In 2013, Gender Links piloted a programme entitled Empower Women, End Violence to test the hypothesis that increasing women’s agency, confidence and economic power would result in less violence for women in abusive relationships and more control over their lives. Rebranded the Sunrise Campaign in 2016 because of the “new beginning” that this model offered to survivors of GBV, the programme focusses on an integrated approach of Life Skills and Entrepreneurship training including confidence building; decision making, business management, use of IT, networking and addressing the underlying structural inequalities between men and men. The model has evolved over three phases to incorporate new learning and become a robust model with a total reach of 13 540: including 3010 GBV survivors trained as entrepreneurs; an average of three family members per household (including where appropriate former perpetrators); Gender Focal Persons; members of GBV and Local Economic Development (LED) committees, the programme has demonstrated the link between economic power and reducing GBV. Funding Leadership Opportunities for Women (FLOW) in the Netherlands supported the first phase from 2013 to 2015 in Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The United Nations Trust Fund to End Violence Against Women funded the project in South Africa, Madagascar and Eswatini from January 2020 to December 2022. Important innovations included a focus on young women, and the inclusion of men.

In South Africa, the Irene M. Staehelin (IMS) Foundation based in Switzerland is supporting the project in ten municipalities spread across four provinces.