2015 SADC GENDER PROTOCOL SUMMIT AND AWARDS; Constitutional and Legal Rights, Peace and Security This award recognises NGOs and CBOs that have done the most to build effective coalitions and networks for the implementation of the SADC Protocol on Gender and development; holding governments accountable; conducting advocacy workshops at the grassroots level, as well as growing the women’s movement in SADC.

Fields marked with a red asterisk (*) are compulsory

Title Improvement in Family Law

Presenter Name SurnameDarmen Appadoo

Who you represent Organisation DesignationSOS PAPA Founder and Director

Sex tick Male Femalex

Country MauritiusEmail sospapa@live.comCell phone (+230) 57976285

Quotable quotes*Provide one quote from the organisation, for example the head of the organisation, that sums up what this Network has achieved. Please remember name, surname and designation.

Extract from an article published in Le Défi by Yousouf Buglow in 2012.

“Darmen Appadoo of SOS PAPA: We should follow the UK exampleDarmen Appadoo, of SOS PAPA, an NGO that fights for fathers and children’s rights, says that his organisation has been raising the alarm on the causes of street children since ages, but the authorities turned a deaf ear to its propositions. He however feels happy to note that the UK experts have recommended similar proposals. 

“As social workers, we are aware of ground realities. Unfortunately, it is only when reports are out that authorities and society get shocked,” he claims. He says the law should not have in-built bias, but should instead encourage fathers to assume all responsibility. Currently, the law enforces only financial responsibility through alimony payment, but money is not all that a child needs. “We also believe the Court is the last place to solve human problems. Family issues should be resolved through mediation. The law as it stands gives unfair advantage to mothers, and is discriminatory to fathers. 

We should have equal rights.” He says that official UK reports stated that the 2011 London riots involved mainly children from broken families. “The report also raised the alarm of an emerging fatherless nation in Britain,” reveals Darmen. Citing local politicians who always talk about their dads and praise their dads for imparting good advice to them, Darmen says this is proof that the

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presence of a father is important for an individual’s academic and professional success. “You never hear them talk about their mums. The dad remains a superb role model. We cannot deny this to children,” he added.”Synopsis*What coalition has been built, what has this achieved and why it has been effective.300 words

Created in 2007, and registered in 2008, SOS Papa is a father’s rights organisation in Mauritius, fighting for father's rights and mostly children living in broken families. SOS Papa’s current principle aim is to challenge the laws, particularly the family law which states that a child under 5 must go to his mother in case of a divorce. SOS Papa firmly believes that each situation is unique and demands a one to one attention call for each family. Furthermore, domestic violence does not only affect women but also men and yet there is no updated statistics on these incidences in Mauritius. SOS Papa strongly believes in the role of good parenting, acknowledging that divorce often have a huge impact on the child, particularly if the divorce is anything but ‘amicable’. SOS Papa despite being a fathers’ rights organisation also councils couples in general, believing in a partnership between both parents in all cases.

Key objectives of the network or alliance *Please list these in bullet form – 300 words

Raise awareness on the rights that fathers have in keeping their children and looking after them in case of separation and divorce;

Improve and change the mindset of the law and overall community, to not conflate gender with women only and raise awareness on the fact that not only women are victims of domestic violence;

Assist parents, fathers in particular by providing them with information on how to present a file case in court, counselling for both parents on the consequences of a divorce;

Promote and harmonize the relationship between husbands and wives. The criminal law does little explaining regarding how people can avoid separation and conflict. SOS Papa also serves as mediators for families and at times send certain parents to anger management programs.

Beneficiaries and partners*Please list your key beneficiaries and partners in this table; those you reach directly and estimates of those whom you reach indirectly.

Direct IndirectName of group

Women Men Total Women

Men Total

parents 10 40 50children

50 50 100

NGO Tann Nous La Voi

30 70 100

Total 40 110 150 50 50 400

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(many women call on behalf of their father or brothers or husbands or any male relatives)

Juvenile delinquency, most of these children come from broken families.

Monitoring and evaluation*What types of monitoring and evaluation methods and tools did you use to measure the impact of the campaign. These may include qualitative and quantitative -300 words

SOS Papa is in regular contact with the beneficiaries; many beneficiaries give news on their situation updates and SOS pap also makes sure to call those whom they provided assistance to. SOS Papa will start to provide follow up feedback forms and more tools to monitor and evaluate their work.

Relationship to the Alliance Secretariat *Please state how your network is linked to the national or regional secretariat of the Alliance; how this this support has helped facilitate your work and how this support can be improved. -300 words

None.

Key activities *Please list at least five. – 300 words

Prepare evidence and amendment reports to improve the Family Law, with the aim to make it more user friendly and for the law in itself to consider those filing for divorce not as criminal;

Give counselling sessions to fathers, for them to know their rights and to be able to present their case in court (tips on how to address the judge and so on...);

Assist other organisations (NGOs mainly) with their work on assisting individuals (homeless people);

Assist father that are in needs with various psychological support: Work with the Network Collectifs Enfants Mauriciens to advocate for

better laws for children.

Resource mobilisation *Please state how you have mobilised for resource allocations for work on gender equality.

Amount local currency (specify)

Amount in Rand

Explanation

Gender specific allocationGender in mainstream projects (please specify)

100,000 RS 34,684.36 We mostly on a voluntary basis.

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Amount contributed in cash or in kind by partner organisations (please specify)

20,000 Rs 6,936.87 We just received our CSR number and only begging to look at possible solutions for funding.

TOTAL 120,000 Rs 41,621.23

Results

Working with governments *What results have been achieved as a result of your work with government to implement the 28 targets of the SADC Gender Protocol? Do you sit on government delegations on regional and international platforms? Please give at least one example of the influence you have been able to exert in these structures? 200 words

Although we have worked in the past with Child Development Unit, we are not particularly with their work. We have dealt with a specific case where a father had not seen his child for 6 years and contacted the various government ministries to help remedy this case but nothing was done, no support was given to use. The parents were accused of negligence but no lawsuit had followed and the child was kept way from both of them despite no evidence being given at the time. We have worked with the CDU (child development unit) – but we are not particularly pleased with their work. The previous minister of gender also chose not to assist us in any way with our case. We are trying hard to work in partnerships with the government but this is proving to be difficult, with many mails left unanswered.

Evidence *Please provide testimonial evidence of the influence you have had by providing at least one quote from a senior government functionary, from a speech or in any other platform, acknowledging the work of your organisation. Please ensure that you provide name, surname, organisation and designation. 200 words

A peaceful demonstration of dads took place in 2011 in front of the office of the Ministry of Gender Equality at Newton Tower in Port Louis. Darmen Appadoo, President of SOS Papa says that the association has repeatedly approached the Ministry to make the voice of its members, but has received zero response (...)” Article in Le Mauricien.

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Working with civil society *What strategies have you used to mobilise support amongst civil society to work on the 28 targets of the protocol? What have been the results. 200 words

We have had much moral support from any existing NGOS but nothing concrete at this stage. We believe many NGOs are afraid to publicly voice their support due to our clash with the government.

Evidence *Please provide testimonial evidence of the influence you have had by providing at least one quote from a senior official in a civil society organisation acknowledging the work of your organisation. Please ensure that you provide name, surname, organisation and designation. 200 words

Working with communities *What are the results of your engagement with communities on the SADC Gender Protocol? Please provide at least one example. 200 words

SOS Papa regularly works with members of the community in particular with homeless people, cooking and sharing meals with them.

Evidence *Please provide testimonial evidence in the form of at least one quote from a community member acknowledging the work of your organisation. Please ensure that you provide name, surname, organisation and designation.* 200 words

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The SOS Papa association, in collaboration with Caritas Mauritius, hosted a dinner in 2012 at the Night Shelter in Port Louis. The opportunity for these men who live separated from their families to celebrate Father's Day around a good meal:

Working with the media *How do you engage with the media to popularise the Protocol? 150 words

We are in regular contact with the media, particularly Le Defi, Le Mauricien, MBC radio and at times we are also asked to speak on the radio. We speak with other influential figures (lawyers…etc) on advocating for our cause.

Evidence If you can, please provide at least one example of media coverage resulting from your work Url, pdf, You tube

A press conference that was given in May 2015 on their project “100 Nepali save lives today”:

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Capacity building *Does the organisation build capacity of other organisations on the SADC Protocol? Please provide at least example of training that has been conducted – 200 Words

We definitely encourage and discuss with other organizations the importance of our work. At the begging we mainly advocated for father’s rights, but now working with other organizations we realize the importance of also tackling issues of domestic violence…

Evidence *Please provide testimonial evidence by providing at least one quote from a person who has been trained regarding what they have learned. Please ensure that you provide name, surname, organisation and designation. 200 words

Try to provide evidence…

Lesson learned and innovation *1) Working with governments: How do you deal with situations where the

organisation and the government have different views on implementing the Protocol? Please give at least one example of how this creative tension has helped to produce better results?

If we are in disagreement we make sure that they are aware of this, this is done also by undertaking pacific marches against what they stand for.

2) Working with partner organisations: What lessons have been learned about working with partner organisations?

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Networking is a very important aspect of social work, team work is also valuable, we can find beter solutiotn more rapidly and have an enhanced imoat on the beneficiaries.

3) Any other lessons learned?

It’s important to understand the suffering of others, to understand the complexities of the system.

4) How will these result in new approaches in the future? 500 words

Today’s actions in our country will have an impact on the future generation, securing or not the well being of our children. The future belongs to our children and there is not enough adequate protection given to them. This need to be revoked!

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