About us | Gender Watch Against Violence and Exploitation

GWAVE is a non-profit organization based in Dumaguete City, Negros Oriental aimed to help victims of gender-based violence and exploitation in the Philippines.

OUR HISTORY

Our organization started with a story. A story of a 17-year-old girl who has been repeatedly raped by her employer. One day in 2002, Ms. Cecilia Hofmann, a retiree who worked with women’s organizations, was informed about the incident from her friend’s helper. She gave her number for the girl to give her a call. The girl had the courage to leave her employer and stayed with Ms. Hofmann. After an incident that threatened the girl’s safety, so began the gathering of support for the young survivor in the pursuit of justice. But after witnessing the prejudice and blatant bias that she had faced in the judicial system, and the sudden rise of rape cases reported, this led to a decision to formally establish a legal assistance and advocacy NGO, with a focus on supporting poor and disadvantaged women and girls who are victims of abuse.

With a small start -up fund, in a small rented room with a single computer, a telephone line, and a growing number of volunteers, GWAVE was established in the 2003. Through the years, GWAVE became a more structured and systematic organization – establishing a clear Vision-Mission-Goals, proposed programs, and proposed projects for funding, hiring and training staff, defining cooperation with government agencies, drafting a comprehensive operation manual, and so much more. In the year 2007, GWAVE added two new programs, the Men for Violence-Free Communities (MVFC) and Survivors’ Empowerment Program, to develop and train advocates, and educate and capacitate members of communities to end Gender-based Violence.