Skillshare hosts meetings on Gender-Based Violence and HIV & AIDS

Issued : Wednesday 30 July, 2008

Skillshare hosted a series of meetings in Dublin and Galway with Skillshare partner Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) in June. Phesheya Vilakati, SWAGAA's Programme Manager (see photo), addressed their work on gender-based violence (GBV) and its inter-relation with HIV & AIDS. At bilateral meetings with groups working against GBV in Ireland, public meetings and a seminar with key Irish NGOs, Phesheya spoke of their programme, which is funded by Irish Aid and Skillshare.

Skillshare's Income Generation Manager, Bruce Clark, said, "One innovative approach Phesheya spoke about was SWAGAA's Men for Change programme, which engages men as gender activists to counter the cycle of abuse and infection caused by GBV and HIV."

The event was successful not only in terms of engaging with other NGOs but also to raise Skillshare's profile in Ireland, as Bruce explains, "This was a valuable public engagement activity for Skillshare International Ireland which showcased our partner's work, brought on board new supporters and strengthened our links within the Irish NGO sector. We're bringing a group from Irish domestic NGOs working in areas such as GBV and community development in a sponsored field visit to Swaziland in October 2008, to build development links with our partners there and raise funds for our projects with them."

On the same trip, Phesheya attended the International FORUM on Development Service annual European conference ,which was held in Dublin - find out more at www.forum-ids.org

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