Women For Change Partners With WomenIN Festival 2025 To Confront South Africa’s GBV Crisis Head-On.

“Not Just A Festival—This Is A Call To Action”

Cape Town, South Africa: November 2025 — WomenIN Festival 2025 promises to be a vibrant celebration of women across industries, but this year it carries an even greater purpose. In the midst of South Africa’s ongoing femicide and gender-based violence (GBV) crisis, the festival will partner with  Women For Change (WFC) to lead an empowering two-day series of workshops focused on advocacy, healing, and urgent action. 

Taking place from 13–14 November 2025 at Newlands Cricket Ground, Cape Town, Women For Change will facilitate a transformative experience designed to turn awareness into impact. The workshop activations include trauma-informed workshops, survivor support, and physical installations that expose the scale and depth of violence faced by women in South Africa. 

GBV Core Event Highlights: 

• GBV Workshops: Survivor-centred sessions for honest dialogue, healing and digital tools to prevent, report and respond to gender-based violence and femicide. 

• GBV Masterclass: Frontline learnings on how to better support survivors and community support pathways that keep people safe and connected. 

• Panel participation: Cross-sector conversations addressing institutional responses to GBV 

• Symbolic ‘ The Unburied Casket’ Casket Installation: Honouring victims of femicide 

• On-site Professional Counsellors: Immediate mental health and trauma support 

• Quiet Reflection Spaces: Areas for personal reflection and written messages of hope 

• Panel discussion (with MOSAIC): Addressing institutional responses to GBV 

• Self-Defence Masterclass: Hosted by Fight Back SA 

Founded in 2016, Women For Change is one of South Africa’s most influential non-profit organisations dedicated to combating Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and Femicide. It emerged in response to the rape and murder of 15-year-old Franziska Blöchliger in Tokai Forest in Cape Town. What began as a memorial walk has since evolved into one of the country’s most outspoken platforms for GBV advocacy and survivor support—both online and in person. 

“Women for Change was born in 2016 out of grief and unity,” says Sabrina Walter, Founder of Women For Change. “At the time, I was leading an all-women running community, Catch Me If You Can, built on sisterhood and safety. When Franziska was murdered—and another woman’s death went unnoticed just days earlier—it became clear that not every woman’s life is valued equally. That moment was the catalyst for this movement .” 

This partnership brings together survivors, activists, policymakers, and industry leaders for two days of education, healing, and honest confrontation of the systems that continue to fail women. 

“We want to open conversations that are often avoided—the ones that live in silence between fear, pain, and accountability,” Walter emphasises. “The workshops will provide a safe space and open platform for women to talk about what it means to live, survive, and heal in a country where gender-based violence has become a daily reality.” 

Attendees will leave the GBV workshops with a deeper understanding of what gender-based violence truly looks like—not just in statistics, but in lived experience. 

“Whether you’re a policymaker, a corporate leader, or a woman trying to find your voice again, you’ll understand how your choices, platforms, and power can help dismantle the cycle,” says Merlize Jogiat, Operations & Advocacy Manager at Women For Change. 

The WomenIN Festival, through these Women For Change-led sessions, moves beyond awareness. It offers a safe and supportive environment where participants can learn, reflect, and connect. This partnership sets a new benchmark for how public platforms can integrate activism and healing into their core. 

“Many women enter our spaces carrying fresh or long-suppressed trauma. We never want to open a wound without offering immediate care. It’s not just about safety—it’s about dignity,” adds Jogiat. 

This collaboration with WomenIN Festival 2025 reflects a shared commitment to sustainable change. While Women For Change brings grassroots activism and survivor-centred advocacy, WomenIN provides a dynamic platform to connect and empower leaders, brands, and decision-makers across sectors. 

“This partnership isn’t just timely—it’s transformational,” says Nazlee Fredericks-Maharaj, Portfolio/Founding Director of WomenIN Festival. “WomenIN has always been about creating holistic spaces where women rise, lead, and thrive. By partnering with Women For Change, we’re embedding urgency, truth, and advocacy into the heart of our platform. It’s how we move from inspiration to impact—because leadership without safety is not leadership – it’s merely survival.” 

This initiative offers more than dialogue—it equips attendees with knowledge, tools for personal and community action, and a renewed sense of responsibility to support survivors and dismantle systems of violence. 

“Together, we are stronger. We can reach more women, amplify more voices and, most importantly, create real change. WomenIN 2025 reflects the Women for Change vision of a South Africa where women are safe, supported, and empowered,” concludes Walter. 

About WomenIN (WiN) 

WomenIN (WiN) is a dynamic women’s empowerment portfolio within the VUKA Group, dedicated to inspiring, supporting, and uplifting women from all walks of life. WiN creates platforms for connection, collaboration, and capacity-building across sectors including mining, mobility, energy, gaming, green economy, customer experience, and more. Through in-person events, masterclasses, wellness activations, and networking initiatives, WiN fosters leadership, amplifies voices, and drives lasting impact. 

 About VUKA Group VUKA Group brings people and organisations together to connect through platforms that drive growth and transformation across Africa’s industries. With over 20 years of experience on the continent, VUKA delivers sector-leading platforms across Energy, Mining, Mobility, Retail, and Women Empowerment. 

For more information, visit www.wearewomenin.com 

Women For Change (WFC)  Women For Change (WFC) is a South African non-profit organisation founded in 2016, dedicated to combating Gender-Based Violence and Femicide (GBVF). Utilising the power of social media, WFC raises awareness, advocates for justice, and empowers victims and survivors through trauma-informed support and guidance. With an online community exceeding 580,000 followers and over 40 million monthly impressions, WFC amplifies survivor stories, influences public opinion, and pressures policymakers to take decisive action. Their mission is to end GBVF by challenging systems of oppression and driving transformative change across South Africa. Through initiatives like the Unburied Casket campaign and participation in national dialogues, WFC continues to be a leading force in the fight against GBV in South Africa For more information, visit www.womenforchange.co.za