South African Faith & Family Institute (SAFFI)

About SAFFI

The South African Faith and Family Institute (SAFFI) was founded in 2008 in Cape Town by Elizabeth Petersen — a social worker with over 20 years of experience in the GBV field, including as managing director of a home for abused women and children. SAFFI was established in recognition of a profound paradox in South African society: South Africans are trying to raise healthy families in a profoundly violent yet deeply religious society. Religious institutions have enormous reach into communities where GBV occurs, yet religious leaders have historically been poorly equipped — and sometimes complicit — in enabling or minimising abuse.

SAFFI is headquartered at 73 Burns Road, Salt River, Cape Town (P.O. Box 13077, Woodstock, 7915). It operates Monday–Friday 8am–5pm and Saturday 11am–6pm.

Why SAFFI Is Unique

SAFFI occupies a distinctive niche in South Africa's GBV response ecosystem. While most GBV organisations focus on direct survivor services, SAFFI works at the systemic level of faith communities — recognising that religious beliefs, institutions, and leaders have the power to either sustain or dismantle the conditions that enable GBV. SAFFI's Ubuntu-grounded approach is multi-faith, engaging with Christian, Muslim, Jewish, and other religious traditions.

Services and Programmes

Training for Religious Leaders and Faith Communities — SAFFI's flagship offering is a comprehensive training model for religious leaders, faith communities, and GBV service providers. One-day sensitiser workshops introduce the dynamics and faith dimensions of GBV. These are followed by rigorous five-day training programmes that deepen understanding of GBV root causes, legislative frameworks, and practical skills for supporting survivors and holding perpetrators accountable. Follow-up monitoring ensures the work is sustained.

Direct Counselling and Survivor Support — SAFFI provides direct psychosocial services to GBV survivors, their families, and to religious leaders and community members affected by violence. Registered counsellors within the SAFFI team offer this service.

Men Affirming Dignity (MAD) Programme — a dedicated perpetrator accountability and transformation programme engaging men in breaking cycles of violence, taking personal responsibility, and affirming the dignity of women and children.

Sacred Conversations — structured dialogues for survivors, perpetrators, and community members around specific GBV themes — creating safe spaces for truth-telling, healing, and community transformation.

Theological Advisory Council on GBV (TACGBV) — established in 2014, the TACGBV brings together theologians, scholars, and religious leaders from diverse faiths and denominations to address misinterpreted scriptures and teachings that enable abuse, and to develop resources supporting a theological basis for GBV prevention.

Technical Assistance and Consultation — SAFFI provides technical support to denominations and faith organisations developing their own GBV policies, procedures, and prevention programming.

National and International Reach

SAFFI has been invited to present its unique model at international platforms including the United Nations. It has established partnerships in Liberia and across Southern Africa, and has been recognised by the Commission for Gender Equality, the Department of Justice, and the Shukumisa coalition as a credible and innovative voice in the GBV sector.