Sonke Gender Justice Network

Dean Peacock. Dean Peacock is co-founder and Executive Director of the Sonke Gender Justice Network, a South African NGO working across Africa to increase men’s involvement in achieving gender equality, preventing gender based violence and reducing the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS. He is also co-founder and co-chair of the Global MenEngage Alliance. Dean’s work and activism over the last… See full bio.

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Story: Small to medium scale, context-specific community ‘interventions’ can help generate meaningful discussion of local problems. Community radio is one of the most powerful interventions or media for getting out information, starting discussion and raising awareness about development issues, such as the effect of the AIDS epidemic and gender inequality on local communities. “The radio enables people to engage in dialogue about their daily challenges and living conditions in general,” said Mr Sekao Mosemanetau, station manager of Vaaltar FM, in South Africa’s North West Province. “It also contributes to the defence of cultural and linguistic diversity beneficial to human development for all’. Vaaltar is one of a dozen carefully selected community radio stations participating in a long-term project that Sonke is implementing with the support of the Canadian Government (CIDA). The project aims to use radio broadcasting as a means to increase the involvement of men and boys in preventing HIV transmission and gender-based violence, and in promoting gender equality. The project also aims to help develop synergies between local radio stations and local organisations serving the same communities. ‘Listeners seem to like and appreciate community radio stations especially when subjects that they care about are aired’, said Mr Sandile Ngcobo, station manager at Newcastle Community Radio, KwaZulu Natal. “One of our major plans is to also consider collaborating with local communitybased organisations in ‘flighting’ programmes that are gender sensitive. Our radio programme presenters have shown great willingness to mainstream the One Man Can campaign information into talk shows.” From April 2010, Sonke started developing relationships with key stakeholders in selected sites which are situated in six of South Africa’s provinces. Having provided training to radio presenters and producers, as well as members of local community organisations, Sonke engaged in a series of community activities and meetings aimed at building a network of interested parties in each community to sustain the initiative in the future. Using the One Man Can training manual and some of our Digital Stories as inspiration, Sonke developed a series of radio episode guidelines with accompanying audio clips available in local languages. These have formed the basis of weekly radio shows with the stations, and have resulted in high quality interactive on-air discussions on topics such as HIV testing, the Sexual Offences Act, Peer Pressure, and HIV stigma. Already we are seeing exciting developments in the project as community based organisations and radio partners establish solid working relationships culminating in weekly radio shows on topics of particular relevance to each community. Furthermore, we are seeing a remarkable engagement from some local municipalities who have shown strong support for the initiative. In addition to the radio shows undertaken through this initiative, Sonke also had a number of weekly shows on other radio stations, including KayaFM and Umhlobo Weneni. Each week we reach over 4 million South Africans through radio.

Evidence of Impact Summary:

Sonke Gender Network prevents gender violence and inequity by working to shift the cultural norms in men and boys. They engage in direct programming and have worked to scale their impact by creating a replicable model, offering and establishing MenEngage networks globally. They offer regional training and engage in regional and national advocacy.
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Organization Strengths Summary:

Sonke has a strong advocacy arm. They are not only vocal in the international arena but they have strong community mobilization skills and they are successful at influencing country-level agendas as well. Experts see strengths in the organization's leadership, operations, fundraising ability, and community mobilization as well.
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Areas for Improvement Summary:

Sonke could improve by further developing its research and evaluation practices. It could also benefit from cultivating more leadership opportunities and by sharing training opportunities with other organizations.
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Dean Peacock is co-founder and Executive Director of the Sonke Gender Justice Network, a South African NGO working across Africa to increase men’s involvement in achieving gender equality, preventing gender based violence and reducing the spread and impact of HIV and AIDS. He is also co-founder and co-chair of the Global MenEngage Alliance. Dean’s work and activism over the last twenty years has focused on issues related to men, constructions of masculinities, health and social justice. In 1985 he joined the End Conscription Campaign to oppose Apartheid army violence and later worked with homeless youth in Managua, Nicaragua, and with perpetrators of domestic violence in jails and community settings in San Francisco. From 1994-2000 he served as the Youth Program Coordinator at Men Overcoming Violence and from 2001 to 2006 as the South Africa Program Director for EngenderHealth where he coordinated the Men As Partners Network. In addition to his work at Sonke Gender Justice, Dean is a member of the United Nations Secretary General’s Network of Men Leaders formed to advise Ban Ki-Moon on gender based violence prevention and of the Nobel Women’s Advisory Committee on ending sexual violence in conflict settings. Over the years, Dean has served as a consultant to many UN agencies, as well as many civil society organizations in South Africa, the UK and the US, including the Treatment Action Campaign, Soul City, the UCLA Program in Global Health, and the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine’s Gender Violence and Health Centre. His writing has been published in many books and peer reviewed journals including The Lancet, The Journal of AIDS, the American Journal of Public Health, the International Journal of Men's Health, the Journal of Men and Masculinities and Gender and Society. Together with Sonke Co-Director Bafana Khumalo he was selected by Men's Health Magazine as 2007 "Best Man" in the Public Service Category. He has a BA in Development Studies from the University of California Berkeley and a Masters in Social Welfare from San Francisco State University.

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