Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention & Training - A.D.A.P.T. (Head Office)

Alexandra Township — known locally as "Alex" — sits on the eastern edge of Johannesburg, a dense, historically Black township surrounded by some of Johannesburg's wealthiest suburbs. It is a community of extraordinary resilience and chronic under-resourcing: high unemployment, overcrowded housing, high rates of violent crime, and limited social infrastructure. In 1994, as South Africa prepared for its first democratic elections, a small group in Alexandra recognised that democracy's promises would mean little for women who could not be safe in their own homes.

They founded ADAPT — Agisanang Domestic Abuse Prevention and Training. The name "Agisanang" is a Sesotho word meaning "help each other" — a statement of the mutual, community-based ethic that has guided ADAPT for three decades.

Starting as a counselling service for abused women, ADAPT grew through the demands of its community — community education, male engagement, youth work, criminal justice advocacy, and training for the professional sectors whose response to GBV was inadequate — into one of Gauteng's most established specialist GBV organisations.

Four Core Programmes

Crisis Counselling ADAPT provides psychosocial counselling to individuals aged 14 and above who are survivors of physical, sexual, emotional, and economic abuse. Services include individual counselling, couples counselling, marriage counselling, family therapy, and group therapy. The age threshold of 14 reflects ADAPT's recognition that adolescents are both GBV victims and, without intervention, potentially in abusive dynamics of their own. The counselling office can be reached at +27 (0)11 440 5615.

Men's Programme ADAPT's Men's Programme is one of its most significant contributions to the field — recognising that ending GBV cannot happen without engaging men and boys as active participants in change. The programme aims to end men's violent and aggressive behaviour by developing alternative ways of dealing with conflict. It creates healing circles — spaces where men can examine the root causes of their violence and begin the work of change — and positions men not as the problem to be removed, but as part of the community solution to be engaged.

Youth Programme The Youth Programme works in schools in the Alexandra and Wynberg area to educate and empower young people to recognise and combat GBV. Services include psychosocial counselling for young people and classroom workshops — bringing GBV awareness into the school environment where many young people first encounter intimate relationship dynamics and normalised violence.

Criminal Justice System Programme This programme addresses the critical failure point in many GBV survivors' experiences: the criminal justice system. ADAPT provides court preparation and legal counselling to ensure that survivors enter legal proceedings informed, supported, and protected from the additional trauma of secondary victimisation — being treated dismissively or badly by police, prosecutors, or court officials. The programme advocates for prompt, fair, and gender-sensitive handling of all GBV cases.

Beyond Direct Services

ADAPT's mandate extends beyond service provision into the structural conditions that enable GBV. This includes: training officials in health, police, courts, faith communities, and education on accurate identification of and intervention for abused women; supporting unemployed abused women to establish and run economically viable micro-businesses; conducting and disseminating research on GBV; creating forums to challenge cultural, socio-political, and economic factors underlying violence against women; and using theatre, radio, television, and other art forms as community education tools.

Alexandra and Wynberg Context

Wynberg — the address of the Oliver Tambo Community Centre where ADAPT is based — is directly adjacent to Alexandra Township. ADAPT serves the broader Alexandra/Wynberg community and wider Johannesburg area. For survivors in Alex and surrounding areas, ADAPT's counselling service is both geographically accessible and community-rooted in a way that many larger Johannesburg organisations are not.

ADAPT: Oliver Tambo Community Centre, 128 2nd Street, Wynberg, Gauteng, 2019. Admin: +27 (0)11 786 6608. Counselling: +27 (0)11 440 5615. Email: info@adapt.org.za. Website: adapt.org.za. Founded 1994.