By Bashir Hassan Abubakar
USAID Funded State Accountability, Transparency and Effectiveness (State2State) Activity Bauchi Field office has put together a roundtable discussion meeting with Gender Desk officers from the Health, Education and WASH MDAs and other key stakeholders in the State to draw a plan of action on how to mitigate Sexual and Gender Based Violence (SGBV) in Bauchi State.
It was an activity of USAID State2State Bauchi field office to commemorate the16 Days Activism to end violence against women and girls, held in Bauchi on Thursday 28th December, 2024 at Sulgad Hotel.
In a welcome remarks shortly before the commencement of the activity, Bauchi State Team Lead (STL) of USAID State2State Activity, Rabi Ekele appreciated the participants for attending the roundtable discussions centered around SGBV.
Ekele expressed her hope that the engagement would provide an avenue for the participants to suggest measures on how to curtail GVB in homes, work places, the community and the State at large.
“I believe that when we have safe spaces that are devoid of threats of any form of violence, there would be effective and efficient service delivery in healthcare access, quality education and WASH services for the people of Bauchi State”, Ekele said.
She enjoined the participants to take the awareness campaign against SGBV beyond just the 16 days of activism and make it part of a daily routine at any given opportunity.
Earlier speaking, the gender and social inclusion (GESI) coordinator of USAID S2S, Chabiyada Eli said that the objective of the roundtable meeting was to, among other things, raise awareness for the urgent need for Integrating GBV strategies and policies to respond to, and prevent GBV in Bauchi State.
The GESI Coordinator said that the discussions would also seek to rally the support of CSOs and other stakeholder to advocate for adoption of the gender policy and other GESI policies for improved service delivery and other GBV-related services including, health education, and support for GBV survivors in Bauchi State.
“We will also explore avenues on how to create awareness of the negative long-term ‘effect of violence against women and its impact on their meaningful participation in public financial management governance, and peace processes and social inclusion”, said Eli.
There were presentations from other USAID Funded Programs in Bauchi that includes: Learn to Read and PEPFAR Projects.
Participants were drawn from the focus MDAs from Health, Education and WASH, People with Disabilities, CSOs, FBOs and other relevant line MDAs.