-driven transformation in the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga, two provinces where gender inequality, unemployment, and violence against women and girls continue to shape daily life.
This work is unfolding within a volatile national landscape. Over recent months, South Africa has witnessed waves of public protest and mobilisations demanding decisive action on gender-based violence. Civil society, student movements, and women’s rights groups have intensified pressure on the state following the release of alarming South African Police Service’s crime statistics and several high-profile femicide cases. In response, government leaders have publicly acknowledged the severity of the crisis, with growing calls from activists, policymakers, and the Presidency to declare GBV a national disaster, signalling a critical moment in the country’s political climate. The Inkanyezi project is directly responsive to this moment by strengthening community leadership, institutional accountability, and rights literacy at a time when national attention is sharply focused on structural failures in the GBV response.
With GAC’s support, Sonke has undertaken extensive groundwork to ensure that Inkanyezi is rooted in evidence, community realities, and feminist principles. During the reporting period, Sonke completed key project architecture including the Logic Model, Gender Equality Strategy, Performance Measurement Framework, Project Implementation Plan, and baseline research, anchoring the initiative in rigorous analysis and participatory consultations. Engagements with traditional leaders, municipal structures, young women’s groups, and civil society partners revealed intersecting crises: economic precarity, gaps in GBV services, weak institutional accountability, and limited representation of women in decision-making spaces. These insights directly shaped Inkanyezi’s design and ensured that the project reflects the lived experiences of the communities it aims to strengthen.
Supported by GAC, Sonke also established strong provincial teams, recruited Community Action Team members, and rebuilt essential partnerships with local stakeholders. In Mbhashe municipality in the Eastern Cape, Sonke’s participation in a two-day GBVF workshop facilitated by the Office of the Premier resulted in the historic election of two women leaders as Chairperson and Co-Chair of the Rapid Response Team, demonstrating how Inkanyezi is already shifting leadership dynamics at municipal level. In Mpumalanga, the project team secured commitments from local government officials and revived collaboration with the Wits Health Consortium in Bushbuckridge to prepare for project rollout.
These early achievements reflect Sonke’s Strategic Plan 2025–2029. Under Rights, consultations and sensitisation workshops deepen community understanding of gender equality, GBV, and structural discrimination. Under Action, women and youth leaders are being equipped to influence policy spaces. Under Accountability, partnerships with oversight institutions such as the South African Human Rights Commission, strengthen civic monitoring and responsiveness. Under Sustainability, GAC’s investment in staff training, financial capacity, and systems development enables long-term, locally led action.
Inkanyezi project is still in its early stages, yet the foundations now in place and is built through consultation, collaboration, and community trust, which signals a powerful trajectory. Sonke extends its appreciation to Global Affairs Canada for its unwavering commitment to feminist, rights-based development and for supporting communities as they build a future grounded in dignity, equality, and shared leadership.
