About

TEARS Foundation is responsible for the sourcing and collating of a data-base comprised of a fully comprehensive network of services; medical, medico-legal, legal and psychological, currently available throughout South Africa, for the assistance and support of survivors of rape and sexual abuse.

This data-base will be accessible to all South Africans, *free of charge, through a web and mobisite. By using a USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) mobile interface, in conjunction with location-finding software, any South African with a cell phone will be able to receive an instant referral to the nearest available help facility, via SMS.

Commited To The Highest Standards Of Transparency

TEARS Foundation is a private, registered non-profit organisation in terms of the Non-profit Organisation’s Act (Act 71 of 1997) TEARS NPO number: 138-020.

Registered as a Public Benefit Organisation in terms of Section 18A of the Income Tax Act (Act 58 of 1962). PBO number: 9300 42 695.

Confidential services are provided to all victims at no charge.

We Offer GBV Training To The Following Groups:

South African Police Services (SAPS)
Family violence, child protection and sexual offences units (FCS units)
Private Security Companies
Community Police Forums
Victim Empowerment Units
Community-Based Organisations
Call Centres offering a helpline for drugs and abuse
Corporates and HR Departments OBJ

Goals & Objectives

We are committed to reliable evidence-based research and data collection to achieve our goals of providing nationally coordinated best practice responses and social change to protect the rights of survivors. TEARS believes that responding to sexual violence in our society and holding perpetrators to account starts with supporting survivors in ways that are respectful of their dignity, healing, and choices.

TEARS works to hold perpetrators accountable for their behaviour, counteract victim-blaming, and prevent further victimization.

Improve access to gender-based violence prevention services across South Africa.
Support community-wide education and awareness campaigns.
Promote easy access to medical specialists, counselling services, and the criminal justice system.
Advocate for the transformation of the criminal justice system at the national and community levels in South Africa to uphold dignity, empathy, and confidentiality.
Develop a platform that contributes to research and easy access to quality data that informs the civil society sector and government on the status of efforts in the prevention of gender-based violence, or other forms of abuse in South Africa

Learn More About Our Youth & Empowerment Campaign

SPEAK UP is a Youth-specific education service, aimed to prevent and reduce rape and sexual abuse by raising awareness of GBV behavioural contributors to the adolescent market (predominantly ages between 13 and 26).

This new service initially leverages off an enhanced TEARS Help-at-your-fingertips® tool and continues to provide a 24/7 FREE support and services to victims’. By selecting the option for SPEAK UP, you will gain access to video content that is animated, interactive and topic relevant.

Find out more about our speak up campaign.

Socio-economic Context In Which We Operate

The TEARS Foundation provides 24-hour assistance Nationwide, with a free USSD service. We serve the women and children who are affected by GBV through reliable services in the language of their preference, in the areas close to them, that are convenient and easy to access.

We operate in all nine provinces of South Africa.

Our Beneficiary Base

Confidential services are provided to anyone impacted by domestic or sexual violence, including women, men and children, and their non-offending friends and family members.

We refer to the correct facility to obtain the appropriate assistance the victim needs, regardless of ethnicity, religion, age, gender, socio-economic background, or location.

Transformation Compliance

TEARS Foundation is committed to the highest levels of compliance with an 92% B-BBEE SED Recognition and a Black Beneficiary base of 92%.

TEARS Foundation is a private, registered non-profit organization in terms of the Non-profit Organization’s Act (Act 71 of 1997) Registration No 138-020 NPO.
TEARS Foundation is registered as a Public Benefit Organization in terms of Section 18A of the Income Tax Act (Act 58 of 1962). Donations to TEARS Foundation are tax-deductible in the hands of the donor – up to 5% of taxable income – whichever is the greater amount. No duty is charged on bequests made to us in Wills (SARS PBO: 9300 42 695).

Our National Service Offering

A TEARS Intervention Specialist is often the first person a victim of Gender-Based-Violence (GBV) speaks to about an incident – be it rape, domestic violence, sexual assault, or child abuse.

Our assistance is diverse, from working on an exit strategy from a dangerous relationship to opening a police case or helping to obtain a Protection Order – ensuring the victim’s safety is our priority. Once they are safe, we refer them for further intervention such as counselling. If they are in a life-threatening situation, we help them to identify a place of safety, and if necessary, assist them in getting to the shelter. In addition, we ensure that they receive medical or legal assistance and explain the processes to be followed.

Referral for individual counselling
Assistance in applying for Protection Orders
Court support
Assistance in following up cases with SAPS
Group counselling/ couples counselling
Support groups
Volunteer opportunities
We link victims to emergency shelters

Our Vision

We have a vision of a South Africa where adults and children are free from abuse and sexual violence. TEARS aims to be an agent of transformation.

It is our aim to promote positive change in societal values and attitudes, where the right to say NO is upheld as a basic human right; where victims of rape and abuse are treated with empathy and dignity; where access to legal, medical and psychological support is easily available to each and every member of society, regardless of gender, race or economic status.

Change Maker Programme At TEARS Foundation

As a foundation with an internal Interventions team of 5 people and an office administration team of 4 people, we assist over 100 000 annually. Last year, due to the ever-increasing volume of calls, we initiated an Internship Programme for graduates, thus supporting our organisation as well as equipping interns with skills, knowledge and experience in the field of GBV and sexual assault. Successful applicants are individuals who have already shown themselves to have an interest in the promotion of human rights and most have a specific interest in criminal justice policy, public health, and gender and women’s studies.

We place a substantial emphasis on the development of research skills, coupled with one-on-one supervision with our senior intervention specialists. They are exposed to a range of methodologies and, depending on the projects they work on, they may be involved with legal research, interviewing various criminal justice or health sector professionals, observational work in the field, as well as transcription, and document analysis.

While durations of internships vary, all interns participate fully in the work and activities of TEARS Foundation while being a brand ambassador.

Our Impact

The TEARS Foundation tackles the urgent problem of Gender-Based Violence (GBV) and femicide and has a proven solution. We are committed to growing and measuring our impact.

We support women and children from all walks of life, mostly those who cannot afford paid services; thus, we offer free services to all.

Since the inception of Help at your Fingertips, our founding, TEARS has provided direct support to almost half a million victims of domestic violence, sexual assault and child sexual abuse across South Africa and reached 44 million people through our Public Service Announcements educating on GBV prevention.

Monitoring & Evaluation

All our cases are recorded electronically on the TEARS Foundation Case Management Database system, through which all our Monitoring and Evaluation (M & E) data flows. By capturing all the case information, we ensure that each client receives the best possible service, recording each interaction, every referral, and each communication method – may it be phone, WhatsApp, or email – all are recorded on the online system.

The information captured may be used as evidence as part of the ongoing investigations and in court, as most often we are the first people victims confide in, and TEARS is seen as the first witness.

Combining all our platforms of assistance, we receive daily reports from Always Active Technologies (AAT) our USSD service provider, as well as weekly on all who used our different USSD service platforms. Using this information, we can identify hotspot areas throughout South Africa, helping us to be aware of the problem areas, and being able to engage with different organisations in the area to work with them, making sure no victim is left behind.

Going Beyond The Call Of Duty

Where our primary objective previously has been to Contain the trauma and Refer survivors, we have had to expand our services to “fill the gaps” and assist victims on a more holistic basis i.e., accompanying victims to Police Stations to open cases, to Court for Protection Order applications or arranging Bolts/Ubers to get victims to safety, assisting with transport to hospitals for medical examinations, and much, much more.

Helping just one victim may involve hours – even days, in providing the necessary assistance and support. This has meant we have had to increase our staff complement and operational structures to keep up with the ever-increasing need. On-going management of our database is also vital. Our national database, comprising some 2 351 organizations specializing in GBV services, is key to our NPO model.

Our database is the only national comprehensive database of organisations dealing with Gender-based Violence providing their services free of charge, in South Africa.

Effects & Topics Of The Capacity Building Workshop

We believe that education is vital to fighting the scourge of GBV, at the request of the Department of Social Development (DSD) and the City of Jo’burg, we recently facilitated GBV training to 80+ Community-Based Organisations on a pro bono basis.

We continue to provide training to the Neema Foundation for the Deaf as well as to SAPS FCS (Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences) Units, to name but a few.

First Responders’ Role
Collecting and Preserving DNA
Sexual and Gender-based Violence (GBV) knowledgebase
Impact of Gender-based Violence (GBV): economic, mental, and physical health impacts.
Reasons for Underreporting Gender-Based Violence (GBV), perpetuation and risk escalation
Trauma management (debriefing, self-care, and secondary trauma)
Psychological First Aid
Working in the Gender-Based Violence (GBV) space, Psychological first aid, First Responders Role
Offence procedure: J88, Protection order, Criminal Law, Children’s Act, and more…