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Good practice Imported

SWAGAA: Three Decades of Survivor-Centred Response to Gender-Based Violence in Eswatini

Eswatini · Manzini · See the Eswatini profile · See the Manzini profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 59% 59/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Since 1990, Eswatini's SWAGAA has provided counselling, shelter referrals and legal support to gender-based violence survivors; it recorded 1,172 cases in five months of 2024 and helped drive the 2018 Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence Act, per Human Rights Watch.

1,172 cases
GBV cases recorded, Jan–May 2024 (Jan-May 2024)
260 cases
GBV cases recorded in May 2024 (May 2024)
~85%
Incidents occurring in domestic settings (Jan-May 2024)
30+ years
Years of continuous operation (by 2020 anniversary) (1990-2020)
SWAGAA: Three Decades of Survivor-Centred Response to Gender-Based Violence in Eswatini

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA)
Period
1990-present
Keywords
civil society, gender-based violence, survivor support, legal reform

Context

The Swaziland Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA), based in Manzini, has worked since 1990 to prevent gender-based violence (GBV) and support survivors in Eswatini, marking over three decades of continuous operation by its 30th anniversary in 2020.

Activities

SWAGAA provides counselling, shelter referrals and legal support to GBV survivors, and was among the civil-society organisations that pushed for Eswatini's 2018 Sexual Offences and Domestic Violence (SODV) Act, a landmark law criminalising domestic and sexual violence.

Results

Human Rights Watch's World Report 2025 cites SWAGAA data showing 1,172 GBV cases recorded between January and May 2024, including 260 cases in May alone, with emotional abuse the most common form and roughly 85% of incidents occurring in domestic settings between people with existing relationships.

Conclusions

Human Rights Watch notes that implementation of the SODV Act has lagged the legislation itself: the Act remains underfunded, inter-departmental coordination is weak, and Eswatini's first government-run survivor shelter only opened in 2021 — leaving NGOs like SWAGAA to fill large service gaps, against a backdrop of widespread underreporting.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Long (> 3 years)
Staffing & skills
Counsellors and legal-support staff providing survivor services (specific staffing figures not stated in source)

Conditions for success

  • Sustained multi-decade operation building trust and reach
  • Civil-society coalition advocacy contributing to the 2018 SODV Act
  • Referral pathways to shelter and legal support

Common failure modes

  • SODV Act implementation underfunded with weak inter-departmental coordination (HRW)
  • Government's first survivor shelter only opened in 2021, leaving gaps NGOs must fill
  • Widespread underreporting of GBV incidents

Commonly funded by

Philanthropic / foundation funding

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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