A Non-Governmental Organisation, International Alert Nigeria, says it has provided communities in Kaduna and Zamfara States with platforms for psychosocial support to women who have been affected by conflict and Gender-Based Violence.
The organisation also unveiled a community justice and stability model that the government could replicate to address and tackle the root causes of conflict from the grassroots to the policy level.
Country Director of International Alert Nigeria, Dr Paul Nyulaku-Bemshima, addressing the closeout meeting of an 18-month Promoting Stability, Access to Justice and Accountability Project in the North-West said the region was chosen to stem the tide of high-intensity violence and insecurity and curb the challenge of banditry.
‘One key lesson is that communities do not want to be at war with each other. When war happens, they suffer, when war happens, everybody loses and so the support that we have provided to them demonstrates to us that people are actually eager to resolve their
issues, and they are doing it in all the key communities in Kaduna and Zamfara state.’
Dr. Nyulaku-Bemshima said the organisation has developed community justice and stability plans, which is a model that both the Government and Organisations interested in peacebuilding can learn from.
‘We are happy to share this participatory model where communities highlight their priorities and then set up conversations between communities and the state institutions for alignment. On the integration of women and children in the North-West, we have largely implemented security and justice programmes to make our contribution to reducing the scale of insecurity in the region. Communities have now taken ownership of their peace-building processes. We have set up community dialogue platforms and established safe spaces providing psychosocial support to women who have been affected by the conflict.’
Spotlighting the impacts of the project, the Executive Director, of Voluntary Aid Initiative Zamfara State, Musa Umar Aboki a co
mmunity partner, said the use of local languages to reach out to community members was a game changer.
Aboki said the project came at the right time, as it addressed issues around access to justice and peace, and stability and empowered community members to identify barriers to access to justice.
‘Through this project, we are able to reach out to community members to see the need to develop a community-based initiative to reduce issues that are harmful cultural practices. A lot of community members have agreed to go by local justice system, and this has really provided us the opportunity to bring community members and heads of security agencies together to identify issues around security priorities.’
The Chairperson of, the Women Peace and Mediation Platform in the Jema’a Local Government Area of Kaduna State, Grace Yohanna, stated that the project boosted the Government’s effort to address Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV).
‘With the arrival of International Alert and its implementing partners, we
can reach those in communities that are hard to reach, like Dangoma and Goska. The intervention has really helped, because it brought intervention closer to the people by the establishment of the safe space where women go to talk,” she added.
Sole Administrator of Birnin Magaji Local Government Area in Zamfara State, Isaka Ibrahim commended International Alert for the far-reaching impacts of the Project in his communities and committed to full cooperation to ensure its sustenance.
Sole Administrator, of Tsafe Local Government Area, Zamfara State, Dr Aliyu Adamu Tsafe, disclosed that the project had provided Safe Spaces and Dialogue Centres for community members in Zamfara, noting that between 300 and 500 women converge at the centres to share ideas on SGBV, while men also have a platform to discuss the way forward in tackling insecurity.
He appealed for an extension of the project to cover other communities in Zamafara State who require the same.
‘The International Alert intervention in Zamfara State has
really helped in my Local Government Area of Tsafe, especially in the various communities of the project intervention. My community, the Community Leaders, and the people around my communities have actually accepted the interventions that were brought to them around the areas of, especially the safe space initiative,’ Tsafe affirmed.
Chairperson of Women Peace Mediating Platform, Chikun, Kaduna State, Laura Wambai, said the project was a timely intervention in the Local Government Area which was in dire need of peace.
Wambai said all thanks to the project, SGBV and insecurity had drastically reduced in the Chikun Local Government, which had been known to face high insecurity before the commencement of the programme.
International Alert Nigeria and Partners have established 9 Safe Spaces in Kaduna and Zamfara States, trained 120 dialogue facilitators and 240 Health Workers, Safe Space Facilitators, and Social workers on First Aid and Psychological Support for survivors of SGBV in Kaduna and Zamfara states.
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nternational Alert Nigeria focuses on collaborating with people and communities, disrupting the cycles of violence, resolving conflicts without violence, and building sustainable and inclusive peace.
Source: Voice of Nigeria