A Non-Governmental Organization, the Centre for Information Technology and Development (CITAD), has said all hands must be on deck to end gender-based violence, particularly against women and young girls.
The Centre noted that violence is a major impediment to achieving gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls in Kano state.
Executive Director of the Centre, Engr. Yunusa Zakari Ya’u, stated this during a one-day monitoring and evaluation workshop on ‘CITAD’s campaigns of tackling and reducing sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls in Kano State, for members of Civil Societies and relevant stakeholders’.
Ya’u explained that sexual and gender-based violence does harm women, their families as well as communities socially, politically and economically.
Represented by the Centre’s Programs Officer, Buhari Abba, the Executive Director disclosed that the project with support from Ford Foundation has surveyed the prevalence of sexual abuse in 22 local governments of Kano state,
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“CITAD has also trained a dozen of youths on curbing gender violence and currently holding two weekly radio programs which focuses on the awareness of VAWG” he added.
Zakari also hinted that as part of the need for multi-sectoral responses to ending violence against women and girls, it is now widely accepted that strategies of working with men and boys can aid in identifying promising approaches to ending VAWG
Engr. Ya’u noted that CITAD has developed a software for use in reporting gender-based violence in the participants’ host communities.
“We use the reports from the application to inform our monthly press conference, which we conduct, as well as inform security agencies for swift action” he revealed.
Participants were drawn from the National Human Rights Commission, National Orientation Agency NOA, the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC), the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the State Ministry of Justice, Women Affairs, the Press and members of civil societies.
