The national leadership of the Association of Women Against Gender-Based Violence (AWAGBV) has opened its secretariat in Yenagoa, Bayelsa State capital, with the unveiling of a five-year strategic plan on preventive, collaborative and empowerment measures to tackle cases of violence against women in the state and the Niger Delta.
According to the AWAGBV, the newly opened secretariat, located at Amarata, opposite St. Jude’s Girls Secondary school, will serve as the accessible contact point where victims of gender-based violence in the state can lay their complaints and be assisted promptly.
Speaking during the event, the grand Patron of the AWAGBV and a United Kingdom-based forensic mental health practitioner, Dr. Antonia Garner, disclosed that the advocacy group was proposing a five-year strategic plan to assist women experiencing violence and offer succour.
She said the succour would extend to men, children and persons living with disabilities.
She announced the proposed event slated for July, 2025 to raise funds for the building of a treatment and administrative centre for victims of gender based violence in the state.
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Garner said: “We have resolved to constantly collaborate with local and foreign agencies to assist and help the victims of such violence.”
She also announced that international based advocacy groups including the group interested in educating the Ijaw Child known as Eduare and owned by a Kolokuma/Opokuma woman based in United Kingdom and the Bayelsa ladies in diaspora had indicated interest in partnering with the AWAGBV in the fight for education and economic empowerment of victims of gender-based violence.
Also speaking, the National President of the Association of Women Against Gender-Based Violence (AWAGBV), Dr. Dise Ogbise Goddy-Harry, pointed out that the five year strategic plan would involve various preventive measures that will stem down rising cases of violence against women.