GENDER – Based Violence (GBV) or violence against women and girls is a global pandemic that affects about one in three women in their lifetime. Globally, seven per cent of women have been sexually assaulted by someone other than a partner.
Globally, as many as 38 per cent of murders of women are committed by an intimate partner. 200 million women have experienced female genital mutilation.
This issue is not only devastating for survivors of violence and their families, but also entails significant social and economic costs. In some countries, violence against women is estimated to cost countries up to 3.7 percent of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) – more than double what most governments spend on education.
Failure to address this issue also entails a significant cost for the future. Numerous studies have shown that children growing up with violence are more likely to become survivors themselves or perpetrators of violence in the future.
One characteristic of gender-based violence is that it knows no social or economic boundaries and affects women and girls of all socio-economic backgrounds: this issue needs to be addressed in both developing and developed countries. Decreasing violence against women and girls requires a community-based, multi-pronged approach, and sustained engagement with multiple stakeholders.
The most effective initiatives address underlying risk factors for violence, including social norms regarding gender roles and the acceptability of violence.
Every child has the right to live free from violence, exploitation and abuse. Children experience insidious forms of violence, exploitation and abuse. It happens in several countries, but the fact is that children should be protected at homes, schools and even online.
Available data availed by the Minister for Community Development, Gender, Women and Special Groups, Dr Dorothy Gwajima, based on studies conducted in the country shows that 60 per cent of acts of violence against children occur at home and the remaining percentage take place in other areas.
While addressing journalists about implementation of the ministry’s budget for 2022/23, Dr Gwajima said the docket started to review section 29 of the Child Act 2009 and other laws dealing with child protection to identify gaps and improve them to correspond with the current needs.
“The ministry has formed a task force which is working closely with the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in reviewing the Act for proper amendment. The government has already set aside 45m/- to review the laws related to child protection,” the minister said.
Contributing to 2022/23 budget estimates, the Minister for Education, Science, and Technology, Professor Adolf Mkenda said the government continued to provide various training in increasing skills and knowledge for employees who implement and manage the development of primary and secondary education in the country to combat acts of violence against children.
“The government has provided training on childcare services, counseling and child protection at school to 243 teachers (151 women and 92 men) of both primary and secondary schools out of 200 teachers targeted from areas that had not been reached by the training,” Prof Mkenda said.
However, those efforts encounter a lot of social challenges due to the fact that girl pupils and students face various challenges compared to boys depending on the environment they are from.
Speaking to the ‘Sunday News’ in an exclusive interview, the Manager, Community Engagement and Action Department at HakiElimu, Mr Pius Makomelelo, asks Tanzanians to actively participate in protecting the girl child against GVB acts, adding that that society is the major and number one stakeholder in protection and safety issues of the girl child.
“Society should actively participate in various activities to protect the girl child, including participating in the construction of school-friendly infrastructure for the girl child such as the construction of dormitories, toilets and water service.” He said.
The Manager, Community Engagement and Action Department at HakiElimu further urged the society to have the traits of making the follow-up and report GBV cases in the right jurisdiction, particularly about the girl child.
Ester Rashid is a 15- year old girl and also a standard six pupil at Kidinda Primary School located in Bariadi City Council. Despite having a dream of becoming a doctor, her six years of educational journey is not easy, since she has encountered many challenges that other pupils would have forced quit but she has not.
Ester highlighted the challenges that she faced including the long distance from home to school which was 60 minutes walking distance, living without parents as well as having other tough home responsibilities which made her lack enough time to study.
As a member of the champion club coordinated by HakiElimu that aims to bring about gender equality and eradicate acts of violence among pupils, Ester says the club has contributed a lot to her academic progress.
“When I’m outside school, I’m bothered by men, but Champion Club has taught me to be brave …If they seduce me, I say no,” she says.
According to her, the club educates its members with the knowledge of sewing female towels in Kiswahili, known as SODO, which helps the girl pupils attend studies even during the menstruation period.
Apart from sewing towels, Ester says the champion club also imparts knowledge to its members on how to prepare seeds and supervise vegetable gardens so that they can earn the income to meet their small needs.
Ester further addsthat through the champion club, she has learned various topics such as avoiding retrogressive traditional, particularly early marriage issues.
Ester’s progress in the classroom is good in her exams as she has been ranking between second and tenth among the 230 children in her class.
Apart from having a friendly learning environment including enough teachers and safe toilets, Ester says her school encounters the challenge of having no laboratory room for scientific-practicals, adding that the laboratory is the key area for the pupils who have a dream of becoming scientists to flourish.
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