Players Urge for Collective Action Against SGBV Amid Heightened Campaign 

By Harrison Kivisu

Email, thecoastnewspaper@gmail.com

Key stakeholders and anti Gender based violence crusaders have called for collective action against sexual and gender based violence to root out the increasing cases currently witnessed both in Mombasa and Kilifi counties.

Dream Achievers Youth Organization (DAYO), through its partnership with teachers, women leaders, health service providers and grassroots community health officials have intensified positive campaigns against the vice.

Defilement, rape, and harassment are just a few of the many forms of violence often infringing the rights of most survivors or victims of SGBV.

These are the bases of the organization’s top brass calling for a collective effort by the judicial authority, the prosecution and the community players to work together so as to end that criminal activity.

Through its Wezesha Project, DAYO targets to empower gatekeepers, among them teachers, health services providers, women leaders and community health promoters with counter-measures training to deal with the vice at grassroots levels.

According to Wezesha Project coordinator Susan Lankisa the sustained efforts have resulted in an increase in referrals of sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR) and gender based violence GBV cases to relevant authorities.

However, the organisation is experiencing difficulties navigating through a tedious chain of referrals that are not only delaying justice, but also dimming the chances of obtaining timely justice.

But the organization has had success stories through donar partnerships that has positively made the process easier after empowering SGBV front liners at grassroots levels.

Again, the survivors/victims of such forms of sexual violence are often impeded by multiple obstacles as they seek assistance, ranging from interactions with uninformed law enforcers and healthcare providers to accessing legal services and intended support. 

“Wezesha Project has been able to support gatekeepers with training that have resulted in an increase in referral of SRHR and GBV, so far we are seeing a positive progress meaning that our effort is now being felt at the community level,” said Lankisa.

The skills they received through the training  involved how to handle  technology facilitated sexual gender based violence SGBV, how to handle survivors and the legal procedures and protocols leading to prosecution.

The coordinator says the organization is embarking on continuous awareness creation programs on prevention and response gender-based violence (GBV) and referral pathways both in Kilifi and Mombasa.

“Our community health promoters have been doing a lot of referrals and are working with government institutions to sustain the process, we have ensured that we empower them on matters of GBV, we are seeing improvement.”

The players have adopted sports tournaments, art, skits in schools, guidance and counselling as some of the campaign tools and plans to ensure they increase community reach and awareness.

Since the involvement of teachers, she says, the project has had an impact in reducing teenage pregnancies at primary and secondary schools levels.

“Mombasa and Kilifi department of health are very supportive and we are urging other layers to come on board to ensure a sustained campaign, hopefully we prospect by the end of the project, the impact will be huge.”

A reference point is Maweni Secondary School where the head of Counseling Department, teacher Jedida Juma has fully adopted the campaign by introducing guidance and counselling and gender violence desk to handle cases brought by her learners.

“I didn’t have the proper knowledge to handle any form of SGBV in school, but after the training by Dayo as teachers we are empowered and we are now impacting the knowledge to parents, our students and the progress is good. We have successful stories to tell tales about.“

According to her the school that previously used to witness about nine (9) cases of teenage pregnancy every year is currently zero-rated on teen pregnancy cases among girls.

“The Wezesha Project is a big thing if all players embrace it. We used to report eight to nine cases, but since we started sensitising our learners, the cases have drastically dropped. Our appeal is to parents to also take up their roles to ensure that there is zero rated cases of SGBV within schools,” she added during an interview.

Speaking to the media during the training held in Kilifi, Mirriam Kimemia a GBV official from Sauti ya Wanawake, says areas of Ziwa La Ng’ombe in Bombolulu were among the notorious for producing many perpetrators.

But she says in her eight year experience in the advocacy campaigns on GBV she has had success stories that have led to perpetrators being jailed and justice being served to the victims or survivors.

According to her through collaboration with relevant players the community will understand and respect the rights of children who are mostly abused due to their innocences.

“I have handled several cases, the majority of children being abused, we have been able to work with relevant authorities, and we are happy, positive response is being felt. There is a case I handled where a perpetrator is serving a jail term of 30 years.”

She wants a review of the cash bails of defilement suspects saying at times, perpetrators run away with it after police hurriedly arrest and and  without having done proper investigation, but released prematurely.

She says police and gender departments from Mombasa County are now closely working with community GBV champions to prospecting a GBV zero rated plan.

“The biggest challenge is the slow process of getting justice, we do this work voluntarily, sometimes we face logistics challenges, we are asking the police to ensure they work closely with us so that it can be easy to have timely reporting.”

Georgina Obonyo, a GBV trainer said that technology facilitated GBV was rampantly taking shape with the advanced technology.

She asked community promoters to enhance community sensitization against online forms of GBV such as stalking among women as a majority of Kenyans were suffering in silence.

“Forms of online abuse include sextortion, cyberstalking, body shaming, sexual exploitation, trolling, bullying and online personification, and young women are the most frequently targeted.”