An expert on gender safety, Mrs Falda Wesley, says research backs reality that nine out of every ten girls would have faced one form of gender-based violence (GBV) or another in their life.
Falda Wesley, the Gender Officer at the Adamawa State Ministry of Women Affairs, spoke at the close-out event of a project, a Catch them Young school-based GBV & SRH Awareness project implemented by Northeast Humanitarian Innovation Hub & Foundation and supported by UNFPA, the Government of Norway, and the American University of Nigeria (AUN).
Attributing the preponderance of GBV largely to persisting culture of silence, Falda Wesley said, “Most survivors typically keep quite about their ordeal, freeing the perpetrators to continue the menace.”
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She and other speakers at the gender safety project closeout event in Yola, urged GBV survivors to always confide in somebody who could help them not only to seek justice but also the sexual reproductive health (SRH) solution that they may need.
The Programs Lead of the Northeast Humanitarian Innovation Hub & Foundation, Ahmed Ibrahim, who had in his address welcomed guests to the school-based GBV & SRH Awareness project close-out event, explained that in implementing the Catch Them Young project, safe space sessions were conducted.
He said the safe spaces, being environment where girls meet regularly to learn and talk freely about GBV and SRH issues, were conducted across five public secondary schools, each engaging 30 girls over a period.
“These sessions focused on GBV awareness, education on SRH, and life skills,” he said.
According to him, the project, the effects of which direct beneficiaries are encouraged to step down to fellow students, has already made huge impacts
“Feedback, participation levels, and observed behavioural change in the sessions point to strong positive impact,” he asserted.