NG-CARES Conducts Step Down Training To Combat Gender Based Violence

NG-CARES has declared open a three-day step down training on gender based violence in Asaba, Delta State, to enlighten the general public through the participants, on the need to eliminate gender based violence in Nigeria. Participants to the programme are drawn from nine states, including the host, Delta, Enugu, Akwa-Ibom, Ebonyi, Rivers, Cross River, Abia, Imo and Bayelsa states.
In his welcome address, the Delta State commissioner for Economic Planning and chairman, Delta State Cares Steering Committee, Hon. Sonny Akporokiamo, said the training could not have come at a better time given the recurring global discourse on the need to take gender based violence issues more seriously.
He commended the Federal CARES Support Unit (FCSU) for the initiative.
National Coordinator, NG-CARES, Dr. Obaje Abdulkarim, noted that in accordance with one of the requirements of the World Bank, every programme should be gender sensitive for which reason the participants are gender related programme officers.
He said the essence was to prepare them to have the capacity to deliver on gender based results.
The national coordinator, who was represented by Dr. Uju Nwosu, senior Grievance Mechanism, FCSU, NG-CARES programme, noted that gender issues are very important in development intervention as if a programme is seen as not gender sensitive, such programme might be cancelled.
She observed that women and other vulnerable groups are very weak and except there is a deliberate effort to bring them in, society will continue to exclude them.
“Trainings like this are now helping people to develop the capacity they need to ensure women and other vulnerable groups are included in programmes. It is called social inclusion,” she explained
The national coordinator expressed belief that the experience gathered from the participants at the training will be domesticated at the various states and passed down to the various local governments.
Others, who spoke in the same vein include Dr Esther Terdoo Awa, project officer, Gender and Vulnerable, Cross River State Community and Social Development Agency and Chief Chinyere Elendu, Gender consultant, Imo Community and Social Development Agency.
The Nigeria COVID-19 Action Recovery and Economic Stimulus (NG-CARES) Programme is an intervention that is built on the platforms of existing programmes of the State Government. These include State Cash Transfer Unit (SCTU), Community and Social Development Agency (CSDA), State FADAMA Coordinating Office (SFCO) and Public-Workfare (PWF) Unit of State Operations and Coordinating Unit (SOCU). These projects are operational at the federal and state level.