We are all part of communities.
Our extended families are our community. The church we attend is our community.
The neighbourhood we live in. The people we work with are part of our community too.
Through our communities is how we will break the silence around abuse and ensure that no one has to stay where they are unsafe.
In March we mark International Women's Day as well as Human Rights Day in South Africa, and to start the discussion around our responsibility to end gender-based violence, Daily Sun, in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union to South Africa, is hosting a panel on the role of communities.
Join the conversation, Accountability: How Communities Need to Show Up to End GBV.
Dangor, a clinical psychologist and coach, is also executive director of Nisaa Institute for Women's Development, which has as its vision to enable women and children to live in a world free of violence.
She joins the panel in her capacity as head of the executive of the National Shelter Movement of South Africa. Shelters play a fundamental, mitigating role in responding to, and addressing, violence against women and their children. Shelters offer safe accommodation, they provide opportunities for healing and re-building, and play a significant role in interrupting and breaking the cycle of violence, says the movement's website.
Dangor is also the co-author of Reclaiming Women's Spaces and the author of Life After Abuse.
Sigauqwe is Sonke's Communications and Strategic Information (CSI) Unit Manager. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science and Philosophy, with Economics and International Relations as minors, and an Honours degree in Political Science with African Literature as an elective – both from the University of the Witwatersrand – as well as a Certificate in Research Methodology from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine.
Searle is a survivor of domestic violence who is applying her experience as the co-founder of the start-up social tech – The I Am Collective. It is a machine-driven programme that uses technology and insights to shift community conversations on gender-based violence, using powerful storytelling to make a collective shift.
She has 14 years of brand, marketing and design experience.
Motsei is the founder of Afrika Ikalafe Institute for spiritual health. She is also the founder of Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training (ADAPT), which is one of the first organisations in South Africa to introduce working with men as one of the effective strategies of confronting violence against women. The programme also concentrates on building support for abused women through training health and community support workers. She is also the author of The Kanga and the Kangaroo Court; Reflections on the Rape Trial of Jacob Zuma.
Smith is a journalist, feminist writer and media strategist. She is a specialist in gender equality, women's empowerment, intersectionality and human rights. She is currently senior manager: strategic integration at the Soul City Institute and producer of the TV show It's a Feminist Thing on SABC2.
