South Africa—Women’s Justice and Empowerment Initiative

Under a subcontract to an RTI International project funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), DAI worked on the Women’s Justice and Empowerment Initiative, a U.S. Presidential Initiative to address women’s rights and access to justice in four African countries. In South Africa, the program worked closely with the National Prosecuting Authority that leads the Thuthuzela Care Centres (TCCs). Our work focused on strengthening South Africa’s response to sexual violence.

The TCCs were established as one-stop facilities critical to South Africa’s anti-rape strategy. They aim to reduce secondary trauma for victims, improve conviction rates of rapists, and reduce the time for resolving cases in court. USAID’s assistance helped advance the program.

Sample Activities

• Develop a self-assessment tool to be applied at each of the then-25 TCCs countrywide.
• Facilitate the self-assessments of 17 existing and eight new TCCs, with a goal of building the centres’ capacity to comply with the TCC program, site-specific protocols, and National Department of Health standards.
• Conduct workshops and guide the TCCs in implementing the tools while providing support for the review of the action plans.
• Disseminate information and share lessons learned with new TCCs.

Select Results

• Designed tools for self-assessment and action planning.
• Facilitated self-assessment and action planning workshops in 34 TCCs.
• Produced a report highlighting capacity levels and recommendations.
• Built the capacity of implementation teams and provincial managers in conducting self-assessments and action planning.