In a strategic move to effectively curb the high rate of Sexual and Gender-Based Violence (SGBV), further escalated during the COVID-19 lockdown in Nigeria and across the world, Okaha Women and Children Development Organization (OWACDO) today organized a one-day capacity-building workshop in Makurdi, Benue State to equip stakeholders in SGBV with the necessary tools and skills on how best to battle the scourge.
According to the Executive Director of OWACDO, Mrs. Joy Ijuwo, the workshop is part of her organization’s mandate to implement an intervention by Action Aid Nigeria under the Global Affairs Canada (GAC) Fund on Women Voice and Leadership Nigeria (WVL-N) Project.
Participants who were drawn from Civil Society Organizations (CSOs), the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) the Nigeria Police Force (NPF), and the Benue State Ministry of Justice among others, admitted that the knowledge gained from the workshop has dramatically improved their state of preparedness to combat cases of rape, assault, marital abuse, human trafficking and all forms of SGBV.
OWACDO, a community-based Non-Governmental Organization with an emphasis on the empowerment of the vulnerable, poor, and downtrodden in society, especially women and children, envisions a society where women and children have equal rights and access to good health, education, and opportunities which it achieves through its thematic areas of Health, Humanitarian Response, Child Development/Women Empowerment, Gender, Governance and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH).