Our Strategies
By clearly identifying our niche, we intend to focus our activities on five key themes which are linked and overlap creating a holistic approach to our role of building one voice and one purpose.
They include:
Research, Analysis and Intervention:
Research is a strategy deployed to access information and capture the extent of our intervention activities within our programme areas. The exercise involves analyzing, random sampling of respondents within our geographic coverage, key informants, and focus group discussions within the community and coming up with interventions. The research targets the whole community to bring out the realities in our programme areas and priorities both to the survivor’s, victims and those affected in one way or the other....(show more) (show less)
Baseline Survey
The objectives of a baseline survey is:
- To identify the level of prevalence in our respective programme areas
- To find out the causing factors in our georgraphic coverage
- To identify the consequences of S/GBV, HIV/AIDS, Gender Mainstreaming and other negative norms within our progamme areas
- Assess understanding of human rights among girls and women and
- Determine the role of existing structures in dealing with these negative norms.
Lobbying and Advocacy
Our approach in lobbyng and advocacy involves educating the community on general human rights focusing on women’s and child rights, health, economic implications of S/GBV and other negative norms.
This approach has culminated in the creation of Men for Women Rights Movement on the beaches. These movements are strategic in creating awareness and mitigating the health impacts of S/GBV and the effects of other negative norms with referral to S/GBV cases.
In lobbying and advocacy a number of other complementary strategies and activities are undertaken to address negative norms within our programme areas. This is through awareness and dissemination of S/GBV streamlined messages, this includes performances by Participatory Educational Theatre Groups as well as distribution of anti-Sexual/Gender Based Violence IEC materials at community meetings.
In advancing and facilitating awareness DEVLINK involves Panama Youth Theater Group and Ragwe Beach Pet Group in the dissemination of Women and Child Rights, Gender and Governance Rights and Reproductive Health messages. These theatrical performances portray most of the realities along the beaches on the impacts of these norms characterized in particular communities, needing mitigation.
Our general objectives in advocacy are:
- Sensitizing women and children on their rights
- Empowering women to effectively participate and assert their rights in all the pertinent issues that affect their livelihoods and their health in particular
- Awareness creation on S/GBV and its health impacts
- Intervening in avenues for redress on legal and medical related issues in case of S/GBV...(show more)...(show less)
School Based Advocacy
Devlink realizes that there is a cycle of Sexual/ Gender Based Violence in the communities. This is because of the socialization of boys at an early age on S/GBV and gender equality. Most girls are vulnerable to Sexual and Gender based violence in the fishing community both by the older men in the community and the young boys still in school with the girls. There is therefore the need to nurture the young people on the need to change attitudes and values especially the need to respect girls and women. There is also the need to dialogue with them on perceived stereotypes that exist in the communities.
In this approach DEVLINK identified various schools in Mbita Central and Gwasii Division for outreach activity. We identified schools that were hardly hit by S/GBV and engaged them in awareness creation activities.
The identification of the school was derived from the information collected from the baseline survey methodology of research. The criterion of approach was based on the areas most affected with reference to our geographic coverage and proximity to the *beaches.
*Most of the affected regions were close to the beaches
Church Based Advocacy
During the school based advocacy programme DEVLINK noted that most cases are never reported because of stigma and fear of blame arising from the stereotype instilled in a gender prejudiced community. In this strategic approach DEVLINK employs a Religious driven platform which has proven successful in the past to create awareness. Awareness fora that focus on communication, reproductive health and human rights violation especially in Sexual/Gender Based Violence. The fora engage parents,their children and influential leaders within the community.
The objectives of these fora include:
- To raise awareness on the cases of violence against women and children
- To instill parental responsibility on their children to curb incidences of sexual abuse
- To involve the religious community in the fight against sexual /gender based violence
- To promote seeking of justice by the victims of sexual/gender based violence
Capacity and Skill Building
Efficient communication exchange is vital to the effectiveness of DEVLINK Africa in its approaches for dignified and sustainable livelihood. A lotof information is collected through research and passed through lobbying and advocacy. This information should be effectively imparted on community at large with a focus on the affected....
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Once this information is imparted on target groups effectively, their capacity is built and they are now aware and can make informed decisions in terms of good Health, mitigating Gender Based Violence, promoting Human Rights especially for the Women and Children.
With an informed community and an educationally empowered majority we set up structures for sustainale livelihoods through the following activities:
- Economic empowerement
- Agronomical sustainability and improved food security
- Micro-credit financing and skill transfer
- Other essential elements of dignified livelihood
