NGO lunches programme to tackle gender violence in Borno
A non-governmental organisation, Every Girl Initiative (EGI), has held a three-day dialogue session with various relevant stakeholders on ways to curtail the scourge of gender-based violence and women’s limited access to health care and related needs.
The participants who included ambassadors of Dialogue, Climate and Reintegration (DCR Ambassadors) stakeholders across MDAs, CSOs, and Women Rights Group in Borno State had brainstormed on how to enhance “inter-agency capacity to increase women/Girls’ access to health, security psychosocial and legal support services in Borno State”.
Executive Director, EGI, Nora Nongu, said in her opening speech that they are running a project on “Strengthening Institutional and Multi-Sectorial Capacity to Prevent and Respond to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) and Violence Against Women (VAWG) in Borno State”.
She said the project “is a 24-month project intervention fully funded by Women’s Peace & Humanitarian Fund (WPHF)/EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, with technical support from UN Women in Nigeria.
“Permit me to quickly add here that, on this project, we are seeking to establish a Center for Gender Safety and Security (CGSS) which will house in-door games and later serve as multi-media safe space for women and girls,” she said. .
“We will also support the formation of Gender Rights Early Warning Committees (GREW) across the five (5) targeted LGAs in Borno State”.
Ms Nongu thanked the WPHF/EU-UN Spotlight Initiative, and UN women for making this outing financially and technically possible.
Lilian Unaegbu, who is UNWOMEN’s programme Coordinator in North East Nigerian said “there has been a high increase in gender-based violence and violence against women and girls in Borno state.
She therefore said “there is every need to intensify collective efforts and across all relevant SGBV services providers to ensure that women and girls get the the necessary and timely health, security psychosocial and legal support services in Borno State.”
Ms Unaegbu, said it was for the above reason that her agency “is working with grassroot organisations like DCR Ambassadors and Every Girl Intitiative to tackle these issues”.
Samuel Orahii, a participant at the dialogue who is also from Grass root Researchers applauded the conveners of the workshop for hosting the dialogue.
He added that the three day dialogue “was very important to them who work in Civil Society Organization s that are actors of SGBV.”
According to a National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) report in 2020, at least three cases of rape are reported on daily basis in Borno state.
