IVAW PROJECT: INFORM ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
Violence against women is defined as any act that results in or is likely result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether in public or private life. It has physical, social, reproductive and psychological consequences on the victims. In Nigeria, various forms of violence against women exist and includes intimate partner violence which is the most common, female genital mutilation, widowhood rites, economic deprivation, child marriage and confinement. Sexual violence is also predominant in schools and work places often perpetrated by male lecturers and colleagues.
In our society, cultural norms promote female subjugation and male dominance. The women accept these acts of violence and perceive it as a right of the man to wield his power on the woman and make most of the decisions on sex, contraception and get the best quality and quantity of meals often to her detriment. Female genital cutting is performed to stop promiscuity among girls and despite its health implications it is still practiced in most parts of the country. Widowhood rites are performed on widows as mark of respect for her late husband and also to expose her role in his death. It is believed that if these rites are not performed, the spirit of her late husband will hover around the living and will be restless until he is appeased. On campus, bravura attitude of male university students promote bullying of female colleagues to have sex and a norm to have a string of girlfriends. Often male lecturers ask for sex in exchange for grades. The media promote violence against women by portraying women as auxillary sex objects that are acquired to go hand in hand with money and power using derogatory terms like “blings and bitches”.
The religious and cultural norms that foster this acts often place a cloak of silence on gender based violence and poor legislation make it unable for victims to seek redress. For instance, in most Nigerian customs, it is believed that a submissive wife should not be seen reporting her husband and most acts of violence directed against her by her partner is blamed on her. Moreover, the Nigerian legislation does not recognize sexual violence within a marriage. This situation calls for urgent and innovative strategies to address this trend of violence against women in Nigeria.
Inform on Violence against Women is geared at preventing violence against women by first breaking the silence on gender based violence by raising awareness on is existence in our society and then challenge people to take action to stop this forms of gender based violence through behavior change communication. This project will combine print media and face to face approach via workshops.
We want people to realize that some practices in our society that culture condones and encourage such as widowhood rites, female genital mutilation, sexual abuse of women and girls especially intimate partner violence and others are harmful and can be avoided to create a safe and violence free environment. Electronic and hard copies of Information, Education and Communication materials will be designed, developed and disseminated to enlighten members of our community on the existence and the various dimensions of gender based violence as well as its consequences and how it can be prevented and responded to. It is our aim to use this medium to highlight aspects of our culture that foster and condone gender based violence. We will also showcase aspects of our culture and various religions that condemn it. This will enable us to foster positive attitudes towards women. Short stories of victims of gender based violence and pictures to enlighten people on the consequences of gender based violence will also be used to illustrate this societal ill. We will engage men and boys by highlighting negative dominant attitudes that promote intimidation of women and also emphasize positive roles which they should adopt and avoid perpetrating violence against women. We will also showcase ways they can engage their masculinities to make a better impact on society and nation building without intimidating women. We will also show the contributions of women to societal development and how gender based violence can prevent our society from harnessing the resources women make in our society. These materials will also show the effects of substance abuse and gangs on gender based violence while fostering positive life skills such as values, self esteem, good/positive communication, decision making, goal setting and building healthy relationships.
These project is an innovative strategy in preventing gender based violence because it is a cost effective means to disseminate information and educate a large number of people as fast as possible. These materials are not time consuming to read and relate content information quickly. There is a dearth of such materials on gender based violence in my country and this makes this project a bold step in combating this menance which is perpetuated and veiled away from the public eye and yet its consequences stare at us everyday. It is also innovative because by creating awareness on the problem,using research to find out determinants that promote gender violence in our environment, engaging public opinion on the best medium to create this awareness( use of IEC materials) focusing on the various segments of our target audience to enable us disseminate this information we will be able to achieve a more positive change in behaviour towards women and stop violence against women.
This project is also innovative because it attacks both the internal( knowledge, perceived norm, attitudes and practice) and external ( poor access to information, culture, policies and social skills)determinants for violence against women in our society in halting the trend of gender based violence in our society
About You
Section 1: About You
First Name
Bridget
Last Name
Nwagbara
Website
Organization
Nigeria Effective Healthcare Alliance Program
Country
Nigeria
Section 2: About Your Organization
Is this initiative/innovation linked to any established organization?
Organization Name
Nigeria Effective Healthcare Alliance Program
Organization Website
Organization Phone
Organization Address
Institute of Tropical Disease Research and Prevention, University of Calabar Teaching Hospital, Moore road, Calabar
Organization Country
Nigeria
Is your organization a
CSO/NGO
How long has this organization been operating?
More than 5 years
Your idea
Name Your Project
IVAW PROJECT: INFORM ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
What stage is your project in?
Idea phase
When was the project initiated? or When are you planning to begin?
This idea was conceived when my organization was involved in a review on gender based violence in Nigeria. Information from literature and key informants revealed the veil of silence that has been placed on violence against women in our society and our findings also showed that the spectrum of women and girls who are victims are equally distributed across socio-economic class. Cultural and social norms foster this acts of violence and victims don't even percieve it as wrong thereby creating the vicious circle of silence.In response to this trend my organization decided to respond by raising awareness on violence against women in our society in such a way that such information will be made easily accessible. This project was initiated in February 2010 and will be sustained to break the silence on violence against women in our society and educate people on its consequences.We plan to begin implementation by June 2010 and end in Dec 2010
Describe your idea and explain why it is innovative
Violence against women is defined as any act that results in or is likely result in physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty whether in public or private life. It has physical, social, reproductive and psychological consequences on the victims. In Nigeria, various forms of violence against women exist and includes intimate partner violence which is the most common, female genital mutilation, widowhood rites, economic deprivation, child marriage and confinement. Sexual violence is also predominant in schools and work places often perpetrated by male lecturers and colleagues.
In our society, cultural norms promote female subjugation and male dominance. The women accept these acts of violence and perceive it as a right of the man to wield his power on the woman and make most of the decisions on sex, contraception and get the best quality and quantity of meals often to her detriment. Female genital cutting is performed to stop promiscuity among girls and despite its health implications it is still practiced in most parts of the country. Widowhood rites are performed on widows as mark of respect for her late husband and also to expose her role in his death. It is believed that if these rites are not performed, the spirit of her late husband will hover around the living and will be restless until he is appeased. On campus, bravura attitude of male university students promote bullying of female colleagues to have sex and a norm to have a string of girlfriends. Often male lecturers ask for sex in exchange for grades. The media promote violence against women by portraying women as auxillary sex objects that are acquired to go hand in hand with money and power using derogatory terms like “blings and bitches”.
The religious and cultural norms that foster this acts often place a cloak of silence on gender based violence and poor legislation make it unable for victims to seek redress. For instance, in most Nigerian customs, it is believed that a submissive wife should not be seen reporting her husband and most acts of violence directed against her by her partner is blamed on her. Moreover, the Nigerian legislation does not recognize sexual violence within a marriage. This situation calls for urgent and innovative strategies to address this trend of violence against women in Nigeria.
Inform on Violence against Women is geared at preventing violence against women by first breaking the silence on gender based violence by raising awareness on is existence in our society and then challenge people to take action to stop this forms of gender based violence through behavior change communication. This project will combine print media and face to face approach via workshops.
We want people to realize that some practices in our society that culture condones and encourage such as widowhood rites, female genital mutilation, sexual abuse of women and girls especially intimate partner violence and others are harmful and can be avoided to create a safe and violence free environment. Electronic and hard copies of Information, Education and Communication materials will be designed, developed and disseminated to enlighten members of our community on the existence and the various dimensions of gender based violence as well as its consequences and how it can be prevented and responded to. It is our aim to use this medium to highlight aspects of our culture that foster and condone gender based violence. We will also showcase aspects of our culture and various religions that condemn it. This will enable us to foster positive attitudes towards women. Short stories of victims of gender based violence and pictures to enlighten people on the consequences of gender based violence will also be used to illustrate this societal ill. We will engage men and boys by highlighting negative dominant attitudes that promote intimidation of women and also emphasize positive roles which they should adopt and avoid perpetrating violence against women. We will also showcase ways they can engage their masculinities to make a better impact on society and nation building without intimidating women. We will also show the contributions of women to societal development and how gender based violence can prevent our society from harnessing the resources women make in our society. These materials will also show the effects of substance abuse and gangs on gender based violence while fostering positive life skills such as values, self esteem, good/positive communication, decision making, goal setting and building healthy relationships.
These project is an innovative strategy in preventing gender based violence because it is a cost effective means to disseminate information and educate a large number of people as fast as possible. These materials are not time consuming to read and relate content information quickly. There is a dearth of such materials on gender based violence in my country and this makes this project a bold step in combating this menance which is perpetuated and veiled away from the public eye and yet its consequences stare at us everyday. It is also innovative because by creating awareness on the problem,using research to find out determinants that promote gender violence in our environment, engaging public opinion on the best medium to create this awareness( use of IEC materials) focusing on the various segments of our target audience to enable us disseminate this information we will be able to achieve a more positive change in behaviour towards women and stop violence against women.
This project is also innovative because it attacks both the internal( knowledge, perceived norm, attitudes and practice) and external ( poor access to information, culture, policies and social skills)determinants for violence against women in our society in halting the trend of gender based violence in our society
What kind of beneficiaries is your initiative addressed to?
Society in general.
Describe the profile of the beneficiaries of this project
Men, adolescent boys, girls and women of all ages and socio-economic class in Nigeria. This allows people to gain knowledge of gender based violence at any stage of their life cycle and modify their values against it despite cultural and social norms that promote it. This program will be primarily implemented in Calabar is a growing tourist destination in Nigeria with a population of about 20 million and billboards, posters and handbill placed in strategic places will be accessible to residents and visitors to the town.
What is your initiative’s implementation strategy?
The hallmark of this project is to use print media to communicate behavior change to the society and face to face methods(workshops and seminars) to engage policy makers to create a conducive environment for preventing violence against women. It is simply a "Paint the town and scream" to inform on violence against women project.
The main actions we have taken so far in this project include:
SITUATION ANALYSIS: This is to determine the perception of the public on gender based violence and determinants that foster this acts. We also sought to elucidate the common forms in various parts of this country. This was achieved via information from existing literature and key informants. Thus we were able to find out that the level of awareness on gender based violence in our setting was poorand it is something that is rather not mentioned( yes, people know and talk about FGM and widowhood rites but intimate partner violence is still not talked about and very common) . This informed the need to raise the awareness on gender based. We also engaged our target audience to find out the best means to do this and arrived at the use of print media, (considering power irregularities that will hinder use of mass media, affordability and a wide coverage.
The next actions are as follows:
LAUNCHING THE CAMPAIGN: Inform on Violence against women will be launched in Calabar, an emerging tourist destination via a seminar that will have in attendance key policymakers in the ministries of women affairs, education, social development, and youth development. They will also be representatives from the higher institutions in the town as well as partner NGOs and CBOs with shared objectives. One important idea we intend to sell to them is that in making Calabar a safe haven for tourist, gender based violence must be prevented and thus the need for the government to endorse and support the campaign.
DEVELOPMENT OF APPROPRIATE INFORMATION, EDUCATION AND COMMUNICATION MATERIALS: We intend to develop acceptable and visually attractive IEC materials to raise the awareness of gender based violence. IEC materials will be basically print media such as posters, billboards, flyers, brochures and postcards. In developing this materials our target audience( society in general will be segmented into various groups. This is to enable us focus on the diverse nature of our target audience to facilitate development of the materials that will be suitable for them. The segment that will be put into consideration include married people, campus students, secondary school students( adolescents), people in rural setting who cannot read English. We intend to translate the iec materials in the various languages in Nigeria to enable more people read them.
PAINT THE TOWN WITH INFORMATION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN: We intend to place billboards in strategic parts of the town to carry information on the gains of preventing violence against women. Key points where this billboards will be placed include city gate and within the university. This will provide access to a large number of people. Posters will be placed in hospitals especially family planning clinics and schools. Flyers and brochures will be placed at strategic points such as supermarkets, hotel lobbies and recreation sites. Visually attractive postcards, scarves and other gift items bearing this theme will be sold in supermarkets and store particularly as a part of the emerging tourist gift items.
DANCING GENDER BASED VIOLENCE OUT OF THE TOWN: This is a special feature of the project that will be a part of the annual Calabar carnival that attracts more than a million tourist to the town at the end of every year. Usually the carnival involves five bands, the bayside band, the sea gull band, freedom band, Passion 4 band and masterblaster band. A general theme is chosen each year for the carnival and then this theme is divided into subthemes which the bands design costumes and dance moves to. This year, we intend to engage the bands to carry subthemes on gender based violence.They will use dancing and attractive costumes to showcase the ugly face of violence against women. Souvenirs such as T-shirts and handbands carrying this theme will be designed and disseminated during the carnival
MONITORING AND EVALUATION: This will be done to enable us determine the effectiveness and impact of our campaign and refine our products and dissemination techniques in the course of the campaign to achieve our aim. We will do this using indicators that measure proportion of people who have been exposed to IEC materials on gender based violence during a specified time range, perception of members of the society especially men on gender based violence. We will also measure abandonment of female genital mutilation and widowhood rites. We will do this using population based surveys and piloted tools.
In your opinion, what are the main barriers or obstacles in connection with this theme?
Cultural and societal norms that promote male dominance and female subordination may hinder uptake of these materials but we intend to avoid confrontational language to avoid this. Most times, in forms of gender based violence such as widowhood rites and female genital mutilation, women are often the victims and perpetrators and are the main barriers in eliminating these forms of violence against women. Shedding masculine attitudes to become more tolerant to women and stop violence against them may not be an easy idea for men to buy be xause the may be seen as weaklings. Observational studies have also shown that women accept the acts of violence against them as norm and female subjugation as a virtue and may not be ready to take bold steps to speak up for themselves and stop violence against women. Some aspects of our legislation do not recognize sexual violence within marriage as a crime and as such may not lend their support to initiatives that promote such ideas to stop violence against women.
What type of partnerships you have or intend to generate strategic alliances with for the development of this initiative? Choose all that apply
State departments or areas, Non-Government organizations, Private companies, Social organizations, Universities.
Describe with whom you have generated these alliances and how
To inform on violence against women we have formed alliance with state ministry of women affairs, ministry of social development and ministry of education and youth development.
We have also formed partnership with other Non-Governmental Organizations working in the region such as Gems team, Girl Power Initiative and an International NGO, African-Spanish Women Network for a better world will provide technical assistance for this project.
To make visually attractive IEC materials and create effective social marketing strategies, we are working with an advertizement agency in the region.
To finally maximize uptake of our materials, we will use established networks which we have with CBOs,health facilities and Universities to distribute this IEC materials.
What are the main results generated and/or expected to generate by means of this initiative?
We hope to increase the awareness of gender based violence and the various forms of gender based violence that occur commonly in our locality, generate awareness on medico-legal response to gender based violence.
What is the main impact that your initiative might generate?
The main impact of this initiative will be to make people to take actions to stop violence against women.
This Entry is about (Issues)
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 | 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 116 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 117 weeks agoeluchie iheoma said: Bridget, can't wait to see the billboards. women need to speak up any way and how do we get them to do that? about this Competition Entry. - read more > |
| 117 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
| 118 weeks agoBridget Nwagbara updated this Competition Entry. |
