Chikwawa CBOs challenged to be innovative in addressing GVH cases
Community based organisations (CBOs) in Chikwawa have been challenged to be innovative in identifying solutions to rising cases of gender based violence (GBV) in the district.
It is reported that the district is registering an unprecedented surge in GBV cases, which have been attributed to deep-rooted patriarchal cultural norms.
The Art and Global Health Center Africa (ARTGLO) project assistant for Make Art for Women’s Activism (MAWA) project, Caroline Luka, challenged CBOs to come up with tangible solutions to the vice.
Luka made the sentiments on the sidelines of a training workshop for CBOs on Monday.
“As an organization, we believe that time has come for people to come up with their own home grown solutions in dealing with gender based violence. So, we are training these CBOs to use participatory arts to involve their audience whenever they engage in some sort of awareness on the ills of gender based violence,” she said.
“We believe this would in turn encourage the audience to speak out as to what would be the solutions to end the vice. The solutions ought to be by the people themselves. There is a need therefore on the part of these CSOs to be open minded when finding solutions for gender based violence,” added Luka.
At the training, Chikwawa Police Victim Support Unit Coordinator, Inspector Maria Mphweya, disclosed that the station has registered a sudden rise in GBV cases, with defilement featuring highly on the list of the crimes men perpetrate against women.
The training was part of the organisation’s MAWA project in which it is seeks to build the capacity of CBOs in the district to design and implement innovative projects to tackle violence against women and girls through use of participatory arts.
The project also seeks to provide expertise to the local CSOs to conduct thorough research using human-centred approaches.
