We can’t win fight against sexual, gender based abuses without adequate data — Oyo SGBVRT

As cases of sexual and gender based violence continues to take the front burner of discussions, especially following persistence in cases of violence against women and girls, the Oyo State  Sexual and Gender Based Violence Response Team (Oyo SGBVRT), has emphasised the need for effective data collation for the fight against violence to be effective.

The team emphasised the need to put in a more effective method of data collection to aid better programming and stop duplication of figures among partners during its quarterly meeting at the conference hall of the mediation centre of the state Ministry of Justice in Ibadan.

Leading the deliberation, the coordinator of the team, Mrs Dupe Awosemusi, who is also a Director in the Ministry of Justice stated that for partners in the battle against violence to be able to win the fight, record success and address increasing issues of violence and rights violation, effective data compilation and analysis is an important factor.

According to her,  there is no way the battle against violence can be won if policy makers and stakeholders do not have adequate information on the situation in order to determine how to tackle the challenge.

“This is the time for all of us to come together and ensure that we create a platform that will run seamlessly to avoid duplication of data to give a clear picture of the situation. We cannot continue to have data that is not up to date or duplicated across agencies to increase figures.

“We cannot win this fight if we do not understand what we are up against and before we can understand the situation and get a clear picture of the nature and magnitude of the violence permeating our society, we need information in facts and figures.

“This is why all of us must look inwards and work together on harmonising our data base to remove all ambiguity, duplication or faulty figures. We must decide on the best way that will help us create a data base and it must be one that will work for all partners,” she added.

The team agreed that the dearth of data on cases of violence within the state is a major challenge militating against  effective coordination of activities and advocacy programs.

According to the team, data is more than just numbers on paper or a technical activity to create fear but an instrument that helps to paint a clear picture of the extent of the problem, lay groundwork for future activities and allow stakeholders and policymakers work in unity of purpose.

“Adequate data will allow us make informed decisions, especially on what activities to engage in at particular times to effectively.meet the needs of the people,” she said, adding that there is also need to keep data on perpetrators in form of a register which must be available to the public.

The team further agreed that without  data, it will be difficult to prosecute offenders, help victims and adequately sensitise the public.

“Data is what gives meaning to our reports, without data, all that we are doing will be difficult for policymakers to follow and we will be unable to analyse the subject in context with life realities. It will also help us to monitor improvement or lack of it in what we do,” the team said.

Oyo SGBVRT canvassed for the establishment of a data collection and analysis system that every partner can access.