Paul Okoth

Father Paul Okoth is curbing domestic abuse by implementing a series of male-focused psychological, social, and economic interventions that go beyond traditional and largely ineffective punitive measures. His men’s clubs are already playing a significant role in protecting women and reconciling families, reducing domestic violence, and promoting economic development.

Fr. Okoth believes that lasting solutions to the societal problem of domestic violence can come from the main perpetrators—men—but not until they are viewed as an important part of the solution and not just the problem. Since male aggressors typically are the problem, Fr. Okoth has developed new ways to work with them. Rather than hand out prison sentences to perpetrators of gender-based violence, he utilizes therapeutic, economic, and social interventions to address both outward and hidden forms of gender violence. Fr. Okoth organizes men, including former perpetrators, into community groups through which counseling services are delivered, economic development programs are implemented, and discussions on the current state of the family institution are conducted. These groups don’t come across as combative and do not ostracize perpetrators; instead they have become popular and inclusive spaces where real changes happen. Fr. Okoth’s network of community groups forms an effective mechanism for monitoring and swift intervention in cases of domestic violence in all corners of the community. In instances where the program fails to produce a change in behavior, the groups support court cases with evidence collected in their monitoring and intervention process. Father Okoth has also partnered with the police, district courts, health centers, the district probation and welfare offices, and other citizen sector organizations to support group activities. All in all, Fr. Okoth’s program is successfully turning former perpetrators into volunteer counselors and protectors of the very same families they abused. His media programs include regular radio talk shows and articles in the local and national newspapers, an important element in his plans to extend the men’s club model beyond the community where he began three years ago.

According to UNICEF, about 41 percent of women in Uganda report being battered by their husbands or relatives. Unofficial statistics put the number closer to 60 percent of women having been victims of some form of gender-based violence ranging from battering to marital rape. The most documented effect of domestic violence is physical harm, but the psychological impact is often deeper and longer lasting. Statistics from the Uganda Police show that over 95 percent of reported cases of gender violence are committed by men. In 2005, Father Paul’s organization, The Socio-Economic Interface for Violence Elimination (SEIVE), conducted research to uncover the underlying causes as to why men are the main perpetrators of violence in the home. The research conducted in eastern Uganda found that nine out of ten men who committed these offences had themselves faced some form of abuse in their homes or other institutions.

The current recommended punishments for offenders do not take into account the psychological causes of domestic violence. Ugandan law calls for imprisonment and, in some cases, a death sentence. But instead of curbing violence against women, these forms of punishment have led to a recurrence of violence—sometimes more severe violence—in the very same homes they intend to protect. And although no perpetrator has received the maximum penalty to date, when instituted, the death sentence will leave the family both emotionally scarred and economically vulnerable because the perpetrator is often the main breadwinner.

Abuse at home at the hands of men is manifested in many non-violent forms as well, including the withholding of support for the wife and children, denial of intimacy, or even a complete emotional detachment from the family. Having gone unaddressed, these hidden forms of abuse have created a vicious cycle that continues to frustrate efforts to address gender violence. Many organizations still do not fully comprehend the causes and incidence of continued domestic abuse at the hands of supposedly rehabilitated perpetrators who have served their sentences.

To make matters worse, men begin to see organizations and activists working to reduce domestic violence as having an anti-male agenda. As a result they get defensive and are unlikely to be cooperative. The complete isolation of men from programs to address domestic violence has further complicated the struggle to rid society of this problem and in some instances has escalated the problem. Such isolation has polarized society with men perceived as evil perpetrators and female activists as fiery antagonists. And with the economic and political power concentrated in the hands of the men, such polarization further reduces opportunities for women to participate meaningfully in the social, political, and economic activities at all levels in society.

Throughout his life, Fr. Okoth has developed a strong desire to change the way society understands and addresses domestic violence. From his decades of experience, he has come to believe that what are generally accepted as the causes of domestic violence—poverty, alcoholism, and drug abuse, for instance—are instead mere stimulants. The real causes are more internal and need to be dealt with in a less punitive and more comprehensive manner. Indeed, he saw that the most effective way was to turn men, including former perpetrators of domestic violence, into peer counselors and defenders of women and children. He started a pilot program with fifty clients of the Mifumi project, some of whom had served prison sentences, and recruited two male counselors to provide therapy in place of punishment. In all fifty cases there was no recurrence of violence and many clients expressed interest in volunteering to work with other abusive men. This early success confirmed for Fr. Okoth that men should be at the forefront of interventions in this field.

The success of the pilot also created an overwhelming demand for Fr. Okoth’s services. To meet the demand, he created men’s clubs based in communities to deliver services on a much wider scale. In recruiting for the clubs Fr. Okoth targets open-minded men, some of whom were once perpetrators of domestic violence and have served prison terms. These clubs form the strong backbone of SIEVE’s service delivery system. Members must adhere to a strict set of three criteria: They must be exemplary and respect others, they cannot engage in any form of violence, and they must stand for peace above all. Group members engage in regular discussions on violence in their communities, counsel one another, and recruit new men to join the clubs. On a monthly basis, members report on and discuss the cases they’ve handled, compare their casework experiences, and make recommendations for future cases.

The men’s clubs also report domestic abuse cases as soon as they take place and, in some cases, have prevented them altogether through a member-led early warning system in the community. Because of their own personal history with domestic violence, members have the unique ability to predict situations that are likely to turn into abuse and intervene. And whether they prevent or intervene immediately after an incidence of abuse, all members provide on-the-spot counseling that highlights the importance of dialogue in the family as opposed to physical abuse.

Intervening effectively in cases of domestic abuse requires a great deal of skill and training in addition to personal experience and instinct. SEIVE continuously trains its members on approaching each case in a non-confrontational manner, keeping records on cases that have been resolved as well as those that might reoccur, monitoring and evaluating each intervention, and making referrals for those cases that require interventions beyond the members’ skill levels.

Fr. Okoth’s program relies on a comprehensive referral system. At the household level there are ten to fifteen volunteer counselors who monitor and handle cases and refer them to village counselors in charge of all the households in a village. The village counselors are of a higher skill level and are regularly recruited to provide assistance to volunteer counselors. They also encourage former perpetrators to speak out and to counsel other men. If a case exceeds the skill levels of village counselors, it is referred to SEIVE where professional counselors are employed and trained to handle complex cases. SEIVE itself is part of a network of human rights organizations in the Tororo district, so it too might refer a case to an organization specializing in a particular field.

Although SEIVE primarily seeks alternative interventions to keep families together and to address the hidden forms of abuse, it also helps victims of abuse seek justice in instances where the clubs fail to yield a change in behavior of the perpetrator. The groups constantly collect before and after pictures to document abuse and report on previous interventions which can be used to support cases in court. Such incriminating evidence is used only as a last resort if preliminary counseling and other interventions have failed.

Fr. Okoth is aware that household financial strife is a frequent catalyst for domestic violence. Former perpetrators lose their sources of incomes once arrested and imprisoned. Fr. Okoth learned very quickly that men find programs with economic gains to be very attractive and so he added economic projects to the catalogue of club activities. Together, the men pool small amounts of money and have started poultry farms, animal husbandry initiatives, and small shops to raise the economic status of their households.

The combination of a strict code of conduct, peer support, and improved economic status has created a prestigious brand of clubs that members are proud to be part of. The clubs are motivated to spread SIEVE’s message and programs by facilitating the formation of other clubs. To date, SEIVE has managed to create three clubs in Mbale and Tororo with over 100 members. Additionally, two other independent clubs have formed in Budaka districts based on Fr. Okoth’s idea.

Fr. Okoth’s media program supplements the efforts of the clubs to further spread the idea. He is regularly featured on Radio Maria, the most popular radio station in the district, to talk about domestic violence, and he uses this airtime to spread word of the clubs. He is also a regular contributor in The New Vision, Uganda’s leading newspaper. In the next three to five years, Fr. Okoth hopes to integrate his program into the school curriculum to get young people to learn about gender violence at an early age. He also plans to take his program to prisons around the country.

Fr. Okoth has a lifelong personal connection with domestic abuse. Some of his earliest memories are of being assaulted by his nanny and of lashing out at her and causing her physical injury. He came to realize that these earlier experiences later affected his attitudes towards women later in life and pushed him towards a serious alcohol addiction. He endured further trauma when his father was killed by rebels in 1987. Although in later years he would become a successful Catholic priest, these instances of childhood abuse and violence had a lasting effect on his identity.

As a priest, Fr. Okoth was uncomfortable with the dictatorial tendencies that he sometimes found in Church authority and felt like his other talents were underutilized. Despite discouragement from the Church, he went ahead on his own to pursue further education in the United States where continued to study the problem of domestic violence. He joined an alcohol and chemical dependency program in Minnesota where he encountered alternative ways of dealing with abuse without resorting to punitive methods. His interest has since been in examining the root causes of violent behavior, and the reasons why violence continues even after perpetrators have served their punishments. Fr. Okoth has since started his organization to creatively and comprehensively address the root causes of domestic violence.