Food for the Hungry Ending Violence Where Men and Women Believe Wife Beating is OK

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. While ending brutality against women is a tall order in places where such violence is kept secret, ending abuse where gender-based violence is a social norm is truly an uphill climb. In Northern Uganda, Food for the Hungry (FH) is taking an approach to working against violence that gets to the heart of this pandemic and has an ambitious goal of reducing violence against women in target areas by 50 percent over two years.

Phoenix, Ariz. (PRWEB) November 15, 2012

November 25 is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. While ending brutality against women is a tall order in places where such violence is kept secret, ending abuse where gender-based violence is a social norm is truly an uphill climb.

In impoverished rural Northern Uganda, the setting of the KONY2012 film, 60 percent of women have experienced physical violence by the time they are 15 years old. One in four women reported that their first sexual encounter occurred against their will.

Even more revealing are surveys that show that not only men, but also women, think it is acceptable for a man to beat his wife.

It is in this context, Food for the Hungry (FH) is taking an approach to working against violence that gets to the heart of this pandemic and has an ambitious goal of reducing violence against women in target areas by 50 percent over two years.

“We have a strong approach to addressing gender-based violence that is informed by more than 10 years of work with child mothers who were victimized by Joseph Kony and the Lord's Resistance Army,” says David Evans, U.S. President of Food for the Hungry. “It's an approach that recognizes emotional, economic and relational aspects of abuse and gets at root issues to stop cycles of violence.”

In brief, the work is focused on:

•     Opening up community dialogue around issues of violence, especially violence against women;
•     Increasing income generation options for women and thereby decreasing female dependence if males become abusive;
•     Counseling men and women who have experienced abuse and establishing new patterns for relationships.

“Ending violence against women is absolutely critical to the wellbeing of any society” said Evans. “In a place like Northern Uganda it is very complicated because the fabric of family and community life was destroyed by civil war. But this is the only way forward and FH is committed to apply everything we have gained in working with war victims to benefit the larger Ugandan society.”

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Founded in 1971, Food for the Hungry provides emergency relief and long-term development programs in more than 20 countries to help the world's most vulnerable people. Learn more by visiting http://www.fh.org. Social connections include http://www.facebook.com/foodforthehungry and http://www.twitter.com/food4thehungry.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2012/11/prweb10134948.htm