Zakari Isah, Kaduna
Over three point seven million beneficiaries have benefited from the Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative’s safe spaces in three years.
The project has successfully engaged 80 women, 40 from each of the project communities of Ungwan Dosa and Ungwan Romi in Kaduna State.
This information was contained in a welcome address by the Focal Person and Project Lead of Our Safe Spaces, Uche Brown.
He said through the Project, Displaced women and girls, indigenous women and survivors of gender-based violence and sexual exploitation, due to communal conflict in Ungwan Dosa and Ungwan Romi communities of Kaduna State which is now better protected from violence and exploitation and supported to gain access to psychosocial support systems, develop reduced vulnerability and benefit from economic empowerment opportunities.
“Early 2019, our team from Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI)conducted a fieldwork about the forms of Gender-Based Violence in Ungwan Dosa and Ungwan Romi communities respectively”.
Mr. Uche noted that the results of data garnered during fieldwork showed that these communities have little or no knowledge about the forms of Gender-Based Violence, “where to report or who to report to, what to do in the case of Gender-Based Violence and how it can be prevented”.
“Due to this knowledge and skill gap, Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative (EWEI), in partnership with the United Nations Trust Fund (UNTF), began implementing the Our Safe Spaces (OSS) project”.
This project since its inception in December 2019 has supported women and girl survivors of gender-based violence, physical violence, internally displaced women in minority groups, economic violence, and sexual exploitation in not just UngwanDosa and Ungwan Romi alone but by extension, other communities in Kaduna state, Nigeria.
According to him, the project promoted beneficiaries’ access to psychosocial support systems and economic empowerment opportunities to facilitate the normalization of their lives.
“Our Safe Spaces also works to improve community support to address violence against women and girls using participatory and community-based approaches”.
Mr. Uche Brown thanked UNFPA for their support to ensure the success of the project in the communities in Kaduna State.
In a goodwill message, the former FIDA chairman of Kaduna State, Representative of Kaduna State Coalition of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, (KADSGBV), Barrister Bukola Ajao, and the Commandant Kaduna State Vigilance Services as well as Traditional rulers from the two communities expressed appreciations and stressed the need for further support and building the capacity of women.
The traditional rulers appealed for more such projects that resulted in changing the lives of women and girls in their respective communities.
Before the program come to a close, a report and documentary video was played that provided insights into the work done by Empowering Women for Excellence Initiative, supporting the movement to End Violence against women and girls in those communities.
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