First meetings with the Gender-Based Violence Ambassadors (GBVA)

Wefoco Gender-Based Violence Ambassadors project started in 2019 with Mondo EUAV Inma (you can check on her blog posts here, the beginning of the project). 

According to a study submitted to Kenya Health Information System by the Health facility data, Kakamega County is one of the leading counties in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) cases with Matungu, Lugari and Ikolomani recording high GBV cases. The COVID19 pandemic led to an increase in vulnerability within the families, due to lack of income generation activities, leading to a rise in cases of domestic violence. The long closing period of schools led to an increase in teenage pregnancies and sexual violence cases.  

It was a priority for WEFOCO to give continuity to this GBV project and continue empowering the communities to fight against violence. 

So here I am, and my first step would be to meet these amazing men and women! 

We had two meetings so far, the first we got to know each other. I listen to them on the work they have been doing, their success stories and their challenges in the field. From these first meeting, it was raised a need for re-cap training on GBV. So we organised a joint meeting with CCABO (a local community-based organization that focus on capacity building on gender issues). CCABO trained the ambassadors in 2019 and so we decided to follow up on their knowledge on gender issues and assess further training needs.     

The meeting was very productive, we re-cap on the concept of GBV, types and most common forms at the household level, community and state level.  CCABO listened to the ambassadors' experiences in the field and challenges and shared also their experience as a CBO (Community based Organization) with Legal Support services for GBV. 

Some of the main challenges the GBVA expressed: 

• Evidence Gathering (lack of skills and resources - smartphone for photos). 
• Protection: they have been threatened by other community members since they started to be more active advocates for GBV. 
• Consent: lack of information on consent/ forms for referral/report cases. 
• Lack of knowledge on Political Violence issues. 
• Lack of support on legal matters - Lack of Networking and Referral Skills 
• Absence of report keeping routine - lack of resources (notebooks). 
• Absence of visibility/identification uniforms - T-shirts/Bags 

The Ambassadors received record-keeping books to record their actions in the community and we are organizing a series of training on record keeping and on the topics they are facing more challenges (the areas in bolt).

Based on the stories they shared and their experiences in the field, we are collecting Most Significant Change Stories, to access the impact of the project in the ambassadors' life and their communities.  

“Disempowering oneself is a key means to empower others”

After 2 months break in Portugal, I am now back in Shianda ready to start a new adventure with a new project! This time I will be supporting WEFOCO on their gender and education programs.

 

Today I am preparing a small presentation for the local organization on participatory approaches. It is amazing to see the amount of knowledge that I have gained in the past months within these deployments. I’ve been searching online on evidence-based approaches to work in the development field and I found really interesting materials that allow me to feel more confident in the work I develop as a volunteer.

As I read into one of the approaches: the Citizen-Lead Approach (CLA) I find this sentence that I choose to title this post: “Disempowering oneself is a key means to empower others”. When I first jump into the possibility of working in the Gender field, I was nervous because of my lack of experience in this area.

But the truth is when we are motivated and willing to learn, the learning process happens naturally. And this is the attitude I want to bring to this project “Disempowering myself to empower others”, I am no expert in Kenyan culture or on gender issues... but I am someone that wants to build together with these women and men a safer, free and more equitable society for all.

 

This is the attitude I want to keep throughout the project, working together for the same goal, involving the local community from the beginning and allowing them to build this project according to their needs and in mutual agreement. Finding answers for the questions that may arise and solution for the challenges within the local community structures.

 

I can’t tell what is going to happen, because the plan will be built up within this process. But I am sure we will have a lot of fun! And that I will learn a lot!

 

Excited to see how the project will unfold in the next months...

 

as we always say in Shianda “Let’s See...!”