A 2-day workshop was held in Maiduguri 23-24 August 2022, focused on renewing momentum and re-orienting the overall objectives of the Call to Action initiative on Protection from Gender Based Violence in Emergencies. This activity was a follow-up to the meeting of the leadership team of the Call to Action, co-led by Honorable Federal Minister of Women Affairs, Ms. Dame Pauline Tallen and the Ambassador of Denmark, Mr. Sune Krogstrup.
Globally launched in 2013, the Call to Action (CtA) was initiated to ensure that every humanitarian operation, from the onset, provides safe and comprehensive services for those most at risk of GBV, prioritizing the mitigation, prevention, and response to violence especially against women and girls. With over 99 partners globally, comprised of states, donors, and both international and non-governmental organizations, the CtA was first piloted in Nigeria in 2018 covering Borno, Adamawa and Yobe (BAY) states which have endured protracted humanitarian crises and the disparaging implications of the Boko Haram insurgency since 2008. The pilot was guided by a three-year roadmap detailing 5 core outcome areas to address the GBV prevention and response needs across each of the BAY states: (1) Strengthened coordination (2) Improved access to quality services (3) Strengthened capacity of local partners (4) Improved funding (5) Increased engagement with security.
Following the wind up of the 2018-2021 roadmap, the workshop was organized to collectively review the challenges identified during the pilot programme, discuss the central role of accountability, improved GBV programming for expected and the centrality of government's leadership role for sustainable results and collectively develop a multi-year CTA Northeast Nigeria Roadmap 2022-2025.
With representation from the Federal Ministry of Women Affairs, National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP), the National Human Rights Commission, INGO Forum, UN OCHA, UNHCR, IOM, WFP, the Norwegian Government, Civil society organizations and other National NGOs, the workshop involved a collective and robust review of the progress made and lessons learnt from the pilot, and also charted a trajectory for the re-prioritized follow-up programme; raising critical issues around gender equality, the role of women-led organizations, GBV prevention and guaranteeing specialized GBV services.
The collaborative workshop resulted in a new multi-year Northeast Nigeria Roadmap 2022-2025 to be finalized in the coming weeks.
