Featured Article From Global Newsletter - December 2025
Insights from Namibia
Gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of the most persistent social and human rights challenges in Namibia and across Southern Africa. The Problematic Mindsets Report presents a rare and critical contribution to GBV research by centring the voices of perpetrators, survivors, and frontline service providers to better understand the underlying drivers of violence and identify pathways for more effective prevention and response.
Unlike many studies that focus exclusively on survivors, this qualitative research deliberately engages incarcerated perpetrators of violent offences, alongside survivors of GBV and professionals working within the justice, health, and social service systems. The study argues that sustainable reductions in GBV require confronting the learned attitudes, social norms, and life-course experiences that shape violent behaviour, rather than relying solely on punitive responses.
Key Findings
Five interlinked themes emerged from the research:
- Relationship insecurity driven by mistrust, jealousy, and misinterpretation of partners’ behaviour.
- Gendered socialisation combined with alcohol abuse, reinforcing harmful masculinities and normalising violence as conflict resolution.
- Weak parental skills and childhood exposure to violence, highlighting the intergenerational transmission of abuse.
- Barriers to help-seeking, including fear, stigma, lack of empathy from service providers, and fragmented referral systems.
- Mixed experiences with protection orders, which are helpful for many survivors but undermined by procedural complexity, inconsistent enforcement, and limited perpetrator accountability.
The findings reinforce international and regional evidence that GBV is not an individual pathology, but a socially produced phenomenon rooted in inequality, trauma, substance abuse, and weak protective systems.
References
Problematic Mindsets Report: Research on Gender-Based Violence in Namibia, Office of the First Lady / One Economy Foundation Study on Gender-Based Violence
Addressing Gender-Based Violence in East & Southern Africa: Lessons from Namibia for Social Work, Policy, and Practice
Gender-based violence (GBV) remains one of the most persistent threats to human dignity, social cohesion, and inclusive development across the East and Southern Africa (ESA) region. Despite progressive laws and regional commitments, GBV continues to undermine poverty reduction, public health outcomes, gender equality, and social justice—core priorities for social work and social development.
The Problematic Mindsets Report from Namibia offers timely and transferable insights for the ESA region by examining GBV through a multi-perspective lens, incorporating the voices of survivors, perpetrators, and frontline service providers. This approach aligns strongly with ICSW’s commitment to evidence-based, people-centred, and rights-driven social policy.
Regional Relevance for ESA
Across ESA, GBV is closely linked to structural poverty, unemployment, alcohol abuse, harmful gender norms, intergenerational trauma, and weak access to psychosocial services. Regional studies show that one in four women in Eastern and Southern Africa has experienced physical or sexual violence in her lifetime, with significant implications for health systems, education outcomes, and economic participation (UN Women, 2014).
The Namibian study reinforces regional evidence that GBV is learned, normalised, and socially reproduced, particularly in post-conflict and high-inequality contexts common across ESA. It highlights that punitive responses alone are insufficient and must be complemented by prevention, early intervention, and social protection.
Key Findings with ESA-Wide Significance
Five themes identified in the study resonate strongly across the region:
- Relationship insecurity and economic stress, often intensified by poverty and unemployment (SDG 1).
- Harmful masculinities and alcohol abuse, fueling violence and poor mental health outcomes (SDG 3).
- Weak parenting support and childhood exposure to violence, driving intergenerational cycles of abuse.
- Barriers to help-seeking, including stigma, fear, and fragmented social services, particularly in rural and informal settings.
- Uneven effectiveness of protection orders, reflecting broader justice-system access challenges faced across ESA (SDG 10).
Alignment with SDGs and ICSW Advocacy Priorities
This research strongly supports ICSW’s advocacy agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals:
- SDG 1: No Poverty
GBV both causes and deepens poverty by disrupting livelihoods, increasing care burdens, and limiting women’s economic participation. Social workers play a critical role in linking GBV prevention with social protection and economic empowerment. - SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being
The study highlights GBV’s profound mental health impacts, including trauma, substance abuse, and suicidal ideation—underscoring the need for community-based psychosocial services, a long-standing ICSW priority. - SDG 5: Gender Equality
By interrogating harmful gender norms and engaging men as part of the solution, the report aligns with rights-based and transformative approaches to gender equality championed by ICSW. - SDG 10: Reduced Inequalities
Survivors’ unequal access to justice, protection orders, and empathetic services reflects broader structural inequalities. Strengthening inclusive, survivor-centred systems is central to social justice in the ESA region.
- Implications for Social Work in ESA
For social workers across East and Southern Africa, the findings reaffirm the importance of:- Early childhood and parenting interventions
- Trauma-informed, culturally responsive practice
- Engaging men and boys in prevention and behaviour change
- Strengthening coordination between justice, health, and social services
- Advocating for long-term, prevention-focused investment, rather than short-term reactive responses
Crucially, the study challenges the binary framing of “perpetrators versus victims” and calls for empathetic but accountable approaches—a core ethical stance within social work.
- A Call to Action for the ESA Region
The Problematic Mindsets Report reminds us that the way societies respond to children, families, and trauma today will shape levels of violence decades into the future. For the ICSW ESA Region, this evidence strengthens the case for integrated social policies that prioritise prevention, mental health, gender equality, and social protection as inseparable pillars of sustainable development
