Traditional leaders from the Mbunza Traditional Authority gathered for a one-day workshop on gender-based violence (GBV) at Kapako in Kavango West.
The workshop looked at how certain cultures and traditions fuel GBV while finding solutions on how to end harmful practices.
Various speakers at the event highlighted how certain cultures and traditions may perpetuate GBV.
"A lot of incidents happen, which leads us to ignore the law, and then we end up taking the law into our own hands, which is abuse. Let's say you beat your wife every day. That is not traditional law but simply abuse. How can we work together to change inappropriate laws into more appropriate ones? The headmen and women present here today live with the people in the community, and you are aware of the challenges they face. Know what the law says. People killing others is on the increase, and we need to work on this," said Hompa Alfons Kaundu of the Mbunza Traditional Authority.
The organisers of the event therefore believe that equipping the traditional leaders with the relevant knowledge will assist them in changing the prevalence of GBV within their communities.
"In an effort to ensure that our cultures and traditions are shaped in a way that is in correlation with how things must be today, we deemed it fit to come up with a programme like this, where the custodians of our cultures and traditions have a proper discussion on these issues to ensure that our cultures evolve and that they do not harm any individual," cautioned Matheus Hamutenya, the Director of Men4Women Organisation.
The British High Commissioner to Namibia, Charles Moore, says GBV will only come to an end when children are educated from a young age, adding that men should not only be role models to their sons but also respect the family unit.
"The Africa Development Bank has produced data that shows that the rate of GBV across African countries ranges between 10% and 40%, which are some of the highest statistics in the world. This is largely because of the way males are brought up in African society, with patriarchal behaviour often reinforcing the belief that men have the right to dominate women. LGBV is wrong and unacceptable. Women play a fundamentally important role in life in Namibia and across the world. Without women, men will not survive."
Apart from statistics about GBV in Africa, Moore also touched on the GBV situation in the UK, adding that 2,4 million adults were victims of domestic abuse last year, and out of that number, 700 thousand were men being abused by women.
The workshop was organised by the Men4Women Organisation in collaboration with the British High Commission.