UN Women, Ford Foundation embarks on 3 years program to tackle GBV

By Joy Obakeye

The United Nations Women in Nigeria with the support of the Ford Foundation is embarking on a three-year program on the prevention of gender-based violence, (GBV).

UN women’s country representative to Nigeria, Ms Beatrice Eyong who made it known at a one-day RoundTable of Cultural and Faith Leaders on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls on Wednesday in Lagos said the three-year programme is titled Traditional and Cultural Leaders for Ending GBV by Advancing Advocacy, Policy and Social Norms Change in Nigeria and West Africa, fondly called, LEAP.

LEAP is a flagship program on male engagement, to put in place policies and practices to address gender-based discrimination and combat gender stereotypes.

She said, the program’s overarching goals are to support partnerships between traditional leaders, regional faith-based organizations, and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)’s divisions to strengthen their engagement in preventing and responding to GBV including harmful practices, which further extends to promoting sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) in West Africa.

The project has key actions of leveraging power mapping tools of relevant prevention actors in West Africa to better understand the prevention ecosystem and aligning with influential male networks including the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa (COTLA), and religious leaders with initiatives and structures for addressing GBV situated in ECOWAS including the ECOWAS Council of the Wise.

Earlier, while giving statistics on GBV, she said globally, an estimated 736 million women—almost one in three—have been subjected to physical and, or, sexual intimate partner violence, non-partner sexual violence, or both at least once in their life. “1 in 3 Nigerian women have experienced physical violence by the age of 15.”

She said, at least 200 million women and girls, aged 15–49 years, have undergone female genital mutilation in 31 countries where the practice is concentrated and half of these countries are in West Africa.

“In Nigeria, 43 per cent of girls are married before the age of 18. Once married, only 1.2% of those aged 15-19 have their contraception needs met, leading to high levels of early and teenage pregnancy, increasing the burden of maternal mortality and several other negative health outcomes.

“More to this, GBV has real-time effects on our economies. In Egypt, it was estimated that 500,00 working days are lost each year due to marital violence and the health sector bears over USD 14 million in costs to serve just one-quarter of survivors. Data from the Mirabel Centre in Lagos show that 81% of reported cases of sexual assault between 2013 and 2019 were perpetrated against children – 67% of the perpetrators were known. These statistics are staggering, and they should shake us to our core,” she said.

Ms Enyong disclosed that gender-based violence destroys the fabric of our communities and puts a stain on our communal identity, noting that, cultural and faith leaders are in a strong position to work with their communities to address the harmful cultural practices and instances of gender-based violence that perpetuate negative gender norms and harm women’s and girls’ health and safety.

She also stated that the UN Women has worked closely with imams and priests to integrate faith-based teachings amongst their congregations every week with a record success of 1,329 women and men in regular attendance of community programs that promote progressive gender-equitable norms.

“With LEAP, UN Women will sustain momentum and mount pressure on these issues with a series of key highlight interventions across the three-year program until we achieve the change we want. In the first instance, UN Women will convene an Annual Africa GBV Summit of paramount leaders in Nigeria and West Africa. The aim will be to review commitments made by traditional leaders, provide a platform for accountability and rejuvenate actions going forward, ” she said.

She commended the exemplary leadership of the COTLA, saying that through them, they have seen radical shifts in ending GBV here in Nigeria, for instance, the total abandonment of money wife in Obanliku LGA, Cross River State led by His Royal Majesty Uchua Amos Item, the Paramount Ruler of Obanliku.

“His Eminence the Sultan of Sokoto also challenged the Government of the Northern region to take decisive actions against parents who refuse to send their children to school. We are also proud to highlight the commitment of 30 traditional and religious leaders to strengthening knowledge of gender equality and the formal and informal law affecting GBV, harmful practices and sexual reproductive and health rights. There is now increased cohesion of influential community leaders. This has resulted in a pioneer and already established work plan for COTLA. These actions are highly commendable and show that where there is a will – especially the will of influential figures – change can be made,” she said.

Also at the Roundtable meeting, Convener General of the Council of Traditional Leaders of Africa, HRM Oba Aderemi Adedapo, Alayemore of Ido-Osun, acknowledged the significant role in preventing gender-based violence (GBV) and harmful practices in communities as traditional and Faith Leaders. Stressing that, indeed, their vintage position can influence attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours towards gender norms and violence.

“Our influence in communities should be used to promote positive gender norms, provide support to survivors of GBV, raise awareness about the harmful effects of GBV and harmful practices and advocate for laws and policies that protect women and girls,” he admonished.

He commended UN women for the partnership and support to COTLA since its inception, disclosing that, UN women were instrumental in the formation of the Council in 2018 and have since then, provided ongoing capacity and institutional strengthening.

HRM Oba Adedapo expressed optimism that, the achievements and work of traditional and religious leaders across Nigeria and West Africa will be sustained with the launch of the program, LEAP.