Annual Reports
Executive summary
POWA was formed in 1979 by a group of women volunteers to provide referral services and
shelter to women experiencing domestic violence. Over a period of 30 years, POWA has
continued to provide shelter for abused women and their children, and frontline services,
including counselling and legal services and support.
POWA was the first organisation to establish a shelter for abused women, in 1981. The
organisation also pioneered second-stage (or transitional) housing for women in 2009 in
Gauteng. The direct services delivery component of the organisation forms the basis of and
informs all advocacy interventions – at local, national and regional level. Since 1979 the
organisation has grown from a staff compliment of 18 to 37 staff members and eight volunteers
today.