Gender transformative approaches have become tools in striving towards achieving Gender equality and ending gender injustice for all in society. Strengthening the capacity of young people in engaging on GTA equips them with knowledge to meaningfully engage in addressing gender issues.
Under the Going for Goal project currently being implemented in Diepsloot, Sonke hosted a GTA capacity strengthening for youth ambassadors in September 2023. The project is aimed at engaging young people between the ages 13–18-year-old on Gender based violence and substance using indigenous games. The project makes use of a peer educator approach which we call Youth ambassadors.
During the GTA training with the Youth Ambassadors in September they were equipped with knowledge to engage their peers on gender issues, Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights and children’s rights. The ambassadors were taken through the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC), as a basis to understand South Africa’s commitment to children’s rights at international level in addition to the new national laws such as the Domestic Violence Amendment Act that prioritizes victims of domestic violence including children as secondary victims.
Youth Ambassadors expressed a zero tolerance for sexual and gender-based violence and highlighted that “sexual violence has nothing to do with what one is wearing but the objectification of women and their bodies.”
The training was made a success by the maximum participation of the ambassadors and their willingness to meaningfully contribute to ending Gender-based violence and child abuse in Diepsloot.
