FEMNET | Self-defense: A Way of Reducing GBV

Self-defense: A Way of Reducing GBV

By FEMNET
17 Apr 2013

By Duncan Bomba
Gender based violence and especially sexual violence strips women, girls and children of their autonomy and forces them to live in constant fear of retribution. The phenomenon seem insurmountable and this calls for extraordinary interventions to bring to an end these rampant abuses and such strategies must include direct empowerment of the vulnerable population with prevention and self protection initiatives and also reach out to men and boys engaging them to change some of their negative attitudes,norms and behaviors towards women, girls and children.
Such approaches can and have proved to interrupt the cycle of violence by 75-80% in all areas programs have been implemented in Kenya and Eastern D R Congo. However the obstacle and challenge facing such result oriented programs is poor and inadequate funding.
In as much as we educate and train the vulnerable population to identify, avoid, prevent and protect themselves,we also need to educate them on the sexual offenses laws so that they are able to report attempted sexual abuse and those who get raped must also know how to preserve evidence for prosecution purposes,go for medical attention,report to Police before 72 hours and get trauma counseling to assist in the healing process.
Duncan Bomba is a trainer at Dolphin Anti-Rape and can be reached at dolphin2002ke@yahoo.com or duncan@dolphinanti-rape.org. To learn more about the grassroots organization, visit their blog, website, youtube or facebook page.
See a previous post about the amazing work they do here.