By Rauf Oyewole
The Forward in Action for Education, Poverty and Malnutrition (FAcE-paM) in collaboration with other development partners have trained selected community workers on how to prevent and report sexual and gender based violence (SGBV).
A resource person and GBV Coordinator for Bauchi Local Government, Mrs. Dinatu Stephen, while speaking during the training to mark this year's 16 days activism against Gender-Based Violence, said poverty has contributed to the surge in GBV in the state.
The event was organised by FAcE-paM, USAID, Pro-Health International, Red-Cross in partnership with Integrated Child Health and Social Services Award (ICHSSA-4) and the Bauchi State Ministry of Women, Child Development and Social Welfare.
Speaking further, Stephen said that the surge in GBV is disturbing hence the need for deliberate enlightenment to curb the trend. “We all need to be watchdogs and be vigilant, we cannot say because we have not been affected before we act.
“On stigmatisation, we really need to change our perceptions towards the victims of GBV. Some of the families don't like to report this act, they rather conceal it in an attempt to protect the family values and avoid stigmatisation.
“We really need to expose these perpetrators and punish them for others to learn. Our silence will encourage the rapists to keep doing it.”
Stakeholders in attendance were imams, village heads, gender champions, women and youth leaders and adolescents.
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