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Sonke Gender Justice Network

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Areas of expertise & Fields of activity:	Gender Issues and Advancement of Women: Advocacy and outreach Capacity building Human rights of women Men and boys Millennium Development Goals Policy advice Research Violence against women Women and HIV/AIDS Women in power and decision-making
Geographic scope:	International
Millennium Development Goals:	Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases Promote gender equality and empower women
Mission statement:	Sonke Gender Justice (Sonke) is a South African NGO that works locally, nationally, regionally and internationally to strengthen individual, community and civil society and community capacity to promote gender equality, support and hold states accountable, and assert that all human beings have the right to human dignity, health and freedom from violence. It uses a human rights framework to achieve gender equality and seeks to respond to the structural base of gender inequality. Sonke advances its mission through social mobilization, advocacy targeted at policy change, building strategic partnerships at a local, national, regional and global level and contributing towards increasing the capacity of individuals and institutions to better harness men and boys as critical allies, whilst working with women and girls, in building a new world based on equal and transformed relationships between women and men, girls and boys. Sonke believes that gender transformation work must: • Promote the rights of women and girls and link into efforts to empower women and girls whilst building onto the legacy of the feminist movement; • Enhance the lives of boys and men and help them to see the benefits of transforming gender norms; • Explore ways to transform gender relations by engaging both women and men, girls and boys; • Be based on the indivisibility and inalienability of human rights for everybody; • Break free from the notion that addressing gender inequality is for women only; • Include and respond to diversities among men – such as sexual, ethnic, age, ‘race’ and class differences; • Integrate an understanding of the multiple intersections between gender and other forms of marginalization, oppression and exclusion in the design and roll out of programmes; • Address structural and social determinants of gender inequality and, in so doing, promote social justice; • Promote and support state accountability in fulfilling its obligations to protect, promote and enforce all rights that uphold gender equality; • Foster, encourage and support individual and social agency as a key motor for changing attitudes, behaviour and practices; • Work through meaningful partnerships with those working in the field of gender transformation, and not on behalf of.
Year established:	2006
Year of registration:	2006
Organizational structure:	Sonke’s work is divided into five work areas or units as follows: 1. Community, Education and Mobilisation (CEM): to develop the capacity of public and civic institutions across Africa and mobilise men and boys to work proactively to prevent gender-based violence, reduce the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS and promote gender equality. 2. Policy, Development and Advocacy (PDA): to see work with men and boys included in policies at all levels and monitor implementation of laws and policies and strengthen an ongoing evidence base to support this work. 3. Communications and Strategic Information (CSI): to promote positive changes in social norms and practices by using a variety of social communication strategies. 4. International Programmes and Networks (IPN): to consolidate and extend strong and coherent national, regional and international networks of civil society organisations and activists who share our values. 5. Operations and Organisational Development (OOD): to strengthen effective internal governance structures, and institutional and financial capacity
Number and type of members:	65 staff members - Managers: 19 - CEM unit: 22 - PDA unit: 7 - IPN unit: 6 - CSI unit: 4 - OOD unit: 7 14 board members: - Sisonke Msimang - Tom Fry - Rachel Jewkes - Mokgethi Tshabalala - Steven Robins - Kopano Ratele - Vuyiseka Dubula - Liesl Gernholtz - Khanya Njela - Deborah Byrne - Phumzile Mabizela - Dmitri Holtzman - Lucilla Blankenberg - Donovan Muller
Affiliation with NGO networks:	MenEngage, the Commission for Gender Equality Monitor initiative, National Sexual Offences Working Group, Alliance for Rural Democracy , Detention Justice Forum
Funding structure:	Fundraising campaigns Grants from Governments Foreign and international grants

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