Stakeholders that the Tiyambe Project has been working with at the district level in both Mulanje and Thyolo, have praised the approach that was used to engage communities within and around the tea and macadamia estates in the two districts. Key stakeholders, especially the District Gender Officers attest that the project has contributed to significant breakthroughs in the increasing awareness, reporting, and management of gender-based violence in the two districts.
“There is an increase in the number of cases that we receive due to an increase in people’s awareness about GBV. This change has been inspired by the performances that were done in different communities. People used normalize abuse, perpetuated by social norms like the belief that men are the heads of households, leading women to tolerate their husband’s abusive behavior as normal.” Explained Mafunga Jamu, Mulanje District Gender Officer.
Jamu attributes this significant change to the TfD performances that were based on real issues that happen in these communities. Apart from increasing their reach as Mulanje Gender office to more communities, he further said that access and control of resources in the families has changed in respect to gender equality. Additionally, some practices in the communities are now discouraged such as the belief that only men can provide for their families and those that were encouraging women to endure in the marriage regardless of domestic abuse.
In concurrence with Jamu, Tiyanjane Dauda, a former Gender Officer at Thyolo District Council, actively involved from the inception of the project, believes that the project has made significant gains in promoting gender equality. “One of the key issues predominantly appearing in the performances was to do with challenging social norms inhibiting girl child education.” He further said that the performances have helped to reduce incidents of suicide among men who were suffering in silence due to GBV by demystifying the belief that men can never face abuse from their wives.
Dauda also highlighted that his involvement in the project has inspired future programming at the council with regard to community engagement. He said that the project has assisted them to be more innovative in reaching out to communities as active participants to enhance understanding and ownership. Acting on the same, he proposed the adoption of TfD in all community engagement activities across different departments at Thyolo District Council for maximum impact.
It is however worth noting that the Tiyambe TfD performances have reduced the number of GBV cases reported at the Thyolo Magistrates court according to Grace Piyo, an Assistant Judicial officer. This has reduced the backlog of cases at the court because community structures have been empowered to manage some GBV cases right in their communities. She observes that most incidents of economic abuse and other abuses, except defilement and rape, are now addressed using community structures.
The Tiyambe project has been working with district stakeholders such as the Gender Office, the police, and the courts. Representatives from these offices availed themselves in each of the four performances and Community Action Plans sessions per estate. This accorded community members a chance to interact with such offices and to learn more about their role in addressing GBV.
