By Solomon Gumah
Tamale, Nov 12, GNA – A training workshop for women advocates aimed at sharpening their advocacy skills and confidence on issues of Sexual and Gender-based Violence (SGBV) has been held in Tamale.
The training was also to equip them to be able to advocate for the rights of other women and girls in schools and communities.
It was organised by the Savannah Women Integrated Development Agency (SWIDA-Ghana), an NGO, with funding support from the African Women’s Development Fund (AWDF).
It formed part of the implementation of the KASA project, which seeks to raise more awareness on SGBV in the northern part of the country.
Women Commissioners from various tertiary institutions in the Northern and North East Regions, including other women leaders numbering about 50, attended the event to enhance their skills on SGBV to expose them to some of the institutions mandated to support the fight to ending SGBV, the legal framework and some of the reporting mechanisms.
The event, held on the theme: “Towards Beijing+30: Unite to End Violence Against Women and Girls”, also provided the platform for some of the participants to share their experiences on issues of SGBV to help broaden participants’ perspectives and some of the red flags to look out for whilst embarking on the advocacy campaign.
Hajia Alima Sagito-Saeed, Executive Director of SWIDA-Ghana, speaking during the training, said it was to equip and empower young women leaders with relevant information, skills, confidence and the ability to lead the processes of ending gender-based violence issues in their communities and institutions.
She said, “Today, we are providing training for these leaders so that they will be able to serve as the first contact points when there are issues of SGBV in their communities and institutions to ensure prompt response to the victims.”
She said the project was also working closely with various school counselors to ensure that issues of gender-based violence were professionally handled and facilitated the referral processes of cases that were beyond their capacity.
She said over the years, women’s economic vulnerability had been a major cause of gender-based violence in communities thereby encouraging women to strive for economic empowerment to help reduce abuse cases recorded amongst women and girls.
Madam Fadila Fuseini, Executive Director of Tiyumba Hope Foundation, an NGO, said ending SGBV in the country required more collaborative efforts from all stakeholders.
She expressed need to teach young people about consent, healthy relationships and the devastating consequences of gender-based violence, saying comprehensive sex education was crucial towards addressing SGBV.
Madam Addy Kehinde Hussanat, Gender and Social Inclusion Officer at the Girls Empowerment Mission (GEM-Ghana), who made a presentation on understanding the SGBV from the legal perspectives, cited gaps in the fight to ending gender-based violence to include limited resources and dwindling funding support, cultural and social norms and limited access to justice.
She encouraged victims to prioritise reporting such cases to the security agencies, traditional authorities and trusted family members to facilitate the processes for justice.
GNA