Civil Society and Government Unite to Respond to Gender-based Violence in Ecuador

"In a small makeshift building outside a southern Quito hospital, 10 women sit together to share their stories as survivors of violence at the hands of their husbands or intimate partners....A social worker facilitates the discussion among the women, all grateful for a confidential space where they can talk about their struggles and seek answers to their questions about a possible life beyond their violent relationships..."

From the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)'s AIDSTAR-One (AIDS Support and Technical Assistance Resources, Sector 1, Task Order 1), this case study explores the work and strategies of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Centro Ecuatoriano para la Promoción y Acción de las Mujeres (CEPAM), which provides care and support to gender-based violence (GBV) survivors while raising awareness about this issue. It looks especially at the challenges and benefits associated with the strategy of partnership between a civil society organisation and the government.

Formed in 1983, CEPAM's mission is to develop new attitudes, practices, and public policies that promote gender equality between men and women. The organisation's specific objectives are preventing and mitigating the effects of violence against women and promoting sexual and reproductive health and rights through service provision, advocacy, awareness-raising, and behaviour change and community mobilisation campaigns. This case study documents both CEPAM's response to GBV and the organisation's partnership with the Government of Ecuador to address GBV holistically through both provision of services and prevention interventions.

More specifically, CEPAM's work on GBV, which includes family violence (against children and adolescents), violence against women, and sexual violence, focuses on service provision with complementary activities for prevention and advocacy. In addition to collaboration at the Guasmo Health Center, CEPAM operates a centre that offers comprehensive GBV services, including health, psychosocial support, and legal services, and is the site for peer education, prevention activities, and CEPAM's administrative and research-related work. CEPAM also has legal staff on-site at the Police for Women and Families and prosecutor's office of Guayas Province as part of a pilot programme supported by the national government.

For example, community-based rights counsellors serve as advocates for GBV survivors by orienting survivors to their rights, referring them to GBV services, and when necessary, accompanying them to services. "Each counsellor, a GBV survivor, underwent an intensive process of psychological support and training to become a community educator and advocate for women's rights, particularly related to GBV." Also, CEPAM Guayaquil conducts prevention activities to complement its service provision. These activities focus on three main areas: (i) Raising awareness of the right to live free of violence through workshops, discussions, and films in the general community and in schools; (ii) discussing masculinity, including nonviolence, in youth sexual and reproductive health peer educator groups; (iii) conducting home visits to provide counselling and education to improve parent-child communication.

CEPAM also conducts ongoing advocacy with the government at municipal, district, and national levels. Advocacy takes the shape not just of raising awareness and demanding change, but also working closely with government to design GBV response strategies and programmes. For example, CEPAM participates in civil society roundtables held by the municipal government of Guayaquil in order to encourage the establishment of community-based structures to respond to GBV.

Recommendations include:

• "Take an integrated approach: An effective response to GBV requires an integrated approach - including health, legal, and social services, as well as economic support where possible....CEPAM has integrated into its activities reflections on gender norms and rights with the intent of addressing myths about men's and women's roles in relationships and promote gender equity. Although it is not always possible to offer each of these services in one location, organizations should build alliances with and refer to other organizations that offer services they cannot offer...
• Do not forget men:...CEPAM's Integrated Center for Adolescents and Youth does work with male youth, and the center is currently training three male youth as facilitators on the topic of masculinity. Focus group discussions with youth indicated some positive impact from these efforts, such as changes in violent attitudes and behavior, particularly gang violence....[C]ollaboration with other programs that do work with men, or advocating for such programs with the government, would be a logical next step.
• Frame GBV as a broader health and development issue: CEPAM sees GBV as not simply an issue for individual men and women in violent relationships, but as a social problem requiring action and mitigation from institutions and community members alike....In Ecuador, where citizen safety is a priority, framing GBV as a problem of security was strategic to CEPAM's efforts to advance the GBV agenda in higher reaches of government.
• Mobilize and engage others:...Realizing that true change requires advocacy on a large scale, CEPAM is also strengthening and fostering community advocacy and citizen participation in policy development to ensure that the government fulfills its commitments to addressing GBV.
• Provide long-term technical assistance to governments to ensure sustainability: CEPAM's experiences at the Guasmo Health Center, the Police for Women and Families of Guayas, and the Guayas Province prosecutor's office show that it is possible for government and civil society to partner in the implementation of services. However, this is hardly an overnight process...
• Clearly establish roles and responsibilities within the partnership:...Interviewees cautioned that too much participation and leadership by civil society can lead to government over-reliance on civil society to assume responsibility in the response to GBV - resulting, for example, in a failure to fund activities planned under the leadership of civil society organizations...There should be a mechanism for input from all parties involved in the partnership..."