Ondo communities strengthen measures to combat gender-based violence - Punch Newspapers

‎Three communities in Ondo State have adopted community-specific Standard Operating Procedures to strengthen efforts to prevent and combat gender-based violence. The communities are Oba-Ile, Iju and Ilara-Mokin in Akure North and Ifedore Local Government Areas. The initiative was carried out in collaboration with the Rule of Law and Empowerment Initiative, also known as Partners West Africa Nigeria, under its Strengthening Police Community Engagement to Prevent and Combat Gender-Based Violence in Nigeria project. Speaking at the adoption programme in Akure on Thursday, the Executive Director of PWAN, Kemi Okenyodo, said the initiative was aimed at giving communities greater responsibility in preventing GBV. Represented by the organisation’s Programme Assistant, Oreoluwa Fatuyi, Okenyodo said the project had been implemented in five states: Ondo, Kano, Kaduna, Ebonyi and Niger. She said the project focused on prevention, community ownership, capacity building and awareness. “Today, we officially adopted the community-specific SOP. That is the standard operating procedure. We did it for three communities. That is Oba-Ile, Iju, and Ilara-Mokin. That is spread across the two LGAs. That is spread across two LGAs. Ifedore and Akure North LGAs,” she said. Okenyodo said the organisation had spent more than 18 months working with communities and law enforcement personnel on the project. She said the approach was focused on prevention and local ownership, noting that traditional and community leaders had important roles in addressing harmful social and cultural practices linked to GBV. ‎”We are doing the project in five states. It is not only in Ondo State. We have Kano, we have Kaduna, we have Ebonyi State, and we have Niger State. We adopted the approach of prevention first. When you look at gender-based violence, there is a lot that is done in response. This project is heavy on prevention of GBV. It comes from the angle of local ownership. That is, community members taking ownership to prevent and combat gender-based violence. ‎”Whether you like it or not, community members and traditional leaders, they are the keepers of the community and of the culture. A lot of things that have been promoting gender-based violence are those harmful social and cultural norms. Ninth woman found dead in South Africa killing spree Ondo herbal drink deaths rise to 49, 170 affected Ondo community rejects ancestral land acquisition for Olokola FTZ “We thought to engage the community members right from the grassroots to do their part in eradicating what we call gender-based violence in their communities,” she added. According to her, the organisation trained law enforcement personnel and community members and held awareness programmes in town halls before developing the SOPs based on feedback from an earlier phase of the project. She said the procedures would remain in the communities after the project ended, with Gender-Based Violence Task Forces serving as focal points for implementation. Okenyodo explained that the task forces were made up of community members, including traditional leaders, youth leaders, women representatives and persons with disabilities, rather than being created by PWAN. She added that the SOPs included safeguards for survivors, particularly provisions on confidentiality and case withdrawal, stressing that task force members were not allowed to pressure survivors to withdraw cases. Okenyodo said five communities were initially involved in the project, but three were eventually selected to adopt the SOPs because of their level of participation and commitment. Also speaking, the Ondo State Chairman of the Joint National Association of Persons with Disabilities, Abiodun Olusegun, said persons with disabilities were particularly vulnerable to violence. He called for greater support from the government and civil society organisations, including employment and skills empowerment. ‎Olusegun said, “We are soliciting the government and civil society organisations to please rise up to our challenges. To ensure that those that are having nothing to do, they should try to empower them with tools.” He also called for employment opportunities for persons with disabilities with educational qualifications and urged members of the disability community to speak out when they experienced violence or abuse. Peter Dada

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