Anda di halaman 1dari 5

STRENGTHENING GOVERNANCE

PROGRAMMING THROUGH
TACKLING VIOLENCE AGAINST
WOMEN AND GIRLS
Raising Her Voice in Nigeria

Why ending violence against witchcraft and cruel disciplinary measures


women and girls and gender- for the accused, usually women and
children were included.
based violence became a strong
focus for Raising Her Voice1 With WRAPAs history of managing the
LACVAW coalition, the RHV project
The lead implementing partner of Raising became the new coordinating platform for
Her Voice (RHV) in Nigeria is the the campaign, which called for legislation
Womens Rights Advancement and to prohibit VAW in private and public
Protection Alternative (WRAPA).2 WRAPA spaces and to provide redress for
is a national womens rights organization violations and discrimination. Resistance
which, since 1999, has been advocating from male legislators led to the re-naming
for the adoption of CEDAW3 and, more of the bill as the Violence Against Persons
recently, the African Union Womens Prohibition (VAPP) Bill, though its content
Protocol (AUP).4 One of its core activities remained focused on VAW. WRAPA then
is providing legal aid expertise and redress formed an alliance of over 17 civil society,
for survivors of violence against women faith and community-based organizations,
and girls (VAWG). Since 2001, WRAPA working on womens rights, to implement
has served as the secretariat for the the RHV project. This led to a huge
Legislative Advocacy Coalition on mobilization of lobbying efforts for the
Violence Against Women (LACVAW). In passing of the VAPP Bill, including
2003, WRAPA, using the platform of extensive work to build supportive
LACVAW, renewed legislative lobbying for alliances of grassroots women leaders in
a Violence Against Women (VAW) Bill, but poor and marginalized communities.
the National Assembly rejected the
proposed bill and momentum waned. This case-study identifies the activities,
achievements and impact of those aspects
Five years later, in 2008, the RHV of the RHV project which relate to work on
programme began in Nigeria, with WRAPA VAWG.
as the implementer. RHV had the twin
aims of promoting the participation of poor Alliance building with women
and marginalized women in governance activists from poor communities
and decision-making, and adoption and
implementation of the AUP. The focus on The project has provided training to 100
the AUP opened up a new opportunity for grassroots women leaders in nine states in
legislation on womens rights and VAWG. Nigeria to increase understanding on
At the same time, increasing reports of the womens rights, VAWG and the AUP, offer
kidnapping of women and children, skills in negotiation and advocacy for
election violence sometimes targeted at womens inclusion, and build confidence
women, and increasing domestic violence, and self-esteem. Using grassroots women
rape and gang rape had led to a renewed activists and women in parliament as role
interest in the VAW Bill. New forms of models, it has overcome many barriers,
violence, such as kidnappings, bombings, such as illiteracy, to empower these
political violence and accusations of grassroots leaders. The training has led
1
some participants to be elected as leaders
in Community Development Associations, The issues I have gone through have
where they have been able to voice their made me realise my rights ... I now know
concerns about VAWG. Their skills and that this ignorance of a thing is what is
confidence in negotiation have improved. killing women. I have decided to help other
For example, a group of Hausa women in women and teach them about their rights
Kano drafted plans to curtail VAWG in because this is what is helping me get
collaboration with religious and traditional back on my feet.
leaders, and succeeded in voicing their A tribunal testimony
opinions and initiating a debate on marital
rape. Over 500 women and 200 men National lobbying and advocacy
attended the public hearing on the VAPP
Bill, thanks to the mobilization organized The main RHV objective has been to work
by WRAPA and RHV partners. within a strategic partnership to draft and
achieve the adoption of a model law for
At a personal level, women have come to the domestication of the AUP. This led to
understand violence against them as a the adoption of the Gender and Equal
violation of their rights, and discover, for Opportunities (GEO) Bill which merges
the first time in many cases, their right to and articulates the aspirations of the AUP,
be involved in local politics regardless of CEDAW and the National Gender Policy.
their status. They have started to Achieving this has been fast-tracked by
deconstruct the notion of rape being a working with the National Coalition on
result of inappropriate dress or location Affirmative Action (NCAA) which is the
and reject these commonly held national platform that drafted the GEO Bill.
justifications. The bar of intolerance to NCAA is an umbrella body for womens
VAWG has been raised. There has been a rights, and works for the adoption of
gradual breaking down of the culture of quotas (35 per cent seats in parliament
silence on violations as seen in increased held by women) and mechanisms for
reports of VAWG by women at WRAPAs womens inclusion using the principle of
legal aid clinic and RHV partner affirmative action.
organizations.

The RHV project has achieved the


following. Women who are being
maltreated unduly by their husbands are
beginning to get information on where and
how to seek redress without necessarily
losing their marriages. I think this is a key
element in giving voice to the voiceless.
Executive Director of Women Advocates
Research and Documentation Centre

Until now, 70 per cent of women


experiencing domestic violence would not
have spoken out due to the social stigma
and a lack of legal redress that resulted in
impunity for its perpetrators. Now the LACVAW demonstration for VAWG legislation (2012).
situation is beginning to change. A review Credit / Osaro Odemwingie
of media reports showed that survivors of
VAWG/GBV are more open to reporting As part of the process of domesticating the
and discussing their experiences than AUP, RHV also took over coordination of
before the RHV project began. At a mock the LACVAW campaign and its lobbying
tribunal of VAWG cases in 2009, many for the VAPP Bill. The goal of the
grassroots survivors of domestic violence campaign was that, in different states and
testified publicly, with dramatic effects on on different issues of violence, laws on
their confidence and self-esteem, and the VAWG will seek to end discrimination
willingness of other women to testify. against and exclusion of women from
2
governance and decision-making of and support for womens rights issues,
processes. The LACVAW campaign has including amongst male legislators. Under
been wide-ranging and innovative in its the 7th National Assembly, the bill received
attempts to get the bill passed. WRAPA, overwhelming support during its first
through expert networking and strategizing, reading in parliament and the hope is that
influenced government institutions, civil- it will soon pass into law following four
society organizations (CSOs), media and years of negotiation and lobbying.
community networks to mobilize for a public
rally at the National Assembly (attended by The project has employed the following
3,000 people) during the annual 16 days of key national lobbying tactics to achieve
activism on VAWG, in order to support the progress with the passage of the VAPP
speedy passage of the VAPP Bill. This Bill:
resulted in a commitment to accelerate the The coalition used a vote for the VAPP
legislative processes, and led to a public law or we wont vote for you approach
hearing on a high-profile rape case and to when lobbying prospective
commitments to domesticate the AUP parliamentarians on the campaign trail;
provisions which protect women from Power mapping of the legislators to
violence. Other activities included: identify those for and against the VAPP
Harnessing the support of religious and Bill, and the gender champions, both
cultural institutions (by engaging male and female;
Catholic priests, imams and traditional Relevant committee clerks with key
councils) for the domestication and inside knowledge and institutional
implementation of the AUP and to memory, and who could facilitate easy
campaign for ending VAWG; access to legislators, were identified and
The publication of a national report on worked with closely;
the situation of VAWG/GBV in Nigeria; Use of live testimonies, pictures and
Achieving UNFPA and UNIFEM5 video clips of survivors of VAWG/GBV.
support for the training of media Also short documentaries targeted at: a)
correspondents on VAWG reportage, educating the public; and b) legislators, to
and law enforcement agents on how to inform them of the rationale and urgency
respond to VAWG survivors and of the bill and be shown before its third
victims; reading in parliament;
Plans to undertake a survey of VAWG Consistent lobbying of parliamentarians
reportage and statistics to generate a through one-on-one meetings and
catalogue of evidence related to the strategic use of social media, including
VAPP Bill; text messaging and repeated phone calls
Building the capacity of policy-makers to representatives in State Assemblies;
in state and federal governance Engagement (through a paid
structures (through creation of gender consultancy) of a former serving
desk officers) to understand and legislator and lead sponsor of the VAPP
integrate the concerns of poor women Bill during the 6th National Assembly as
in policy formulation and to create the coalitions Legislative Technical
mechanisms for increasing their Expert. Considered an insider, she
participation in governance. helped to fast-track the process;
Raising public awareness: a fact sheet
Overall, the successful creation of spaces on the VAPP Bill was produced; the AUP
for dialogue and deepened partnership was simplified and translated into local
with legislators, ministries, government dialects; a compendium of VAWG/GBV
agencies and traditional/religious leaders in Nigeria (prevalence and response)
on VAWG and womens political was produced. All were widely
participation represents an enormous disseminated;
achievement. There has been very active Engaging with and strengthening media
participation of members of various advocacy platforms to increase visibility
parliamentary committees and legislative for the VAPP and improve the quality of
staff in the processes around the VAPP reporting on VAWG/GBV.
Bill with a marked increase in awareness

3
Media and communications regional level, it has linked into the Pan-
African coalition on the AUP, drawing on
One of the projects aims was to give its strategy, information and funding
increased visibility to the AUP, opportunities to enhance its effectiveness.
VAWG/GBV and discrimination against
women. A core group of electronic and Conclusion
print journalists were given technical
support to improve reporting techniques The process of linking the RHV project into
on these issues. As a result, there has the existing national campaign on the
been good coverage of the content and VAPP Bill meant that the strong national
benefits of the AUP through radio spots, coalition on womens rights built up by
TV panel discussions, live phone-in RHV to support the domestication of the
programmes, debates on national and AUP became a natural vehicle for the
state TV, and Facebook pages. Road VAPP campaign. RHV has provided the
shows have been staged involving 100 platform and legitimacy for CSOs to
Youth Corp members to protest the high collectively advocate for legislation of the
rates of GBV/VAWG in Nigeria. Overall, VAPP Bill. Being linked to RHV has also
the project has led to greater commitment meant that strategic policy moments could
from the media to support the objectives of be more easily seized for legislative
RHV and increase public understanding of advocacy for VAWG at state level. In turn,
womens rights issues, and a closer the LACVAW campaign has increased
working relationship with civil society on support for the RHV project through the
this agenda. huge momentum created around the
VAPP Bill and by expanding its
Community mobilization and partnership base and outreach.
coalition-building
In terms of overall impact, the fact that so
The building of a strong, broad national many coalitions have come together in this
coalition of 17 CSOs all working on process, including LACVAW, NCAA,
different womens rights issues at different GAA,6 has meant that, under the strong
levels across the country, each of whom leadership of WRAPA, there has been an
linked to other organizations, has been enormous increase in synergy,
one of the key successes for this project transparency and unity of purpose among
and lies behind the huge progress that has civil society actors on the issue of
been made in lobbying on the VAPP Bill. womens rights, and in particular ending
The diversity and geographical breadth of VAWG.
the coalition has enabled RHV to be
implemented across all regions of Nigeria, Written by Fiona Gell, with thanks to
as well as enabling the campaign to Hadeezah Haruna-Usia, RHV coordinator
appeal to a wide variety of interest and in Nigeria for her insightful contributions.
faith groups. Engaging with these religious
and cultural institutions has helped to
break down fears and engender dialogue.
New constituencies have been brought
into the debate; for example, there have
been eye-opening debates amongst
school children, including opening up
spaces for debate amongst young girls at
the community level. The national coalition
has linked grassroots womens groups
(particularly poor, rural and indigenous
women) to decision-makers at different
levels (parliamentary, traditional councils
and different faith groups) and to the
media. It has fast-tracked lobbying work by
collaborating with the NCAA. At the

4
Notes

1
This paper focuses on the violence faced by
women and girls on account of their sex rather
than other parts of their gender identity. Its
important to acknowledge here both the limits
of the paper and the importance of other work
around violence and other vulnerable groups,
including the gay, bi- and transsexual
community and boys and men. Gender-based
violence (GBV) encompasses all physical,
sexual and psychological violence that is
rooted in individuals gender roles and
identities. The most common and pervasive
form is Violence against Women and Girls
(VAWG).
2
The Raising Her Voice (RHV) programme is
a five-year programme which started in 2008,
working across 17countries and funded by the
UK Governments Department for International
Development (DFID).
3
The Convention on the Elimination of all forms
of Discrimination against Women
4
The AUP offers a comprehensive picture of
the issues confronting women in Africa and
sets out a mechanism to address such issues.
It provides protection for womens human
rights including VAW, SRHR, harmful
traditional practices and discrimination.
5
The UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the
Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), now
part of UN Women.
6
Gender Affirmative Action is one of WRAPAs
recently ended projects funded by DFID. GAA
is a parliamentary technical-support focused
project.

Anda mungkin juga menyukai