Inter-faith Dialogue Forum for Peace (IDFP) on Thursday, sensitized religious and community leaders on measures to tackle the menace of Gender Based Violence (GBV) in Bauchi state.
Speaking at the sideline of the programme, Ms Faith Johnny, the Programme and FundRaising Development Officer, IDFP, said that the purpose of the sensitization is to develop a compendium for faith-based actors on prevention of GBV.
“This period is the sixteenth day of activism against Gender Based Violence and IDFP in collaboration with the UN Women have come up with a one-day engagement forum.
“What we mean is that, we have come to Bauchi today, where we will be hosting 10 faith-based actors who will be giving us 10 names each to make a hundred and at the end of this project, we are going to be having several other actors in a compendium so that if any organisation or individual wants to do something on GBV in Bauchi state, they have a list of people to contact.
“They have their numbers, they have cases, they have what has come after the cases and further actions to follow up.
“What we are expecting from this engagement is to have a comprehensive compendium of faith-based actors. This will now serve as a tool for other organisations to use in their further engagement in GBV issues,” she said.
Johnny however, urged both parents and guardians to closely watch their children and wards, talk to them, ask them what they are going through and this, she said, would serve as a variable tool in ending GBV.
Also speaking, Aminu Mohammed, one of the community leaders present, said this kind of sensitization of the faith-based actors both Muslims and Christians would go a long way in addressing GBV in Bauchi state.
“This is to make an advocacy to them as regards to Gender Based Violence because it's something that is happening and so rampant in the state.
“There are several cases and in order to tackle it, you have to involve the religious and the community leaders because they are the grassroot members that can influence some of the members of the public.
“We are having problems of conspiracy of silence whereby the victims or their parents or relations will not like to open up and without opening up, you can't be able to address the issue completely.
“Sometimes, stigmatization is another factor as to why they don't want to open up and that is why we are making this advocacy and we want to expand it to the grassroots,” he said.
In his submission, Pastor Sunday Simon, Director, Christian Affairs in Bauchi state, opined that the engagement is one of the good ones they were looking forward to.
He said “this is because there is an issue that has been lingering in the whole country for a very long time and you will find out that the region's people are not engaged the way they are now going to be.
“This programme came at the right time and with the right people and by engaging these religious and community leaders, it will also help the programme to reach the grassroot.
“The reason for the programme is to get the acceptance of these region people and also the leaders so the messages will go to the grassroot because before, when a programme of this nature comes, it will just die without achieving its goals because it didn't include these people.
“IDFP is an organisation that has national and international outreach. It's an organisation that has come to stay because it deals with all the faiths in the country,” he said.
Simon added that IDFP has broken the barrier of not including the religious and community leaders in this kind of programmes, saying these are the kind of people that when they talk, the people listen and respond positively to them.
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