From Sola Ojo, Kaduna
Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI) under the We For Them (WFT) project supported by the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF) has identified strong political will and power balance as key in addressing all forms of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Nigeria.
EWEI had organised X (Twitter) Space Chat themed: Unite! Invest to prevent violence against women and girls where stakeholders were brought together to discuss GBC in public places and champion the way forward. The chat was a part of EWEI’s activities to mark this year’s 16 days of activism against GBV.
Participants at the virtual engagement believed that sexual harassment whether in private or public places is unacceptable which was why they wanted to make it a continuous campaign even after the 16 days of activism on the subject matter.
Senior Programme Officer Organisational Development and Partnership, EWEI, Rachel Sochi Ogbonna, said the X chat aimed at fostering a critical dialogue on ending sexual harassment in public spaces, leveraging the insights of experts, advocates, and community members.
“The X Space Chat seeks to be an engaging and informative platform, fostering collaboration and
dialogue toward the shared goal of ending sexual harassment in public spaces.
“By bringing together diverse perspectives, we aim to contribute to a safer and more inclusive society for all, under the theme “Unite Against Gender-Based Violence.
“So political will by all elected people will go a long way in addressing virtually all the appearances of gender-based violence especially against women and girls in public spaces.
“Also, if there is power balance in public spaces and strategic investment in awareness and sensitisation, that will help us a great deal”, she noted.
Speaking during the chat, the immediate two-term Commissioner, Kaduna State Ministry of Human Services and Social Development, Hajiya Hafsat Baba highlighted the culture of silence, and delay in justice as top challenges promoting GBV in public spaces.
“One of the challenges we have in Kaduna is that the survivors and families of victims don’t speak out. Delay in access to justice, safe space (shelter), understanding and implementing the existing laws, and issues around communicating the GBV.
“However, before I left office on May 29, 2023, we were able to overcome some of these challenges. That does not mean we have reached where we want to be on the issue of GBV, certainly, we are not where we were before 2015. It is a work in progress” she said.
Another contributor, Arifa Nasim harped on the need for deep research to unravel the real intent behind GBV in public spaces.
“One of the things we need to do is to dig deeper so we can understand why the perpetrators engage in GBV in public places, what needs to change, and how to protect women and girls from harassment in public places like schools.
We need to do everything within our power to protect them”, she said.
Earlier, the Secondary Focal Person, We For Them Project, Mendie N Jeremiah said the two-year project which started in April 2022 and ending in March 2024 focused on the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) targeting eight motor parks in Kaduna.
“We took them through existing legal frameworks like the Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law which they have used to develop their bylaws for their guide.
“We are also engaging with the Academic Staff Union of Polytechnic (ASUP), Kaduna Polytechnic branch. We selected these two unions because they are male-dominated unions so they can be champions for GBV,” he added.