PUBLIC ADVOCACY AND CAMPAIGNS
Mobilising communities, amplifying voices and challenging violence through advocacy and campaigns that promote safety, protection, accountability and collective action.
Our Campaigns
Ilitha Labantu's community-driven campaigns create visible spaces for communities to stand together, honour those whose lives have been lost, challenge the normalisation of violence and advocate for safer communities. They also play an important practical role in helping people understand their rights, recognise abuse and know where to turn for assistance and support.
#Uthuleleni Anti-GBVF Campaign
The #Uthuleleni Anti-GBVF Campaign is a visible, community-driven platform for raising awareness, mobilising collective action and strengthening local responses to gender-based violence and femicide across urban, peri-urban and rural communities. #Uthuleleni also creates spaces for public solidarity, remembrance of survivors and victims, and calls for accountability in response to femicide and other acts of violence.
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Through motorcades, outreach activities and public awareness events, #Uthuleleni brings together community members and a wide range of stakeholders, including SAPS, Community Policing Forums, government departments, local councillors, community leaders and civil society organisations. These partnerships reinforce a central message: preventing GBVF requires a coordinated, society-wide response.
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The campaign reaches communities with information about GBV prevention, survivor rights and available support services, helping people better understand where and how to access assistance. This is particularly important in underserved and remote areas, where access to information and services may be limited.
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Take Back the Night
Each year, as part of the 16 Days of Activism, Ilitha Labantu brings communities together for Take Back the Night – a public stand against violence towards women and children.
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Under the theme “Reclaiming Our Streets,” participants walk together after dark in a powerful act of collective resistance, solidarity and remembrance. The march challenges the notion that women must alter their behaviour to stay safe, instead placing responsibility where it belongs: on society to confront and prevent violence.
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Take Back the Night symbolises the reclaiming of public spaces too often feared after nightfall. By bringing together community members, activists, faith leaders, SAPS officers and supporters, the march sends a clear message that violence cannot be normalised and that everyone has a role to play in creating safer communities.
Child Protection Week
During National Child Protection Week, Ilitha Labantu works with children, schools and communities to promote awareness of children's rights and strengthen protection from abuse.
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Through targeted awareness sessions, our Outreach and Education team engages children on their fundamental rights, helping them to recognise different forms of abuse, understand the importance of speaking out and identify pathways to access help and support services.
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Our work also emphasises that every child has the right to safety, dignity and protection, regardless of their ability or circumstances. By engaging children with disabilities and diverse learning needs, we promote an inclusive approach to child protection and reinforce the responsibility of homes, schools and communities to create environments where every child is safe and supported.