In March 2020, Cabinet approved the National Strategic Plan on Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (NSP-GBVF) for 2020-2030. This plan aims to unite various sectors in a coordinated national response to the crisis of gender-based violence and femicide in South Africa. It focuses on comprehensively and strategically responding to gender-based violence and femicide, with a focus on violence against all women (across age, physical location, disability, sexual orientation, sexual and gender identity, gender expression, nationality and other diversities) and violence against children and how these serve to reinforce each other.
The NSP-GBVF seeks to align with various global, regional and national policy frameworks, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Central to this, is one of the NSP-GBVF’s implementation modalities that speaks to the harmonisation of laws, policies, respective standardisation of implementation frameworks, a comprehensive sector-wide monitoring and evaluation (M&E) system, and integrated management information systems aimed at contributing to facilitating delivery on and accountability for the NSP-GBVF.
In October 2023, the Sustainable Development Goals Initiative (SDGi) in South Africa, supported a study on the alignment of the NSP-GBVF with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This study involved: identifying SDGs directly or indirectly related to gender-based violence, femicide, and gender equality; evaluating the alignment of the NSP-GBVF with the identified SDGs and the respective targets and indicators; identifying areas of synergy and potential gaps between the NSP-GBVF and the SDGs, highlighting opportunities for enhanced alignment and implementation; and providing recommendations on strengthening the alignment between the NSP-GBVF and the SDGs to maximise their collective impact in addressing gender-based violence and femicide.