Bridget Lorato Mphusu is a professional counselor with Master of Arts in Counselling from Dallas Baptist University and Bachelor's degree in social sciences in Psychology. She is Chief Executive Officer and Chief of Party for Botswana Christian Health and AIDS Intervention Program in Botswana, covering the Community Focused project on HIV and AIDS, TB and Non-Communicable Diseases.  Bridget is also a governance consultant and serves on three boards in Botswana.

IVLP Impact Award Project: Equipping Faith-Based Organizations to Effectively Address the Root Causes of GBV in Botswana

The project equipped 14 faith leaders from Botswana with professional knowledge and skills to effectively respond to the gender-based violence (GBV) crisis in Botswana with proper support and care for survivors. The faith leaders learned proper and impactful messaging to disseminate to their followers and prevent new cases of GBV.

The faith leaders also provided counseling to 94 couples and 81 individuals on dealing with GBV in their lives. Training on how to identify and report GBV was also provided to 221 children between the ages of 7 and 18. One child remarked, “I learned that my body is special and should not be touched by anyone.” Additionally, 500 community members were educated by the faith leaders, including 200 men who attended events focused on male community dialogue that were led by both traditional leaders and the trained faith leaders. The project also informed the general public about the effectiveness of engaging faith leaders in addressing the root causes of GBV in family and social settings using effective and tested interventions. Two radio programs, one television broadcast and one newspaper article about the project reached an estimated 469,000 people.

"[I hope to reduce] gender violence in Botswana, [improve] support given to women and children facing gender-based violence, and [improve] the quality of relationships through [the] faith leaders' intervention." - Bridget Lorato Mphusu

IVLP Exchange Experience 

Bridget participated in the IVLP Project NGO Management for AF/EUR/NEA, organized by the U.S. Department of State and FHI 360, in partnership with Iowa International Center, Northern Nevada International Center, World Affairs Council of Dallas/Fort Worth, Cleveland Council on World Affairs, Global Ties KC and World Affairs Council of New Hampshire.

Bridget's exchange experience led to the development of her IVLP Impact Award Project: "My IVLP [experience] exposed me to different experts who were facilitators and attendees like me, who are doing amazing work in their counties to bridge the existing gap in addressing the social ills such as gender-based violence. The lessons inspired me to move beyond the usual HIV work and to explore the possibility of addressing GBV in Botswana through faith leaders interventions, given they are highly influential in their communities."

U.S. Communities Visited

Washington, DC; Des Moines, IA; Kansas City, MO; Manchester, NH, Reno, NV; Cleveland, OH; Dallas, TX

Country: Botswana

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