Restore hope to sexual abuse survivors in Zambia

Over the last quarter, Restored Hope Zambia (RHZ) focused on community engagement through media (TV & Radio) and in person discussions in local districts in Zambia, combining rural and urban areas.

Radio Programmes

RHZ has had three radio programmes and three TV programmes to raise awareness of abuse dynamics within the church. One of these programmes has a focus on safeguarding children and vulnerable adults where the team highlighted the role that faith leaders and those within the church can play in recognising and preventing abuse. The programmes got good engagement which we will build on by hosting listening groups to discuss the points raise in more detail.

Focus group discussions

As well as using media to raise awareness of abuse, RHZ was able to go to three districts in Zambia (Ndola, Mongu and Solwezi) to facilitate focus group discussions with men, older women and youth (girls). The purpose of the discussion was to understand the understanding and perception of abuse, barriers faces by victims of abuse in reporting the crimes and getting the support needed as well as getting an understanding of unhelpful narratives that perpetuate these crimes. We had 33 men, 14 women and 19 youth in attendance with 6 focus group discussions in the districts. The engagement was lively with participants highlighting a desire for follow up conversation.

The next phase of our community training will be to implement the output from these discussions into our resources and follow up training.