BGBVC was founded by Kagisano Society, an organisation that has been doing humanitarian work in Botswana since the 1970s. At the time of formation of Kagisano Society, Botswana was receiving a high number of asylum seekers from neighboring countries due to the liberation wars. With the reduction of the refugee population in the 1990s, the organization did a needs assessment and found that addressing gender based violence was an under-served need in the country. In 1998, the Kagisano Society started the Women’s Shelter Project and opened the first women’s shelter in Botswana in Gaborone. The organisation is now operating in nine sites in Botswana under the following programme areas; counseling, community outreach & education as well as an emergency and temporary shelter (only in Gaborone). It is the first and the only shelter for battered women in the southern part of the country that admits women and children fleeing Gender Based Violence from their homes.

Of the 3 main programme areas, Counseling is offered to GBV perpetrators, survivors/victims and their families. The shelter provides a safe environment for women and children in eminent danger; while through its outreach and education programme, BGBVC provides information to the community on the impact of GBV and ways to identify, prevent and respond to GBV and its nexus with HI V as well where to seek help.

Since its establishment BGBVC has been able to; construct a shelter and a Drop-In-Centre. It has since grown from a small staff complement to an organisation headed by a CEO and a staff component of over 20. It also has a 9 member Board of Directors with the responsibility of providing strategic oversight. In an endeavor to provide comprehensive services, BGBVC provides linkages to legal aid to the many indigent women whose cases would not be otherwise attended to. These legal services are provided through the government’s Legal Aid Unit and three (3) law firms who give their services on a pro bono basis.