The ActionAid Nigeria (AAN) says over 13,576 women and girls including 92 persons with disabilities (PWDs) have benefited from the $1m Strengthening Capacity of Local Women’s Right Organisation to Address Violence Against Women and Girls (SLOC-VAWG) Project, in three years.
Country Director of AAN, Ms Ene Obi, said this Wednesday in Abuja at the SLOC-VAWG Dissemination and Close Out Meeting funded by the Ford Foundation.
She said that the beneficiaries were from Imo, Gombe and the FCT, while the project also reached over 8,503 indirect beneficiaries.
“In Imo State, 7065 beneficiaries were reached; in FCT, 5763 beneficiaries; in Gombe, 7461 beneficiaries, and 12 Women Right Organisations were part of the process,” Obi said.
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In a goodwill message, the representative of Ford Foundation, Ms Funke Baruwa, said the foundation focused on the prevention of GBV and expressed commitment to ending GBV.
She said that social norms were basic factors responsible for GBV, and called on community based organisations, and religious and traditional institutions to join in the fight against GBV.
Also, the Country Representative, UN Women, Nigeria, Beatrice Eyong, represented by the National Programme Officer, Patience Ekeoba in a goodwill message, said the level of GBV in Nigeria was alarming.
She said 43 percent of girls were married off before the age of 18, and one out of three women in Nigeria had suffered physical violence by the age of 15.
