By Godwin Isenyo
Mercy Corps, an international human rights organisation, traditional rulers, security operatives, and other stakeholders have converged in Kaduna to brainstorm on ways to curb the troubling communal clash and violence against women in the state.
Under its Community Initiatives to Promote Peace Program, the Consultative Forum in the state was to mark the 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women.
CIPP is being implemented across six states in North Central and North West (Benue, Kaduna, Kano, Katsina, Kogi, and Plateau states).
In attendance were the wife of the Kaduna state Governor, Ummi Nasir El-Rufai; the Commissioner of Internal Security and Home Affairs, Samuel Aruwan; the Executive Vice Chairman of the Kaduna State Peace Commission, Saleh Momale; and a Permanent Commissioner with the Kaduna State Peace Commission, Rebecca Sako- John; among others.
According to CIPP Chief of Party at Mercy Corps, David Gatare, the programme was organised to lend a voice to the global call to End Violence Against Women.
The forum themed ‘End Violence Against Women Now: Mainstreaming Gender in Peace and Security in Kaduna state’, he said, sought to improve collaboration among critical stakeholders in addressing impediments to women’s peace and security, and peaceful coexistence in the state.
Gatare said that the forum would create a platform for dialogue that seeks to end gender-based violence, promote positive male engagement, and promote peaceful and safe communities in Kaduna state.
He added, “It is in recognition of their prominent roles at the grassroot level in promoting cohesion and maintaining peaceful coexistence amongst diverse communities that we have chosen to engage with traditional leaders, women leaders, and security agencies.
“It is our hope that we can synthesize best practices and approaches for responding effectively to gendered dimensions of conflict to inform appropriate intervention in CIPP implementing states.”
He stated further that a survey commissioned by the Women Advocates Research and Documentation Center (WARDC) revealed that Kaduna state was one of the three states that recorded the highest number of incidences of sexual violence against women at the peak of the COVID-19 crisis.
Gatare noted that activities of armed non-state actors and inter-communal violence between farmer and herder communities disproportionately affects women and girls.
“Gender Based Violence can negatively impact conflict contexts by fueling grievances, inducing trauma, and dividing communities,” Gatare said.
Meanwhile, the CIPP chief averred that a growing body of research has also established that Gender Based Violence was a threat to peace and development because of its consequences on the survivor, their family, and the society at large.
CIPP is supported by USAID and implemented through a consortium, led by Mercy Corps that includes African Radio Drama Association, Interfaith Mediation Centre, Pastoral Resolve, and Savannah Center for Diplomacy Democracy and Development.
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