Abiodun Essiet Initiative for Girls (AEIG), held a one day capacity training for FCT traditional rulers across the chiefdoms in Abaji and Kwali area councils.
The capacity building training tagged "Strengthening Traditional Justice System of FCT Original Inhabitants to Combat Sexual and Gender-Based Violence" is the third in its series. The first and second was conducted for traditional rulers in AMAC and Bwari; Gwagwalada and Kuje Area Councils, respectively.
This is inline with the project we are currently implementing: "Promoting The Rights of Original Inhabitants of FCT” funded MacArthur Foundation through Resource Centre for Human Rights and Civic Education (CHRICED).
The executive director, AEIG: Abiodun Essiet in her opening remark thanked the the traditional rulers for attending the training, and also recognized their effort in the fight against sexual and gender-based violence. In her words "we recognize your effort in the fight against SGBV; we are here today to further empower you to do more"
Present at the capacity training were district and village heads across the chiefdoms in both area councils, community members, and representatives of local government administration.
Traditional rulers were trained on SGBV, Violence Against Persons Prohibition Act, Restorative Justice, and Circle of Conflict/Victim Offender Mediation. The training measures includes: Pre and Post Test, Practical Discussion, and Group work. we also provided reporting template for the traditional rulers, for proper record keeping of SGBV cases in their various communities, and to help us evaluate the impact of our various interventions in combating sexual and gender-based violence in OI communities.
In the course of the training, some Issues impeding the fight against SGBV were raised by the traditional rulers: police demanding money from victims to investigate and prosecute cases, which in turn discourage them from seeking justice, clash between the Constitution and religion as regard age of marriage, and the culture of silence deeply rooted in their various communities because of stigmatization.
They emphasized the need to take the awarenesses on SGBV to community schools and also conduct this capacity training as often as feasible.
At the end of the training, the traditional rulers present, took turns to commend the initiative and promised they will utilize the knowledge gained during the capacity training, to combat sexual and gender-based violence in their respective sphere of influence.