In the words of Kidist Abune : “The Community break its silence on VAWG and started to act, even when perpetrators are family members”

Kidist Abune is SASA! project coordinator at Association of Women in Sanctuary and development (AWSAD), UN Women Ethiopia’s implementing partner. SASA! is an innovative and tested community mobilization approach, developed by Raising Voices in Kampala, Uganda that mobilizes communities for a change in social norms by addressing the root causes of power imbalance between women and men to prevent Violence Against women and Girls (VAWG) and HIV/AIDS. SASA! uses four strategies: local activism, media and advocacy, communication materials and training to reach a variety of people in a variety of ways.

Photo: Kidist Abune is SASA! project coordinator at Association of Women in Sanctuary and development (AWSAD), UN Women Ethiopia’s implementing partner

We started implementing SASA project in 3 districts of Adama city, Oromia region in 2019. The program came after a rapid assessment of Knowledge Attitude and Practice in relation to VAWG and HIV in the area. The assessment showed the awareness was low and VAWG is widespread.

We started by selecting 75 community leaders/awareness raising champions, 25 persons per district, who are already influential and accepted by the community, who are willing to volunteer and mobilize the community.

The second step was to establish “community action group” that comprises of 18 individuals representing government actors, elders, police, Women’s affairs, one stop center etc . who are working on VAWG prevention and response.

Third group is drama groups that will perform dramas, poems to use art to mobilize the community sensitize about VAWG and HIV/AIDS.

SASA is a Swahili word to mean NOW, we are meaning ‘it is time to stop GBV Now!’ the program has four stages, Start Awareness Support Action. SASA! Relies on local activism, for community leaders/activists to use every opportunity to sensitize and share what they know about VAWG and everyone’s responsibility to stop and prevent it. It is everyday activism being done at Idir (informal community self-help group) gatherings, religious programs, public transport, funeral/mourning tents, Credit and saving group meetings etc.

IEC/BCC materials such as power posters, game cars, comic pictures, are extensively used – by community activists as a visual aid to provoke thoughts, show scenarios and simplify the concepts.

Media advocacy is another mechanism SASA! project uses to reach a wider audience. We have a weekly 30-minute program dedicated on VAWG and HIV/AIDS on Adama Broadcasting service, a community radio that reaches audiences around Adama.

To see changes after SASA! Interventions, we do assessments at the end of each stage on Knowledge, attitude, skill and behavior & Action. Recent assessment results show that changes are Knowledge from 72 to 92 %, attitude 54 to 80% skill and behavior 23.5 to 50% while on last stage, action – assessment not yet done.

Beyond these numbers we saw change we see community break its silence, even when perpetrators are family members. The community start to mobilize to oppose Femicide cases/ to express anger after a few cases in Adama.

The community used to think VAWG isn’t happening unless it happens to their own, they start to support survivors instead of pointing fingers. They are now intervening/telling them to go seek help in domestic violence cases. Because community members are empowered to believe and know they have power to prevent VAWG. They now challenge the elder culture where VAWG (rape) was dealt with “mediation” and not the law, and domestic violence is involved.

Domestic relations are improved – men sharing house chores and caring for children – men realizing their power over is affecting their marriages and they need to use their power appropriately.

Covid was a challenge, and it made the program lag/delay, but we used Telegram to keep. Lack of meeting rooms to conduct check- in meetings was also an issue, we started to meet at individual homes.

Economic hardships make community activists dedicate less of their time, since the places we do SASA at are lower economic status, we created second level volunteer community activists to use as back up to replace when there is dropout among the first level volunteers.

Despite these and some other challenges such as expecting payment for volunteerism (NGO culture created periderm for such participation) and some dropouts because of that, and the political system that resulted in community action group members/ government actors quick turnover, the project is doing well and bearing good results.

UN Women Ethiopia country office, through it Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (EVaWG) has been supporting the implementation of SASA! Faith and SASA! since 2017/18 in two selected districts of Adama, Oromia region and Debre Birhan, Amhara, respectively. The program has been supported by the Governments of Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.