Gender-Based Violence Awareness Trainings

At least once every few weeks for an entire year I shared a coke with the Chadiza district Victim Support Unit, a department of Zambia’s police force specializing in protecting vulnerable populations.  Chadiza was an 1.5 hour bike ride from the village I lived in.  Meanwhile I would regularly meet with women’s groups throughout my community, discussing their projects and initiatives.  What I learned about gender-based violence in those discussions surprised and saddened me.

Gender-based violence (GBV) in Zambia takes the form of physical, mental, social or economic abuse against a person because of that person’s gender.  This abuse includes violence that results in physical, sexual or psychological harm to the victim.  And the problem is rampant.  According to the United Nations, Zambia has one of the world’s highest rates of intimate partner violence in the world, with almost half of all women experiencing physical violence from the age of 15.   Multiple factors contribute to the problem, including sexual cleansing rituals, initiation ceremonies, women’s financial dependence on men, socialization of boys and girls at home and in school, inadequate laws on GBV and domestic violence, as well a lack of law enforcement on intimate partner violence.

After extensive discussions with the leaders of the 7 women’s groups in my community, and again with the officers of the Victim Support Unit, we were able to organize together 4 Gender Based awareness trainings over several months in villages within my community.  By providing food for a meal to accompany the training, we welcomed 111 women altogether to the trainings, which were facilitated by the Victim Support Unit in Chadiza and supported by the Women’s Groups.  In this instance, my role was simply in fostering the partnerships between all the stakeholders.  Nonetheless, I’m incredibly proud to have played a small role in bringing these trainings to the community in which I lived.