The South African Red Cross Society North West

The South African Red Cross Society has been part of South Africa's humanitarian landscape for over a century. As the national member organisation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies — a movement with 100 million members in 189 countries — SARCS operates across all nine provinces through 49 regional branches and more than 367,000 volunteers, reaching over a million beneficiaries in any given year. Its distinctive strength is a combination of deep community embeddedness at branch level and internationally backed capacity to mobilise resources rapidly in crisis.

For GBV survivors, SARCS's relevance operates on multiple levels — direct services, community mobilisation, and structural safety-net functions that sit alongside more specialised GBV organisations.

GBV-Specific Work

"Let's End GBVF Together" — Community Action Against Gender-Based Violence SARCS has made a public commitment to community action against gender-based violence and femicide — framing GBVF not as someone else's problem but as a community responsibility, and mobilising individuals, families, faith communities, and local organisations to take active roles in prevention and response. The programme works through branch networks across all provinces. Contact your nearest provincial or regional branch to find current activities in your area.

Empowerment and Protection Services Services directed at vulnerable and at-risk individuals and communities, including those affected by GBV. Branch-level specifics vary; contact your nearest branch for what is available locally.

Prevention and Early Intervention Services SARCS programmes targeting early intervention with at-risk groups — youth, families, and community structures — before violence escalates.

Services Directly Useful to Survivors

Protecting Family Links (Restoring Family Links) — Free and Confidential Tracing One of SARCS's most important and under-utilised services. The Restoring Family Links programme is free and confidential — it helps people reconnect with missing relatives who have been separated by armed conflict, displacement, disaster, or other crises. For survivors of GBV who have fled abusive situations, lost contact with children, or been separated from family across provincial or national borders, this service can be transformative. The RFL network operates across the IFRC's global footprint — meaning international tracing is possible too. Contact SARCS head office or your nearest branch to access.

Health and Care — Community-Based Health Services SARCS provides community-based health care through its branch network — home-based care, health education, HIV support, chronic illness management — extending into communities that cannot easily access formal health facilities, including survivors whose health needs have gone unaddressed.

Disaster Relief — Emergency Support for Displaced People When fires, floods, or community violence displace families, SARCS branches mobilise emergency relief: food parcels, blankets, shelter referrals, and psychosocial first aid. Women displaced as a result of domestic violence or community violence may access this emergency support infrastructure in acute situations.

First Aid and Home Care Training Accredited first aid, home care, and health and safety training nationally — building communities' capacity to respond, including as first responders to GBV situations.

Community and Youth Development Youth development work building resilience, healthy relationship skills, and leadership through the branch network — contributing to long-term GBV prevention.

Finding Your Nearest Branch

SARCS has regional branches in communities across all nine provinces. Visit redcross.org.za/provincial-office for provincial contact details, then contact the provincial office for your nearest local branch.

South African Red Cross Society: 5 Ryder Road, Randburg, Johannesburg. Phone: +27 10 022 4197. Email: redcross@redcross.org.za. Hours: Mon–Fri 08:00–16:00. Website: redcross.org.za. Social: @TheSARCS (Facebook), @RedcrossSa (Twitter), @saredcross (Instagram). 49 branches nationwide.

Provincial office contacts (all 9 provinces): - Gauteng: redcross.org.za/gauteng-provincial-office - KwaZulu-Natal: redcross.org.za/kwazulu-natal-provincial-office - Western Cape: redcross.org.za/western-cape-provincial-office - Eastern Cape: redcross.org.za/eastern-cape-provincial-office - Free State: redcross.org.za/freestate-provincial-office - Limpopo: redcross.org.za/limpopo-provincial-office - Mpumalanga: redcross.org.za/mpumalanga-provincial-office - Northern Cape: redcross.org.za/northen-cape-provincial-office - North West: redcross.org.za/north-west-provincial-office