This report presents findings from the baseline data collection for USAID/South Africa’s (USAID/SA) Increasing Services for Survivors of Sexual Assault in South Africa (ISSSASA) Program. The objective of this program is to improve service provision and community awareness of services for survivors of sexual assault in South Africa, which struggles with one of the highest rates of gender-based violence in the world (Genderlinks, 2011). The Government of South Africa’s (GoSA) fight against sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) is spearheaded by the Sexual Offenses and Community Affairs (SOCA) unit of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) within South Africa’s Department of Justice and Constitutional Development (DOJ/CD). USAID has worked with the NPA/SOCA since 1999 to establish the Thuthuzela Care Center (TCC) model. TCCs provide a comprehensive portfolio of services to survivors of SGBV, including emergency medical care, psychosocial counseling, post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP), HIV testing and counseling, and assistance with case reporting and court preparation in an integrated and victim-friendly manner. The TCC model seeks to streamline the care process for SGBV survivors by establishing effective linkages between various service providers and government stakeholders, and to improve legal services by reducing time-to-court and increasing the conviction rate.
This impact evaluation (IE) is a rigorous study of the effectiveness of two distinct intervention approaches to increase the rates of SGBV survivor reporting, follow-through with services, and public awareness and understanding of SGBV and resources available to survivors. The first of these interventions is a demand-side intervention implemented by Soul City Institute (Soul City) and Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) and entails multi-media community dialogues held separately with women and men to provide information about SGBV and TCCs. The second is a supply-side intervention implemented by the Foundation for Professional Development (FPD) and includes multi-disciplinary trainings for service providers in the TCC referral and care networks.
This IE will serve to provide evidence about the effectiveness of supply-side versus demand-side outreach activities for improving service awareness in South Africa, and in similar contexts. The outcomes of this IE are expected to be highly informative for both the academic and development communities, and for stakeholders working to address SGBV in South Africa. The findings of this IE may also have implications for funding decisions bearing on accountability and other development objectives.