3. Saartjie Baartman Centre for Abused Women The Saartjie Baartman Centre for Women and Children (SBC) was opened in 1999 as the first multi-disciplinary service (one-stop) centre for abused women and children in the country. The SBC worked closely with its partner organisations to provide an on-site multidisciplinary service centre for the effective management, treatment and prevention of violence against women and children. The SBC had since evolved to be the prime learning site nationally for providing holistic, integrated services to survivors of violence. Some of the services provided were managed directly by the SBC. These included a 24-hour crisis response; a residential shelter and transitional housing for abused women and their children; legal assistance; and job-skills training. The other services were provided by organisations working in partnership at the SBC and included an after-hours crisis response for children; specialised counselling services in rape/sexual assault, drug and alcohol abuse, trauma and domestic violence; job-skills training and job placement projects; HIV/AIDS programmes; community outreach; advocacy and lobbying; training; and research. Services at the SBC cut across the sectors of gender inequality, children and persons with disabilities. The SBC is situated in Manenberg on the Cape Flats, an area with extremely high rates of crime, gangsterism, child abuse, unemployment, substance abuse and domestic violence. It provided services to the surrounding areas and a wide range of constituencies: neighbouring townships, farming communities in the Phillippi, Constantia, and Stellenbosch areas, and 'informal' settlements. The SBC employed 23 permanent staff members who provided a wide range of services at the Centre. Further staff needs were fulfilled by visiting international and local interns who provided volunteer work at the Centre. The services at SBC included the following: . A 24-hour emergency shelter (safe accommodation) . Short and medium term residential care . Childcare services . Counselling, mental health support, legal and economic empowerment services . Research on gender-based violence . Job Skills training . On and off site catering project