CEWHIN engages religious leaders, youths on preventing GBV in osun

By Shina Abubakar Osogbo

In a bid to curb Gender-Based Violence, GBV in Osun State, The Centre for Women’s Health and Information (CEWHIN) has engaged stakeholders on strategies to prevent the menace.

The two-day meetings with religious leaders and youths groups were engaged on ways to address the growing concerns of violence against women and girls, as well as that of gender-based violence (GBV) in Nigeria.

Speaking during the opening session, the Executive Director of CEWHIN, Atinuke Odukoya, highlighted the importance of the conversation and encouraged participants to engage openly and safely.

“Looking at the issues around data and statistics, the rate of Gender and Sexual violence in Osun state is alarming.

So we decided to begin to engage the state through its key players like religious leaders. Religious leaders shape our norms, behaviours and attitudes more than they take credit for.

The idea is to engage with them directly. So, If you prevent it from your end. Then the larger society begins to see why it should not be a part of our norms. We are trying to build a partnership that promote prevention.”

One of the facilitator, Professor Habeebat Oladosu-Uthman of the University of Ibadan, stressed the need for religious leaders to understand what constitute violence against women and girls with a view to enlighten their congregation and followers on its negative impact on the society and put a end to it.

“Having identified what constitutes violence how do we prevent it? How do we work against it? Then we need to start talking and stop the culture of muting, silencing of women. Don’t say that! Don’t do this! The barriers are just to much, we need to break many barriers”, he said.

Speaking during the youths engagement, Mr. Lekan Adedeji, emphasized the importance of youth participation in curbing violence against women and girls, as well as the growing cases of abuse involving boys.

He said the forum was designed to raise awareness and empower young people to identify, report, and prevent different forms of abuse, including technology-facilitated gender-based violence.

“We want young people to understand the barriers and the realities of sexual exploitation and verbal abuse. When they are aware, they can find solutions not just as individuals but collectively as a group working toward a safer society,” he said .

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