By JACOB ONJEWU DICKSON
The Zamfara State office of the Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning And Empowerment (AGILE), a World Bank funded project on has trained 30 desk officers on Gender Based Violence (GBV) management.
The One-day training was conducted in collaboration with the Women Rights Advancement And Protection (WRAPA), BAOBAB for Women’s Rights and Sexual Assault Referral Center (SARC).
The training had 30 participants comprising of desk officers from MDAs, CSOs, security agencies as well as media representatives.
The State Coordinator of AGILE Project, Hajiya Sa’adatu Abdu Gusau described the training as key to achieving the goal to reduce GBV cases, especially in schools.
Abdu Gusau, also a Permanent Secretary, represented by the Gender Desk officer, Zamfara AGILE office, Hajiya Sadiya Shehu, said AGILE engaged WRAPA, BAOBAB and SARC for technical support on GBV issues.
She noted that the engaging the experts and specialists such as WRAPA, BAOBAB and SARC aim to ensure sustainability of the project’s activities in the fight against GBV.
“This is a welcome development, this training is very interactive as every participant is willing to contribute.
“We appreciate these organizations for their contributions in providing technical knowledge to the participants on GBV management,” the Coordinator added.
Abdu Gusau noted that the state AGILE project would ensure safe and accessible learning environment for Adolescent girls.
She called on the participants to pay attention and participate actively to acquire more knowledge from the presentations.
In her opening remarks, the State Coordinator WRAPA, Hajiya Zainab Nuhu said the training apt as it tackle gender based violence in the state.
Nuhu assured of providing more technical support to AGILE towards mitigating GBV in schools.
She called for more support from the media and other stakeholders in sensitising the public on issues related to GBV.
A resource person of the training, Dr Amina Hassan, head of Farida General Hospital and SARC, presented a lecture on GBV cases management.
Another resource person, Rabi Ibrahim Gusau, State Coordinator of BAOBAB for Women’s Rights made a presentation on referral path ways.
Rabi Ibrahim called on Gov Dauda Lawal to implement VAPP law in the state.
She noted that the law was already domesticated in the state, adding that if properly implemented would reduce GBV cases in the state especially for adolescent girls.
