Masimanyane Women's Support Centre

CONTACT PERSON: Dr Lesley Ann Foster PHYSICAL ADDRESS: 35 St Mark’s Road Southernwood East London South Africa, 5201 POSTAL ADDRESS: P O Box 565 East London South Africa, 5200 TELEPHONE: +27 43 743 9169 FAX: +27 43 743 9176 E-MAIL:maswsc@iafrica.comWEB-SITE:Masimanyane websiteMasimanyane was established in 1995 as a support programme for women and girls who experience sexual violence. Initially a grassroots facility, Masimanyane at first provided counselling support to mostly black women and girls from marginalised communities. Masimanyane has grown over the past 14 years into one of the three biggest NGO’s working on violence against women and girls in South Africa. It was also one of the first organisations to link violence against women and HIV/AIDS and locates its work within a feminist and human rights framework. Masimanyane has four programmatic areas of work which are support services including paralegal services and crisis counselling, primary preventions and awareness raising, women’s leadership development and advocacy and government monitoring.

Masimanyane’s vision: To contribute towards a safe, free, secure and gender-sensitive environment where violence against women is completely eradicated and women’s human rights are protected.

Masimanyane’s vision:To provide accessible crisis intervention and support to women and girls who are or have been victims/survivors of domestic violence, rape and sexual abuse, and to input into policy and programme formulation for the protection of women and girls.

Achievements include the following:Masimanyane assisted in the development of the new Domestic Violence Act, acknowledged as among the most progressive in the world. The organisation engaged in research which led to the establishment of a sexual offences court in Mdantsane, and contributed to a national report on gender-based violence in South Africa and a national report on the impact of HIV/Aids on women. Both were used by Parliament to guide government policies and programmes.

In 1998 Masimanyane developed an NGO Shadow Report which was presented to the United Nations. Numerous policy decisions were made based on the recommendations the CEDAW committee made to our government. These include the development of equality legislation and the later development of equality courts.

Most recently Masimanyane was instrumental in raising a national concern around child marriages and the trafficking of children for sexual exploitation under the guise of “a cultural practise.

Masimanyane’s crisis-intervention and awareness-raising programmes mainly target communities within the Eastern Cape. However, its policy interventions and women’s leadership programmes benefit women on both a national and regional scale. The organisation has a strong, and growing, national, regional and international profile.

RegionalDuring 2007 the organisation extended its regional influence when it was elected to house the secretariat of Amanitare, a Pan African Network working to improve the lives of African women and girls. Amanirtare has members in 28 African countries. Masimanyane’s director, Ms Lesley Ann Foster, is currently the president of the board of Amanitare.

InternationalMasimanyane works extensively on the international stage, using the CEDAW Convention in its advocacy initiatives. The organisation has provided training support to the Norwegian Crisis Centre and numerous exchange programmes have taken place. Masimanyane currently works in the Middle East assisting in the establishment of violence against women programmes in Iraq and Jordan.

Masimanyane currently has 45 fulltime professional and non-professional staff members