Situated at the heart of St Francis Mission Hospital in Katete, the Gender Based Violence(GBV) One-Stop Centre has become a critical resource for men and women who have been subjected to physical and emotional abuse. The One-Stop-Centre is working with Women in Law and Development in Africa (WiLDAF )under a European Union funded programme, aimed at ending GBV.
ZGF is facilitating the implementation of the programme by supporting WiLDAF and seven other organisations in capacity development and monitoring the various projects. The ZGF team recently visited the centre which offers specialized services to survivors of physical and sexual violence, including health care, collection of forensic evidence, criminal investigation and psychosocial support. Beatrice Sakala Bwalya, an officer at the centre said the coordination of the centre is based on the principles of the victim’s consent, confidentiality as well as the respect of the dignity and rights of the victim. This involves sensitization, treatment and follow-up on recovery of survivors of violence as well as investigating GBV crimes and prosecuting perpetrators of violence in Katete. She said integration of several services at one-stop centres had significantly improved handling of GBV cases in the district as well as arresting and prosecution of suspected perpetrators of the violence
“In the past, when victims of GBV went to the hospital without a police report, they were first sent to collect the police report before getting any attention from the hospital, in the process further affecting the victims psychologically and worsening their conditions.
All that has changed now as the victims get the police report, medical examination and treatment, and necessary social welfare assistance at the one stop centre based here at the hospital. At least 120 GBV cases are reported every month with victims mainly being subjected to physical violence” Beatrice said.
“In most communities, service providers are located in different physical locations thereby inhibiting timely and efficient responses and police stations and hospitals do not provide a conducive atmosphere to report cases of GBV,” she said. “The environment accorded by the One-Stop Centres allows victims to feel safe and to open up on their devastating experiences at the same time guaranteeing them maximum confidentiality.” she adde
WiLDAF has been helping with increasing awareness in the communities about the services at the centre and also ensuring that the officers are capacitated enough to deal with GBV issues. The officers at the one stop centre said their efforts in the fight against GBV are sometimes undermined by prosecutors who quickly grant bail to perpetrators which interferes with investigations.
“At times we feel that perpetrators are granted bail prematurely which allows them to be in contact with victims. This compromises the investigation process as some of the victims will withdraw the cases in the end. Again, not much is done to prepare the witness such they find it hard to give adequate evidence in court,” one of the officer explained.
Keep up to date about the progress of this project by following WiLDAF on Facebook.
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"One stop centre" breaking the cycle of domestic violence by Tarisai Jangara