A UKaid-funded non-governmental organisation, International Alert, has trained 30 community members on psychological first aid for victims of gender-based violence (SGBV) in Zamfara State.
Speaking at the end of a 2-day training workshop that ended today in Gusau, Zamfara State Capital, Fatima Inusa, the Gender, Equity, and Social Inclusive Officer of International Alert, disclosed that participants were drawn across Security, CSOs, nurses, and Human rights Organisations in the state.
“The 30 Community members who are the first responders were from the three local government areas of Gusau, Tsafe, and Birnin Magaji in the state”.
According to her, the capacity training is to Acquaint participants who are community first responders with how to support women and girls in the aftermath of abuse.
“You will note that the cases of Sexual gender-based violence (SGBV) are on the increase, particularly in some states where there has been an increase in conflict.
A lot of people are very sceptical about making this report of SGBV; they don’t know where to report, and sometimes they are not aware of the charity on where to report in the event of abuse.”.
She further explained that the workshop is to equip the community’s first responders with knowledge on how to tackle the issue of sexual gender-based violence: how to communicate with people that were abused and safely repair them without putting the victims and first responders at risk”, she added.
“One of the things that informs this capacity training is that there is a lot of barrier to reporting SGBV, and some of these barriers is the issue of confidentiality; people are not trained to know you’re supposed to keep issues that were shared with you confidential”.
She stressed that we are in an era of technology where people take pictures of SGBV and post them online, causing further harm to other people.
“We are also equipping the participants with skills and ethics on how to handle survivors, focusing specifically on a survival-centred approach, which says dignity of the survivors, don’t discriminate against them, maintain their confidentiality, and treat them with dignity”.
The Gender, Equity, and Social Inclusive Officer, International Alert, maintained that at the end of the training, they hope the participants will take home the skills and knowledge acquired in proper management of SGBV, work with community leaders and parents, and share the information where they work in the state.
A participant in the training from Birnin Magaji local government lauded the effort of International Alert for organising the event, saying that the programme is timely considering the alarming increase in SGBV in the area.
She assured them to translate what they have learned on Psychological First Aid into their community to mitigate the issue of gender violence in the area.
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