Vukile’s classroom campaign empowers Dobsonville’s children to challenge harmful norms
DOBSONVILLE, Soweto — In a bright classroom at Margaret Gwele Primary School, a group of Grade 5 girls stood a little taller — literally and figuratively — as they learned to use their voices, set boundaries and speak their worth. In the same school, a few doors down, a group of Grade 5 boys explored ways of practicing empathy and discussed what it truly means to be an active bystander.
These lessons mark the next chapter in Vukile Property Fund’s Empowered Women initiative, now in its second year. The initiative has already reached more than 900 women through GBV awareness and support events hosted across Vukile’s shopping centre portfolio throughout South Africa.
Vukile’s powerful new programme, a partnership with Action Breaks Silence aimed at preventing gender-based violence (GBV) before it starts, titled “Empowerment, Empathy and Active Bystander”, is being delivered to over 570 Grade 5 and Grade 6 learners across six schools in the Dobsonville area of Soweto, where Vukile owns Dobsonville Mall. Its addition to Vukile’s Empowered Women initiative delivers GBV prevention work directly into primary schools.
The media and key stakeholders were invited to witness the programme in action today, as trainers led real sessions with Grade 5 learners at Margaret Gwele Primary, sharing the chance to experience firsthand how education, empowerment and empathy can change the trajectory of an entire community.
“This powerful programme of preventing violence against women and girls is about planting seeds of confidence, empathy and awareness in children at exactly the age when gender norms start to solidify. By reaching children now, we can disrupt harmful cycles that often span generations,” says Marijke Coetzee, Director: Marketing and Communications at Vukile Property Fund.
In addition to Margaret Gwele Primary, the programme is being delivered at Hector Pietersen, Enkolweni, Phakamani, Livhuwani and Rebongwe Primary.
Active and responsive community investment
The programme, developed by Action Breaks Silence, includes12 one-hour sessions: six each in Grade 5 and 6. Grade 5 is the only time that the programme holds separate sessions for girls and boys to create safe spaces at a critical time for the children.
The same groups of children come together in Grade 6. Over six weeks of sessions, one of their key projects is to create a poster campaign that educates their peers about tackling sexual harassment and challenging violence against women and girls. The posters are displayed around the schools, and the winning team is celebrated at a public assembly. All this comes together to create a whole school initiative, helping to normalise speaking out against sexual harassment and reinforcing that children have the power to make a change.
“Vukile’s commitment to this programme furthers our shared goal to challenge and rewrite harmful norms before they take root,” says Niki Hall-Jones, South African Programme Manager for Action Breaks Silence. “Research shows that gender norms and harmful masculinity start solidifying by the ages of 10 to 12. This highlights the importance of going into schools early with age-appropriate content and proven methods to help children reimagine what respect, power and kindness look like, and shift trajectories before violence becomes internalised.”
A multi-faceted platform for local change
Besides the children who receive this potentially life-changing training, Vukile’s investment in this project has created employment and skills development for local youth.
Of the seven facilitators running the Vukile’s Dobsonville programme, four are newly trained facilitators from the Dobsonville area, while three are experienced trainers from Soweto. The new facilitators have been trained through a rigorous “train-the-trainer” process that includes modules on child safeguarding, communication and diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as programme delivery. A peer-to-peer mentorship model ensures the experienced facilitators are on hand to guide and support new recruits.
This work transforms the lives of the youth facilitators as much is it empowers the children they train. The young change-makers become visible role models in their own communities.
“This programme is a commitment to the community of Dobsonville,” says Thato Matlala, Centre Manager at Dobsonville Mall. “Our mall is a community anchor, and we take that responsibility seriously.”
Taking community-centred action
Vukile’s investment in long-term community wellbeing is well established and constantly evolving. From centre-level events to national partnerships, Vukile aligns all its social impact initiatives to five core pillars, one of which is GBV prevention. By tracking data and measuring outcomes, Vukile ensures that its impact is clear and sustainable.
For Coetzee, the Empowered Women initiative reflects the community-first ethos that defines Vukile. “We strive to embed purpose into how we operate on the ground, for our customers and their communities, and the Empowered Women initiative is one of the ways we are doing that.”
She adds that she hopes the confidence and empathy shared with the children through this project also ignites purpose within their lives, because everyone can make a difference. “Any investment in children and a society without violence against women and girls is an investment in a better future. With this programme, we see children not just learning, but leading.”
