Introduction

The JLI Southern Africa Hub conducted a series of six Listening Dialogues in Zambia and Malawi between June and November 2023. These Dialogues, which engaged with faith actors, gender-based violence (GBV) practitioners, and GBV survivors, tried to understand the roles of religious institutions in GBV in the region. From this experience, the critical question is how can we reach the goal to end GBV and all forms of violence by 2030? It seems a tall order from a Southern African perspective, listening to the salient challenges of patriarchy and the deafening silence on the issue of GBV in the faith spaces. This is a reflection of what we heard from the four dialogues with stakeholders and two with survivors of GBV conducted in Lusaka and Lilongwe on the role of faith actors to end GBV by 2030.

The State of GBV 

The goal to end GBV in all its forms is a desirable and noble global agenda, enshrined in Goal 5 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals,  (SDG5).  Furthermore, the global efforts to end GBV in all its forms are commendable, and a visible sign of the hope humanity has to renew itself, into being a world where human rights are upheld, and dignity of all persons guaranteed. However, much as this is the desired state of human affairs, GBV continues to be one of the major humanitarian concerns.

The major factor that was acknowledged in both Lusaka and Lilongwe was the silence of Church institutions on issues of GBV and the lack of faith initiatives to mitigate the end of GBV by 2030. It was acknowledged that GBV cases continued to increase and was worrisome. One of the major factors contributing to the increase of the pandemic was the rise of prophetic ministries whose messages are often misleading. Prophetic ministries in Southern Africa are independent charismatic churches that appeal to people by offering miracles of healing or wealth creation,

The Prophetic Association of Malawi acknowledged the role misleading theologies have played in contributing to violence against women. In an effort to curb the trend among independent prophetic ministries, the Association had one of its ministers prosecuted (and subsequently convicted) when a sexual violation of a minor was reported to them. The Malawi Interfaith Association runs programs on positive masculinities in four districts and to bring GBV justice closer to the community, and runs a total of 280 mobile court programs in order to fast track and provide services to GBV victims. An interesting feature of Malawi’s religious landscape is the growing Rastafarian community who  are now formally recognised as a faith movement, and who maintain a  commitment to be part of the dialogue and efforts to end GBV in their context.

The Zambia faith actors are organised mainly along the three main Church mother bodies; The Council of Churches in Zambia (CCZ), the Evangelical Fellowship in Zambia (EFZ) and the Zambia Episcopal Conference (ZEC) of the Roman Catholic Church. Other prominent faith actors that have a huge impact on the faith actions of most people in Zambia are the Independent Association of Charismatic Ministries, which in nature is like the Malawi Prophetic Ministries.  Much as GBV cases are increasing in Zambia, the dialogue with stakeholders revealed that there is not much that the faith actors are doing to end GBV at institutional level. The participant from EFZ testified that talking about GBV, let alone gender, is frowned upon, despite acknowledging in their planning the commitment to gender justice.

In comparison to Malawi, Zambia’s religious actors are silent on the issue of GBV. This raises the question of feasibility of achieving SDG5, as  statistics show that 95% of Zambians profess to be Christian. The major outcome of the Zambia dialogues was a recognition that the subject of gender in the Church or in faith based organisations engaged in humanitarian efforts is perceived to be “topics not for the house of the Lord”. One participant in the Lusaka dialogue stated that the term gender is not well understood among faith actors. According to their organisation’s experience, they conducted a gender interrogation program. The program worked well in the local communities but at policy/management level, it was not well received. It raised the question of who and what the Church is for, because the policy drivers had the perception that gender issues are not for the Church.

What is to become of the global goal to end GBV by 2030? Or even 2063, according to the African Union? For Africa, and the Southern  Africa region in particular, religion needs to be leveraged as a critical actor because of its presence in the communities where GBV takes  place. There is an urgent need to engage religious leaders as policy drivers – not with a ‘dangled carrot’ in terms of aid support, but with questions on the integrity of preaching salvation, or giving alms, without showing justice, love and mercy to survivors of violence! The involvement of religious leadership should be evident in the gender policies faith institutions have embraced – which, in most cases, the participants of both dialogues in Zambia and Malawi confirmed is almost non-existent. One of the ways to address this gap is to intensify gender education in religious institutions, while community based organisations continue with their gender justice advocacy in localised communities. 

In conclusion, the dialogues confirmed that religion matters in humanitarian efforts. Religion’s greatest assets are the intangibles of faith, hope, love, mercy and justice. With the levels of high religiosity in both countries, and the instruction in Micah 6:8; “...what is good, and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice and to love kindness and to walk humbly with the Lord”; it is not in doubt that faith actors in religious institutions are the tangible assets to voice out and act to end GBV. Religious  resources, leveraged righteously, can contribute in a huge way to ending violence in all its forms.

Participants of the Listening Dialogue at the Lake Malawi Anglican College, Lilongwe