The Head of Programmes, Girl Power Initiative, Ndodeye Obongha has urged that Civil Society Organisations should partner with one another in order to fight the menace of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, in Cross River State.
Obongha said this on Wednesday in Calabar at a one-day briefing and training of journalists on ending SGBV in the state.
She said that “the right thing to do as a CSO is to do a scan assessment of what had happened in the past, the gaps and challenges encountered while conceptualising an intervention.
“Instead of merely repeating what has been done, let us channel our resources, energies and creativity to filling the gaps in areas yet untouched.
“Partnership and synergy among CSOs are very important.
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“If you do an assessment, you will know who has been on the ground, what they have done and you just partner them,” she added.
Obongha also urged journalists to take responsibility for their roles, in terms of prevention, response, creating awareness, and providing helplines to survivors of SGBV in society.
She noted that the essence of training journalists was to ensure that they did not cause re-victimisation of SGBV survivors through their reports.
At the workshop, the Founder of Legal Aid Council, James Ibor, gave a lecture on existing policies in ending SGBV. He said that it had become necessary to maintain advocacy against SBGV, especially as it concerned women and girls.
Ibor stated that although there was violence against men available statistics show that women and girls were more vulnerable. He said that one in every three women had experienced violence, on the other hand, it was one in every 10 men.
He added that until women made major decisions on what they wanted to do with their lives, without being coerced by society, CSOs would continue to maintain advocacy.
