With a view to ending violence against women and girls with disabilities in Osun State, a non-governmental organization, Centre for Women’s Health and Information has met with key stakeholders who are directly responsible for rendering services to survivors of Sexual and Gender Based Violence and empowered them on how to strengthen technical action and sustainable plan in relation to tackling the menace.
At the one-day Stakeholders Forum on Technical Action/Sustainable Plan on Ending Violence Against Women and Girls with Disability in Osun State held in Osogbo, the participants committed to supporting CEWHIN in its UN Trust Fund supported project of putting an end to violence against women and girls in the disability community in the state.
The UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women (UN Trust Fund) is the only global grant making mechanism dedicated exclusively to addressing all forms of violence against women and girls at local and national levels. To date, the UN Trust Fund has supported 609 organizations in 140 countries and territories
The stakeholders at the robust technical action meeting included the state chairman and members of the Joint National Association of Persons With Disabilities, Persons With Disabilities, Communities of people with albinism, hearing and sight impairment, Gender Desk and PWD Desk Officers of the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps, and a police team led by the Public Relations Officer of the state police command.
Other stakeholders were officers from the Osun Ministries of Health, Justice and Women Affairs, representatives from other relevant ministries, departments, agencies, Federation of Women Lawyers, Civil Society Organisations, NGOs, media practitioners among others.
A facilitator, Dr. Benjamin Ayeni, asked the stakeholders to present their SWOT analysis – Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats – in order for them to collaborate and fill gap that might exist in their activities of awareness creation, prevention and response to SGBV against girls and women with disabilities.
The stakeholders emphasised on activation of relevant policies and legislation to tackle the menace, mobility, media and sensitisation, synergy among other tangent steps.
Earlier in her opening address, the Director at CEWHIN, Atinuke Odukoya said the NGO’s mission is to enhance the quality of life and encourage social change by empowering individuals through programmes and strategies that enable them to exercise their rights.
She said, “CEWHIN supports systems and processes that help individuals advance in their journey toward self-sufficiency and personal empowerment, with a primary focus on promoting gender equality and empowering women and girls. The vision is to create a society where women and girls realize their mental, social, and physical well-being by realizing their full potential.
“Currently, the Centre is carrying out a project that is funded by the UN Trust Fund, aimed at putting an end to violence against women. The main objective of this project is Strengthening existing VAWG/SGBV prevention and response structure in Lagos and Osun States to provide adequate response to women and girls with disabilities.
“The project’s specific outcomes are: Increased community awareness on to prevent and respond to SGBV and community level sensitization, strengthened referral pathways for persons with disabilities in four local government areas in Lagos and Osun State.
“Improved access for women and girls with disabilities to essential, safe, and adequate multi sectoral services to end VAW/G; Improved prevention of VAW/G with disabilities through changes in behaviour, practices, and attitudes.
“Improved access to adequate services provision for WGWD survivors and women and girls with disabilities at risk of violence; Improved access to information, and resources to help prevent and respond to violence against women and girls with disabilities; Improved institutional framework for inter-agency coordination of WGWD SGBV response in Lagos and Osun state.”
Odukoya added that the project spans three years and that stakeholders should ensure that their activities are sustainable in order for SGBV to be holistically addressed.
One of the participants, Funmilayo Abdullahi, in an interview, said, “This Stakeholders Forum is timely because as a PWD myself, there are certain limitations that we have been confronting and I am happy that everything was discussed at the programme and with the calibre of stakeholders that attended and with their assurances and commitments to ending SGBV against women and girls with disabilities, I believe that violence against the disability community will soon be a thing of the past.
