The HWSETA together with the Higher Health embarked on a project to manage and create awareness against sexual violence/Gender Based Violence/Mental issues at Universities and TVET campuses in South Africa. This project aims at addressing the broader societal problems currently facing South African youth in the Post School Education & Training (PSET) system. The total funding from HWSETA for this project is R9,150,000.00

The central theme that runs across this project is ensuring that all universities and colleges will have in place a minimum package of skills and services to effectively prevent and manage Gender Based Violence and Mental health and other general health wellness and social issues amongst students in the PSET system.

GBV/sexual violence/mental issues has plagued the PSET system for quite some time, more cases of rape and murder of women students have been reported in recent years and continue to increase in South African Universities. Most of these crimes against women are perpetrated by men who are well known to the victims as partners, former partners or fellow students. This has resulted in students protesting against unsafe environments and demanding gender transformation in institutions. These protests have negatively affected the academic calendar of institutions and in some instances interfered with their academic progress and affected them psychologically.

The Higher Health has created numerous programmes that will help manage these issues.

The skills development program is run through a 2nd curriculum peer to peer education program developing skills among university and TVET staff and students across all campuses. This project runs through trained staff in the form of peer staff mentors and peer student educators who have been developed across all their campuses in universities and TVETs.

However, in TVET colleges, these session modalities are raised with campus managers within the academic cycles through recess periods and the key areas include:

• Gender Based Violence
• Mental Health
• HIV/TB/Sexually Transmitted Infections
• Sexual Reproductive Health / Unplanned Youth & Teenage Pregnancies
• Alcohol and Drug Abuse Prevention
• LGBTQI Stigmatisation
• Disability Sensitisation

The Higher education believes that based on these seven focus areas they will bring information and assistance to students on Campus doorstep. As they tell them more about these services and assistance, Higher Health staff will engage more with students on the health, wellness and social challenges that the students encounter.

The Second Curriculum enables over half a million (500000) young students, across all universities and TVETs, on issues of GBV, mental health, HIV/TB/STI, SRHR, Alcohol and Substance abuse prevention, LGBTQI and key populations, disability.

Furthermore the project for the Supporting a Gender Based Violence (GBV), Mental Health and general health and wellness Programme for PSET through Skills Development in respect of GBV, mental health and general health and wellness including COVID-19 outbreak so that they are competent to roll out a GBV programme across all 26 universities and 50 TVET colleges.

To date Higher Health has commenced on recruiting a mobile healthcare fleet that will comprise of a professional nurse, intern community health care workers (preference is being given to recently graduated TVET Primary Health Care Students) and psychologists who will be able to do routine mass screening, testing, linkage to care and contact tracing programmes.

The psychologist within the mobile healthcare fleet will be able to provide psychosocial support to students for issues such as mental health, GBV, COVID-19, amongst others. Risk-screening for GBV and mental health, with subsequent linkage to further care and support, will continue to be provided on a routine basis both through the mobile fleets as well as Higher Health staff at campuses.