On 2 December 2021, the Heinrich Böll Foundation launched its second research brief associated to its “Care and Support in a Time of Epidemic" research project. The project is dedicated to better understanding how COVID-19, and the subsequent implementation of lockdown in South Africa on 27 March 2020 has impacted on domestic violence in the country.
Whereas the first brief critically reviewed the available data on domestic and other types of violence during the lockdown, the second brief, “Adapting to Disaster: Domestic Violence Shelters and South Africa’s COVID-19 Lockdown" provides a more nuanced exploration of what it was like to provide shelter services to those experiencing such violence during a time of great upheavel, distress and sometimes outright panic.
Watch the recording to find out more on how shelters coped and to what extent government responses were effective or fell short during this time.
Recording - "Adapting to Disaster: Domestic Violence Shelters & South Africa's COVID-19 Lockdown" - Heinrich Böll Stiftung Office Cape Town
Watch on YouTube