Women’s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP) this week engaged Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in Ojo and Oshodi/Isolo local government areas of Lagos State on handling of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV) in their areas.
The group, in a three-day capacity building workshop that was held from December 14 to 16, took the 40 participants to the event on how to promote the uptake of justice on SGBV cases.
The workshop tagged ‘Agents for Citizen-Driven Transformation, EU-ACT’, is funded by the European Union, EU-ACT, and managed by the British Council.
In one of the sessions of the training on Thursday, December 16, titled ‘Documentation and reporting processes for SGBV’ cases, participants were meant to understand what to do when an SGBV case is reported to their organisation.
The Project Officer, Mrs Precious Eberechukwu, who took the session said that social workers must speak to an SGBV survivor “in an empathetic manner, be patient, be a good listener and don’t judge.
“Establish the nature of the abuse and get as much background as possible. Provide information on the options available to the survivor and the intervention process. Ensure all information regarding the initial engagements are properly documented.”
She went further to say that social workers should “encourage the survivor to cooperate with the police investigation and to tell the truth at all times. Ensure the case is officially registered at the police station.
“Ensure that the organisation the survivor reports to monitor the survivor’s needs whilst at the police station (e.g. privacy during interview, refreshments, etc.)
“The organisation should facilitate communication between the police and the survivor and help both to avoid misunderstandings and confrontation.”
Also at the Thursday workshop, Executive Director, Nigeria Network of NGOs, Oyebisi, B. Oluseyi, who spoke on ‘Gender and Social Inclusion’, defined GSI as the process of improving the terms on which individuals and groups take part in society—improving the ability, opportunity, and dignity of those disadvantaged on the basis of their identity.
He harped on the need for gender equity, a process of ensuring men and women are treated fairly in the society, and gender equality, a process that will ensure the equal rights, responsibilities and opportunities of women, men, girls and boys.
Oluseyi regretted that Nigeria ranked 118 of 134 countries on the Gender Equality Index in 2019. 181 of 193 countries for women’s representation in governance and politics and the national average of only 6.7 per cent of elective positions held by women.
Meanwhile, Bose Ironsi, the Executive Director of WRAHP, managers of Ireti Resource Centre, said it was time “we must return to the drawing board to teach male children how to respect their female sisters.”
According to her, the excuses that women are raped because of revealing outfits is not true “because we have seen cases were a father would rape his three-year-old daughter.”