We have almost completed a new social marketing strategy for Medecins sans Frrontieres in Rustenburg South Africa.  The project's aim was to increase the number of women who had suffered gender based violence to access new medical and counseling care centers setup close to the towns of the mining belt close to Rustenburg in South Africa.

The project was particularly challenging because many people who have suffered from sexual violence in South Africa have significant levels of fear and shame, especially when the perpetrators are people known to them.  Never the less we were able to utilise the services of community health promoters who work within the communities to reach out to people.  Often the stories they told were extremely harrowing but one of the key insights was that people even in the most terrible situations want to feel positive about themselves.  Importantly they also want to see and hear about people like them who have ben able to turn their lives around.  

We therefore used this important insight to develop all of our campaign materials and engagement strategies.  Our posters, leaflets and radio commercials show positive women who have used the practical medical and counseling services of the MSF care centres and can now look forward to the future with confidence and security.  We want to remove the "victim" status of women and give them hope.