What good is half a bridge? A view on feminist action from Namibia

What good is half a bridge? For girls in Namibia, empowerment often takes them only part of the way toward safety and justice. Grassroots activists may build the foundations, but when the state fails to complete the crossing, girls find themselves stranded in the middle, aware of their rights, yet unable to claim them.

We often talk about empowerment as the solution to gender inequality. The logic is compelling: if we can help adolescent girls find their voices, they can change their own lives and communities. But what happens when those newly empowered voices speak out, only to be met with a wall of institutional silence? This is the central, high-stakes question that emerged from my research. The answer reveals a painful tension at the heart of feminist action in a world not yet built for it, with devastating real-world consequences for girls who are courageously seeking a safer future.

This issue is visible in Namibia, where adolescent girls are trapped in a vicious cycle. The country’s 2013 Demographic and health Survey, the last comprehensive study of its kind, reports that a staggering 32% of adolescent girls aged 15-19 have already experienced physical, sexual, or emotional violence (MoHSS & ICF International, 2014). This pervasive threat, robs them of their bodily autonomy (Grose et al., 2021; Stark et al., 2021). Simultaneously, the systemic denial of their sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) makes them more vulnerable to coercive relationships, unwanted pregnancies, and further violence (Decker et al., 2012; Mbizvo et al., 2023). My research sought to understand how grassroots activists are fighting back in this hostile environment.

To explore this, I conducted an in-depth qualitative case study of a feminist organization in Namibia dedicated to advancing the rights of adolescent girls. My methodology involved semi-structured interviews with their staff, giving me a critical window into their work. I spoke with individuals at all levels of the organization, from high-level managers shaping strategy to the on-the-ground facilitators running workshops in communities. This approach allowed me to understand not just their official programs, but the lived, daily reality of doing feminism in a resource-scarce, postcolonial context.

The first crucial finding is the innovation the organization employs simply to begin a conversation. In many communities, SGBV is a taboo topic, and a direct approach can lead to mistrust. Their solution is a form of culturally smart outreach; they use art, music, and sport as entry points to build trust and create non-threatening spaces where difficult conversations can emerge. As one participant told me, “We use arts and sports. That’s how we gather people…mobilizing people is not easy because people are afraid.”

This outreach leads girls into the organization’s most transformative work: the creation of safe spaces. These are not just support groups; they are incubators of political consciousness where girls learn the language of rights, consent, and bodily autonomy. The impact is profound. I heard a consistent pattern of girls who had been silent victims of abuse becoming confident leaders, starting their own community projects, and facilitating workshops for their peers. One young woman, after engaging with these spaces, went from being in an abusive relationship to running her own sessions, a testament to the power of their model. This is the first half of the bridge to safety being built with courage and feminist solidarity.

This leads, however, to the most illuminating and troubling finding of my research: what I came to call the ‘half-built bridge’.

These frontline activists are giving girls the knowledge of their rights and the courage to act. However, when a newly empowered girl tries to cross this bridge to seek justice or care, she finds it stops abruptly over a chasm. The other half of the bridge - the system of accessible, state-provided services - is missing.

When a girl from a rural village decides to report an abuser, she is met with a wall of state failure. As one participant explained, “The hotline is only based in the city… 90% of the time, these people get discouraged.” This is the reality of the half-built bridge. This systemic failure creates a new and cruel form of vulnerability: the vulnerability of knowing your rights but having no power to claim them.

The half-built bridge is not an organizational failure; it is a political one. It shows us that we cannot place the entire burden of solving a national crisis on the shoulders of under-resourced grassroots activists. To do so is to set them, and the girls they serve, up for a heartbreaking fall. If we only focus on empowering individuals without demanding systemic change, we are leading girls to a dead end. My research concludes that while the first half of the bridge is being built with courage and feminist solidarity, the other half must be built with political will, state resources, and a collective demand for accountability. Until then, the bridge to safety will remain incomplete - a structure of both hope and heartbreak. It is a challenge not just for Namibia, but for all of us invested in a truly just feminist future.

Author biography

Maria Kwekwe Tsuma  is a gender and development practitioner who recently completed her MSc in Africa and International Development at the University of Edinburgh. Her professional experience focuses on advancing the rights of adolescent girls in areas such as SGBV, SRHR, and child protection. Driven by a passion for reproductive justice, her dissertation research explores feminist organizing, grassroots activism, and sexual and reproductive health and rights in Southern Africa. This blog post is based on her MSc dissertation, conducted in partnership with a feminist organization in Namibia. Maria is building her career in the gender and development sector, with a long-term goal of pursuing further studies to deepen her expertise in feminist research and advocacy.

References

Decker, M. R., Wood, S. N., Byrne, M. E., Yao-N’dry, N., Thiongo, M., Gichangi, P., & Tsui, A. O. (2021). Gendered power dynamics and threats to sexual and reproductive autonomy among adolescent girls and young adult women: A cross-sectional survey in three urban settings. PLOS ONE, 16(11), e0257009. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257009 

Grose, R. G., Chen, J. S., Roof, K. A., & Yount, K. M. (2021). Sexual and reproductive health outcomes of violence against women and girls in lower-income countries: A review of reviews. The Journal of Sex Research, 58(1), 1–20.

Mbizvo, M. T., Kasonda, K., Muntalima, N. C., Rosen, J. G., Inambwae, S., Namukonda, E. S., & Kangale, C. (2023). Comprehensive sexuality education linked to sexual and reproductive health services reduces early and unintended pregnancies among in-school adolescent girls in Zambia. BMC Public Health, 23(1), 348.

Stark, L., Seff, I., & Reis, C. (2021). Gender-based violence against adolescent girls in humanitarian settings: A review of the evidence. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 5(3), 210–222.

The Namibia Ministry of Health and Social Services (MoHSS), & ICF International. (2014). The Namibia Demographic and Health Survey 2013. Windhoek, Namibia, and Rockville, MD, USA: MoHSS and ICF International.https://dhsprogram.com/pubs/pdf/fr298/fr298.pdf