Alliances for Africa’s Lauds State Actors over Efforts in Ending Violence Against Women, Girls Child in Imo
Alliances for Africa, a leading feminist-led organisation in Imo State, has, over the past 3 years and 6 months implemented a project on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls child in Imo State with funding from United Nations Trust Fund on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls (UNTFEVAWG).
According to Ms. Iheoma Obibi, the
Executive Director Alliances for Africa
Owerri, Imo State during the course of the project, various initiatives were implemented, including capacity building for frontline service providers, strengthening of the referral pathway for reporting SGBV in Imo State, awareness-raising campaigns, and the establishment of support structures for survivors of violence.
She went further to revealed these projects to include, Establishing a 30-person multi-sectoral committee of state and non-state actors, CBOs, faithbased organisations, CSOs and other key stakeholders named as the Imo State Committee on Ending Violence against Women and Girls (ISCEVAWG); The facilitation of the domestication of the VAPP Law in Imo State; Increased awareness and strengthened stakeholders’ capacity and engagement in ending violence against women and girls in the state in all three senatorial zones; Production of a referral pathway of frontline service providers booklet to support survivors and their families when reporting cases of sexual and gender-based violence; Facilitating the discussions on establishing the Imo State Agency for the Prohibition of Violence Against Persons. Increased Local women’s organization activism and voices by strengthening their by-laws and constitutions to ensure local frameworks towards better protection of women and girls Built sustainable relationship with the media institutions in Imo State which supported and galvanized support during the project life cycle. Promoting an inclusive system by strengthening synergies and partnerships with persons with disability.
The project also successfully implemented community-based awareness campaigns, school sensitizations outreaches where school children were sensitized on the elements of VAWG, addressing
the culture of silence which still remains a challenge also reaching over a 1 million direct and approximately 2million indirect beneficiaries in Imo State with messages to end violence against women and girls.
The campaigns highlighted the need to end all forms of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, educating women on their civil status in marriage, female genital mutilation, harmful widowhood practices, consequences of early marriage, abolishment of long aged traditions and norms, wife batters, and encouraging community members to report cases of violence and support survivors’ path to justice while arming the women with summarised copies of the VAPP law.
In conclusion the group leader, Commended Imo State Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Women Affairs, all the stakeholders for their support towards the successful completion of these projects.
“On this path to ending violence against women and girls in Imo State, one of our major challenges is enforcing the VAPP law. Though the VAPP law was signed into law and gazetted on the 17th Dec.2021 through the efforts of collective activism, its full implementation has struggled because there is no Regulatory body and hence no accountability. This makes it very difficult for survivors whom we fight for to access justice” She asserted.
