The Call to Action on Protection from Gender-based Violence in Emergencies, a global multi-stakeholder initiative, aims to transform the way humanitarian actors address this critical issue. More broadly, it seeks to integrate gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls into all aspects of humanitarian action. Launched in by the United Kingdom and Sweden, the initiative now has 72 members β including States, UN agencies, international organizations and NGOs β and its power lies in collective action and accountability.
With the crisis in northeastern Nigeria now in its tenth year, 7. Amidst armed conflict, displacement and disrupted livelihoods, limited access to services and protection have exacerbated the risks of sexual and gender-based violence. According to a study, 6 out of 10 women affected by the crisis have experienced some form of gender-based violence.
With 39 partners, including local civil society organizations CSOs , the Road Map is a living document developed in collaboration with the GBV sub-sector. The initiative has worked to identify barriers to access to justice for survivors, with plans to address these holistically. It has also created greater awareness of the need to mitigate gender-based violence risks in sectors including health; water, sanitation and hygiene; shelter; and camp coordination and management.
Engaging civil society organizations has been a cornerstone of the initiative. In September , the initiative held outreach and awareness-raising sessions with 72 CSOs, in partnership with CSO networks in all three states. Going forward, the initiative will seek to strengthen information-sharing between humanitarian actors and donors to increase funding. To build national ownership and sustainability, it will focus on promoting deeper and broader engagement of Government and Nigerian non-governmental partners.
And based on needs identified with CSO and government partners, it will develop a strategy to build the technical skills of humanitarian actors who deliver gender-based violence services. The northeastern Nigeria Road Map is tailored to the challenges of the humanitarian response in the three affected states β but it holds potential for lessons learned that can be applied wherever crisis strikes, within the country and beyond.
