The Foundation for Partnership Initiatives in the Niger Delta (PIND) in November 2019 joined the International Community on a 16-day campaign against Gender-Based Violence (GBV). Leveraging actions as it relates to the year’s theme: “Orange the World: Generation Equality Stands Against Rape!”, PIND, through a competitive process, awarded small grants to four Niger Delta organizations in Akwa-Ibom, Delta, Edo and Rivers States to implement activities in commemoration of the global event; selected grantees were Dynamic Youth Development Organization (DYDO), Akwa Ibom; Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN), Rivers State; Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) Catholic Diocese of Auchi, Edo State; and Global Women for Quality and Sustainable Development (GWQSD), Delta State.
In Udung Uko LGA, Akwa Ibom, Dynamic Youth Development Organization (DYDO) engaged over 217 persons which includes traditional birth providers, public health workers and grassroot women with training on safe sexual and reproductive health practices and prevention of gender based violence. In a roundtable session titled “Speak it loud to Sexual and Reproductive Health Right and Gender Based Violence”, held in Eyokponung community in Udung Uko, the organisation raised public awareness of Sexual and Gender Based Violence, sensitizing workers at different health centres and relevant stakeholders in faith-based organizations and traditional institutions to act against GBV.
Calling for participation in a planned Stakeholders Discussion on GBV Reporting, Referral and Response, the Medical Women’s Association of Nigeria (MWAN) made advocacy visit to the Commissioner of Police, Nigeria Police Medical Services South–South Command and held a forum that reviewed existing reporting template for harmonization of state GBV data. In addition, the organisation profiled partners to serve in the inaugurated State VAWG response team (SVRT). MWAN reached out to Port Harcourt University Medical Students’ Association (PUMSA) and Federal Girls Government College, Abuloma to raise awareness in school girls on GBV issues and reporting. Additionally, live radio broadcast and call centres were initiated to enable victims to call and seek assistance anonymously. Excluding radio responses, a total of 1360 persons were reached offline.
In Dagbala, Enwan and Akoko-Edo, the focus of Justice Development and Peace Commission (JDPC) gender team was more on overcoming the stigma, increasing knowledge of effect on individual, the punishment for rape and violence against women and girls, as well as how to prevent and overcome GBV in their localities. The team carried out sensitization activities to girls in Brightway secondary school, Enwan community and to women and girls in Dagbala community to build their knowledge on GBV, its negative consequences, how to prevent it, and how victims could overcome the stigma. JDPC also established a Gender Based Violence Committee (GBVC), enhanced capacity of the Committee members and empowered them to work against GBV in their communities. With a record of female majority, over 2,043 persons were reached in Edo State.
Addressing strategic ways to reduce cases of rape, sexual violence and other GBV in Delta State, Global Women for Quality and Sustainable Development (GWQSD), floated support actions to ‘stop women rape structures’. The team’s state level plan was to motivate people to serve as active standbys against rape cases. As part of their interventions, four live radio programs and six advocacy visits to State and non-State actors were put together to stimulate discussions, strategize and increase awareness of GBV among stakeholders so as to promote gender equitable social norms, attitudes, and behavioural changes for people to act on the subject matter. The organisation succeeded in raising reform champions on sexual violence and rape, amplified the voices of victims, survivors and community women group in preventing and ending the menace. Over 3,210,000 persons were recorded to have been reached and encouraged to report any form of GBV to the legal authorities. In a stakeholders’ dialogue, the need for inclusive, proactive and sustainable actions to prevent and end rape in order to accelerate transformative gains for women in Delta State, was discussed.
In all, PIND’s advocacy in commemoration of the global event successfully reached over 3million persons in the Niger Delta region, spreading messages about gender-based violence to secondary and tertiary institutions, public health workers in various health centres, traditional birth providers, grassroots women, and local and traditional governments. The Foundation strengthened collaboration and networking among Stakeholders, addressing GBV at States and regional level to promote gender-equitable social norms, attitudes, and behaviours; through bold conversations on women rights, rape, and sexual violence reporting, referral and response.
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