The National Strategic Plan on Gender Based Violence and Femicide living evidence map

Gender Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF) in South Africa have reached crisis levels and the National Strategic Plan (NSP) of 2019 represents a collaborative partnership between government and civil society in charting solutions to this challenge. This evidence map therefore constitutes an input for pillar 6 of the NSP, which aims to strengthen information and research base to address systemic challenges to facilitate effective strategic solutions and evidence-based responses for GBVF.

In developing the map, we followed co-production processes. The stakeholders involved in this co-production refer to DPME’s Research & Knowledge Management Unit, DPME’s gender-based violence focal point, and the Department of Women, Youth, and Persons with Disabilities’ Chief Directorate on Research and Policy Analysis. We engaged the stakeholders to jointly define the framework for the map and to define what constitutes evidence for the NSP-GBVF.

Initially developed in 2019, the evidence map has undergone several updates since then. It now includes 1,698 studies from academic and grey literature, as well as government monitoring and evaluation reports, spanning from 1990 to 2026. The map focuses on the following key areas:

• Gender based violence and femicide
• Gender inequality
• Gender representation
• Gender sensitivity
• Gender inclusion
• LGBTQIA+ inclusion
• Gender activism

This evidence map is developed as a decision-support and scoping tool for wider use by all relevant stakeholders.

If you have any evidence/research publications that may be relevant to this evidence map, kindly send it via email to Ms Andile Madonsela (andilem@pace-evidence.org) for consideration. The piece of evidence will be taken through a screening process as per specific inclusion criteria to determine inclusion. Thank you for assisting in keeping the evidence map updated and relevant.