From Sola Ojo, Kaduna

Due to the increase in the recorded cases of violence against women and girls in Kaduna State, a non-governmental organisation, Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) is set to implement a 12-month advocacy aimed at prevention of gender-based violence in 12 communities of Kaduna state.

With support from Rising, a project of Public Health Institute (Johns Hopkins University, USA, AMDF is implementing a project titled, “Advocating For The Prevention Of Gender-Based Violence” USA) in six communities each in Kajuru and Kaduna North local government areas of the state.

Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG), is a global pandemic that affects 1 in 3 women in their lifetime. In Kaduna state, it is a grave human rights violation, and also a public health problem, affecting not only the physical and mental health of women but also their lives and self-esteem

Programme Manager, Rise Project, Benjamin Maigari, who spoke to newsmen in Kaduna on Friday during the training of the staff ahead of their community engagements said, the choice of the two local government areas were premised on high recorded levels of gender-based violence among their dwellers.

According to Maigari, “as part of the implementation plan, since the project is on gender-based violence, we decided that there is the need to build the capacity of the implementing staff on the concept and how best they can relate with people in the field.

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“We invited a gender expert to come and handle this training for us so all of us can be on the same page. Even as we go into the communities, we need to understand the nitty-gritty of this gender-based violence.

“We decided to choose these two local governments due to their peculiarity. For example, Kajuru has a high number of displaced persons which is resulting in a lot of gender-based violence which is the only thing we are focusing on in this local government.

“In Kaduna North, we are going to look into harmful traditional practices like female genital mutilation and male circumcision which is usually done based on their age grade. So, we are going to look at the health hazards that come with these practices to nip it in the bud through engagement with all the stakeholders”, he said.

Earlier, the Executive Director of the Foundation, Iliya Kure said. “within the 12-month implementation period, AMDF will use Community Based Action Volunteers (COMBAV) in project communities to serve as rural response strategy/team for reduction of incidences of Violence Against Women and Girls”.

The COMBAV Team is made up of volunteers responsible for promoting gender equity within their communities. They would work as community-based action teams to challenge harmful practices and attitudes, sensitise residents on existing laws, as well as assist with referrals to relevant social services (Police, Social Welfare, Health, Commission on Human Rights, Traditional and Religious leaders), among others.

COMBAV Team members are expected to be trained on VAWG, Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Law, Conflict Resolution, as well as Gender Equity and Social Inclusion (GESI) Policy of Kaduna State.