TogetHER for Peace – Nigeria (NiMSA)

Name of the activity: TogetHER for Peace

NMO: Nigeria (NiMSA)

Program: Gender Based Violence

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign

General description:

TogetHER for Peace. It is a campaign mostly online for the eradication of Domestic violence and the brokering of total peace in the lives of Nigerian women, to be done my 30 medical students in the area by photo and video campaigns.

Focus area:

Domestic Violence

Problem statement:

Peace, while desirable to all remains far out of reach of many women in Southwestern Nigeria. Domestic violence is one of the strongest reasons for this. Worldwide 1 in 3 women is abused in her lifetime, and in Southwestern Nigeria, 1.5 million women are abused yearly according to a National Health Survey. These women are usually emotionally attached and financially dependent on their attackers and as such intervention is difficult and the cycle continues. In our native culture, women are viewed as property, with the owner to do as he pleases. This is not tackled by law either with no strong legislature in place to protect women as long as the attacker can claim what he did was out of correction. This is a direct impedance to these women’s rights to peace and thus efforts must be made to increase awareness of this menace and encourage victims of such to speak up.

Target groups and beneficiaries:

 The target group is Nigerian Medical Students, who by virtue of training are in a position to create heightened awareness on Domestic violence and encourage others to break the cycle, speak up, and help protect victims from further abuse. As we go on to become doctors, we also get the opportunity to be advocates for peace and awareness on such issues as this would spur more doctors to bring about more change in this area.
In the long run, this move will benefit the many many women mostly located in but not limited to Southwestern Nigeria who will see their health advocates fighting for their cause and will be encouraged to speak up and crash the cycle of abuse, and for whom better health policies can be made as a direct result of creating awareness

Objectives and indicators of success:

Objectives
1. Raise awareness about the burden of Domestic violence to 30 medical students
2. Raise awareness about need for peace and international peace day to 30 medical students
3.Raise awareness on how domestic violence is a threat to peace to 30 medical students
4. Raise awareness on how Medical students can do their part to combat domestic violence and better peace to 30 medical students.

Indicators of Sucess
1. Number of Likes, shares and views on social media
2. Number of participants who post activity have been made to understand need to combat domestic violence

Methodology:

Participants will be educated first in world peace, and then on Domestic violence within our region, and then on how domestic violence threatens peace. Then photos and videos will be made. In the photos, participants will hold a placard with the slogan “TogetHER for Peace ” demonstrating the need to tackle issues affecting peace of the woman. The videos will contain short clips on what peace for “HER” means to each participant and how we can end domestic violence by seeking peace.

Plans for evaluation:

Evaluation will be by first asking participants before hand what they know about domestic violence and the road to peace for the Nigerian woman as a form of pre-evaluation. Then after participants will need to fill a short form to see what else they have learnt in the way of combating GBV and how peace can be fostered better in the lives of women within our region.