BREAKFAST MEETING WITH THE MEDIA AT PRIDE INN HOTEL ON 24/11/2011 ABOUT THE PWANI GBV NETWORK 2011 16 DAYS CAMPAIGN AGAINST GENDER BASED VIOLENCE- GBV ACTIVITIES.

Introduction.

The meeting brought together members from other civil societies working on GBV, prison officer, the media and the Pwani GBV network members. It was convened b Coast Women In Development – CWID in collaboration with the Pwani GBV network.

An introduction about the Pwani GBV network was made by CWID’s Programs coordinator Betty Sharon, she gave an overview about how the network was initiated, its mandate, objectives and activities. More can be found on www.coastwomen.org . She also informed the participants about the 16 days campaign against GBV that was being launched the following day (25/11/2011). She explained that the network will be launching the 16 days campaign at the Shimo La Tewa Prison with the Badilika Group. The launching was intended to bring together the community security officers, prison officers, the Badilika group of sexual offenders together with their families, civil society organizations and the Pwani GBV network team.

Liz Aroka from International Center for Reproductive Health ICRH-K and who is also a human rights lawyer introduced the organization to the participants and emphasized on their objective of helping with the GBV cases referred to their GBV-Recovery Center office at the Coast General Hospital, they help the clients get accurate medical reports to help in their cases, they also follow up on the cases at the courts, thus an important arm of the Pwani GBV network for referrals. She also explained about the Facing The Violence 

Pwani GBV Network members at the Breakfast meeting.

Book which they published and the stories from Coast Province gathered with the help of paralegals and organizations working with GBV survivors.

Tom Ng’ar from CWID gave an overview of the Badilika program, how it started, what activities has happened so far to where the group is now, he also explained the challenges and successes the network has had in working with the sexual offenders 15 man group.

Recommendations.

-The media should give priority to GBV news at the Coastal region and nationally. And with the elections coming soon, there is a need to address GBV issues to prevent a repeat of the past happenings thus this year’s national theme for the 16 days campaign Vote Peace, Stop Sexual Violence.

-It is important for the media to also cover the launch at the prison especially because the Pwani GBV network has taken another aspect of preventing GBV, many organizations work with the GBV survivors and not the sexual offenders. Workinge has contributed to a lot of challenges the main being accessing funds to run the program, it therefore needs to publicized for people to realize that GBV can be stopped if the root cause who in this case are the sexual offenders are reached out to.

-The Pwani GBV network members need to be motivated and capacitated to develop the passion and interest to work towards their mission which is to eliminate all forms of GBV even without a donor. A challenge was thrown to the participants to stop looking at what they can offer as an organization and start thinking of what they can contribute as an individual towards a GBV free society. One of the network members inspired the network members after she gave out her one month’s salary to help in the preparation of the 16 days campaign launch.

-ICRH-K was recognized as an important part of the network because they deal with the judicial process and could be a great help in ensuring the GBV cases are dealt with at the courts.

Pictorials.

Officer Abbas Alnoor explaining how they work with the Betty Sharon presenting the GBV network Badilika group overview

Ezekiel Kodonde- WOFAK giving his views Distribution of IEC materials.