Health
THE UN Population Fund (UNFPA) institutionalised best practices in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) response through its intervention activities in Kaduna State.
Ms Mariana Darboe, the Programme Coordinator and Head of Office, UNFPA Decentralised Office for Northern Nigeria, made this known in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Kaduna on Wednesday.
Darboe said that before UNFPA interventions, GBV response was fragmented in the state, with Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) leading awareness creation, but working in isolation with no clear focus.
She added that until the UNFPA intervention, there was no holistic, well organised and structured approach to GBV response, noting that the first thing the Fund did was to do a mapping of all GBV actors and came up with over 60 organisations so as to institutionalise best practices.
The coordinator said “we created a platform where we met to look at what everyone was doing, train the CSOs and link them up with government agencies to ensure coordination for maximum results.
“Government agencies also have roles to play as policy makers; they act as frontliners, with UNFPA as partner.
“We then train the organisations on elements of GBV response: the coordination, the legal aspect, psychosocial aspect and case management.
“These were part of efforts to strengthen the different elements of the GBV response and organise a more structured way of addressing GBV cases in the state.
She added that UNFPA had also set up committees “and we are currently working on organising the CSOs into a registered coalition so they can effectively implement GBV projects.”
Darboe said that with the requisite skills, CSOs should be able to work with the Ministry of Justice, research centres and other government agencies in the response to end GBV.
“We want to see everyone playing his or her role effectively; Sexual Assault Centres and the Ministry of Health ensuring survivors are treated and Ministry of Justice ensuring that perpetrators are prosecuted.
“The Ministry of Human Service and Social Development should also be able to provide psychosocial support to survivors.
“That was why we recently conducted training for doctors and social workers on mental health and psychosocial support.”
She explained that UNFPA was also working on building the capacity of CSOs on GBV data collection and documentation to strengthen advocacy and resource mobilisation.
According to her, not much will be achieved without data that will show incidences of GBV, where it happened, those affected, the perpetrators, and where they are.
“The engagements will not be credible if there are no answers to these questions.”
Hajiya Hafsat Baba, the Commissioner for Human Services and Social Development, commended UNFPA for leading the response to address the physical and emotional consequences of GBV.
Baba told NAN that the state government, with support from UNFPA and other partners, put relevant laws and policies in place to adequately respond to GBV issues in the state.
She identified some of the laws and policies as; Child Welfare and Protection Law, Violence Against Persons Law, as well as the Disability Law currently before the State Assembly.
Others, she said, included the Gender Equity and Social Inclusion Policy, as well as the Youth Policy.
“We equally have four Sexual Assault Referral Centres that cater for women in distress, where they receive health services, psychosocial support and counselling.
“The state government had also established a Women and Children Centre to serve as one-stop shop for various services to women and children that were violated.”
The commissioner noted that the government would continue to work with partners in addressing the challenge of GBV and responding to the needs of survivors. (NAN)
– July 8, 2021 @ 09:03 GMT |
Tags: UNFPA institutionalises best practices in GBV response in Kaduna State — Darboe
