CSO trains 100 students on public awareness, report writing against sexual harassment

By Baba Aminu

A Civil Society Organisation, (CSO), Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA), in collaboration with members of the Anti-Sexual Harassment Advocacy Cluster, trained 100 students who are members of the Campaign Against Sexual Harassment (CASH) clubs, on Public Awareness and Report Writing against Sexual Harassment in tertiary institutions in Nigeria.

SOLACEBASE reports that the training was conducted from 19th August to Wednesday 23rd August 2023 in Akwa Ibom, Gombe, Kaduna, Kano, Lagos, and FCT.

Speaking at the training session, CAJA Executive Director, Comrade Kabiru Sai’du Dakata said the training was aimed at building the capacity of the participants to be able to lead a successful public awareness campaign on their campuses and write reports of their activities.

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Dakata said sexual harassment in higher education institutions is a significant gendered experience that has a long-term debilitating mental and physical impact, impairs victims’ learning and educational outcomes, and potentially results in lower grades or withdrawal from the Institution.

‘’The epidemic proportion of the problem as emblematic of today’s system is represented by the disturbing statistics of a 2018 survey by the World Bank Group’s Women, Business, and Law, which revealed that 70% of female graduates from Nigerian tertiary institutions had been sexually harassed in school,’’ Dakata said.

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‘’The Anti-Sexual Harassment Advocacy Cluster, is a consortium of different Civil Society Organizations working to contribute in addressing the prevalence of sexual harassment in tertiary institutions in Nigeria. Members of the cluster include, Centre for Awareness on Justice and Accountability (CAJA), Youth Alive Foundation (YAF), Gender Mobile Initiative, Village Debbo Care Initiative, Sefjamil Media and Development, Joint Association of Persons with Disability, Gombe State Chapter, Women`s Rights and Health Project (WRAHP) and Connected Development—Akwa Ibom State (CODE). ‘’

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The focus of the cluster is to work with all relevant stakeholders, to galvanize action aimed at addressing Sexual Harassment in Tertiary Institutions, in Nigeria.