1 in 4 women in Zimbabwe have experienced sexual violence since the age of 15, causing long-term emotional and psychological trauma which impacts on women's ability to care for themselves and their families. Oasis Zimbabwe is training 1000 community sexual violence responders, to help survivors to access immediate medical and legal support, and to process and recover from trauma in the long term, so they can build hopeful and sustainable futures where they can pursue their dreams.
Increasing poverty levels in Zimbabwe have resulted in high rates of sexual exploitation, trafficking and violence. Medical and legal services are under-resourced, and many survivors do not receive high standards of care or justice, if any. Fear of losing their only known community often stops survivors from reporting abuse, and the psychological trauma of sexual violence continues to impact all aspects of daily life for thousands of women and girls, perpetuating cycles of poverty and violence
With your support, we'll train 1000 people in trauma recovery and form SWATT-TEAMs (Survivors, Women & girls Accessing Trauma intervention & Training To be Empowered Advocates & change Makers) that respond quickly and effectively to incidents of sexual violence in their communities. These SWATT-TEAMs will assist thousands of women and girls each year with immediate crisis support such as referrals for medical care, reporting of crime, and safe shelter; and with longer term psychological recover
Training and mobilising 1000 sexual violence responders will increase the number of survivors reporting abuse and accessing urgent medical care, including post-exposure medication, reducing HIV and other STI transmission rates. Increased reporting will lead to increased prosecution rates and lower community tolerance for sexual violence. Trauma-informed care will enable faster and more thorough psychological recovery, enabling survivors to access opportunities to lift themselves out of poverty.
This project has provided additional documentation in a PDF file (projdoc.pdf).
