For The Women

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ForWomen (for-women.co.za) is an online GBV resource hub and NPO network platform established by the First for Women Foundation — the social responsibility arm of First for Women Insurance, which has been supporting the fight against women abuse since 2005 and has, through its Foundation, raised over R81 million and helped more than 90,000 women. ForWomen consolidates women abuse-fighting efforts in one searchable online place, featuring public, private, and non-profit organisations across all nine South African provinces that have committed to fighting women abuse. The platform is structured around three programme categories: **Prevention** (organisations working to stop abuse before it starts — community education, school programmes, leadership development, peer education, safety technology); **Preparation** (organisations equipping women with knowledge, skills, and tools to protect themselves — self-defence, legal rights, digital safety); and **Provision** (organisations providing direct services to survivors — shelters, counselling, legal aid, rape crisis support, court preparation, material assistance). Survivors can use the **Get Help** section to find organisations by province and programme type. Helpers — individuals, volunteers, corporates — can use the **Give Help** section to connect with organisations needing support. The network includes well-known organisations such as Rape Crisis, TEARS Foundation, Lawyers Against Abuse (LvA), Lesedi la Batho, Childline Gauteng, Uitkoms Home for Girls, STAND (WC), The Equinox Trust, and many others. A **Helpline** section aggregates key national helpline numbers. The **Pledge** function invites South Africans to commit to ending abuse. ForWomen is not a crisis service itself — it is a living directory and network designed to ensure that survivors and helpers can find each other efficiently. For acute crises, use the GBV Command Centre: **0800 428 428** (toll-free, 24/7).

Community Development Counselling & Therapy GBV Support Health & HIV/AIDS Shelter & Safe House

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The Three Programmes: Prevention, Preparation, Provision

ForWomen organises its network of participating organisations under three headings:

Prevention covers organisations working to stop abuse before it starts. This includes education programmes in schools, community awareness campaigns, leadership development, peer education, men-and-boys engagement, and safety technology platforms. Examples in the network include Afrika Leadership Development Institute (strengthening GBV prevention leadership capacity), The Viva Foundation (sexual violence prevention, panic buttons, community response), The Character Company (boys with absent fathers, single mother support, advocacy for better treatment of women), I-Lead (free safety and self-defence training), Halli Trust (school programmes on physical and sexual abuse), and the Inkwenkwezi Youth Development Sporting Foundation (youth rights and behaviour change).

Preparation covers organisations equipping women with knowledge and skills to protect themselves if they face violence — self-defence, legal rights awareness, digital safety, and practical tools. Woman INpowered (WIP) is an example: a self-empowerment system providing women with knowledge, expertise, and tools for imminent danger scenarios.

Provision covers organisations providing direct services to survivors and affected families: shelters, crisis counselling, legal aid, rape crisis support, court preparation, material assistance, and specialist therapeutic services. Key provision organisations in the network include Rape Crisis Cape Town (since 1976), TEARS Foundation (national), Lawyers Against Abuse/LvA (Diepsloot/Orange Farm/Hillbrow — free legal services), Childline Gauteng, Lesedi la Batho (commercial sex workers, young mothers, LGBTI community), Uitkoms Home for Girls (registered CYCC for teenage girls), STAND (Western Cape — substance abuse and sexual violence), The Equinox Trust (youth at risk, abused women, mental health), the Jes Foord Foundation (rape/molestation/sexual assault survivors), The Angel Network (social media-based volunteer gateway), Healing Hands Foundation (feeding scheme, crisis centre, HIV/AIDS support), New loveLife Trust (teen pregnancy and HIV prevention), Bet Sheekoom (co-dependency, self-worth, skills for shelter residents), and CCJD (legal advice, mediation, counselling in rural KZN).

Get Help

The Get Help section of for-women.co.za allows users to search for organisations by province and programme type — prevention, preparation, or provision — producing a filtered list of organisations with descriptions and direct links. This makes it a practical first-stop for survivors who do not know which local organisation serves their area, or for social workers seeking to widen their referral networks.

Helpline

The Helpline section aggregates national helpline numbers, ensuring that the most critical crisis contact information is immediately accessible on arrival at the site — not buried within a directory.

Give Help

For volunteers, donors, and corporates, the Give Help section allows direct connection with registered ForWomen causes by province — enabling targeted CSI investment, volunteer placement, and in-kind support to organisations across the network.

The First for Women Foundation

Behind the ForWomen platform sits the First for Women Foundation, which has raised over R81 million and helped more than 90,000 women since 2005. The Foundation's record of resourcing and amplifying anti-GBV organisations over two decades gives the ForWomen platform its credibility — organisations listed in the network have engaged with the Foundation's standards and commitments.

Relevance to GBV Survivors

ForWomen is not a crisis service. It will not answer a call at midnight or provide a shelter bed. But as a discovery tool — a searchable, province-filtered aggregator of South Africa's GBV organisations — it is one of the most practically useful resources available to survivors, social workers, and supporters trying to navigate a complex and fragmented landscape. For a survivor-facing website, for-women.co.za is a reference worth surfacing alongside individual organisation listings.

ForWomen: for-women.co.za. Email: info@for-women.co.za. Helpline directory: for-women.co.za/help-line. Hosted by First for Women Foundation (First for Women Insurance Company Limited, FSP 15261). For acute crisis: GBV Command Centre 0800 428 428 (toll-free, 24/7).