Speak louder on other forms of gender violence

Members of The Link Initiative Empowerment present a play on Gender-Based Violence during the launch and commemoration of the Third anniversary of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 on Feb 14, 2023. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

Kenya deserves praise for tremendous work the government and non-profit organisations have done in the fight against Female Genital Mutilation.

Going by recently released Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022 report, the prevalence of FGM declined from 38 per cent in 1998 to 15 per cent in 2022.

In addition, knowledge of female circumcision is nearly universal among women and men. The worrying concern is the effort in fighting other forms of Gender Based Violence which comprises physical violence, sexual violence as well as mental violence.

Instead of the numbers decreasing as it is with FGM, it is escalating and it seems there are no long-term measures to bring down the numbers. The KDHS 2022 report indicates that women and men in Kenya who have experienced physical violence since age 15 is 34 per cent for women and 27 per cent for men, while for sexual violence, it's 13 per cent for women and 7 per cent for men.

With Bungoma County leading at 62 per cent of women who have experienced physical violence since age 15, it is worrying what trend we are setting for our children. We need to give an equal opportunity in the fight against GBV by addressing all its forms as it is currently with FGM.

Concern goes out to children witnessing these forms of violence. As a country, we should come up with long term measures to eradicate this vice by looking at what has worked in other places and replicate it.

Gender Violence Recovery Centre (GVRC) endeavours to ensure boys and girls retention rate in schools remains constant by fighting against all forms of violence including harmful practices that contribute to child abuse and school dropouts.

We are implementing various social behaviour change strategies to create awareness on GBV issues among target communities. Our goal is eradication of all forms of GBV. Among our achievements together with other civil organisations, is in Northern part of Kenya. According to KDHS report, there is a decline of physical violence in Mandera County at 9 per cent.

GVRC also creates awareness against harmful practices in public spaces using murals such as government schools, hospitals and police stations. This has empowered the community on human rights key among them, the children, with some becoming child ambassadors in their respective communities in the fight against GBV.

With children being the mirror of society, we need to create a culture in them that does not condone any form of violence irrespective of what vice a child commits. This culture should first be embraced at family level followed by school environment, where our teachers need to instill in children a character that can accommodate all levels of anger.

In collaboration with Teachers Service Commission, GVRC offers capacity enhancement to teachers on how to detect, respond and protect pupils against all forms of sexual abuse. This has created safe environment for learners in schools and upon completing the training, they join Beacon Teachers Movement to promote child protection.

The writer is communications officer at Gender Violence Recovery Centre