Gender Based-violence programme

The scourge of gender-based violence (GBV) is pervasive in South Africa. According to Stats SA the number of women experiencing violence is five times higher than the global statistics. Vodacom’s approach to GBV focusses on prevention, response and victim empowerment.

Prevention and Response

In March 2014, Vodacom and the Department of Social Development (DSD) collaborated to launch the Gender-Based Violence Command Centre, with Vodacom contributing R4 million for the creation of the call centre that is managed by trained government-employed social workers.

In December 2016, a Skype capability was launched at the call centre to give access to the victims of gender-based violence from the deaf community.

The call centre serves as both a mechanism for prevention in the case where victims and perpetrators are seeking counselling. It also serves as a response mechanism where the police can be dispatched if the life of the caller is in danger, as our technology enables the social worker to geo-locate the caller and alert the police. Fighting GBV requires a coordinated approach and partnership between government, civil society and business.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 national lockdown, there was an alarming increase in intimate domestic violence. Even though the Command Centre receives a variety of calls ranging from depression to social grants and food parcels, the GBV related calls increased phenomenally in comparison to the calls received before the lockdown. To deal with the increase in reported incidents, the DSD increased the number of social workers from 48 to 58.

As part of the prevention strategy, the Foundation launched the #Bethelight campaign focusing on behavior change and including men in the responses and interventions.

More than 1 000 employees have attended our GBV Learning sessions – informal sessions that, with the assistance of gender experts, assists employees to understand drivers of GBV and how we can change the behaviour.

Victim Empowerment

The victim empowerment programme trains survivors of violence in relevant ICT skills. In partnership with the DSD, Vodacom has trained 1 300 survivors of violence in shelters across the country.

Agriculture is a knowledge-intensive field, with new technologies emerging every day, from drones and sensor technology to climate-smart agriculture, which all improve productivity. Women need to be empowered through technology if they want to start competing in this commercial space and that is exactly what the Foundation’s ICT in Agriculture programme is addressing.

Implemented in partnership with UN Women and South African Women in Farming (SAWIF), the programme introduces women farmers to technology enabling them to communicate with one another, access information about the farming value chain, financial solutions and potential buyers.

The programme has two phases – appropriate digital literacy training for the female farmers and introduction of the Connected Farmer App. Since launching in 2018 with a Vodacom investment of R6.3 million, the programme has had more than 1 300 female farmers trained on digital literacy. Using the Connected Farmer app, 11 fieldworkers were trained, enabling them to register and accurately profile the women farms.

Launched in 2017, the programme recruits young unemployed graduates to volunteer for a year. The volunteers are recruited from the Vodacom Youth Academy programme and placed at Vodacom supported Non Profit Organisations (NPOs), Schools of Excellence, and Teacher Centres. The purpose of the placements is to transfer ICT skills to NPOs, educators and learners, to increase the digital literacy among these stakeholders and the school population.

More than 2 300 employees are registered on the Connect for Good platform, which manages all volunteering elements for various large corporates including Vodacom. In July 2020 after a volunteering Fireside chat with the Group CEO, there were 387 new registrations, the highest number across all the corporates using the platform.

There are 21 verified NPOs registered on the platform giving employees the opportunity to choose how they could lend a hand either through giving of their time and skills and or financially.

In April 2020, we launched a virtual volunteering programme which has since seen 159 employees assisting NPOs and ECDs with various skills ranging from digital to business and financial. Fourty employees are tutoring 40 Grade 11 and 12 learners in Maths, Science and other subjects with the Foundation providing data for the learners.