Policy Roundtable on GBV in South Africa's Agricultural System

Gender Dimensions of Hunger in Peacebuilding project convenes policy roundtable on GBV in South Africa's agricultural system

On 5 March 2025, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) GDHP team and the Irish Embassy in South Africa convened a policy roundtable to discuss how policy implementation can be strengthened to bring gender, food security, and GBV into the center of agricultural policy reform. Three decades into democracy, South Africa’s agricultural sector remains a site of entrenched inequalities, where gender-based violence (GBV) and food insecurity intersect in ways that expose the failures of the country’s peacebuilding efforts. 

The roundtable brought together key stakeholders, including the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Agriculture, the Irish Ambassador to South Africa, government representatives, media, civil society organizations, the Embassy of Italy, and academic researchers. Discussions examined the inadequacies of South Africa’s legislative framework, the exploitative nature of commercial agriculture, and the urgent need for gender-responsive policies, derived from the project's recent study: A Promise not Fulfilled: GBV in South Africa’s Agricultural System.

Full details of the event and recommendations put forward can be found on CSVR's blog, and media coverage in South Africa's Daily Maverick can be found here.