Culture of tolerance of violence must change through education – Help and Shelter

Help and Shelter has called for national sensitisation programmes to be held on gender issues as the body believes it can play a major role in addressing gender equality and gender discrimination.

The lobbying efforts were made by representative from the organisation, Danuta Radzik at a recent European Union Forum to tackle domestic violence against women and girls.
According to her, between November 1995 and September 2018, some 11,768 clients were counselled of which 9710 were women and girls. In addition, about 1600 adult women, children and Trafficking in Persons survivors were housed from 2006 to 2018.
Radzik noted, “Help and Shelter believes that the culture of tolerance of violence must and can be changed through education.
Needed is a nationwide sensitisation and awareness programme on gender and root causes of sexual and gender-based violence which challenges gender stereotypes, addresses gender inequality and gender discrimination and builds skills for equality, equity, respectful relationships and peaceful conflict resolution,” the representative explained.
She further went to on say that the programme should not be a “one size fits all” but rather include creative and multimedia approaches which are pretested, diverse, modern, culturally sensitive, appropriate and effective for different target groups such as women, youths, men and even the Lesbian, Gays, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) community, faith-based organisations as well as the urban, rural and hinterland populations.
The Private Sector, according to her, must play a role in the sensitisation process as they too can assist with billboard messages among others.
It was on that note that Radzik said the education system must not be excluded in the process. “The education/school system emphasis must be shifted from a preoccupation with just academics to expand the teaching of life skills preparing children to be productive, responsible citizens with the skills and knowledge to live healthy, violence-free lives, free from exploitation and abuse”.
The lobbyist alluded to the Health and Family Life Education (HFLE) programme which is taught in schools. She said that the programme needs to be re-evaluated and revised for maximum effectiveness.
In addition, she asserted that the National Gender Policy when finalised may be another alternative for Government and civil-society engagements.