Howdy gang;

BLUF: SWAGAA is doing incredibly important work, but we have no money, and I need your help to raise a measly $2,000 CAD to support SWAGAA and our broader Crossroads mission. Please help, if not for the people of Eswatini experiencing the worst forms of rape and abuse, then do it for me.

WHAT IS SWAGAA?​

I am currently embedded with the eSWatini Action Group Against Abuse (SWAGAA) in the country of Eswatini formerly known as Swaziland. In my short time here, I have already seen how crucial SWAGAA's work is to the prevention of Gender Based Violence (GBV) and abuse in Eswatini. We desperately need your help. About a year ago this organisation had around 40 people. Since the withdrawal of USAID under the Trump administration as well as the reduction of foreign aid overall from Canada, the UK, and EU, we now have only 20 people. Many of our team members are not even being paid anymore, yet they still come into work everyday, because SWAGAA's mission is that important. 

SWAGAA's work is carried out across four major pillars:

• Post-incident care: Over 50% of all cases of rape and physical abuse in Eswatini are first reported to SWAGAA. SWAGAA counsellors and clinical psychologists provide critical post-incident care to survivors. I have seen the lines of people at our office, mostly women, as they wait to speak to our counsellors. I have listened to the calls as they come in through our 24/7 helpline. The work here is emotionally heavy and difficult, but it is crucial. The fact that over 50% of cases are first reported to SWAGAA indicates that Swazis trust SWAGAA, they know we take survivors seriously and they know we care. Besides psychosocial support, which also includes counselling and access to shelters, SWAGAA also provides critical post-incident medical care to survivors of rape and abuse. This includes the provision of PrEP and other medication administered after an incident has occurred. This kind of medical care would be out of reach for the vast majority of our survivors who live in poverty;
• Access to Justice: The justice system here can be especially harsh to survivors. Complainants are often vilified in court by defence attorneys who employ personal attacks to undermine the credibility of survivors. They prey on the fact that many of these people experiencing abuse are already anxious, deferential to authority, and in many cases, not able to read complex legal documents. SWAGAA assists survivors by connecting them with a network of lawyers who provide pro-bono or subsidised legal representation. Furthermore, our case management officers work closely with survivors to help them navigate the legal system. We work with them to ensure that they have more confidence and so that they do not get taken advantage of during the legal process. Our team even accompanies survivors to the court itself, pointing out to them who sits where, what each role does during the trial, so that on the day of the court proceedings they are better able to present their case accurately and with confidence. 
• Economic Empowerment: According to our data, over 80% of all cases of GBV & abuse here in Eswatini occurs at the survivor’s home. One of the ways our organisation is working to prevent GBV & abuse is to empower the at-risk population to have the economic freedom to separate themselves from their abusers. Our survivors, many of whom are women with no income of their own are entirely subordinated to their abusers. They have no way to separate  themselves from a life of torment because even if they manage to have their abuser arrested, they would then be forced to live without income. So SWAGAA works with the at-risk population to help them gain economic independence. This includes programmes whereby SWAGAA hosts workshops about how to start & run a business. We also run start up competitions for disabled youth, women, and boys & girls experiencing poverty; and
• Advocacy: It is not an exaggeration to say SWAGAA is the lead organisation here in Eswatini when it comes to advocating for the prevention of GBV and abuse. We host radio programmes and have placements in the newspaper to push our message. For over 20 years SWAGAA has been on the government’s ass, helping push critical legislation that has slowly but surely advanced the individual liberty of all swazis here in Eswatini. I have walked the streets and interviewed people in the market. They know who SWAGAA is. They tell me SWAGAA visited their school when they were young, or came to their village one day to talk about recognising signs of abuse. They say they knew someone who was helped by SWAGAA. It is honestly so impressive that this organisation, with no government support, has been able to take on such a meaningful role within Swazi society. 

WHAT IS MY MISSION HERE?​

My work as a Resource Mobilization Advisor is broad and far-reaching. At a high-level, I intend to help SWAGAA continue its crucial work by pursuing three strategic lines of effort:

1. ​Increase Funding: My intentions are to improve SWAGAA's long-term cash position by diversifying its funding sources. We will obviously continue to solicit funding from major governmental & NGO partners, which are our current revenue centres, but I will also develop the business & banking structures required to solicit donations from overseas donors (both individual & business) as well as to develop for-profit channels here in Eswatini to augment SWAGAA's revenue. That includes selling GBV prevention training and certifications to local companies & government agencies as well as other revenue-generating programmes; 
2. Increase Impact: My intentions are to improve SWAGAA's ability to carry out its important work while reducing its overhead and simultaneously expanding our impact. I will accomplish this by first conducting a comprehensive audit alongside the finance team such that we cut all possible costs while leveraging automations where feasible to optimise our existing workforce. My goal is to increase the concurrent case load of our of case management officers so that even with a reduced team, we are able to handle a higher number of cases per team member in a way that does not lead to burnout; and
3.  Increase Visibility: The SWAGAA website fucking sucks. It does a horrible job of representing the work that we do here on the ground. It honestly reads more like a site of a lobbying organisation which is such a disservice to the team here, and I confess, it has most likely resulted in many grants being rejected. I see increasing visibility being an important pre-requisite to the first two strategic lines of effort. By increasing visibility, we will get people to understand what we are doing here which I hope, leads to more funding to come in. My intentions are to carry out a high-intensity public relations campaign that revamps our entire public presence with higher quality content, interviews, survivor stories, statistics - anything to get our message to resonate with the public. I want the public to appreciate the important work we do here, and I want the public to trust SWAGAA. This will be accomplished by being more transparent about SWAGAA's activities through the increase visibility line of effort. 

WHAT WILL I DO NOW?​

So what now? Well to be honest, I am cautious to raise money right now. I need time to do what work I can with the resources I have today to get SWAGAA to a point where I feel confident conducting a wider raise. My concern is that I do not have alot of opportunities to raise money from my network, it's one of those things I can really only ask a handful of times in a certain time frame before people start to ignore me. So before I conduct a wider raise, I want certain milestones to be hit first so that I know I can motivate a higher number of people to donate.

My fundraising strategy will be carried out in 3 phases:

• PHASE 1 - ​Trusted friends: I will raise a very small amount of money from trusted friends to directly support our broader Crossroads mission. My goal at this phase is to raise $2,000 CAD, enough to get the engine started so to speak and to set the conditions for a more successful raise in phase 2 by getting certain things done first;
• PHASE 2 - My entire personal and profession network: I will solicit funds from my entire network of friends, family, and colleagues. My goal here is to raise at least $25,000 CAD, enough to augment SWAGAA's budget so that it runs for another 3-6 months which sets the conditions for SWAGAA to survive until Phase 3 concludes; and
• PHASE 3 - Large scale governmental and NGO donors: I will submit grant applications and donation requests to major governmental and NGO donors. Partners like this are the only funding source for SWAGAA today including from Canadian NGOs. These applications however need time. Not only time, but it requires the work we do in phase 1 and 2 to improve the likelihood of getting approved. I know that the work we do throughout the first two phases will set us up for success in phase 3. Because when our applications are being evaluated in PH 3, they will check our website and understand our work. When they read through our financials, they will see that our finances are well documented and that we are model financial stewards. To get us to a point where I feel confident applying for these types of grants, we first need to do the work which will be funded during the first two phases. 

HEARTFUL CONCLUDING PLEA​

Thank you for reading this all. It is my hope you can help contribute whatever money you can towards this cause. If not for the Swazi people experiencing the worst forms of rape and abuse, then do it for me. 

Your humble servant,

Michael Cambare
Resource Mobilisation Advisor - SWAGAA
Crossroads International