BotswanaPost stamps out gender-based violence

Gothataone Moeng | Friday June 27, 2014 17:27

The deal, to exploit the postmaster’s presence across the country, is an introduction of a stamp with a ‘Say No to Gender-Based Violence, Act Now’ stamped on every letter.

This, the two organisations hope, will send home the message to end GBV, at a time when the latest statistics show that two in three women in Botswana have been subjected to violence in the home.

BotswanaPost head of mail business Setshedi Botlhole-Mmopi noted that through this deal, potentially, more than one million postal clients worldwide would be reached monthly.

“This partnership which will run for a year, translates to 20 million mail items annually, with a value of P98 million annually.  However, for us at the Post, it is not about the value attached to this partnership, but the impact this campaign will have on ending GBV,” she said.

Botlhole-Mmopi said with 124 post offices nationwide, the BotswanaPost is an integral part of communities and thus has social responsibility to carry.

“Through this initiative, we are ensuring our contribution to preventing violence against women and children and creating a healthy civil society.  We trust this stamp issue to go some way in helping people make informed choices, thus changing attitudes, behaviours and practices on gender equality,” she said.

For her part UNFPA country representative Aisha Camara-Drammeh commended the BotswanaPost for adding their voice to the campaign to end GBV.

“The message on calling an end to GBV will not only be received by multitudes of the population structures in Botswana, that is young and old, men and women, educated and uneducated, poor and rich - but will reach out to different parts of the world,” she said.

Camara-Drammeh noted that studies have shown that the prevalence of GBV is higher in developing countries such as Botswana.  Furthermore, two-thirds of GBV cases take place in the home, perpetrated by men known by women, a problem that’s also compounded by the culture of silence that surrounds GBV, she said.